Woke to another perfect day this morning. With 4 inches of fresh powder and the forecast calling for snow most of the day, I just had to take off and do some exploring. Temps were -9 when i hit the road. I was planning on looking for a coyote on a nearby trail, but decided to head north a little bit to an area I had explored a little last year. The plan was to use the trail for 2 km, then bushwhack a litltle down a creek system to see what I could find.
8:30 saw me at the trailhead. There was a faint snowmobile track down the trail, but no other sign of activity. I grabbed my rifle, strapped on the shoes and headed out!
1 km down the trail you reach a nice hill leading down to the creek system. This is as far as I headed last year....this hill is going to be a major pain in the butt on the way out....hard to tell from this pic but she goes down....way down..
Once down in the valley, the tree's give way to pockets of open area....it would be tough to navigate through here in the summer but winter gives one the opportunity to travel virtually anywhere.
A better view of where i came from. You can see the thick stand of spruce in the background. It's in that stand of spruce that I spent days trying to call a coyote last year....
On and on I go. I resolved myself to follow the snowmobile trail, thinking whoever might have been here was heading somewhere.....let's find out!
As I reach the treeline again, I notice a fresh blaze...I wonder why this would be blazed? In the spirit of exploring I had left my maps and GPS in the truck....guess I'll have to follow the blazes to see where they lead.....
I spent 20 minutes lining up blazes and trying to follow the faint snowmobile trail. Moving in and out of the trees was interesting with lots of Moose tracks crossing the trail. Could this be a local trapline?
Back out to the open areas again. The wind had picked up by now and actually helped keep me cool...with the warm temps I was having a hard time keeping cool.....guess my ECW Wool Blanket shirt was doing it's job
As I hit the trees again I noticed a small trail leading into the thick stuff. Again there was a faint snowmobile trail so i had to investigate to see where it would take me...
Only a few minutes in, I was rewarded with a well constructed Moose stand....i'll be coming back to this stand in the fall!
After a quick snack at the stand I continued down the small trail. It's pretty thick in there and may be difficult to access in the summer...but I'll try.
.....more blazes. These ones are old! Perhaps there's an old mining claim down here..?
Voila! Just past the last blaze I come out to a river. I love paddling small rivers and creeks.....no wind to deal with and I find the forest comes alive when you get into these isolated systems.....i'll be back here in the summer. Fresh snowmobile tracks on the ice...I can't wait to check my maps when i get back to see what river this is!
The pup was starting to get tired so it looks like that's enough exploring for the day. Back to the narrow trail, it took about an hour to get back to that darn hill.....the last KM is uphill all the way....The legs were burning after this one!
Back home, I now know exactly where i was, and what river I ended up at. No doubt about it...i'll be back with the canoe later this year. That river's got some prime walleye in it!
....time to start planning next week's adventure.
