Outpost ~ Playtime

The past month has not be all work and no play.

Whenever the sun is shining we head outside...... what we do is determined by the conditions of the ocean. A calm flat sea beckons us to take the tinney out for a spin.
There are bays to either side of us which offer coves and beaches to explore.

Years past there were several prospectors and surveyors in the area. Remains of their cabins are said to still be visible so with this in mind we set out to see what we could find.

The bay southwest of us was home to James D MacKenzie who was conducting a geological survey in 1913-1914 of Graham Island.
We headed out mid morning and were delighted to find that the south facing shore was basking in sunshine. Even on a sunny day as this our lodge is shadowed from the 300 ft hill and 100 ft trees surrounding us.

Not a ripple disturbs the waters of this little cove which was more like a pond, entered through a narrow channel at the far end of the bay.

Wandering through the forest imaging where the perfect site for a cabin had been had us wondering what life would have been like almost 100 years ago.

How did he get supplies such as flour and coffee? What type of a boat did he have?
Did he ever visit with the other occupant of Port Louis?
We never did find anything that might have resembled the remnants of a homestead, the forest so completely reclaiming it.

We decided that this spot is where we would have built our little cabin. The area is fairly level with only several large trees at the forest's edge to block the view . A pebble beach perfect for dragging a boat up onto, having a campfire or just sitting and soaking up the sun and silence runs along for a good 100 ft.
I wonder if so many years ago a true explorer stood here and had these same thoughts.

I often see or hear geese flying overhead, something we didn't see last year, but they never land in our bay. A thin strip of grass at the water's edge tucked into the far corner of the cove appears to be the resting place for a doz or more of these very vocal water fowl.

Rigidoporus ulmarius.....I have come across these many times during our walks through the woods but this one is by far the best specimen.

Our workboat has a pretty shallow draft which allows us to poke into nooks and crannies.

Yes this little guy looks cute but what a pain they can be when scrounging for food around the lodge. They teach you real fast as to what you thought was safe from their prying little paws isn't.

Spending most of the day idling along Mike cranks the handle and we race home at full throttle, well as much as the tinney can “race”.

It had been a rare summer day...warm, sunny, calm seas. I wish it could last forever.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

The Outpost ~ Caretakers At The Helm

Our first month has raced by. It starts the moment the plane takes to the air, the summer crew is gone and the lodge is now “ours”.

This year our food order arrived on the helicopter with us. With so many helping hands the 1600 lbs of supplies were quickly dispersed of in the basement for me to take care of. I like to grocery shop, I think people who love to cook enjoy this first step but putting it all away doesn't fit into this part of the equation.

Soggy (from the rain ) heavy boxes of frozen turkeys, ribs, beef roasts, ground beef, bacon, sausages, whole chickens, chicken breasts and chicken wings, veggies, fruits and maybe a small container or two of ice cream where shoved into freezers wherever there was room. Cases of canned goods put aside to be dealt with later.

This was my first priority...... unpack, organize and make lists of what is where. You know what it's like to put something in the freezer and 3 months go by and of course you have forgotten all about that leftover lasagna you thought would be nice to reheat maybe next week, well imagine 5 full size chest freezers.

Cans of baked beans, kidney beans and black beans sit in rows along with tomato sauce, tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, plum tomatoes, whole tomatoes plus spaghetti sauce, ketchup and tomato juice to complete the tomato family. Totes full of flours, sugars, oats, nuts, dried fruits and chocolate make me want to start baking. A wonderful variety of dry beans, rice and pastas will have me searching for new recipes. Job complete I look around at my “grocery store” for the next 9 months and think “another season has began”.

Keeping a mini grocery store of sorts upstairs cuts down on the trips to the basement every time I need something.

Getting the season's food order involves a lot of handling. After it is unloaded at WCFC office in Vancouver, it gets weighed and marked for destination than loaded onto the first plane. At Masset it's than transferred to the helicopters for the trip to the OP where it's than manhandled into the waggons and lugged up to the lodge. One more set of hands takes it from there into the basement where I am the final one to unpack it.

Now that the food is all put away I can move on to unpacking our own belonging and adding a few items to make the lodge feel more like home. The 20 odd boxes that I had stashed away during out time out were all carried up from the basement. Since I hadn't made lists of what each one contained ( no very smart, I know ) each had to be opened to find what I was looking for. Forgotten that I had left so many clothes, didn't realize I had a set of baking utensils here already, why in the world did I keep that..... were all thoughts that ran through my mind as I cut open box after box. Lists would have helped.

Didn't take us long to move furniture around to suit us ( better for TV watching ) and turn one of the crew bedrooms into our own. Moving of furniture was also involved here to take advantage of the massive picture window, the better to look out and see our deer in the morning or see them looking in.

The kitchen is still a work in progress, even after a month. I like to have everything for cooking and baking right in front of me or as close as I can get when it takes 13 steps just to walk to the fridge in this commercial size kitchen. Mike has already started his game of silently following me to the fridge and than shutting the door behind me once I'm inside. Yep, we're settling in just fine.

While I have been busy inside Mike has been re-familiarizing himself with the generators, taking the work boat out for a spin ( he says test drive to make sure it runs ), learning all about the new reverse osmosis water system, taking inventories of oil and filters which need to be sent up on the barge and searching through the woods close by for a tree or two which he could fall to add to the wood pile.

So a month has come and gone in the blink of an eye and now there are eight.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike

Outpost Season 2 ~ It's All About The Crew

Mike and I have returned to the Outpost for another season, 9 months actually,

of taking care of the lodge located on the edge of the pacific in our little piece of paradise know as Port Louis.

August 22 was a gray day, the colour of the sky mirroring the the calm seas.

Low cloud cover kept the helicopter skimming along the shoreline towards our destination.

From past experience we know what to expect our first week back at the lodge.

It's all about the crew. For 6 days they are cleaning up, taking stock, sleeping in and kicking back. Didn't take long for us to see what they really like to do..... FISH!

No sooner had the last guests boarded the helicopter than everyone was suiting up to hit the water. Rebecca and Hanna took a moment to show off what the serious and fashionable fisherwoman is wearing this year.

Not only do they like to fish together but in this kitchen there is never too many cooks.

Forfeiting the opportunity to sleep in for an early morning start at taking inventories and putting the lodge to bed meant they could take the afternoon to go fishing...again!

What's the hold-up? Hanna's thinking while Alan's dreaming of catching the big one and Rebecca and Mark are wondering what they have forgotten.

After a long afternoon on the water, what do you do to relax? You get in the water.

There were moments of alone time. Gazing out into the distance, perhaps to instill this image to last them throughout the year ahead.

The day has arrived where the first of the group is heading off. After working and living together for the last 90 days they have become family. I'm sure it must be a bittersweet moment. Looking forward to begin the next chapter of their lives yet sad to be parting ways.

Perfect weather for a boat trip, although there will be no lines in the water today.

KB, Kenny B, Ken our boss, manager and pretty damn good Krud player gives a round of hugs before he leaves the Outpost after another successful season and heads up to the Clubhouse to help out there for a couple of days.

The day is gloomy, very low cloud cover and rain gently falling. It's not the type of day we had hoped to wake up too. 8 am and everyone is ready to go, rooms have been stripped cleaned, last minute jobs complete. Justine keeps trying to connect with the airport via sat phone to see if they are flying. Every few minutes someone will jump up saying “I hear the plane! An hour pass the 8:30 ETA and no one can sit still. Most of the bags, boxes and backpacks have already been lugged down to the crew shack, nothing to do now but wait.

What a lovely sound, that of a plane flying overhead. Everyone jumps into action, grabbing the last of their belonging and head down to heli pad to meet their ride.

Hanna, Rebecca, Justine, Jordan and Andrew.....one last picture.

Mike and I only got to briefly know some of the crew in the short 6 days we had before they all returned to the real world. I hope to keep in touch and follow their adventures in the coming year.

Till next week,

Heather and Mike