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Published: August 1st 2012
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Bald Eagle
Eying my pup from a distance July 2007 Swan lake, Base camp and bear tracks.
We drove on a little dirt road through the forest past a plane and came to several little log structures with a big barn and horse corals. It did not look abandoned but nobody seemed to be around. We stopped and figured that this was private land and just as we intended to turn around and find an other camping possibility a guy came out of a building and waved to us to come closer. It was to late to disappear unnoticed so we drove over to him. “Are you looking for a place to camp?” he asked. Not sure what to answer because I did not want to pay for camping I gave him a vague answer that it was still early and we had several hours of daylight left. Well it was July and it never really got dark. He noted and just said.: “You can park right where you are and come in for a glass of wine. We accepted the invitation and followed him. He made a friendly impression and we felt safe. Sometimes we just have to trust and go with the flow. If it feels
good go for it. Inside were two other guys and the five of us killed a few bottles of wine and exchanged lots of stories and had a great evening. We sampled for the first time moose sausage and listened to tall hunting tales like about the bigest Grizzly that came into the camp and dropped finally at Russells feet after 13 rounds in his chest. He was an outfitter that took tourists from all over the world for hunting trips. Russell Cummins is the owner of Jennings River Outfitters and has over 3000 square miles of territory to hunt for big Moose, beautiful Stone Sheep, massive inland Grizzly Bear, trophy Mountain Caribou and Timber Wolves.
The younger of the to guys with him was his new pilot and had just arrived today. Trapper, the other guy hanging out was one of his old friends who was here to help the new pilot to get familiar with the territory and the lakes he would have to start and land on. The next morning they would make some practice starts and landings on Swan Lake and then go and check on all the hunting cabins. Russell offered us to fly with
Bald Eagle
on the lookout for Koya them and so we headed out into the bush on his little bushplane. It was great! We flew over back country wilderness over mountains and saw caribou in the snowfields. We landed several times at little lakes where Russell had his little hunting camps. The bear proofing he had done seamed to have done the job and there was evidence that a grisly hat bean around the cabin on the search for something to eat. The empty gas can had some punctures but obviously did not fit the menu plan of the bear. However with the holes it was not very useful as a gas can anymore either. We noticed some dark clouds coming over the mountains and it stared to rain and the wind had picked up a bit. We contacted Russell at the base camp over the radio for his weather situation. But on his side it was clear again so we decided to wait it out. It did not take long and the local shower lead up and we headed back to Base camp. What a great opportunity this was to get off the road and have a little adventure. Thank you Russell we will never forget
BC
Back in British Columbia it. Trapper had to take off that afternoon and since he did not have floats on his plane we watched him take off on the highway. He explained to us that it was a lot easier to spot a traffic free stretch of highway for the landing out of the air than trying to start without scaring the shit out of a tourist that sees a airplane coming toward him on the highway. We waited for an open spot and he took off without any problem . After hanging out for an other nice evening we headed on north the next day. We did not get very far and found a beautiful spot to camp right on a lake. Again we could not resist to stop and stay for a couple days. This time we were rewarded with some great photo opportunities There were several bald eagles sitting in the nearby trees and one circled for quite a while just above us. We realized that he was probably more interested in Koya than giving me the chance to take pictures. We kept Koya on a leash and I got in some great shots. The next day I think we drove
Swan Lake
View of the Lake from the guest cabins all of twenty miles, if even! We found an other beautiful lake with a little creek and just had to stop and spend the night. At mid night I took some awesome pictures in the twilight. The lake had some fog on it and the pictures turned out great.
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dave morgan
non-member comment
We are about three days from you
DO YOU NEED ANYTHING yOUR FRIEND Dave & Kathy