Best Job Ever, part 3

The Best Job Ever... part 3

Cooking
This job was the best job ever, but it was hard work and a little stressful at times. Things taking longer to cook than expected, not having the ingredients you wish you had to make something, running

Just another grizzly bear... (sarcasm)

out of produce and not being able to get more until the next group of visitors arrived by helicopter, etc. But... everything always worked out! Just when we got the knack of things, the bear viewers replaced the fishermen, and guess what? They eat less. I guess they are not gallavanting up and down the river getting exercise but quietly sitting on viewing platforms waiting for the bears to appear. We actually had to coerce the guests into eating more desserts lol. I gained too much weight this month! We cooked fresh bread every day, made everything from scratch... Rowan made everything 'pretty' to serve... we made the best pizza ever! We were going to buy an old food truck and travel the Yukon and sell pizzas. If only she didn't have to go to university!

Surprise Bear

Bear Scratching in Camp

Surprise Bear
This was the second bear I saw in camp (surprise bear). We had wandered downstream to where a nice creek flows into the river - just a nice walk to get out of camp and stop work for awhile, when we happened to see this bear coming upriver on the other side. At first she didn't see us, but then once she did, she hid behind that rock and peered around at us. She knew she would find people at the camp, but out of camp only sometimes... this was one of those times, and it was great. She watched us for a few minutes and then disappeared.

Bear Scratching in Camp
We have many rub trees in camp - trees bent over with hardly any branches, covered with grizzly hair - I couldn't wait to see one in use! This bear had a itch that needed a scratch and found just the right tree in camp. Sometimes while we worked away in the kitchen after dinner we'd be the fortunate ones to see the bears going right through camp instead of along the river. Rowan and I would tiptoe to the backdoor and watch them quietly going through camp.

Foamie and her Cubs
One hot summer day, Foamie and her new cubs came through camp - it was always exciting to see them. Foamie's little blond cub was a little more assertive than the brown one and mimicked everything her mother did. Today though she followed her mom to go in fishing and instead decided she wanted to play - she made a bunch of cub noises and was jumping on her mom's head. Well mom had enough of that and took her paw and pushed the cub right under the water! The cub bounced right back up and wanted to go at it again - so funny, but by that time, Foamie was heading back to the beach. Now the cubs just played on their own until it was time to go. There is nothing more fun than watching cubs play.

Foamie and her Cub

Foamie's cubs play fighting

Bear on hillside

Camp Cookhouse and Viewing Deck

Camp

I thought I better add a few photos of what the camp looks like... tucked away in this valley - a jewel. At this time there are 5 cabins and the cookhouse/dining room with the viewing platform on the back deck. I say at this time, as during fishing season, the camp staff stays in tents and guests are in the cabins... so I dream about when there are cabins for staff during fishing season as well - just for comfort.

You will see I also included a photo of a cabin with one of our regular guests. This was on our last night in camp. I was the only staff member left in the camp with two of the guests while the others went out to viewing platforms upriver. There were some bear activity in camp and I was going between the deck looking out on the river, to the camp to see what was happening. One bear was rolling around on the tarps covering the woodpile - they sure love to do that but we get them to stop. A quick rock thrown again the side of the shop gets them to stop and move along without scaring them away for good. Anyway, I took this photo of the guest reading and waiting for bear activity... if you look closely you will see to the right of him there is a grizzly eating berries right beside his cabin. He never did see him or her - we have no idea which bear was visiting. Everything was fine though... bears come through camp all the time with guests here. The rule is, if you see a bear, stop and watch and enjoy the experience. When the bear leaves, continue on your way.

Bear on the Hillside

During the break in between guests, I stayed in camp to take advantage of living with the bears. This bear on the hillside was another great adventure I had... one evening, this bear slowly meandered up river on the opposite side, and with my small 70-200 lens, the photo opportunities weren't that great, so Anna and I ran down the trail and hid along the bank waiting for this bear to come across the hillside so I could get some good shots. He nicely posed for me, sniffed along and left. Thanks Anna!

Cabins

Guest with Bear beside him

Hummingbird at Camp

Hummingbirds
We had hummingbirds at camp - just a few, but enough to keep all the photographers busy while bears were napping for the afternoons. They must be the most photographed hummingbirds in the world I believe. We kept moving the feeder around so that they would sit on suitable branches for photos. This year was also incredibly bad for wasps... and the wasps would actually chase the birds away from the feeders. I had never seen anything like it.

Fish Please
Here is a photo taken of Sunshine during the fishing season... she came early in the hopes of getting a salmon - maybe she wanted it cleaned and filleted? She didn't touch anything... she knows from the years of coming to this camp that the human items are not to be touched. There is also a water pump that the bears like to touch... we sit and watch and only if they go to grab something, do we ever just say, loudly in a firm voice, "NO" and they walk away. It's incredible. Oh yeah the love to jump on plastic things... rubber bins are a fun toy so make sure to keep them in storage!

Sunshine would like a fish please

Goodbye
Leaving camp was good and bad. I had the opportunity to stay in for an extra week that I am now wished I had taken but at the time I had things that needed to be taken care of. Here is Rowan in the helicopter... our last views of camp. I have to admit I had a few tears as I left. It was a beautiful sunny day... we had a relaxing morning having breakfast, packing up our things and photographing the last few bears. It was perfect. Rowan and I then headed back to Whitehorse. We had a fun trip, stopping here and there to photograph anything and everything. It was nice to be mobile after being in camp for 2 months. It was weird when Rowan left with her Dad... sad as we had spent so much time together!

I will share some more stories in the future, as well as my adventures in the Yukon and Territories after camp!

Rowan going home

Best Job Ever, part 2

Ok after we finished photographing bison at Kluane, we headed back to Whitehorse to start preparing for our trip into camp, near Atlin, BC. It took 2 full days of shopping and from I soon found out, Whitehorse has less than ideal grocery shopping. The big store which shall remain nameless is nicknamed the stupid store... there is a reason for it. I went there for 2 days and bought thousands of dollars worth of groceries - filled up their gigantic carts, and guess what - they won't open up an extra till for you to go through to do these big orders and they won't help you find boxes - they just tell you to go to the bakery and there should be some there. Well the boxes in the bakery are sometimes very large which is great for packing up baking goods, but have you ever had to fill one of those boxes with baking goods, cans and frozen meats? Not so ideal. And then when you get back to the till, they of course complete your order before you have packaged all your items in these large boxes which you can barely lift back into your cart... and do they wait for you to finish? Nope, they just start ringing through the next person and then you are in that person's way. I also found out if you ask an employee if they have something, it takes them about 10 minutes to find someone to ask, just to tell you no. I did at one point find the item I was looking for... so don't ask anyone, as you're better off to look for yourself. They have a big sign in their store telling you their customer service is so great... I can't believe they are allowed to keep it there. They should be ashamed. Ok done with that vent.

I did have other good shopping experiences in Whitehorse... for one a couple bakeries - 'Baked' is where I went each morning and got my latte and a yummy baked good, and then the 'Alpine Bakery' with all their great artisan breads.

After the shopping was complete, and it was scary... did I plan for enough food? Did I get everything I needed? You don't want to get too much food where the fresh stuff rots or there is not enough room in the fridges/freezer... or not enough food where your guests are wanting. I was going to get fresh items in every week from Atlin so I tried not to worry too much.

The day we flew into camp, from Discovery Helicopters/Atlin, was a beautiful day... and it flew me right to paradise. After landing at paradise, I saw all the work that needed to be done and set to it. It took awhile to get familiar in what was hiding in all the totes and boxes. I did bring some supplies on my own that I didn't want to live without, a couple small knives, my measuring spoons, and some great cookbooks and recipes.

It took about 3 days to unpack, clean and organize... just in time for our guests, and my other cook and awesome dishwasher, Rowan! We spent the next couple of weeks feeding fishermen, one fisherwoman, and ourselves. We learned to make artisan breads from a book I had purchased and they were a hit each day. Doesn't everyone love to be served fresh bread with their meals each day?

Our day began around 5:30am each morning... pulling ourselves out of our tents and making our way to the kitchen, put on the coffee, brush teeth, maybe brush hair (hats were useful)... and by 7am each morning we would serve breakfast. By 9:30 we would start cooking lunch.. and by about 8-10pm we'd be done! I think once we were done at 7:30.

During this time, the fishermen would once in awhile see a grizzly bear, Foamie (nick named for a story about foamies) had 2 new cubs, and others here and there would appear for those venturing out in the wee hours to go fishing - remember up north it's daylight for most of the 24 hours, but I had yet to see one and couldn't wait. One evening after cleaning up, I packed up my laptop/camera/alarm clock (a handful) and headed back to my tent just on the edge of camp... on the way I stopped out along the river to look around and wondered when I'd get to see my first grizzly bear out here - well if wishes would only come this easily, but I looked upriver about 2 feet and here came a big brown grizzly heading downstream and was going to run into me in about 30 seconds. I slowly backed up a little, having huge heart palpatations and watched her walk on by. After she went passed, I ran to the cookhouse where everyone else was chatting and burst in with my news. At first they did not understand me as I was so excited and rambling on but when they realized, they looked out and Phil said it was Mrs. Brown... don't know how she got that name, but just glad she visited and went on her way. I slept a little uneasily in my tent on the edge of the camp that night. Needless to say, be careful what you wish for!

There were only about 14 of us in total during the 'fishing season' and it was a good number to cook for... kinda like Thanksgiving every day. Many of the days were very hot and unbearable in the kitchen and add to that some hot flashes of the other kind, I had some tense moments where I thought I was going to have to dive into the river. Those hot flashes always seem to come along right when you're trying to serve dinner... brutal. These weeks flew by and when the last fishing people left, it was so quiet. I decided to stay in for the 2 week break to relax and watch any bears that came through, and hopefully get a picture or two. My partner flew in as well... unfortunately not too much bear action but a beautiful holiday at a private resort. At this time as well we got to move into cabins as nobody stays in tents during bear viewing season! Bears like to push on things that have any give... and tents fit right into that category.

The bear that visited our camp regularly during this break was named Sunshine, a beautiful golden coat she had! She is a 7 year old female and is what they call a subadult. She came and went and she pleased - surprising Rowan and I early in the mornings sometimes as we sat and had our coffee on the deck. During bear season, Rowan and I would get up at 5:30 and enjoy our coffee on our own with the bears - it was the best part of the day! At this time of the day, there was what I called the "Parade of Boys" - all the big boys would show up - spaced apart nicely as they went up river for the day. The old guys walk slowly and methodically, not wasting any energy playing around like the younger bears. My favourite big bear was named Ozzie - it took him a long time before my arrival at camp for him to become ok with walking up past the viewing platform (our deck). His first early morning visit happened with a guest, Philip and we were sitting having coffee when he just appeared right in front of us - I think both of our mouths dropped open as we looked at each other. He was big. He had a few battle scars from the years. He stopped and looked at us, and kept going up river fishing. It was magical.

Sunshine having breakfast in front of the viewing platform.

Rowan and I goofing around, tired of doing dishes... lol!

Leaving Smithers for The Best Job Ever

In May, I had quit my full time admin job and left Smithers and headed north to Whitehorse to start 'my best job ever.' This best job ever was cooking in a fishing/bear viewing camp. I would not have ever guessed that I would have enjoyed cooking, but out in the wilderness was totally different than being cooped up in your kitchen at home. Who gets to watch grizzly bears pass by their window while you are washing up some dishes are prepping for a meal? Who gets to run out and photograph bears during your work day? Who can go take a nap during your work day? Well I did! I met people from all over the world who appreciate wildlife just as much as I and better yet, those that are changing their minds about "The Big Bad Bear."

I started my journey from Smithers bright and early one morning and cried all the way to Kitwanga -happy  about my adventure but sad leaving my 17 year old son behind to start his own adventure! When the tears dried, I had an enjoyable drive up to Tatogga Lake where I spent a few days with my partner trying to relax before my camp job started. I don't find relaxing an easy task as I find it hard to sit still and that's why photography is so perfect for me. There is always something to find in nature to capture. Why sit around? Tatogga Lake is beautiful and I'm hoping to make my home there real soon.

On the way up I was hoping to find some bears to photograph along Hwy 37 - not always an easy task anymore with the traffic along the hwy - last year I saw a dead bear on the hwy every weekend I went up, so sad. I was lucky this day those to see a black bear but  not only until I stopped and got my camera out did I realize she was a sow with two brand new cubs. They scurried up a tree and watched me while I happily photographed them with the sow watching at the base of the tree. I was delighted. Here are one of my photos to enjoy.

On the day I left for Whitehorse to meet my future boss, Phil Timpany, it was a beautiful sunny day and I had forgotten how great the landscape was from Dease Lake to the Yukon border. I stopped to photograph mountains, lakes - especially Boya Lake, the old burns and wildflowers that were just coming out. It took me all day to get to Whitehorse which is of no surprise to anyone that knows me. I finally sped up and arrived there around 9pm to meet Phil. I was a little anxious and was thinking I was somewhat crazy to be driving to a new job, something I've never done before, with someone I've never met before... but it was all good. Phil is pretty easy going and has a great sense of humour.

For the next couple of days we went to Kluane Park to photograph the bison that have just made their way into the park. I didn't really know what to expect but wow are they large! We went for a little walk into a swampy area to get ready to photograph them hopefully when they appeared, and it was then that I decided that maybe I should have brought my tripod. I almost went back until the other photographer, Martin, said he heard something... good thing as about 6 bison appeared where I was going to go. That would have been a heart stopper. And to think people are terrified of bears - go walk up to a bison and see what you think!

More to come... but now I'm headed to the Wokkpash so this blog will have to wait :)

Short Eared Owls

Here are my most recent short eared owl photos, actually in fact my only short eared owl photos as I had no idea we even had these owls in the Bulkley Valley until my partner filled me in. Now I know more about owls than I ever knew and am very excited each time I find an owl - in fact, pretty soon I will get an 'owl certificate' on their identification. This is a private joke - making fun of all the silly certificates and rules that are out there. Anyway back to the short eared owls... I have seen about 7 flying around in one day but they are hard to photograph as they may sit on a fencepost or low branch briefly once in awhile but you need to take time to tame them down. It takes days, weeks or months, and sometimes it's hard to find the time. I really love their colours. 

If you find yourself with a mouse problem in your home, please just live trap them and put them in a field... the owls need them to live on, as well as foxes and coyotes. Crows also eat them but I really hate crows as they take take take and pick on the owls. They make me so cranky. If you poison mice, think of all the animals that may pick up those mice and eat them - you may be unknowingly poisoning other animals, including your own pets. 

I hope you will take the time to stop and check out your local birds to see what you actually have living in your area - you might be surprised! 

HDR Addiction

Well obviously I am a poor blogger... once a year :( Life is just too busy I guess. My latest fascination is with software - love to HDR tone my images although I'm pretty sure I'll have to tone it down lol. It is great to make images pop instead of looking somewhat flat and boring. Here are a few I've played with, I mean processed lately. I also have software to create funky borders which is also another obsession.

I am thinking that when Spring arrives in the next couple of months, I will spend less time on the computer and more time out with Mother Nature. I really cannot wait to have a nap along a river or lake in the warm spring sun before the mosquitoes and black flies are out. I am dreaming of kermode bear cubs, bright dandelions, sand in my toes... the list is endless. With photography, there are no limits. Cheers to dreaming and a vivid imagination!

Hudson Bay Mountain winter 2011

Well it's been awhile since I posted to my blog... I've been busy out taking pictures - I've since purchased my Canon 70-200 2.8 lens which I love. On my last day off, Thursday, I went up to Hudson Bay Mountain for a snowshoe up to Crater Lake with our new yellow lab pup, Opus and my parent's black lab, Jake. It was a great day - warm out, just a slight wind, the snow was great, and the light had moments of greatness as it peered out through the clouds. Sometimes it's hard to decide which photos to keep as I have the memory attached to the photo. Hope you enjoy - there are a few more on my webpage www.cranberrycoho.photoshelter.com.

Hudson Bay Mountain

I spend many hours hiking/snowshoeing on Hudson Bay Mountain - it's so close to town and so beautiful in all seasons. Here are some of my favourite winter photos.