Sunday, April 11, 2010

Tony Lake Tour

Yesterday Wayne and I took advantage of a warm sunny day to go quad riding. Our destination was the Knuckleheads Recreation Area so we could play in the snow before it's all gone. We started at our usual offloading spot on Dixon Road south of town. There's a nice wide turnout that holds our long double ATV trailer just right.

The first part of the ride was on Goat Lake Main. It's been a while since we've come this way and I was surprised at all of the recent logging. Things must be picking up in the forestry industry. It was interesting to see the different slash areas, some freshly cut, some with very small trees recently planted, and others with growing trees varying in age from 5 to 100 years. Forest management is very important to ensure it is a renewable resource.

At Tin Hat Junction we turned right on Stillwater Main and then left to the Knuckleheads. There's pretty good signage so we followed along until we reached A Branch. This is the smaller road leading up to the free public mountain recreation cabin, but well before that destination we found the snow we were looking for. It wasn't deep, but enough to keep us from making any more forward progress. We stopped by a small waterfall to enjoy our lunch.

On the way down we decided to take a side road to Tony Lake. I've always wanted to go there and this was a perfect time. Along the way we discovered seven Roosevelt Elk grazing in a recent slash. There's lots of open space for grass to grow and fewer trees to hide hunting cougars. They are magnificent animals. So stately and seemingly unafraid. Elk are very social. The group was split when we passed by. The group of four on the hill were waiting for their herd mates to return. Here's a short video.


At Tony Lake there was a small campsite that we had all to ourselves. Wayne tried a few casts, but the water is shallow with lots of underwater snags. I hiked around to take pictures in this lovely spot. We took t a different way out to return to Goat Lake Main. Even on such a beautiful day we saw very few people in the back country. What a wonderful way to relax and enjoy nature. I invite you to come share in one of British Columbia's best kept secrets. -- Margy

8 comments:

  1. Absolutely love the photos! I'm very familiar with the south coastal BC area; from Race Rocks to Bute Inlet and the Desolation Sound area in particular, and in fact it is one of the settings for one of my fiction titles.

    Congrats on getting the books on Smashwords. I hope they sell as well on Smashwords as they have done at Coles Books in Powell River!

    Wil

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  2. Hello Wil - Thanks for the comment and good wishes on posting our books on Smashwords. As you know we sell them in print here locally at Coles and Breakwater Books and online at Amazon for Kindles. We were hoping Smashwords would bring make our titles available for the new iPad users.

    I see you have a number of titles on Smashwords. I would be interested in hearing how well it does as a promotion tool. - Margy

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  3. Looks so beautiful - I would love to go hiking through there!

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  4. I have found that Smashwords is a great tool for getting my five fiction titles (YA and Adult drama, family, adventure) into multi-format eBooks for online distribution. With Smashwords, my books can be read on virtually any kind of e-reader.

    My titles are now in the iBookstore for iPad users, at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, will soon be at Sony, and before too long at Amazon.

    I'm very pleased with the results, and can now say that there have been thousands of downloads/sales of my books in the four months since I started with Smashwords.

    Now I'd be really happy if only it was July, and I was flying into Lund by float plane and joining a sailboat to head up into Desolation Sound (as my characters do in Sons and Brothers in Seattle).

    Ah, well, I've been there before, and I hope it won't be long before I'm there again. Looking at the photos on your Blog and reading Up the Strait and Up the Airway will have to keep me going until in the meantime!

    All the best,

    Wil

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  5. Elks! I've never seen these in the wild. And a whole herd of them!
    Such a privilege!

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  6. Wow, looks like a wonderful day out at the Tony Lake!

    Pixellicious Photos

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  7. I didn't realize you were so close to the elk, they are beautiful animals.

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  8. Lovely spot. I'm waiting for the ice to come off some of our lower elevation lakes--time for a few cutthroats on the grill.

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We welcome your comments and questions. - Wayne and Margy