Spring moves along...

Before I start a little apology for the poor quality pictures: My real camera got wet during a ski trip in 2007 and died a slow months long death afterward. Given that I had quit work to go back to school I decided not to buy a replacement until I finished my masters and had an income again. For now I'm just using a phone cam!!

I went for a quick walk along the local creek today just to see how spring is coming along in the forest. It's been raining again and the creek itself is well swollen and running much higher than summer levels, but it should be even higher still when the spring runoff from the mountains really kicks in.

The neat thing about this creek is that it stays cool all summer long AND I've actually seen salmon fry in it! Because there are so many salmon species on the west coast, and I'm not entirely familiar with them all I'm not sure what kind of salmon fry I was looking at, but they had clear Parr marks. With a little more reading and research I should be able to figure out just what they are this summer after water levels fall.

It was nice to see that there were quite a few budding trees along the trail. Apparently the flowers and trees here, at just 130 metres in elevation, are about 3 weeks behind those just down the hill at sea level.

With all the rain and wet, soggy weather it's interesting to think of how one could go about lighting a fire if you were wet and cold, or just wanted one for cooking or a little cheer. At first glance it may seem impossible, everything is just so wet. But the inside of dead wood, well off the ground is quite dry and ready to burn.

With a knife this wood can be split into smaller pieces which burn much hotter and faster than larger chunks. The dry wood can also be shaved with a knife to produce fuzz sticks which easily light with a match, or I am told, by a spark if you get the shavings fine enough. I've never lit fuzz sticks with a spark and I imagine it takes a lot of practice. I've always used finer tinder when igniting with a spark; the kind of tinder which, when collected on a day like today would seem to be completely useless because it is so wet! Closer inspection pays off however, as bone dry cedar bark can be found on some trees. The cedar in the picture below was soaking wet on one side but dry on the other.




Cedar bark can be pulled of and pounded with a stick or a rock until it becomes a mass of fine fibres which catch a spark well and produce a flame. I've had mixed results though! Sometimes when you pound the bark it just turns into a fine powdery mess, which doesn't seem to work at all! I'm not yet sure why this would happen, but I suspect that it has something to do with the species of cedar used. In any case, dry tinder can usually be found if you can look long and/or hard enough. Bark from cedar or birch trees I find can often be found and used to produce tinder even in very wet conditions. Still, the best option is to bring along tinder that you've prepared ahead of time!!!

Next time I'll be heading down to the river where I can actually practice some fire lighting skills without alarming other trail users or local homeowners! On the other hand, there's a decent chance of actually encountering a bear...

Afternoon at the Lake/Primitive Fish hook

Finally a nice sunny day! We've had generally grey, cloudy, drizzly weather here for the past couple of weeks with only the occasional sunny break, so I've dedicated most of my time to finding employment...on a side note, don't EVER finish a master's degree at the same time a recession hits!!! Given that it was such a gorgeous day, and being Saturday, there was no chance for me to work the phone or email, I decided to head up to Rice Lake to see how things were looking. I figured it would be a good way to escape the city for an afternoon and I also hoped that I might just catch a hatch coming off the lake given the warm temperatures and bright sunshine. I'm very eager to start collecting and identifying western aquatic insects and setting them out on a hatch timeline. Having an intimate familiarity with the phenology of aquatic insects makes actually catching fish while fly fishing INFINITELY easier!

As I made my way from the bus stop up to the lake I found I was quickly overheating. I had on three layers of wool, and given the warm spring sunshine it was just too much. I removed my jacket and sweater and walked the rest of the way with just a woolen base layer. It was fantastic! It really felt like spring! When I made it to the forest I could see patches of snow and the temperature dropped quite a bit under the canopy of giant fir and cedar trees. Still, given my brisk pace is wasn't altogether unpleasant.

When I got to the lake however any thoughts I had of rising swarms of mayflies or caddis quickly disappeared... it was entirely frozen, and people were ice fishing!!! Of course, being coastal BC people (and of the city kind at that!) they had NO IDEA how to ice fish, but I'm not going to get into that.


Unfortunately there were swarms of squawking city people, and gangs of gagling teenage girls around so the whole experience ended up being a fairly far cry from the peaceful enjoyment of nature I had envisioned.

They seem to think that nature is quite beautiful, and for that I commend them, but they are very obnoxious in their enjoyment. Apparently it's fairly rare for the lake to freeze over entirely, and perhaps that explains the rather foolish and even downright stupid behaviour I witnessed. Everyone it seems had to find the largest rock they could carry from the forest, and throw it onto the lake's frozen surface. Apparently simply seeing that the lake was frozen wasn't enough, and it's true state could only be ascertained via destructive testing methodologies (ie throw a heavy rock at it!). And while skepticism over the lake's solidified surface followed by testing to confirm the results of a visual inspection may be reasonable to some, it seems entirely UNREASONABLE (to me anyway) to stand on the ice and jump repeatedly up and down in one spot merely to conclude that yes...it's ice.

Doing my best to ignore the antics of the other people, I decided that it was just too nice out to head home right away and to do some wood carving. Given the location, and my thoughts already being on fishing, I figured why not carve a primitive fish hook? Now anyone familiar with Ray Mears will know what I am talking about. You take a stick and whittle away until you get sort of a check mark shaped thing. Then, using spruce roots or other cordage you can affix a sharp piece of bone to your hook to act a a barb. Problem is, every time I've ever seen Mr. Mears carve one of these, the hook ends up being HUGE!!!! Oh sure, it'll work for pike, but if you're fishing for trout finesse is the key. The hook must be very, very small indeed. No self respecting trout would ever find itself on one of Ray's carven hooks! Quite frankly, as a long time angler, his hawthorn fish hook seems much more convincing to me. Still, the idea looks fine in principle, and I wonder if it could be scaled down a bunch to work with trout.

First I found a suitable branch (fir of course, probably the most abundant tree around here) and set to work carving.

After about 1/2 hour of additional whittling...


I had something which I was fairly happy with.

It's still too big in my opinion, but I thought it better to leave a little extra on it and finish the carving once the wood has had a chance to dry out.

Now it seems clear to me that using a hook like this will require a significantly different technique from what I'm used to. Luckily, the technique I have in mind to test the effectiveness of the hook should complement my fly fishing nicely. During the early and late season, when surface water temperatures of the lake are below 18C trout can be readily caught on the fly in the upper layers of the water column. As the temperature rises in mid summer the upper layers, and especially the surface layer become too hot for trout (I've measured rice lake surface water at 24C) so they hunker down near the bottom of the lake where the water is nice and cool. So once July/august hits, and fishing switches over to cool, spring fed rivers, I'll test my hook at Rice lake when catching anything on a fly there is a stretch. My plan is to use a weight to make the hook sink to near the bottom. The hook will be attached to the weight with about a 18~24" length of line. Being wood, the hook should naturally want to float thus keeping it a few inches of the bottom, and well within the trout's feeding zone. Properly baited, and with a little patience and luck I'm hoping this thing will actually catch a fish!

Spoon Carving

So we had a bright sunny day not too long ago, and I, unencumbered by the daily grind of a job/career, decided to take a "day off" and work on my wood carving skills. And just what did I choose to carve? Why a spoon of course!!! How original...

Well, it may not be the the most fantastic and original of carving projects, but it is useful and gives you a great opportunity to develop familiarity with several different knife/carving techniques and MOST importantly practice knife safety. Not to mention that obtaining the raw materials (aka: a piece of wood) is a great excuse to go for a walk in the forest ;)

So fist things first: I had to find a good piece of wood. I brought along a small folding saw to help make the task a little easier.


After an enjoyable 1/2 hour hike down some local trails I found a spot where someone had cut down a few fir trees that had grown to close to the trail. I hope fir has no toxic qualities that'll ruin the taste of food! I found a nice straight piece of wood with few branches and set to work cutting off a piece about 12" long. A lot of people seem to insist on picking a piece of wood with a natural curve to it. Given the amount of material that is removed from the piece of wood when carving I don't think that this is strictly necessary. The curvature can be built into the spoon with a little judicious carving. Admittedly this probably leads to a weaker spoon, but frankly I've never had a problem or noticed a difference!

After harvesting the piece of wood I set about squaring (or more precisely rectangling!) it off before I moved on to the actual carving.



A nice fixed blade knife really helps out here. Used with a baton you can really slice off significant portions of wood! Once I had obtained a long, rectilinear shape I was able to set about actually carving the spoon. Sitting on large felled tree, soaking up the warm March sunshine I enjoyed the task as the afternoon quickly went by. I didn't look at my watch since I was just enjoying the time, but I probably spent about two hours there working out the rough shape. A SHARP knife really helps out here. I like to keep mine sharp using a whetstone and a leather strop with some abrasive buffing compound. You can learn pretty much all you need to know about basic knife sharpening from Mors Kochanski's book "Northern Buschcraft". Old Jimbo has a few articles on his site detailing "Cheap" sharpening techniques that work quite well also. Most importantly though make sure you always carve AWAY from yourself (with the exception of a draw stroke...but that's another subject!). Everyone always talks about how a sharp knife is a safe knife. Well, I'm here to tell you from personal experience that NO knife is safe if you use it mindlessly. Even when you think your body parts are well out of range they may not be... and you could end up awfully sorry you didn't go slower and put more thought into it! Learn as much as you can about how to handle a knife safely! It only takes a second to cut yourself very badly.

The spoon I had in mind was more of a large cooking spoon than something that would be used as part of a personal camp cutlery set. The nice thing about carving this way is that it is all instinctual. There are no set plans or designs, you just do what feels natural. And sometimes you have to make adaptations to suit the grain of the wood. In the end you have something truly unique. So after a couple of hours of carving away I ended up with the rough shape.



I was quite happy with what I had so far, and given that it was getting on in the day I decided to head home. I've since worked on the spoon a little more, rounding out the bowl, sliming the shaft and just generally getting really satisfied with it. I'll post a few pictures soon. Now I just have to get a hook knife to carve out the interior of the bowl, sand the whole thing smooth, and apply a finish of walnut oil. I'll post an update with the finished item as soon as it's done!

Mason & Cousteau

Canada's national film board has put together a library of some very impressive films over the years, many of which deal with the natural beauty of Canada. I am unaware of a similar organization in the states, but I would be interested in hearing about it if there is one; the US is full of beautiful areas too!

I came across the following two films on the NFB website recently, both of which I enjoyed immensely. Of course the first film is no stranger to the canoeing crowd; it's Bill Mason's magnum opus WATERWALKER. A truly great film that really does capture the beauty and joy of time spent outdoors in the more wild and natural parts of Canada. The second film is by Jacques Cousteau, and it documents a voyage on his famous ship Calypso up the St. Laurence to the headwaters of the great lakes in Lake Superior. Again another beautiful film. For me, having lived for years in both Northwestern Ontario as well as Quebec, these films were very close to home and actually provoked a sense of "I miss that!"

There are quite a few other great films on the NFB website dealing with the outdoors and such, including some called "aboriginal perspectives" that were filmed among native Canadians, often 50 or more years ago. It's both interesting and educational to see some of their outdoor skills being put to use. There's also a film made in the 50's called "Survival in the Bush" which, believe me, is not to be missed...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these films as much as I did!

Le Festival du Bois!

So we went to Le Festival du Bois de Maillardville yesterday and had a really great time. It was a gorgeous day and we even got some snow around 4:30. As a born and bread easterner it certainly was a little heartwarming to see some snow on the west coast!

The festival was a lot of fun. A lot of traditional Quebec fare and music. Crepes, saussices, oeux, sirop d'erable, tourtieres, feves aux lards, etc... even tarte au sucre!!! You realize just how rich the old natural resources/forestry based Canadian culture can be.

We had a really great time listening and dancing to the traditional music. La Bottine Souriante played on Saturday night, and we were disapointed to miss their show, but Sunday more than made up for it when we saw De Temps Antan. Really, REALLY fantastic in concert. I'll post a link below.

My only suggestion would be that they incorporate some kind of timber sports demonstration. It would be a great crowd pleaser, and after all, the whole point of the festival is to celebrate the forestry based culture of the francophone village of Maillardville. If you've ever seen pro timber sports in action you'd understand. It's quite a show, and some (though certainly not all!) of these guys are real athletes. Some workshops with word carving would be pretty neat as well.

One thing that caught my eye, and that I'd certainly enjoy participating in, is the Destination Maillardville canoe trip happening on July 12. You sign up to paddle voyageur canoes from Fort Langley down the Fraser river to Maillardville. For the last section you have to portage the canoe through town to a park. I think it would be an absolute riot! They're supposed to be dressed up like voyageurs and singing voyageur songs the whole way...really cool. 'cept I think the voyageurs didn't come further west than the rockies, and it was mostly HBC that opened up this area to european settlement. Could be wrong though!

Anyway, so here they are: De Temps Antan! (you have to skip forward to about 1 min to get to the music)



Enjoy!

Welcome!

Another blog...

This is a temporary location for my blog until I get my Wordpress server and blog set up. But it'll be another little while yet before that is done!

And what is this blog about? Well, mostly about my interests outside of my professional career. I'll be focusing a lot on outdoors trips including fly fishing, canoeing, camping, alpine hiking & Skiing and maybe a little sailing. I'll also be focusing on bushcraft skills and experiences, from making tools and equipment to plant identification and uses. Finally I'll devote quite a bit of space to my efforts of trying to limit my impact on the natural world while still enjoying life!

So there it is, another blog. Welcome to Le Sentier Vers...