Pooley Canyon, Windy Arm

 Windy Arm of Tagish lake has a long mining history.
Dan Kemble and his son Wes talked Rob Macdonald, Dick Eastmure and myself into a hike to the old mine site in Pooley Canyon. Big hike...a couple of thousand feet up...hands and knees stuff...and a steep drop into the Pooley Canyon and the Vaults mine site.
The mine operated for about 10 years...until the price of silver dropped. At the base of the moutain was a small town named after the mining promoter, John Conrad. The town had about 200 inhabitants, stores, churches, hotels, restaurants, baths and laundry, a post office, a mining recorder's office as well as regular steamboat service from Carcross. There was talk at one time of extending the White Pass line to Conrad.

 One steep climb....even for the goats.

Rest spot half way up.

You can see a tiny waterfall center right of photo. To get there we still need to go up a few hundred feet before we can drop into the Pooley Canyon

Center photo...old tramway tower. Cost $80,000 to build in 1905. It was to run 18,697 feet from a small bay on Windy Arm, just north of the mouth of Montana Creek, to the Mountain Hero claim, 3,464 feet above the level of the lower terminal. Crossing over two canyons, the tramway was designed with the longest span between towers in the world, 2,960 feet. The tram had carts to carry the ore as well as single seats for the miners to ride up to the work site....the first ski lift!

 

Looking down into Pooley and the mine site at the waterfall.

The creek that flows down Pooley Canyon starts behind Montana Mtn.

 Looking out the cabin window down the valley.

The view down to Windy Arm. One steep Canyon....easy to see the only way into the canyon is to get above it and drop in.

Still standing....old tram tower.

Fall Falls...High Falls and Little High Falls

Kirk Wipper

Kirk Albert Walter Wipper

Since I heard the news of Kirk’s passing, I have been thinking a lot of Kandalore and the influences that special place had on my character. It has been over 30 years since I was last there but the memories flowed in like a warm tide. Kirk may most be remembered as a U of T professor or for starting the Canadian Canoe Museum or his devotion to camping life but I most remember him as the guy who ran Camp Kanalore.

I was a little homesick camper in 1968 when I first arrived for a months stay. Looking back, I think that Kirk was the first adult I addressed by his first name…he wasn’t Mr Wipper…he was Kirk.

The focus was always tripping. Even at 9 we went on a three day canoe trip. It was a loop up to Shelborne and Little Hawk Lake and the dreaded Saskatchewan portage. In later years it was the Montreal River with Jim Raffin, the Kipawa with Terry Thomas and Dave Fallis, Maple Mountain, a gruelling trip down the Nipissing in Algonquin Park and a survival trip out of Garden Island with Muldoon.

Other thoughts of camp life have been rolling in my mind. Johnny Cake and Yorgan’s Revenge. Indian Council ring. Being a Voyageur! Dressed in our whites walking single file and silently to Chapel Island. Last night fires. The promise of Free Tuck! Changing the flags as a CIT in the tower at the waterfront. The Ghost!

I also remember campers and staff. Geoff and Dave Moon. The Lyon brothers. Frank Fadore, Dave Coffee. Fellow Muskokan George Anderson. Dave Brown and many, many others.

Kandalore was Kirk’s place. It was his agenda and he set the tone. As a young lad, you couldn’t ask for a better role model or a better place to spend your summers.

I have three boys who have all experience summer camp. My youngest is a LIT this coming summer. The value of summer camp is unquestionable. Learning to live in a group, picking up camping skills or just sitting around a fire telling stories are memories that I, and my kids, will carry forever.

I only saw Kirk once in the last thirty years. I do wish I had told him the impact Kandalore had on my life. I will be forever greatful.

March break get a way

Took a couple of days off work and headed to the cottage.

There is no road access in the winter but the ice is still good and thick so it was an easy walk down the lake.

A couple of days of doing nothing…reading, eating and drinking wine.

Went for a nice walk on Friday. The only thing skidoos are good for is building a good base to walk in the woods. The skidoo trial was as wide as a road. I googled earthed it when I got home and it looks like an old logging road that goes way back into the crown land….looks like a spring mtn bike trip to see where it goes.

Even had a very rare March thunderstorm on Thursday night!

On the way home, we dropped in and had dinner with friends in Parry Sound and we to the Stockey Centre to see Joel Plaskett.

A little scare....

Just a little scare…..We spent a couple of days in Collingwood skiing this month. The house we stayed at was brand new…even had that new car smell. While we were there, I wasn’t feeling all that great. Couldn’t sleep and was having a hard time catching my breath.


When we got back to Bracebridge, I thought I should go to the clinic and see what was wrong. I do have allergies and get shots on a bi-weekly basis so I thought I had a lung or sinus infection. I just couldn’t get a full breath….didn’t feel like I had any capacity in my lungs.

Doctor says…”any stress in your life?”

I say,” Well…I work in a prison so there is always an edge”

He says…and I am not kidding here…”maybe you had a heart attack.”

If that doesn’t raise you stress level, nothing will.

Next thing I am at the hospital all wired up, chest x-rays and blood taken.

A couple of hours later…they find nothing and send me home. But I had a follow up appointment with a heart guy.

A week later I am all wired up again and riding a bike in the doctor’s office. Riding a bike is no big deal for me so I passed with flying colours.

So what caused all this?

The doc thinks (and I agree) that is was caused by all the toxics and other crap that comes with new carpeting. The place we stayed at had brand new carpet throughout so I was having a reaction to that.

Thank goodness we have hardwood floors in our house!

The Frost

Neil's Lunch

It’s Canadian Marathon weekend in Quebec. Steph, Pam and Anne are there kicking butt I am sure. Didn’t go to Quebec so today we skied the Frost.

The Frost Centre has 20 odd km of groomed trails through hardwood bush and cedar lowlands. It was a prefect day for a ski. Minus 8 and the sun was shinning.



Sugar Shack





The Front has a couple of cabins along the way where the very friendly volunteer staff start the fires in the morning. These volunteers are happy to have visitor and are knowledgeable about trails and terrain.

This is also an oppertunity to plan a hot lunch. Neil brought a loaf of bread filled with cheese, raspberry jam and chocolate! We brought along some pulled pork. Each cabin has a wood stove so a perfect place to warm up your lunch and have a rest.

The trails were in great shape thanks to lots of new snow and a good groomer. Sugar Shack and icefalls along the way.

We really have had a good cross country season. The weather is going to turn warm this week with a threat of rain….hopefully that is just weatherman talk.

 





Cross Country and Kolapore

When I first started cross country skiing in Ontario, I was living in Meaford. We had some local favourite places to ski…Owen Sound at the falls, the Lorri Trails on top of Georgian Peaks…but the best place was the Kolapore Forrest.
There are 50 km of bush trails. Hardwood forest, cedar wetlands and forgotten farm land that has returned to bush. We skied there quite a bit. I use to take the kids from Blue Hills Farm there every Saturday. We had old three pin binding, some had fish scales and others waxed. Skis were wider and shorter.

Since I moved to Muskoka, my skiing has changed. We have track set groomed trails here. Provincial Parks and other private operators have changed the skiing terrain. Track set trails mean that the snowplow technique is rarely used. If you want to slow down a bit in track set, you just need to step out with one ski. On track set corners, you just lean into them. Stay in the tracks and don’t loose speed. Skied are narrow and longer now too.

A trip back to Kolapore was a trip to old school skiing too. Shorter, wider skies would have worked much better. Because there is no groom track set, you need shorter skies to snow plow and get your back tips out wide enough. Consequently, I had a few big falls. Back country skiing is not for speed. That isn’t the point of back country at all. I do love Kolapore but will have to get a hold of some slower, wider and shorter skies next time.

On top of Red Death!

After a day of cross country, we went to Osler. Major snow strom in Ontario so there was a foot for fresh powder and only 100 people on the hill.