Yesterday, we took a look at some of the camp experience. Let’s keep going today!!

First let me show you another view of our lovely meadow….

Isn’t that gorgeous!!

We are constantly seeing wildlife as we drive thru the area, like this back-lit Mule Deer. Even if you can’t see the details of her face, you can immediately tell what she is….

I am always enamored with mountains and the Skeena Mountain range is amazing. I kept saying that were in the Rockies, but I was wrong!! The Cascades are along the west coast, the Canadian Rockies are along the eastern edge of British Columbia and the Skeena Mountains are in between them!

But just look at these views….

We passed a beaver dam….

I am not sure that I had ever seen one before!

And, this uprooted tree was incredible….

I was interested while looking at the markings on these downed logs….

The are caused by pine bark beetles, who live under the surface of the bark….

Unfortunately, they will eventually kill the pine tree.

It has been fun to have a Teepee in the middle of camp….

Michael told us that it was purchased online and that you could custom design exactly what you wanted, including the size and the designs on the canvas….

I asked how was erected and he told us that they felled “Lodgepole” Pine trees to use for the poles. They first have to strip the bark and then leave them to dry for a while.

This set was in camp, awaiting the arrival of another Teepee…..

You start out by erecting three of these poles, tying them together with ropes……

You keep adding more poles, again in sets of three. The last set of three have the canvas attached to them, and the final two poles add the “flaps” to the top…..

I loved the designs inside the structure….

….and YES, I am seeing quilt designs!!!

One evening we headed to Babine Lake to let the boys go fishing…..

When we arrived, they got the boat ready to go….

….and Michael gave them last minute instructions on how to use the Satellite phone if needed…..

While they fished, we tooled around in the truck, enjoying the scenery and animals.

When we returned, the lake had an entirely different look to it. As the sun started to set (at 10:00 pm), everything took on a golden glow…..

It became deeper as it got later and I love this photo of the sun setting and the boys returning from their fishing…..

And yes, Mason caught a fish….

….which he proceeded to gut and clean…..

….ready to be taken to his Dad the next day!!

So, with one last glance at the fading sun, we headed back to camp…..

Tomorrow we are heading to the Takla Lake First-Nation Reserve and I can’t wait to introduce you to some of the people we met!!

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Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Life in camp is fairly laid back. There has been time for morning naps, afternoon naps and relaxing in the meadow.

Days here are VERY long…. sunrise is about 4:45am and sunset is around 10:10pm!! I think that is one reason that time seems to slow down here!!

Each morning starts out with us being woken by the light coming thru our cabin windows. Coffee is ready at 7:00 and breakfast at 8:00. We then feast on eggs and potatoes of some sort….great fuel for the rest of the day!!

After breakfast we often headed out into the surrounds in search of whatever animals we could find.

Michael (our guide) pointed out these HUGE grizzly bear tracks…..

I can’t being to image how big the bear was if his paw was this size!!

Just a little further down the same road, he pointed out Black Bear tracks…..

OKAY….we will probably see some bears!!

And then we did!!

This big Black Bear was spotted striding through a meadow…..

….and we watched as he sat down on his haunches and stared at us….

He acted fairly aggressive the entire time we watched him.

We also saw a Black Bear that was BROWN….aren’t they supposed to be black? Michael told me that a few black bears are called “color-phase”, varying in color from blond to deep chocolate. This one looked like Hershey’s milk chocolate….

I know that you can’t tell it was a bear, but you can at least see the color.

I enjoyed the scenery as we drove along….

….with large groups of Aspens amidst the rugged pine trees!

It was fun to look at the pine trees up close and personal!! I love how the branches look against the cloudy sky….

….or these seeds ready to release their pollen….

….or even the first pine cones of the season…..

Once we returned to camp, there were always chores to be done, including chopping wood….

…..or filling up the water bottles from the nearby spring…..

….and hauling them back to camp…..

I particularly love this meadow right outside of our cabin door….

As the trip lengthened, this field turned white with the Dandelion seed heads!!

I had fun playing with the camera and these bright flowers….

Meal times are always wonderful. Tammy cooks up some amazing dishes, including this vegetable stir-fry…

IT WAS DELICIOUS!!

Meal times were also fun because of our interactions with the three young men in camp….

The guys did a fair amount of work around the camp, but also had time for some play….

….hatchet throwing!!

It was cloudy much of the first days that we were there, but it fined up one night and the moon was gorgeous among the trees….

That, coupled with the fire in the Teepee made the perfect ending to the day…..

We will skip a few days in the trip posts so you can see my new centering tool and also finish up the quilts from the “Georgia Celebrates Quilts” show, but come back on Monday for more of camp life!!

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Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Yesterday you saw our camp, now you need to meet our camp-mates!!

First let me explain a bit about why we are here. Michael (my husband) is, among other things, an outdoor writer, and was commissioned to visit “Driftwood Valley Outfitters” and report on some special work that they are doing with indigenous youth from the Takla Indian Nation. I will tell you more about it as the trip progresses.

This is Michael Schneider…..

He is German born and immigrated to Canada decades ago. He is a hunting outfitter and has a heart for the First-Nation boys who fall between the cracks. Most of these young men come from hard family situations and are in need of male role models to look up to. They are often living with their grandmothers and often have no interest in a traditional school, and are potentially headed into bad situations.

The idea is to get them out onto the land, teach them respect for people and nature, respect for their “First Nation” heritage and teach skills that they can use as their life goes on.

The program is highly supported by the Takla Elders and leadership. They see that Michael is making a difference among the boys that he takes under his wing.

Michael is helped in camp by Tamara…..

She is from Switzerland and has worked with Michael for 11 years. She can do anything….from cooking, to truck repair, to splitting wood, to taxidermy!! As we talked, she said that she had always loved being outside and working with her hands and that this was the perfect job for her.

There are currently three young men in camp with us. The fourth is back in Prince George, sitting his high school exams!!

This is Tye…..

…..Derek….

….and Mason…..

Tye and Derek are 15 years old and Mason will be 15 soon.

The boys spend approximately 200 days each year with Michael, split between various camps that Michael works from. He also takes them on trips to other parts of the world so that they can see other opportunities that are out there.

I am looking forward to telling you more about their journey in the next posts……

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Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

When I left you, we had arrived at our hotel in Prince George, waiting to meet up with our guide, Michael, the next morning.

After an amazing breakfast at our neighboring restaurant, we loaded our duffels into Michael’s truck and headed out.

The first stop was to his house to re-supply. While the guys loaded food and drinks, I took photos of the Snowshoe Hares hopping around the yard…..

Can you see both of them?

We had a four hour trip to the camp. It wasn’t that far mileage wise but much of the trip was through a logging area and on dirt roads that were quite slimy from the rain.

Because the road was owned by the logging company, there was an etiquette to be followed. We saw this sign…..

….and Michael explained what it meant.

We were headed for a barge that would carry us across a large lake and the name of the road we were on was “Augier”. Because we were heading away from the sawmill, we were on the “UP” side of the road.

For the next 75 kilometers, Michael had to use a radio and call in our position. There were certain kilometer markers that required a call. The call went like this…..

AUGIER (name of road)….. UP (we were headed away from the sawmill)…..57 (kilometer marker we were passing)….. WHITE PICKUP (description of vehicle).

The purpose of this was so everyone on the road would know when a logging truck was coming toward them so that they could get out of the way. Logging trucks ALWAYS have the right of way and need the entire width of road. There were pull-offs along the road and, if a log truck was between you and the next kilometer marker, you had to pull off and give the log truck right-of-way.

The logging operations were closed that day so we didn’t meet any trucks.

We arrived at the barge which could hold two log trucks and 4 other vehicles…..

It was “pushed” by a tug attached to one side….

We quickly arrived at the other side…..

….and continued our journey, stopping to take some photos of this female Moose wandering along the road…..

We also saw two black bears.

Then Michael made a left turn and we were in camp….

….complete with a TeePee, cabin, dining tent, kitchen and two other storage units. We followed Michael into our cabin…..

It is a comfortable room, and one of the boys in camp lit our stove…..

….which turns the room into an oven!!!

There is a generator that provides electricity during the day, but all of the heating is done by wood…..

It is quite comforting to see the smoke rising from all of the buildings….

Now let me be honest here. I was not expecting the camp to be quite this primitive but it grew on me as the time went on!!

At least there was electricity so we had a charging station…..

….and they were connected to Starlink internet and it was screaming fast!!

This was our clean-up area, located in the vestibule of the cabin….

….and THIS was our toilet…..

You turned the “NO” sign around if you were in the toilet, so we named it the “NO and GO”!!

My first thought was exactly HOW I was going to make it 11 days without a shower, but we were told that there was a “bucket” shower that they could heat water for if we wanted. But honestly, since we weren’t sweating, it didn’t prove to be an issue, and we spent a couple of nights in a hotel mid trip so that helped too!!

In the next post, I will introduce to everyone, but let me say that the first night’s meal was fabulous…..

The two meats were Moose and Mountain Goat……both DELICIOUS!!!

It felt good to crawl into our sleeping bags at the end of the day….

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Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!