Chippewa Bay

In the northwest corner of south Powell Lake you will find Chippewa Bay. Chippewa is well known for several reasons.

One -- It has a large dock and booming area for loggers working north and west into the Bunster Hills. Logging equipment comes up the lake on barges and booms of logs are towed back in the opposite direction. So, if you arrive by boat, it is best to come on weekends when logging is usually not active and you can explore on your own.

Two -- You will find a natural forestry museum up Museum Main. This logging road runs near two historic steam donkeys with lots of interesting items strewn across the forest floor. One is near the main, the other is about an hour hike from the road. If you arrive by boat, it's a long walk up to the first steam donkey. If you arrive by quad from Theodosia, it's easier. Well, relatively so. It's an all day ride over Heather Main, but well worth it.

Three -- In the summer Chippewa Bay is great for swimming with warmer water than the rest of the lake. This is probably due to the shallower depths. In the middle of the lake it is over 1000 feet deep, and that can keep it pretty cold all year long.


Four -- CB CB'ers, Chippewa Bay Cabin Busters are strong northwest winds that often follow major storms. They swoop out of Chippewa Bay and blast down the lower lake, trying to level everything in their path, including unsuspecting float cabins. This is one reason you will find some of the heaviest protective booms around cabins in this area.

Up the Lake has a chapter about Wayne getting caught on the lake in a CB CB'er. Click here to read the chapter for free and find out more about life on Powell Lake. -- Margy

Thrifty Tip

I love to browse through thrift stores. In Powell River, my favourite is the Hospital Economy Shop off Alberni near Scotiabank. They have a great selection that changes constantly, their prices are the best, plus I always bump into my friend Carol there.

Here are some of my best finds. There was a new Catalyst cap for Wayne for $.25. He doesn't work at the mill, but lots of our friends do. I found a toaster oven for $5.00 with a five day guarantee. That was a nice benefit, except I immediately voided the warranty by stripping out all of the wires to make it into a stovetop oven for my wood stove. I found a large pot for $1.00 to use to heat water for our new bathtub and I even found Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat for my collection for only a quarter.

We like to keep a fire extinguisher near our woodstove. You never know, you might need it quickly in case a bad spark, or worse yet, a chimney fire. But our fire extinguiser is round on the bottom. For years we left it lying on the floor behind the stove. Then one day while I was cleaning I stuffed it into a boot to get it out of the way. Wow - what a great idea! Not wanting to tie up our regular boots, I did the next best thing. I found a pair of colorful rubber boots at the thrift store for only a $1.00. Now our extinguisher is handy and "attractive" in a functional sort of way.

Do you like to shop at thrift stores? Where are some of your favourite stores? What have been some of your best finds? -- Margy