Winter

Mar 25 2015

Hiding at Hidden Lake

The first time I went out to Hidden Lake was as a Scout in 2002. It was the annual snowmobile camp where Scouts would spend 5 days out at a camp on Hidden Lake. We’d snowmobile right from town with all our gear, food and fuel for the week. During the week we’d spend it learning about the operations of a camp as well as many outdoor survival skills. Over the years we did many things. One of my most memorable trips was when we did a lake wide scavenger hunt that had us doing activities like shelter building, signal fire building and ice fishing, all guided by a compass and map.

I have gone out to Hidden Lake every year since with the exception of a couple of years where I was out of town. This year I tagged along with today’s Scouts and helped mentor them just like others did for me. One of my favourite events of the winter.

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Feb 24 2013

A Winters Afternoon in Yellowknife

This past Saturday was what I would consider a good productive winters day in Yellowknife. It was an equal mix of pleasure and chores.

Like a typical Saturday the day started at the Yellowknife Dump. For those that doesn’t know; the Yellowknife Dump is one of the last dumps in Canada that you can still salvage at. The reason being is because Yellowknifers like there dump and the treasures.

My find this week at the dump was a big one. One that I’m sure you’ll probably question. It is a couch. A nice couch though. On a side note this is not the first time I have brought home furniture from the dump. The office chair I use in my home office was a dump find 6 years ago… it still works. The key to getting furniture at the dump is to: 1) make sure it is semi clean, 2) Leave it outside in the freezing cold and kill anything that might be alive and 3) clean it with a big combination of upholstery cleaner and Frebreeze.

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After the dump, friends and I wandered the highway in search for some wildlife. In finding what looked to be an animal trail, turned out to be a trapline of sort. It was a well packed trail done by snowshoes. The area was really beautiful despite seeing no animals.

After getting home from the hike and tending to the bread that was rising in my kitchen I ventured back out to do some yard work. Mainly digging out my trailer. I hadn’t moved it since the fall and I needed to put new, bigger, tires on it. Ones that would allow me to pull it through the bush better when getting firewood. It was a lot of shovelling.

I then took it to my parent house where I put the new tires on.

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At about 10pm last night we went out looking for the Auror but thanks to the snow we didn’t see any.

What did you do?

Jan 13 2013

I go camping in -40ºC

In my mind going out o the cabin is like going on a mini vacation. I go out there to relax and get away from city live. However when I return home and move around I feel exhausted and sore.

Going out to the cabin is a lot of fun and I enjoy every minute of it but I forget how much effort it takes to get out there and stay out there. First there was getting everything I needed while out there, food, supplies, camera gear. It all adds up and then I need to strap it to my komatik. Then I have to get the sled going to get out to the cabin. That was the easy part.

This was probably the first fire in the cabin all winter, so it took a couple hours to heat up to a decent temperature. And while I thought I was going to have tons of time to do some writing it seems like the time just flew by. Cut more firewood, fixed some insolation issues, laid down some carpet and then it is dinner time. Steak and potatoes.

I had not looked a the weather to closely for the weekend other than to see if it was going to be clear. I was hoping to get some photos of the Aurora, but it got cold and my camera crapped out. When I woke this morning it was -40ºC, the coldest night so far this winter. Thankfully I had keep the fire going all night so the cold was kept at bay.

The tricky task about getting back to town was actually getting the snowmobile started. It was a giant ice brick. The pull cord was completely frozen and would not moved at first. After some gentles tugs it started to moved and then after a good 100 pulls the motor finally turned over. After letting the sled idle for 30 mins it moved but it was still a rock. The seat and suspension were hard as concrete and having to drive over the drifts on Great Slave Lake I’m a little sore now.

A very enjoyable weekend.

Oct 13 2012

My parents made me shovel their driveway

I don’t mind of course but I think it quite coincidental that my parents left a mere two days ago for Airizona, just before the snow started to come.

They probably planned it perfectly to avoid the first major dumping of snow.

Conveniently this first snow was over a Friday night so Saturday morning was perfect for shovelling. Shoveling the driveway, the walkway to the back, the back patio and the deck. Okay I think my parents have to much that needs shovelling.

Before

Snow_Yellowknife

After

Snow Yellowknife

Sep 23 2012

Wood Cutting outside of Yellowknife

I think I have said it before but the heat of a wood stove is my favourite type of heating in the cold winter nights but to be able to do that you have to get the wood somewhere.

My Dad and I went out past Behchoko, NWT yesterday morning to the spot he often frequents. I was testing out a new little trailer I got and we managed over a cord of wood in it. Driving into the bush to accomplish something is for more enjoyable to me that just going for a hike nowadays. The idea of driving through a forest of dead standing trees and cutting your way through is pretty exciting.

Now is the part where I get a little nostalgic. Since coming back to Yellowknife in January 2012 my relationship with my dad has grown to one I’m truly happy with. I now have my own life, house, vehicle, career, so that aside him and I can be friends and I can’t ask for anything better.

I admire this man. He is a machine. For a guy who has had two open heart surgeries, half a dozen seizure in the last decade and broken his neck, he still keeps going. I’m proud he is my dad, despite his quarks.

The funny part about this excursion was that it took us 3 hours to drive out to this spot and back but only an hour and a half to actually lay down, length and load the cord of wood. If we go out