A Failed Excursion To The High Country.

   There was one of the last frosts of the season this morning.

The days warm up and this residual snow is not going to stick around for long. I thought it might be a good day to ride up the mountain, provided I could get an early start and drive on top of the crust before the sun gets to it. Well I fooled around on the computer and read some news and sent an email or two before getting myself organised.

 I dug around in the cupboard for a pocketful of mountain survival food before going out and warming up the Honda.

 The snow down in the valley bottom disappears in great patches every day now.

 I thought I should take a quick run down to the hot spring before heading up, and snuck in the back way.

After fooling around with a buggered water tap for a while I finally hit the trail for the high country.

The sun had softened the surface on some areas and I was having a hell of a time, this is the first time I came to a stand still. I managed to take a few more runs at it over to the right in a shady area and carried on my way.

 I got bogged down and figured I was buggered a few more times but managed to keep trying and finally get moving again. I suppose anyone with any brains would have turned around about now.

Finally, after crossing Sparrow Creek I got bogged down for the final time, stepped off the steaming machine to assess the situation, and dug into the survival ration gummy bears.

I suppose anyone with any brains would have brought a shovel along. 

I shed the warm layer as soon as the hard work started.

After plenty of verbal encouragement I got the heavy @%$#*! pig turned around and pointed in the other direction, and by now the snow had softened enough it was taking full throttle just to keep moving downhill.

 The 1km marker at the top of Tombstone Hill.

Lower down I came across these cool cougar tracks.

Well I never made it up the mountain on the crust this Spring, so I will post some pictures from past successful ascents instead.

March 3rd Snow Event

   It started snowing a few days back.

And it kept it up until today there was 15".

The tractor was put to good use for a good part of the day.

I plowed the road into the hot spring, opened up the day use lot then made a pass around the campsite.

The hot spring has a certain charm in a fresh snowfall.

Any normal person would have climbed in right then.

I drove down to Sachteen and opened up the road for my neighbors over there.

This evening it has turned to rain, so there is going to be a big sloppy mess around here for awhile.

The Year In Review. Sofar

     The little bit of snow we had the end of last year melted off with the mild temperatures during January. This brought the creek out front up enough for some salmon to make their way up from the main river.

Usually this run would have occurred a month or so earlier, but finally all the conditions were right and a small number of salmon were active in the spawning beds out front here at the Lodge.

This attracts attracts the local bobcat. Probably the only chance he has to get his paws on a fish, so he's willing to brave sitting at his fishing hole out front here in broad daylight to do so.

My guard-cats, ChUk and ChYk. They watch the bobcat fishing down there and chatter and growl at it.

Eventually his patience pays off and a fish will venture into the shallow riffles between pools. He's not shy about getting wet and will leap right in there and emerge with a great flopping fish then head for more secure surroundings. The fish runs only last a few days before the water drops again.

It cleared up in February and cooled off, the mornings were brisk and frosty, but the days were just right.

The loggers used the clear, still conditions to burn some old slash piles in the valley. The smoke hung about and gave it a summer fire season look and smell.

Been pretty quiet down at the hot spring, esp. during the week. It livens up a little on weekends though.

Cool ice art.

A line to one of the campsite water taps froze and split in the cold, the spray made a cool ice sculpture.

I got this old geezer to stand in there for size reference.

The skating pond out front froze over nicely.

At the end of February I figured we had winter beat, then it decided to snow.

Two days ago I drove into town and it was over 10 degrees.

Lillooett Lake, taken through my sun glass lens.
It was a beautiful start to Spring, or so I thought.

 Then the next day it colded up and snowed a skiff.

Today it really started to come down, March is in like a lion for sure.
I better go plug that tractor in again.

On The Same Page

    A lifetime ago, before I came to the hot spring property, I became known for restoring and collecting old motorcycles which became a passion of mine for a number of years, a passion I was more than willing to share with anyone whom showed the slightest interest. Considerable time and effort was put into procuring parts and wore out old heaps to bring back to life. This was back in the days before Internet, and searching was done the old fashion way, by word of mouth, and the weekly Buy+Sell. The thick BC edition would come out on Wednesday but it seemed to me it took until the weekend before it made its way to the news stand in this small interior town.

   One thing I always looked forward to was to go for a Sunday morning steak and egg breakfast at the local hotel, where I was known as 'the guy from the motorbike shop'.  I'd spread my new Buy+Sell out in front of me and have a close study of the extensive motorcycle sections from the big city, looking for my next project. 

   For some reason, whether it worked out alphabetically or what I don't know, the vintage motorcycle section was included in the last section, lumped in there with all the personal ads. 

The lonely, desperate, and depraved, relegated to the final pull-out section. I'm not sure what type of people read the personals, but I always made an effort to quickly flip over to the real estate section when the waitress came around.

   One particular morning, there was the new gal on shift at the Longhorn Cafe. Outgoing and eager, and not having acquired the apathy for the job present in the other serving staff she appeared promptly at my table, surprising me with a sudden offer of coffee. She leaned over filling my cup, and of course just had to look down at what I was reading, probably hoping to make a little small town chit-chat before taking my order back to the kitchen. Her attention was immediately taken by the colorful big city ads from escort agencies, massage parlours, and rows and rows of classified personal ads, and does a double take.

"Find anything interesting there??" she giggles, with a cheeky gotcha grin.

    I figured she wanted to talk about old motorcycles, and began to fill her in on a recent purchase I had made of a wore out old heap.

"As a matter of fact, I have." I stated as she prepared to take my order.

She reacted like maybe that wasn't the answer she was expecting, but was all ears.

"This ones a little older than I like", I informed her, "I prefer 'em in the sixties." 

The poor waitress stood batting her eye-lashes, seemingly stuck for an answer.

My interest was early Japanese bikes, but this particular heap was from England.

"A Brit" I said, adding, "...funny, I usually go for the Asians".

Her smile drooped off a bit on one side, so I knew she was thinking hard.

   The relic was scratched and faded and in need of some serious TLC.

"Needs some work on her in the cosmetic department." I told her.

"And don't we all..." she joked, fingering her hair trying to move the awkward conversation along.

   The old clunker was in need of a cylinder re-bore and larger pistons, I figured she might be curious.

"Going to get the old girl a new set of jugs too!" I told her excitedly, using the Brit bike vernacular.

"New jugs..." repeated the waitress, like she didn't quite hear me right.

"Oversize ones!" I said enthusiastically.

"I see..., of course, and have you had a chance to look at our menu sir?"

   Common with old bikes, it burned oil, leaked oil, and had ignition problems.

"She stutters and smokes, and left a puddle on the floor. Her lights are on but she's not firing on all cylinders, if you know what I mean."

"Oh my..., would you like to hear about our special?" she asked hopefully.

   The carburetter dripped fuel and there was a knock from what was probably a crank bearing.

I put it as delicately as I could.

"The old girl had a bad gas leak, and made strange noises." I stated.

"...Strange noises?" she asked flatly, staring straight ahead.

"Ya" I said, "From the bottom end!"

   She was holding her pad and pencil up close in front of her face, and not asking any more questions I noticed, so I told her I would take my steak medium rare, my eggs over easy, and my toast white.

Breakfast took longer than usual to arrive, and I noticed they didn't seat anyone else in my section for some reason.

Come to think of it, since that day, the manager always came and took my order.