The Bushman Chronicles!

After chowing down, it was time for the nights entertainment show, courtesy of Mr Otter & Fat B*stard Bird......

this little bird, the size of a golf ball and just as round, was hopping about the driftwood and flying about. Landed on my head a few times and my arm then flew off down the beach a ways.



I was sitting perfectly still, just taking in the view and sounds, when a small otter rambled up the beach right towards me. Almost climbed onto my leg but suddenly realized I was not a log, but a hooman. He retreated a ways and then went around behind me, back down and on his way down the beach. About the size of a small house cat.



stayed on the beach awhile until the sun dropped and it got cold real fast. I packed up, and headed back to the truck thru the darkening forest.


gear shot.


fin.

 

Looks like a Pacific Wren? Cool little birds.

 

Troglodytes pacificus

love the latin name

 

everyone needs one of those Estwing short double bit axes.......AMAZING! I have one slightly obtuse, the other end is racing sharp. Scary lil beast to wield. I hike with it open carry, no sheath. Always in my right hand.

 

OCT 21/2018, sunny, warm, clear skies, "The Shadow Lake Fall Colors Hike, Lunch By The Soo River, Lots Of Mushrooms, Test Out New Gear & Catch A Thief Tour"

tons of pics loading...and one hell of a trip report....especially the end of the day when i got back to the truck , in the pitch black darkness.

Started out late........PipSqueak and Miss Copper house panthers were acting weird all morning and early afternoon, hiding, mewling, peeing in inappropriate places, not eating, panicking and running thru the house in a panicked state, tail fur fully poofed out, etc......... (later attributed it to the three massive earthquakes we had off the Coast).

So i hit the Sea To Sky Highway around 1330 hours.....much later than I wanted to be mobile. But the Fur Kids come first!

Got to Shadow Lake Pemberton BC around 1600 hours. Parked the rig by the trailhead/ gated entrance to the Scout Camp. Little did I know that my chosen parking spot would be to my advantage at the end of the night.

chugged a liter of water, downed some trail mix from the MagPul DAKA feed pouch and donned the L.R.R.P.R. webbing. Disabled the truck and headed down the access road/trail.

all photos shot with iPhone 7, post edit done in Google Photos.

setup for night hiking, Fenix HP15 on the chest and the new Fenix HP30R headlamp with remote battery pack







right off the bat found some mushrooms. Really need to purchase the plastic mushroom ID cards to carry with me.......



the autumn leaves cover the trail and forest floor, the aroma of alder leaves is intensely fragrant

took the shortcut trail to the old trappers cabin. Intense fall colors

love how these two trees are intersecting.

the bark on this douglas fir is over 10" thick

Ye Olde Trappers Cabin - sadly the door is jammed due to sagging......if i want to clean up the little cabin, I will have to knock the door in with a sledge-hammer and trim it short and rehang it. (be a good day trip with the Trekking Cart....can bring more supplies in!

I have to give credit to @Reno Lewis , the dude can sharpen a knife! i knocked down this 10" thick willow tree in no time! credit actually goes to Beaver and Clan



low water levels in the Ox-Bow portion of the river

beaver dam still occupied

gumbo mud

lots of tracks in the mud. Most are dog, a few human, some i'm not sure yet

 

o.k. Bushy, you sure you did not use the Estwing on that willow? Nice pictures!
Where are your ESEE knives?

 

the green Soo River.


kinda like the angles and reflections in this photo

best damn hike/trail/camp/ tool i have ever bought, and bang for the buck too! ($75) and later on the evening it became one hell of an "create fear in a thief" tool

can anyone ID these holes? they alternated up a cougar scratch tree i found, to about 20' up. claw holes?
Beaver decided that the acrid oily taste of a cedar tree was not conducive to his dining habits of birch and alder......lol, Beaver stopped halfway thru and the tree recovered nicely.

killing time waiting for Night to embrace the lands........time for a fire and food. Mega TinderRoll and the RMJ knife to slice it up.

hot fire in no time. Toasted a garlic butter bread loaf I had brought

15 year old aged white cheddar, cut with the RMJ knife into 1/2" thick slabs, with some black pepper salami



Time To Die

the old cedar grove near the trappers cabin


ox-bow , now a slough due to low water levels


Hey dude! good to see BC Brother Sasquatch!


the light was waning and parts of the forest and trail were dark, time for field test of the chest light. Yes that is my full fat belly from eating 3lbs of cheese, charcuterie and 7 grain garlic bread, not to mention a small DAKA Pouch of trail mix..........BUUUUURP!

 

no there was 5 willow and alders trees gnawed on by Beaver. There is 9 beaver dams in the area, the old trapper that built that trappers shelter made a living trapping beavers all up and down this area.

 

Good looking pic!

 

which one? pic link no worky......


more loading....the best is yet to come.

 

That's odd, I can see it fine.
The pic of brush up close, field in the middle, and mountains in the background.

 

This Pic

 

O.k. I see the beaver teeth marks now. I like the fact that the trapper cabin is made of cedar logs. That cabin will be there for a long time. Maybe those are woodpecker holes.

 

Great stuff Bushman,thanks for all the work put into this.Nice looking snacks there!

 

my slightly perturbed look because the Fenix HP30R cable is stiff and jammed up against my neck.



HP30R on HI Flood

HP30R on HI Flood and SPOT

looking into the forest, flood/spot

still light out, but that tunnel of trees was pitch black. Lit up with the HP30R flood and spot on HI

200' douglas fir (this one is a known cougar perch at those lower branches)

flood and spot on HI

flood only (hi)

Night falling, and the temps.......



flooding the access road with light....im damn impressed with the HP30R (aside from the annoying cable)

 

this is where my aft/ night turned from enjoyable to dealing with scum.

I was about 300' feet from the trailhead/ truck. The headlamp was getting HOT (running on both high levels....the die cast body and led chip heatsinks did their job VERY WELL.

I shut off the lights and walked up the mossy road in the 3/4 full moon light. It was quite enjoyable, though the ever presence of big cats and grizzlies was there....

I was 150' from the trailhead and my truck when i heard a vehicle pull onto the gravel off the highway. Then I heard the sound that got me hyperfocused. The sound of my truck (my late Fathers truck, gifted to me) tailgate being opened and dropped down,and the sound of the canopy gate being raised. Two VERY DISTINCTIVE sounds i know VERY WELL, i can wake from a dead sleep in my apt when i hear those sounds out on the street here in east van

I want to say i got angry and yelled at whoever was breaking into my truck and rushed them right then and flipped out on them ...but I did not.

I got calm.

hyperfocused, and calm.

I padded on the mossy roadside to the trailhead, covering that distance in a minute.

still in the woods and shrubs, right by the trail head, I spotted a car , 20 ' from my truck, , engine running, with a driver at the helm, looking at his cellphone. And also spotted a pair of sneaker clad feet protruding from MY truck bed. 2nd dude in the truck bed was trying to pull out my jerry can and jug of $75 motor oil and washer fluid jugs.

Calm. Focused. I stepped from the blackness of the forest and trees and brush, full camo, no head lamp on,silently.

I am tired of thieves. my drivers door is already fubared because of thieves, all my trucks have been broken into hundreds of times.

Had enough.

calm. I scared myself actually at how calm i was.

grabbed dude's ankles (dude in my truck bed) and in one swift motion, yanked him out of my truck bed and slammed him onto the ground. Knocked the wind out of him.

Put my boot on his neck, my knee in his back and pushed down hard. Got up close and personal in his face and asked him what he was doing. He started crying. Snot and hiccups and tears. His buddy in the car was unaware at this point. Buddy on the ground at this point had no idea what was happening, other than a shadow stepped from the darkness and grabbed him.

My voice at this point was loud.......Now i was angry. dude in the car heard it and started yelling "WTF WTF?? whats happening? his buddy was not answering, because i had literally terrified the **** out of him.

Slammed my ax into the ground beside buddies head and spoke to him calmly . Told him the next time he steals from someone, that someone may not be as nice as me.

This is where he pissed himself. He looked down at his pants and cried i just pissed myself....wtf man.....

I hauled him up and kicked him towards his buddies car.

he fell and pissed more and then he waddled on in full piss covered jeans to his buddies car, (who was now totally freaking out). They left.



I got in my truck and went home.

no point calling police here......NOTHING will done.

 

Simply awesome

 

Love it!
Two thumbs up!

 

You handled that well,great pics and story,Would be a nice short film,Bushman ruffs up the parking lot punks!

 

I was pissed mad dude...........had enough of the thieves. I did kind rough up the young man but not in a criminal or violent way.....just made him VERY AWARE of the people he might run into

Sadly here in BC , rural property crime is at INSANE levels.

not going to let that BS deter me from my activities.

this weekend is the TREKKING CART shakedown test! I plan to head up to Shadow Lake and haul the cart and some building supplies and tools to the venerable trappers cabin at Shadow Lake....fix the door, clean up the cabin, maybe even bring along a special guest - Miss Copper Kitty! she is almost 6 years old, built like a freaking TANK and one hell of a sadistic & lethal mouse/rat killer. I would bring PipSqueak, but he is young, inexperienced and a little panicky when outside the apt.


Custom placard for the truck. Working on contacting the Scout Troops so i can get a gate key and drive in (and supply the Scout Camp with firewood)