I ran into a sticking point when I tried to finish the pony wall. I ran out of nails. They need to be galvanized since they’ll be outdoors. However, only the hardware stores sell them and the one that is normally open on Sunday was closed for inventory.
I did think of buying a spiker at Canadian Tire. However, they sell nails for the 34° framing nailers they sell, but not in galvanized. So, I’m stuck.
I did have a few things left to do that I could. I finished taking the last few things out of the camper and left the cupboard doors open. I did cut the lumber for the last wall. I also assembled some of the frames for the shelter.
Now, I have to wait until tomorrow to get nails. Maybe, I should buy the nailer anyway…
There’s nothing quite like a last minute project. This one is brought on by my remembering that, since I’m having a knee replacement in February, I won’t be able to clean snow off the camper roof.
This has bothered me for a few days. I would like to get one of these temporary shelters but most aren’t tall enough to go over the roof of the camper. Last night, I thought about building a pony wall around the camper and putting the shelter on it. I put the idea to carpenter friends and they heartily agreed with the idea.
Converting this from an idea to a plan is another thing, since they don’t really provide full measurements. You get such things and the length, height, door opening, etc., but not such things as the height of the eaves, etc. So, last night, I took an expensive flyer and bought a 24′ x 12′ x 10′ shelter. This morning, once it was light enough to see, I assembled a frame and determined how much higher it would have to be to clear the edge of the roof and the air conditioner on the roof center. I figured I needed 2′ for sure, so went with 2′ 6″ to be on the safe side.
Next, I moved the motor home to a spot where it was reasonably level, leveled out the camper, and parked it. Next, I cleaned the last of the things that had to come out for the winter. Then, it was off to the hardware store to pick up lumber and nails.
Every good project starts with a pile of lumber.
Twenty odd pieces of lumber and a bag of HDG box nails, I was ready. I remembered rather quickly that framing muscles don’t seem to exercise unless you’re actually framing. And, my knee seems to be a bit more detrimental to carpentry work than I remember, as well. However, I quickly got the first wall framed up.
First pony wall framed.
I cut the lumber for the second long wall, and went in for supper. After a quick bite, and serious inspection by the cats who seem fascinated over the smell and texture of sawdust, I went out and assembled the second wall. This leaves one about 12′ 6″ long. But, by the time I got this one finished, it was too dark to cut. Also, I need to throw a new, sharp blade on my saw. I also seem to have not picked up enough nails for the last wall, so have to do a bit of hunting to find some tomorrow. For some reason, the hardware store had a sign saying they were closed tomorrow.
I was also reminded of something else today. There’s the same amount of work… more even… involved in framing a pony wall than there is a full-sized one. And, one of these days, I really need to buy a framing nailer…
Two years ago, I mentioned one of my two pet peeves with Yukon government campgrounds involves firewood. The issue has been raised again, although in another light.
CBC has reported the huge other problem with campgrounds providing free firewood to campers, namely, people stealing firewood.
Over the years, I’ve seen a few suspicious-looking situations, although not totally evident. After all, people stockpiling far more wood at their campsite than they could ever use is not the indication of theft. It could just as easily be one of the many selfish jerks that empty the wood box when they arrive for their long weekend stay, depriving anyone else of wood for the next day or two until the wood boxes are restocked. Some people will empty more than one wood box.
The method of doing this is to often load up their truck, ATV, etc., and drive to their campsite. It used to be that moving firewood on a campsite by vehicle was a violation of Yukon Campground Regulations. I didn’t agree with this since there are lots of people who camp who aren’t physically capable of carrying an of firewood to far. However, the rules were changed but there is a limit. No more than 15 pieces of firewood can be carried in a vehicle at one time (section 10, para 3 for the legal types.)
The main problem is that there is pretty minimal supervision available at most campgrounds most of the time. The campground officers do show up at some sites with some frequency, particularly those known for partying. Most have the people who restock the wood and clean the outhouses show up daily. But, most do not have around the clock supervision.
Now, this is quite an expensive proposition given there are many campgrounds and the position of campground monitor, with the ability to enforce the regulations, is rather daunting. And, to be honest, having someone on site is no guarantee people won’t be able to sneak firewood away from the campsite.
So, the onus comes down on us, the park users. There’s nothing wrong with keeping your eyes open for something suspicious, and nothing wrong with surreptitiously taking an innocent photo of a license plate and passing that information to the campground officers when they do their rounds.
Environment Yukon has complained about the cost of providing firewood for a long time. And, as one tourist mentioned in the news story, we are one of the few places that provide it. Hopefully, we won’t lose this wonderful perk we have. It would be sad to see it end because of a few idiots who are too lazy to cut their own firewood…
The second camping trip of the year commences! Again, we headed to Fox Lake for a bit of “out of town” and a bit of fishing if the weather was to work out. It would be a bit of a broken trip, since I had to come back into town on Friday. To do this, my daughter drove out with Clara’s truck so I could come back in.
Our first day was a lazy one. I drove out in the motorhome with the cats. We tried a new experiment with bringing them in separate carriers. This was not a successful as I would have liked, since the soul rending meowing from Furball made it hard to concentrate on the road. However, we did make it to the lake without incident.
Our site for the weekend.
We spent most of the day setting up, since we brought far more stuff with us this time. Eventually, we settled down to sleep, with the cats settling for the upper bunk, at first. Darcy did show up several times for a head bump and to make sure my beard was appropriately groomed. Clara’s cheeks apparently needed washing on several occasions through the night. She did finally head back up to the upper bunk and fell asleep with on her sooky blanket with her stuffy. She may be Daddy’s Little Panther, but she’s Daddy’s little baby, too.
June 11
Day 2 was a lazy day. I didn’t bring the boat out since the forecast was quite windy for Wednesday and Thursday, and I thought I would wait to bring the boat Friday. It was gusty most of the day and so far, I haven’t had the awning up except for a few hours today.
We used the occasion to have a lazy day. Several naps were the high point of Thursday, since the joy pf camping is saying, “Screw it, I’m going to read or lay down for a while.” Even the cats jumped into the schedule with full abandon.
I have noticed we seem to be using more water than budgeted. This may take some consideration. We had a late supper, and eventually settled down to sleep. Yes, this did involve some more beard grooming, but this has become a nightly ritual.
June 12
We woke early, so I could go back into town, get my knee X-rayed, get the boat, and do a bit of shopping. It is obvious we are using way more water than I had hoped with the original plan of staying until Sunday. The grey and black tanks are also 2/3 full. We need to work on water management better. I did bring back another large water jug in case we run out. Filling the grey and black tanks is a small issue compared to having no water at all. Yes, it sounds a bit odd parked next to a lake but giardia is not my idea of a fun time.
Furball was pretty desolate on the way home, so I decided we should try putting them in a bigger, single carrier. We did that when I took them to the vet but they hissed and howled at each other and I figured Darcy was going to murder poor Furball in his carrier. The handle on the carrier broke, so we took it back and bought two single carriers. We put them in the bigger one and Darcy was hissing in less than five minutes. I think there’s no way I’m going to win on this so we’ll try using the bigger carrier for a while. They did drive to Whitehorse from Port Alberni in the same sized carrier so this shouldn’t be an issue.
We got back around supper time and it was quite windy, blowing hard from the north with thick white caps. I held off launching the boat until after supper when the weather turned rather calm. I had the boat tied to the dock and it was shortly after that the wind came up again, and again from the north. I took and potential plans of a late night fishing trip on dead calm water, like it was the previous night when we went to bed. I went back to the dock and checked my lines three times before going to bed. I did cheat and make sure I tied it bow into wind at the dock.
I will certainly say one thing. I’ve seen several different cloud formations this weekend. The clearing sky to the north at midnight this evening was a bit odd looking, for sure.
Clouds.
June 13
The wind was as bad or worse today. I checked my lines earlier in the morning and retied them. I managed to wear away some of the dock, the boat was bouncing so much. There seemed to be no indication it would die down anytime soon and I spent a fair amount of time thinking of hauling it out and taking it home, rather than waiting until the next day.
The wind at Fox Lake.
I did make one minor goof. We brought all of the cats’ leads home and in forgot to bring them back to the campsite with us. All there was left was a short leash in the truck. This meant you could only take one for a walk at a time, meaning there was much unhappiness from the one left behind. This ended as part of the windy weather, since neither one was out for long before crying to go back into the camper.
We did discover that friends whose cottage is next to the campsite were there for a bit and we dropped in after supper, and after I had pulled the boat. This was not an easy task, although the wind wasn’t the problem. Someone in their infinite wisdom parked their boat trailer in front of mine. I had to wiggle it out by hand and the language that may have accompanied the task was not for all audiences.
By the time the boat was fully put away and I put a fire in, the lake had calmed down considerably. I wasn’t totally surprised since it had to stop blowing eventually. But, it was after 10 PM and I wasn’t turning around and relaunching the boat, only to have to take it out again tomorrow morning anyway.
Suffice to say, the lake turned a little nicer, although not nice enough to justify throwing the boat back in…
Nice sunset looking north.Midnight, looking south towards town.
June 14
We got up early today. We opted to skip breakfast (actually I skipped breakfast, since Clara got up earlier than I did), and got the two vehicles packed up to head back. We still need to figure out the organization of the camper a bit. This was done under the watchful eye of Furball who figured something was up. Darcy was too wound up to care until I put her in the camper for the drive home. Since Clara took the truck, I put the carrier in the passenger seat so they could see me while we were driving. This started with Darcy grooming Furball, followed by Darcy hissing and spitting at him 30 seconds later. I told them to settle down and, oddly enough it did. They were both asleep in two minutes and stayed that way most of the way home.
All in all, a nice weekend despite the lack of fishing. I’m sure I can find a chance to fix that situation in the near future…
In a fit of persistence or insanity, the cats and I are spending the night in the camper again. I have rum. It may be necessary.
I have not only rum, by the way. After Darcy’s failure to appreciate the joys of camping the other night, I have two weapons. I have the kitty tent, given to me by a friend, and I brought the cat carrier. Both are quite friendly, safe places the cats enjoy.
Furball and the carrier
Oh, I forgot. I have something else. I have catnip, and now, so do the carrier and the tent. This may work…
As you may know, we conduct experiments because we don’t know how things will turn out. Research is not done on things where we know the answers, but because we don’t know the answers.
Last night’s experiment had mixed results. Furball seemed to take reasonably well to the camper, although he took a long time to settle down and didn’t stay settled the whole night. Darcy did not settle down at all, except for a short period between 5:30 and 6 AM when she and Furball curled up together on my feet.
She tried to find any way out, and was skittish at any noise at all. This becomes a bit of a problem since the robins chirp loudly all hours by this time of year and there was a bit of a wind last night. At 7 this morning, I gave up and brought them in. Since none of us really slept, we all trundled upstairs to bed. By the way, Clara was so worried over how the cats would adapt that, even though she was in the house, she didn’t sleep a wink last night.
I guess the next step is to try again some night this week. When we travel, they’ll be in the big carrier anyway, so I’ll bring that out as well. The carrier, or as we call it, kitty jail, is actually something they’re both rather fond of and they may find it a bit of a comfortable place to hide out from the evil robins that dwell outside the camper. I’m not sure how it will turn out, but, this is how science works, after all…
For those not aware, we got two cats two months ago. They were rescues, and friends brought them up from Port Alberni. However, after taking this time to get used to us and the house, tonight is the time when we determine if they will be real Rutherford cats or not. Tonight is the first night they get to sleep in the motorhome. We are only spending the night in the driveway, so this should be easy enough.
This has not progressed without trauma. Furball is the first to find the upper bunk. Darcy is still trying to find a way out. She knows where the door is, and is sitting in front of it rather expectantly.
Furball and the upper bunk.
Darcy at the window.
Soon they will be willing members of the camping cult. After all, as a good Daddy, the bag of treats came out of the house with me and I have learned the power of bribery. When I turn the lights out and go to bed, they will probably climb in with me as usual and all will be normal… even in the camper…
Camping on Labour Day has become a family tradition in our household. This was a bit odd, in that I was the only one who went out this year.
I’ll admit, it was nice to get out at least one more time this year. At this point, our weather can go pretty “iffy” but I’m still holding out hope for more fall to come. Camping can be quite nice this time of year. There’s no bugs to speak of and the weather can be pleasant if you’re prepared for the odd nippy morning. And, with the leaves changing, particularly at higher elevations, the scenery is wonderful.
Fall fishing can be good, although this weekend was not spectacular. I went to Fox Lake, and despite the normal trend over the last few years for Fox to pick up after Discovery Day and Kusawa to tail off, the fishing was a bit sparse.
My choice off campground was based on more than fishing. I have found, over the past years that Fox Lake has become more of the family campground, while Kusawa Lake campground has become party central. Kusawa can be downright noisy through the night, and the YTG camp officers can’t be everywhere all the time. It’s not as bad as the government campground at Pine Lake, though…
I did get one lake trout: small, about 2 lbs. What struck me as odd this year is that the surface temperature of the lake is quite warm, 55° F throughout the entire weekend. I usually see it about 49° or 50° by this time in the fall. That probably explained why the fish were still down quite deep in the water column. Most of what I saw were hanging around clouds of bait fish in the 60 – 90′ range. Trying to get a line down that far, without snagging the bottom at the same time is not easy.
I had a few complications. My relatively new (bought late last year) Rapala trolling reel fell apart. The line counter quit earlier this year, and I hadn’t fixed it because you can’t even find a parts diagram online. The level wind crapped out this weekend.
Fortunately, my 20+ year old Penn was also in the boat. I did put it on my good rod and used it. Its one issue is that the clicker isn’t working, but I do have the online parts diagram from Penn and will check to see which one of two possible parts needs replacing. My 10 year old Penn 190 also needs a bit of repair, but both of these are off season repair plans. When winter comes, a little diversion that makes you think of spring coming is perfectly good, right?
The weather was a bit strange. It followed the progression of sunny, sun showers, cloudy with showers, just cloudy. Repeat as necessary. There was a slight interlude with a bit of hail with the sunshowers at one point while fishing Sunday afternoon.
I’m not ready to put either the camper or the boat away yet. The issue with the camper is freezing temperatures and when the local sani-dumps close up. I may fix that issue since I’m calling our plumber tomorrow to see about having a dump attached to the house sewer system. Putting the boat away usually doesn’t happen until some time in October. The Environment Department is planning to keep 10 campgrounds serviced until the end of September, and they usually are available without services until the end of October for the hardy.
I will say one thing about the fall. I’m not the biggest fan of what it portends in the future, but it is damn pretty…
We woke up early, had breakfast and was on the road by 9:30 AM. Our starting mileage was 106,420.0. We ended our trip at 107,268.3. We put 3800 km on during the trip and spent about $1,500 to make it. Our final mileage was 25.1 l/100 km.
It was a nice drive. I got reminded once again just how beautiful both Stone Mountain and Muncho Lake Provincial Parks are. I do have to make a trip where you do get a chance to have that area as a destination, rather than passing through heading somewhere else.
I also did plan my trip to not drive through either Stone Mountain or Muncho Lake at dusk, or worse yet, after dark. The last time I did that, all you saw on the side of the road was a constant reflection of eyes from sheep, caribou, moose and bison. Never again…
Summit Lake, Stone Mountain Park
Slide area, Stone Mountain Park
One thing to note after you pass through Muncho Lake Provincial Park: watch for bison on the road. The largest North American land mammal does make a rather substantial obstacle to traffic and they don’t really seem to care that cars and trucks are driving on the road. Challenging one is not on my list of preferred activities. Several groups were on the road between the northern portion of Muncho Lake Park and Upper Liard.
Bison, Upper Liard, BC
By the time you get to Stone Mountain Park, you get to remember some of the winding nature of the Alaska Highway. From here until close to Watson Lake, the road is narrow, with numerous curves and hills. We stopped at Watson Lake to gas up the final time and to grab lunch. It was nice to see the TAGS store there rebuilt after it burned down several years ago. A few details need to be finished but it does add another choice to grab a quick lunch on the road. It was also a chance to remind myself I was back in the Yukon, land of cheap gas. Other than the one stop in La Glace, AB for fuel, most other places in BC had incredibly high gas prices, ranging between $1.59 in Wonowon to $1.64 in Dease Lake per liter.
Nisutlin Bay, Teslin Lake, YTTeslin, YT. The only picture of me from the trip
We drove the rest the way back in about 6 hours. We took our time, particularly from the Yukon River Bridge south of town when we got hit with a torrential downpour. It had cleared by the time we got to the house though.
A few general notes. First, if you can’t live without connectivity, this is not the place to come. Internet and cell service was only available in limited places on our trip, and you have to be within a centre, and not on its outskirts to get either. There is no cell service on the highway.
The big observation was another reminder: 14 days on vacation, with 6 full days spent driving. You get an idea of how large this place is…
Well, we started the home trip this morning. Our starting mileage was 105,714.2, and we ended with 106,420.0. Total for the day was 705.8 km.
We woke early and started packing for the final trip. Then we got a visit from everyone but the wedding party, and took a quick run to Ernie and Dora’s to drop everyone off so Ernie could show us where the free RV dump was at the Sexsmith Heritage Park. It’s a nice place and seems to have a nice campground there, although we didn’t really have much time to look around. Then, it was off to La Glace, cheating back around Grande Prairie using Highway 59 again. I got gas there, and it was the cheapest I bought on the trip, $1.24 9/10 a liter.
We started driving along, and had a nice drive. The highway was in great shape between Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson. I originally thought we might stay there, but felt like moving on to try this supposedly nice place at Tetsa River, about 115 km past Fort Nelson.
That was quite an eye opener. We ran into construction 35 km past Fort Nelson, and had to wait 30 minutes for a pilot car to run us through. The sign said there would be construction for 1 km, but it turned out to be more than 8 km. We ran into two other areas on either side of Steamboat Hill. The first wasn’t too bad, but the second was rather poor. The speed zone for the construction was 30 km/hr, but don’t try going that fast.
We came into the campground, with a flashing sign on the highway saying “Open.” The office wasn’t, although there was someone inside. I knocked and no one answered. I drove around looking for an open site, and just deal with it in the morning. When I was looking, another camper came over and told me the owner won’t talk to customers after he decides to close up. He doesn’t know what time that is, but we arrived about 7:15 PM. Also, he told me that the power is shut off at 10 PM, since all he has is a diesel generator and it is rather noisy. That’s OK, since our site has no services at all. Apparently very few are serviced, and the electrical power is only 15 amp, not the advertised 30 amp. Also, there is free Wi-Fi advertised, but no Wi-Fi transmitter in the campground. If there was anywhere else to stay, I would have moved on. Unfortunately, that would involve driving through Stone Mountain Park in the dusk, but there’s way too many large animals on the road at that time of night for my liking…
Doug Rutherford 