Autumn in Ontario

I headed to Ontario with my family after the passing of my grandpa the day before my birthday. While the trip was under sad terms, it was also a chance to visit with relatives that I don't get to see often enough. It was also my first time in Ontario during autumn and the leaves were just starting to change color. They did not disappoint!


Grandma and Aunt Lori making Grandpa's favorite- Chicken Spaghetti


The fam on the dock at Bruce and Linda's Cottage



Beautiful Georgian Bay

Matt and Mom on a stroll through the woods

My cousins Ian and Ben on a frog hunt.

The bears are back!

After weeks if not months of seeing very little wildlife in the Toba Valley, this last week marked the return the salmon to the streams, and therefore the bears to the valley bottom. There is something pretty incredible about seeing something so natural and so powerful, and feeling pretty vulnerable and insignificant next to it. So here are some shots that I took on my last shift September 8-15th.

Beautiful sunrise in the Toba Valley

This little guy was sooo cute. He was imitating his mom, standing up on his hind legs. Poor mom was pretty skinny, hopefully she finds a good fishing hole pretty soon.

Nice little buck hanging out on the power line

A little reminder

So I'm sitting here in camp feeling a little sorry for myself (because I'm sitting here in camp again) so I thought I'd post some pics to remind myself why I SHOULD feel grateful to see thhe things most people don't get to... So here you go!

Toba Inlet Wildlife Safari

I spent the first week of May working in Toba Inlet- my new home away from home. It was our first week of work on our new contract for the Klahoose first nation. We covered a lot of ground over the 7 day shift with several days of Heli flights to access our work areas. The toba valley has been untouched for 20+ years, and thus is home to an amazing amount of wildlife and a noticeable absence of brown logging patches. The valley bottom was incredibly lush and green and full of deer! We saw at least 20-30 deer everyday plus at least a couple bears.

We spent the days working in the bush and then Ben and I went on our wildlife safari in the evening.

Favorite pics from Toba January to March 2009

Montrose Icicle


Filer Range



Montrose Falls




Toba River

Powell Daniels

Mountain seen from the Helicopter

Foggy sunrise

Lunch time Suntan

Powell Lake

Daniel's Pass Sunrise

Bear tooth Mountain

Toba Inlet camp shifts

I have recently spent 23 days in 4 different shifts working up in toba inlet. We needed an extra person and so my boss asked Jordan to come along with us. Our company has been assessing the newly cleared power line right-of-way for potential hazard trees. This involves walking the whole length of the line and looking at the trees along the edge. Because of the extreme terrain the last two shifts were almost entirely heli access only. Above is a video (taken with our little digital camera) of an amazing day we spent working at 900m elevation in the Daniels Pass which connects Toba inlet with the Powell river side. It was very cold the day and clear while we worked up there, which allowed us to stay on top of the 6ft of snow on the ground. Kiewit would not let us walk across the frequent avalanche chutes coming down across the line, so we were moved several times throughout the day by the helicopter.

This video is of the ride through the Daniels pass on our way to work in the morning. This day looks amazing, but there was many, many days of horrible weather and equally horrible terrain leading up to this day. It was a nice way to finish off the contract for sure! I'll post some more pictures once I sort through the thousands we took.

Winter blahs

Well Blah. The holidays are over, and now we're in this horribly long stretch, waiting so impatiently for spring to come.

I, alas, have been stuck indoors way too much in the last month, though I was working outdoors during that nice cold snap we had, bundled in 4 sweaters and every other warm thing I could find! You would think with all the snow we've had in the past 3 weeks, it would be perfect for outdoor fun, but since there's about 3 feet of snow on any of the forest service roads we're not getting anywhere! Even taking Kyra for a walk around the block was taking your life into your hands up until a couple of days ago!

On a brighter note, Jen and I have made a pact (maybe!) to start running/walkign together in an effort to look fabulous for some important weddings we both have coming up this summer! I'm putting it in writing- no backing out now! Half new years resolution, half chance to hang out and gab with a friend! Regardless, I'm happy to have such a good friend agree to do this with me!

So I'm sitting here dreaming of warm sunny days and the endless, rich green of spring and summer...