Quads and Bears

We did our first tour with all five quads this week. Four went on the trailer and one more - the big Grizzly - on the back of the pick-up truck. It was a bit of work loading and unloading but worth it when we finally reached the summit of Healy Creek. For the very first time the road was completely open, the snow had receeded and the old mines were accessible.

A heat wave has arrived too with daytime temperature climbing into the high thirties. The dogs just lie under the deck panting all day. At night they awake to prowl the property and howl. They bark at shadows, flies and sometimes even me.

Midweek a bear arrived in our yard - the first one we have actually seen on our property. He was a small black bear, probably two years old, and he turned up behind the garage. The dogs slept through the whole thing blissfully. When they finally did wake up, they made a huge fuss, running up and down importantly and sniffing madly like demented coke addicts. But by then the bear had gone.

Bear Count: 2. One, a cub, on the way to Meadow Creek. The other just behind the garage.

Howser Ridge - 15 July 2006

Well I finally made it up to Howser Ridge. The path was badly overgrown and snow still made some parts difficult, but travelling with Mark, who is very experienced on this trail, we made it up to the ridge and almost all the way to the view of the lake on the other side.

This is the last of the major trails I'm looking to open this season, so now we're finally firing on all cylinders. We made a small fire at the end of the trail to celebrate and cooked some lunch.

Bear count: 2. One on the road near the ranch. The other was a sleek black bear that came down to the bank of the Lardeau and casually swam accross the roaring river. An awe-inspiring sight, we watched this from the end of the garden.

American Creek - 8 July 2006

Its been a busy few days. Two weeks after I finally cleared two of our mountain trails with a friend, a chainsaw and a shovel, the snow has retreated far enough to give access to the very top. Stunning. Simply stunning. I must have been up with different guests and friends five times in the last 10 days.

On Saturday, when I went up American Creek with Kristin - the first time we've been just the two of us out somewhere in quite a while - we saw a wolverine. At first we thought it was just a nice, furry little animal and wandered off towards it. Kristin urged caution. Just as well. When we got back and looked it up in our Mammals of British Columbia book it turned out these small animals can kill a lone wolf and even a bear. They have bone-clad jaws.

Bear count: One black bear on Trout Lake road on Friday.