Jim,
here is the rest of the story.
My better half ( Sheila) and I are resting from a most tremendous trip. First it has to
be understood that Sheila had planned this trip for my birthday for a
long time ahead. I, the innocent one did not know of her devious
plans.....:=)
She knew that I love outdoors and flyfishing, so she chartered a
Beaver (seaplane), and the trip goes as follows:
Thursday she at last has to tell me that we are going fishing and
camping. We pack all the essentials, and head for Vancouver. We
arrive Vancouver at 11:30 pm and Check into ( not our usual
place,it was full ) the remodeled Biltmore on Kingsway and 12th.
We wake up early too get to the seaport at the foot of Burrard
(downtown). We are supposed to leave at 10:00 am and arrive in
ample time to learn that it's too cloudy this morning to take off . After
a short chat with our pilot, we are advised to keep an eye on the
weather, and if it clears up a little we can take off.
Hence Sheila and I proceed to tour our favorite city. After a couple
of hours we are ready for takeoff. We have a very pleasant pilot,
who has a lot of knowledge of the area we are heading for. All
loaded we head out and take off over Lion's gate bridge and all is
wonderfull. Sheila and I are really enjoing this beginning of the
flight.Suddenly the pilot turns around and calmly saying " we have to
turn around, I have some engine problems " I look out the window,
and notice we are over the coast of Bowen Island. We all try too
look like this is no problem and we head back to Vancouver.
The trip back was low over Stanley Park ( which was a treat for us
both ) and we landed with no problem.
Told to wait for about half an hour, til they had dried out one of the
"magnetos ".
We wait and no luck. So they then offered to take us to their
competition next door, and sure enough they had a Beaver we
could charter for the same price. ( I still don't know how much this
cost and don't want to....:=)..)
Everything gets reloaded onto the other plane and unfortunately we
say farwell to our favorite Pilot.
This new pilot is not much of a talker and not willing to share that extra
" smile ".
The trip to the lake takes us up to Sechelt and then we head east
towards Klowhom lake.
We arrive at this beutifull place with a waterfall and a nice little
beach. The lake is crystal clear, and the waterfall is a sight for sore
eyes. In short we were at our perfect place.
Unloaded and an uncerimonious farwell to the pilot. We were now
alone with nature and all the wild animals be it bears or little
creatures going "scratch " in the night.
Tent set up, and a leanto by the newly started fire we were set for a
weekend to be remembered.
This first day was perfect with sunset and a starry night.
Woke up the next morning, it was partly cloudy and we made a nice
breakfast ( from freezedried bags ).....:=)
Amazing what they put in these bags these days. This " stuff"was
given to us by two older ladys we have done remodelling for. They
both are very fond of us.
Well after breakfast we set off on some exploring. We tried to follow
the water fall all the way to the source. We walked for about four
miles, and did not find this source, but encountered fresh bear turds
and lots of different birds and animals. We were in heaven. Only us
and nature, no worries abut daily " work etc ". Arrived back in our
camp about 4 hours later to find the fish jumping all over. We got
the rods out and had a wonderfull time catching fish.
Fish for dinner and feeling content we entered the realm of night.
The next day ( Sunday ) we woke up to heavy rain and low clouds.
I managed to start a fire ( and it became very decent fire after a
while, considering the rain. We fought drips coming from the not so
waterproof tarp and endless smoke from the fire endlessly following
you where ever you sat. Now of course you don't smell this smoke
after a while, but as we found out, the smoke would stay with us and
all our camping gear for days to come.Wake up in the morning
smelling and tasting the smoke from the fire several days
later.Ahhhhh how we love camping and the trials of enduring out in
the wild.
Back to story/experience at hand....:=)
That rainfilled morning also gave us a surprise as to the lake and
the waterfall. The lakeshore, at the start of this trip was about
7meters from our firepit. Now it was challenging the actuall raging
fire it self. Licking at the edge of the stones making the pit.
The waterfall ( which we had walked on/close to ) the preveous day
was now a raging white water in "FURY" and not only running in the
single trac as usual, but had now split in two and seperating us from
the mainland. In other words we were cought by a rising lake and
waterfall in rage.
Now the clouds were low and the Beaver was supposed to pick us
up at 4 pm.
At three pm, we had all packed, but in doubt if the pilot would be
able to land.
Now, you have to also know that our sleeping bag, and most of the
cloths we had were soaked. Due to a leaking tent and tarp. Well we
were a little nervous now. Lake still rising and the waterfall getting
even bigger.
4 pm and still no plane....................We are getting nervous but
keeping up the spirit and what wonderfull time we have had so
far......:=)
4:10 pm Yahoooooooooooo.....plane coming in low under the
clouds like a majestic bird. Ahhhh we were so relieved....started
laughing and smiling to each other, joy there was.
Loaded up, said our farewell in silence as we now left this exciting
place.
A trip to remember, and a reliefe from daily life in the city.
Well Jim,
hope this was not too long.....:=)
Jon Sveen |
