Due to a snowy spring, I had not been called back to work and was told it would be at least a month more till we could get logging. So I contacted some buddies to see if they wanted to go camping at Robert’s Lake; it was early March. We planned on being there for a week or 2. My dad had given me the big bell tent we had used when we drove across Canada. It would fit us all with room to spare. It was a ten-man tent. The center pole had come up missing, so we tied a long pole between two trees and threw a line over it to hold up the tent. Having no center pole and the tent being floorless was a bonus. This allowed us to build a stone ring in the middle of the tent, where we would pile up rocks we had heated up in the fire outside. These hot rocks would warm up the tent nicely and last most of the night.
During our first week there, we hiked up Menzies Mountain, which was snow-covered, the type of snow that has a very hard crust on it, allowing us to walk on top. It took us 7 hours to reach the summit. The only wildlife we saw on the way up was Ruffed Grouse on the lower part of the mountain and Sooty Grouse up at the summit. Plus some early arrivals of songbirds. We had carved some staffs a few days back, and we used them to help us go up.
When it came time to head down, we came up with a plan to slide down on the hard-packed snow. We took our day packs and put our legs through the straps, with the pack now acting like a seat, then with our staffs used as a rudder. We began to slide down the snow-covered, steep mountain at a high rate of speed, and it was frightening and exhilarating at the same time. For brakes, we used our feet. On one occasion, my boot dug in, and I did a complete somersault, landing back on my pack as if it was done on purpose. Once in the timber, it got pretty wild. We had to swerve around trees and rock bluffs using our improvised rudder system. It took us about an hour to reach the bottom of the snow-covered areas. It scared the shit out of me, and yet was quite mind-blowing. The first time we went down was so much fun that over the next few weeks, we did it several more times. Eventually, the snow melted.
We had planned a short camping trip, but sometimes plans go awry. We were enjoying ourselves, fishing was awesome, and before we knew it, summer was on us. We had outgrown the army bell tent and had built ourselves a temporary home made of logs, driftwood and plastic sheeting, with a wood-burning 45-drum stove and homemade furniture. We kept the bell tent up, and friends who would come for a few days could use it. We created a gravity-flow water system from the creek, set up a sink, a tap, and a drain. Running water was pretty cool.
One of my buds and I found a vein of gold on the backside of the mountain, where a very recent slide had happened. At least we thought it was gold. We spent a week digging it out and gathering it up, thinking we were going to be rich; instead, we were just fools, as this yellow stone was nothing more than fool’s gold. I still look for gold wherever I go and think that one day, who knows?
We hiked every inch of that mountain, gathering wild onions, herbs and other various edible plants. We explored the lake by canoe, gathering up wood that over the years has slowly piled up on the shores. We used the wood to build a wharf that we could fish from. We built a table with benches. In the construction of our home, we added bedrooms where we used the gathered boards to build beds.
Along with fishing for trout, there were plenty of grouse, which are very tasty. We often made freshwater clam chowder, gathering the clams by diving to the bottom and grabbing them by the handfuls. Did you know that freshwater clams can live for more than 100 years? I did not at the time, or maybe I might not have eaten so many.
There was a nice little store and restaurant on the other side of the lake, where the highway runs. They used to serve awesome food and pastries. This is now closed. There are still several cabins that you can rent. When I was a lad, the old guy who owned it had this gravity fuel pump, you would tell him how many gallons you wanted and he would operate a hand lever on the side of the pump to load up the glass container on the top, it had gallon markers on it, he would then put the nozzle in your tank and open up the tap allowing the gas to flow into your car. Although no longer used, the pump is still outside the store to this day. I bought gas here for several years before he put in electric gas pumps. Eventually, fall was upon us, and as I missed my call for work, I needed to find a new job.