Bird of the Day
Pectoral Sandpiper
Early morning
It was cloudy again. No flights on the agenda yet.
We started the day by heading out from our little cabin and birding on the nearby trail. It was promising to see vireos, sparrows, juncos and warblers. Bill consulted with Dave who is also a birder and a photographer.
As we would soon get accustomed to, breakfast was at promptly at 8am. Early morning coffee drinkers could make instant coffee once the large pot of water was boiling. Today Karen tried to make some real coffee from a bag of OLD coffee found in a cupboard but it was soon rejected in favour of Alex's instant Starbucks. Breakfast was always instant oatmeal packs. Luckily Barbara (who dislikes oatmeal even though she has Scottish background) got special treatment with a bowl of granola. Thanks, Alex!
Adventures
Since we had some time to put in, our whole group decided to hike over to the little lake. Good to see some more birds, starting with a very cooperative pectoral sandpiper at the shoreline. A few water birds greeted us, including a Common and Red-throated Loon. Barbara found an ice cream rock.
We headed back to our Sparks base. The two Barbaras and Lucy industriously filled up some garbage bags with the loose litter lying around the camp.
We enjoyed our lunch which would always be the same - firm wasa crackers, tinned toppings such as tuna, salmon, oysters, herring, sardines plus very popular peanut butter and Saskatoon berry jam, as well as mixed nuts and chocolate bars. After lunch Bill paddled out past planes to try fishing but was quickly called back as Bob had decided we would try flying us to our camp. We quickly packed our bags and cleaned the cabin. We lifted off at 3:20pm.
This time we made it! It just took an hour to reach our first campsite on a creek. It was a beautiful pristine site with a sandy beach. We unloaded the planes and the pilots quickly refueled and headed for home. It was August 28 and we would be on our own until we got picked up again on September 6.
Alex gave us precise instructions on how to erect our Sierra Design tents, so soon we were busy setting up camp - ours was tent #4: 12 large pegs and 12 small pegs for each tent. On an exploratory hike, we found our first cariboo antlers.
As we would soon get used to, Alex prepared fresh hot bannock (yum!) ready at 6 and served on moss on the ground. Dinner was at 6:30. Dinner was soup and a ``casserole`` including spiced sauces, dried meat, pasta with parmesan cheese, always prepared on his two burner propane stove. The stove was on the ground, protected from the wind and weather by his tipped up canoe. Interestingly he always used a favourite long stick to stir the two pots. We each had a melmac cup (``remember your colour``) and used melmac bowls and a large spoon (our only cutlery). As well, we all soon learned to rinse our dishes in the lake and to leave them in a spot for Alex`s ``hot wash`` later.
Barbara found a young family of Mergansers nearby.
We watched the sun set and tucked into our tents, ready to begin our canoeing journey after two days of waiting.
Landscape
Wildlife
Highlights
a day
