The Bushman Chronicles!

Takes half an hour to scroll thru the pics...but dang worth it! Awesome awesomenes.

 

Nice write up and very good pictures. Do you set the canteen cut down right on the round top that stove? Looks like brand new tin on the shelter.

 

^ nope, hold the canteen cup about 2" above the SAS MKettle chimney hole, boils quite fast

 

Thank you Bushman,really enjoyed the pics and write up!

 

Nice write up, that's a full day for sure!!

 

gonna do it again once the mountains are covered in snow. Going to load a metal box, some lag bolts, emergency supplies etc onto my UHMW cargo pulk i built and haul it up there. Depending on the snow packlevels....there is a VERY good chance i can get a snowmobile up the OLD trail. Might cost me about $300 - 500 bucks to get a buddy to do it but we could be up there with supplies in about 1 hour........compared to 8 walking

 

Oct 7/18, rainy, cloudy "The MoleMan, Cliff Shack, Hunt For Seal October (Starring Sean Orca), Look For A Old Cabin Tour"

After poring over several Goverment Of BC topo maps, I headed out to the Porteau area again to look for a old building that was marked on the map. I had Govt Of BC Survey Coordinates for the symbol on the web map and printed map.

Never trust a government map......

the creek beside my Arrow is Khallanie Creek (it runs from Lost Lake 3800' up the mountain (where the Lost Lake Shelter I went to is) to the ocean (Howe Sound)

the symbol is identified on the govt website as a "building". The one next to it is the CareTakers Cabin for Porteau Provincial Park a klick up the Coastline. While the symbol is correct.....the creek is in the wrong location. The symbol on the map is not another undiscovered cabin in the forest, it actually marks the location of the boys camp i found a few weekends ago. The orange line is a BC Hydro service road. I added a dark blue line indicating the direction the creek ACTUALLY flows....



Anyways...I found that Govt BC map was incorrect after bushwacking all day looking for what i thought was a second old cabin.


Raining heavy, I put on the L.R.R.P.R. webbing and my auto spray waxed soft shell jacket (held up pretty good to the torrents). Hiked down the trail i took a few weeks ago when i doubled back on the two druggies that followed me. At that time I had spotted a very faint trail leading to a cliff, that i have been wanting to check out, before i headed South East of the creek to find the old building.

someone left a travois cart.....rather ingenious design......



the old trail I went up three or so weeks ago.


after several minutes of walking, the trail opened up. I spotted a shack overlooking the ocean. Bear Spray safety off, Estwing tac axe in hand but concealed, i approached and shouted out "anybody home? Hello? "

nothing. no one around.





hell of a view and the shack, while very ramshackle, is dry inside. I will definitely be coming here to have an overnighter soon, preferably in the dead of winter. I plan to clean up the shack, get rid of all the old tarps and blankets and nail the abundant tin sheets to the roof for waterproofing, as well as make it blend into the cliffs more, possibly with a spray paint camo job.

nice firepit and recliner overlooking the ocean


outgoing ship from the docks at Squamish BC



all along the coast where i have explored here....I have noticed old powerline poles wedged into the trees. These used to have the old style glass insulators screwed onto them.



I left the Cliff Shack and continued to head SE, to find the old building on the SE side of the creek.

Along the way i found this little mole actively working the forest floor in search of worms. He was slaying them left right and center. Little dude had a butt the size of a golf ball.....LOL .

I thought a few times of bringing my two big House Panthers a free range organically raised live treat, but I just let MoleMan be.



video

 

Khallanie Creek, despite the heavy rains of late, is very low......(unlike the major blowout several weeks ago)




an area past where i have explored before.....I found a beautiful little canyon and waterfall.






also found a very old cable bridge strung between 4 douglas firs. 1" cable and heavy duty clamps.


the cables are most likely part of the boys camp aerial cable course ...the cables over on that side of the mountain are constricted similarly to these by the growing trees.


stand on the bottom cable, hold onto the two upper cables. 100+ feet above the small gorge, and about 75 - 90' across


more

 

REALLY wanted to cross that cable bridge, it 99.9999% would have been fine, but my OverWatch Angels (both Reno Lewis and my own brain) said ya no....not today.....(one of the cables was abraded by the other, and had strands broken. Not enough to pose an issue but i would rather string my own overhead safety line and fall arrest webbing than trust old cables)

Headed back up the creek to the shallows and walked thru the creek to the other side....still looking for that building......

but thanks to idiot bumbling BC Govt bureaucrats , I was holding a bad map and coordinates.

I spent hours bushwacking between Khallanie Creek and Bertram Creek, looking for that building on the map.....a total of 4 km's back and forth in a grid pattern. No old building.

nope.

just forest



I was almost about to throw the towel in and go for a hike somewhere else......but i noticed a single orange flagging tape marker near Bertram Creek , by the cliffs over the ocean. Boy am i glad I kept going.



you can see a 6' wide old path (between the trees on the left) leading to the ocean, that is the canoe put in where First nations youth would paddle from, over to Anvil Island. Its also one of few accessible access points for me to go fishing. (future trip)




Did not find the building, but instead majestic views and a solo Orca simply floating in Howe sound.......one fin above the water for hours. I figured the Orca had fed heavily on the mega salmon run here......and was simply full and digesting . Did not move for hours.......

eventually I saw why......there was a big seal trapped in the bay....because the bay was guarded by a massive Orca. It was very slowly tacking back and forth on the surface, surfacing and looking at the Orca....then diving and emerging 100's of feet further. Yet the Orca was also going back and forth....blocking the seal from leaving the bay. I sensed that seal was slowly getting exhausted. Yet the Orca was the perfect Hunter-Killer. Just waiting.

I wanted so bad to see the Orca hunt and kill....but many hours passed and the standoff continued.

 

all that bushwacking made me hungry. I dined in style with half a jalapeño cheese baguette, a round of double smoked Gouda cheese, half a big pepper salami and some smoked herring with cracked black pepper.


I always take cheeses with hard wax coatings on them into the woods. Firestarter, thread lube, gear lube, zipper lube, knife coating, boot coating, melting onto slivers and letting it harden then pull the slivers out, endless uses.


SAS-MKettle set up and boiling away, though you can;t tell. Silent,invisible flame . Exotac lighter, Cold Steel Colossus and a mini MSR fuel bottle for the methyl hydrate fuel i use.

Anvil Island on the left,about 3KM away. The First Nations used to send their youth over there in longboats that they had made prior, and they had to climb to the peak and light a fire, as a rite of passage. I found out last night that the very bluff im standing on is where the Elders would sit with their own fire and wait for their youth. There is a path down to the water and an old canoe put in spot,well worn form hundreds of years of use.


outstanding knife for food prep


1/4lber!

ate till I was about to burst then headed out. Fatwood stumps dot the area.


new pouch on the L.R.R.P.R. webbing , mounted on the back of the shoulder harness. Mesh slot inside, fits the small DAKA pouch perfectly, and there are 4 stretch webbing slots on the inside for organizing gear. I put frequently used items in here, hat, wool mittens, etc. Two velcro highly reflective & luminescent (GITD) patches plus an Esee UK patch on the velcro field.



just one of the small MagPul DAKA pouches. This one holds all my signaling and lighting gear in one tough protected package. I wish i could get my entire L.R.R.P.R. rig made out of this material, everything laser cut and sonically welded. Although I have a hunch it would cost about $1500 - 2000 to do so....lol

 

while bushwhacking out i found this large fallen down old cedar, hollow inside, big enough for one man. Needs to cleared out and boughs laid in to lie on, and some roof logs put on lean to style, but it would be very dry and cozy, esp with a fire beside it.




went UNDER Hwy99 thru the two large long culverts. About 300' total. I could drive my Tracker thru here no prob.

The insides are shotcretted with about 6" of concrete and mesh, this is a "wear" coating...protects the culvert from wearing out from all the boulders and gravels that thunder thru during freshets.

crystal clear cold tasty mountain water.


if it was a hot summer day, I would gladly sit in the pool here.


thats it.

 

Very nice bushy! How do you like that colossus?

 

LOVE IT! i'm a huge fan of big leaf blades. (tall blades) . You can really choke up on the blade for delicate cutting (skinning would be one such use - but i have not had a chance for that yet). It excels at food prep, as well as spreading butter, jams, peanut butter , spreads etc. Not bad for fire prep or notching. Multiple grip positions on the handle, and I have always like the Triad Lock

the steel is that fancy Carpenter XTS or sumtin, i dont notice any difference....lol



I feel it was overpriced at $400 CDN, but i got it on sale for $179 cdn so it took (some) of the $$ sting out.

I would LOVE to see Cold Steel do a FIXED blade version of this, full tang, bolt on micarta slabs instead of machined G10

@Klynesquatch you want to play with it for a bit? I can mail it to you. Feel free to sharpen it better than i can...lol

 

Nice post Bushy! like the way you put food and gear in this one.

 

Sunday Oct 14th/2018, clear, sunny, cool temps , "The Track A Bear, Find More Settlement Foundations, Entertainment Show By Mr Otter & Fat Bastard Bird, Dinner By The Ocean Tour"

With the fall weather the leaves are dropping fast, this is prime time for me to explore........you can see so much more in the forest with the underbrush leaves gone.

I revisited the stone wall settlement I found a few weeks ago near Porteau Cove. My research indicates that this was a very small town owned by the John Deeks Sand & Gravel Co. Ltd. - Deeks McBride Ltd, according to City Of New Westminster Archival Records. 1878 thru the 1970's. (that's pretty recent!)

Although I was quite thorough in my explorations a few weeks ago, one never really finds everything unless you spend TIME really exploring deep into the forest.

The fall is prime time for that.....all the leaves of the underbrush drop and the forest it opens up visually. Love the colors of the silver maples up here




blue skies, sunshine, and a portal to another world.







But first......new shiny! (Thanks to @Reno Lewis ) I bought his new , unused, freshly stropped, scary sharp RMJ UTSIDIHI (Cherokee for "ManKiller") fixed blade. What a joy this little knife is.



Needed to fill the canteens. The usual creek was dry. Last weekend it had water, today just a small crystal clear reserve behind a huge boulder.



filled my canteens, treated the water and secured the buckles on the webbing. Noticed very fresh bear tracks in the sand/gravel , on the logs that dot the creek bed. From the direction, i figured it drank where I refilled my canteens, then headed downstream down the dry creek bed. (on that topic...its interesting.....the waterfall and small canyon i found last weekend, were still roaring with water....so there is an underground creek under the main sometimes roaring, sometimes dry creek bed)

very freshly disturbed rotting log.






found two sets of tracks here...both deer and bear


wish someone would make software to highlight track photos.....

leaving the creek bed i entered the dry forest......no chance in hell of walking silently in dry leaves and bone dry twigs...though i tried my best at stalkign silently.


yeah, gave that up. Was averaging 1 meter every ten minutes trying to stay silent.

crashed thru the forest like I was hell bent on getting a bucket of hot fresh fried chicken and a flat of cold beer. With VIGOR & DETERMINATION!


lots of bone dry standing firewood on the bluffs



got to the little shelter overlooking Howe Sound.

man this view never gets old.


spotted a good shelter spot up the sound (zoomed in) just behind the second set of trees on the right. Hidden, wind protected and somewhat flat. But you need a damn rope and harness to access it. (although the rail tracks are above it......hmm......... )

 

sat by the fire ring of the bluff shelter, looking at the ocean and enjoying the warmth of the late fall sun.

gear shot (MagPul small suppressor pouch (firekit) RMJ blade, and canteen)





'nuther MagPul pouch (small) filled with GORP. I literally punted this full pouch with my boot into the air and it crashed down onto the rocks.....zero scuffs, or damage.



sharp knife = sharp punji sticks......



blood sucking pure flying evil.............



RMJ knife and ESTWING ax. Perfect combo



left the cliff shack area and headed north towards the forest before the rock wall / boys camp area.



lol.....guess I ruffled some feathers with the woods drug lab folk..........my constant presence and harassment seems to have struck a nerve........found "No Trespassing" signs everywhere.......some were posted on broken old pallets by the entrance, some were on trees - NONE had the required name and contact info as per the BC Trespass Act.....and none were posted professionally, they were kind of haphazardly stuck to whatever the person could find. I tore them all down.

called a buddy who works for the land development company that owns all this site , he said none of his crew posted any signs. Said his Security patrol has not even been up there in like 5 years.....

called the local powerline contract security guy i know, told him about the signs....."not me" he said, "but thanks for the info.....i'll file a report"



checked out the dead end where i found the drug lab remnants......strangely........all the buckets and rubbermaid tubs were gone.

I left that spot and hacked my way thru a thicket and then got into the forest proper. Middle of the woods found an old logging landing , the road long overgrown but the landing untouched with growth. This landing is between the drug lab camp and the old stone wall boys camp , well up the cliff.



kept exploring the forest above the old boys camp and then descended. Noted a rope on the cliffs, broken off half way.

 

with the onset of fall, and all the leaves dropping, i found even more of the old settlement, the entire slope had been terraced and rock walled



found a trail heading up the front of the cliff face, south east of the settlement.

 

great views. Also spotted a SUP dude. (stand up paddleboard)



after hiking up the trail and taking in the views, i headed back down made my way to the beach to cook some grub. Found some remnants of old buildings and stoves, chimney and an old rubber ball. Still bouncy.





Down at the beach I set up the MKettle and boiled some water. Had some smoky rice and beans, mixed with dehydrated veggie soup. Great combo.




I don;t like using twigs in my little SAS MKettle boiler...i prefer the silent and smoke/odor free methyl hydrate. But the no see ums were swarming so a little smudge was in order.


seal swimming past

 

We really need to produce a video for you.

All these photos in a single frame, transitioning in interesting ways, with you narrating ...
and an appropriate sound track, of course.