We spent the night at the Richland Inn at Sidney, Montana.  The day was over caste but comfortable for driving.  We had a very easy trip north with an easy schedule to follow and no mechanical problems to deal with.  The next night (Sunday) we stayed in Brabant at Cabin #1.   On Monday we drove to the Wathaman River and had a normal portage and trip to the island except for the dreaded last 4 miles.   A sudden change in wind for the last 4 miles of our boat ride to the island gave us a bit of a scare.  How the weather can change so suddenly at this precise spot so often, then change back to a calm lake 5 minutes after we land at the beach is beyond understanding.

Hidayat had cut his leg riding a dirt bike around Boulder before we left on the trip.  The stitches needed to stay in until a few days after we were to arrive at the island.  Don acted as the doctor and removed the stitches on schedule without complications .

Hidayat found this bug.  I have no idea what kind of bug it is.  It certainly is not too common or one that causes problems like a mosquito.

Sakeenah caught a northern pike.

These mallard Duck eggs were discovered while uncovering the lower cache.  This seems to be a favorite nesting area but at least half the time, the nest is found by some unknown predator that has a taste for eggs.

This is the dead bear we found at the entrance to the cooler shack.  It had been dead for some time.  The maggots had finished their job and were all departed.  Note the black specks on the white plastic scrap which are the empty shells of maggots.  Don managed to avoid “processing” this carcass for over a month.  The smell was overwhelming and Don always was able to find an alternative task to work on rather than attach the bear carcass.  He talked with a biologist at the Denver Museum of Natural History to learn the best way to proceed toward salvaging all the bones of the bear for a possible re-assembly.  Don chose to follow the simplest process, one commonly used by taxidermist and definitely “low tech”. It consisted of sorting out the bones from all the remaining hair and putting the bones in a sealed bucket (two 5 gallon ones) until the end of the summer.  The bacteria already in the remains will consume the remaining scraps of flesh and soft tissue in a process called maceration.  The water line had large holes chewed into it by a bear sometime after leaving the island last September and required patching.

Sakeenah writes in her log.  Much of the mess of getting the cabin up and running for the summer has been straightened out and a fairly comfortable state of existence attained.

Logs and saplings have been cut and skinned in preparation to building a double deck bunk bed for the loft.  The tarp allows a dry, shady place to work and make a sawdust, wood chip mess.

Hidayat got to sleep in the mudroom sleeping cubby hole.

The work bench is a natural magnet for collecting tools and various projects.  If Don is not able to keep this area organized, at least it tends to isolate the mess in one area.

The kitchen is definitely ready for business.  Hidayat and Sakeenah did a good job of keeping the kitchen clean and well organized.

Hidayat finds that the bark peeled from the black spruce logs can be used for a scarf but it isn’t too comfortable.

We were surprised to find ducks nesting at the top of these spruce trees in the front of the cabin.

Glowing coals in the stove create a great atmosphere in the evenings.

Sakeenah makes a fashion statement with her bibs.

Hidayat built this model tank that then did maneuvers on the beach.

The Labrador tea white flowers are now in bloom.

The front entrance to the cabin is a great addition to the cabin and greatly increases the ease of getting onto and off the deck.

Sakeenah shows skill with the draw knife, cleaning up the surface of logs and saplings to be used in the bunk bed we are now building.

Don works a draw knife on the pile of logs required for the bunk bed.

A mother grouse is never too far from her brood.

How long did it take you to find the grouse in this photo?

The bathing rock is bathed in gentle waves and sunshine.

Don holds the results of a fishing trip to the “Honey-Hole”.

Don cleans a walleye.

Don tries out the bunk bed.  Note the peg wedge attachment joint holding the stringers attached to the bed post.

Don checks the fit of the various parts of the bed before applying glue and a polyurethane finish.

Sakeenah drys her hair after a shampoo.

This lure holder was an unscheduled project that somehow became a high priority for Don.  The inspiration for the design was a lure display at Sioux Narrows, Ontario that stuck in Don’s mind from trips there in the 1950s.

Hidayat seems to have lost some height on our fish diet.  What was that French guys name anyway??

Sakeenah has a mosquito net protecting her sleeping bag in the loft.

Sakeenah in the loft.

Don and Sakeenah like the comfort of their bibs.

On the way home from the island on July 2 we stopped at the Robertson Trading Company where they lowered the canoe they had on display for the dual purpose of cleaning it and also allowing Don to take many measurements.

Lashing is accomplished with split spruce tree roots.

More measurements.

The bow and stern are identical.

The ribs force against the thin slats on the bottom of the canoe.

The thwarts are held in place with spruce roots.

The ribs at the end of the canoe have cracked because of the sharp bends required but they still work even though they are cracked.

The headboard piece is typical structure technique among bark canoes.  Design differences in the head boards from area to area represent not only design differences but also can reflect differences in available types of wood or even different uses for the canoe.

The seams on this canoe were not sealed all the way to the top of the canoe, probably because the canoe was intended as a show piece versus a working canoe.

More measurements.

This canoe has a small deck over the bow and stern in one of many treatments of this detail.  Here the gunwale boards bend down below the deck while they more frequently bend up over he top of the bow.

North of Prince Albert we had a very strange sun set with even more pronounced purple than captured by this photo.

Canola field in Saskatchewan on the Ury’s way north.  Don had reached Boulder on July 4 with Hidayat and Sakeenah.  He reloaded with supplies and attended a 70^th birthday party organized by Amy and Julie.  On July  15 he drove north alone and met up with the Urys at Cabin #1 at Brabant on July 16.  We left Brabant at 6:05AM on July 17 and convoyed north to the Wathaman River.

Bob and Rod have their bug nets on for the portage.  A very good idea for this day.

Scott, Don and Bob prepare the repaired 30 HP with portage poles for the trip across the portage to the landing.

Scott and Bob make quick work of the heaviest item to be portaged.

Scott, Rod and Bob prepare to move Rod’s big boat across the portage.

Perhaps the largest load ever portaged in one trip challenged even the considerable boat capacity we had with the addition of Rod’s boat.

Don is trying to get his boat train underway but the repaired 30 HP just wasn’t working right so it was decided that Rod and his 30 HP Honda would be used to haul the entire train out to the island.

Rod maneuvers to get into the lead position of the train.

Bob and Scott were set up to kayak to the island.  They were quite cramped for carrying capacity for camping supplies.  They planned to tent only one night on the way to the island.

Bob is ready for the 25 mile trip.

Bob and Scott take off, not waiting for the boat train to get underway.

Don and Rod check the loading which is not the same when being towed versus being the head tow boat.

Now we are ready to go.

Kim is dressed for the worse (rain or spray).  Fortunately the weather cooperated and the trip was uneventful and mimicked the good weather we were about to have for the next two weeks.

Dancing Loon Island is in view.  We arrived around 6 PM in good weather.  Don was very impressed by the capability of Rod’s Honda.  He used only 4 gallons of gas crossing the lake with three boats in tow.  This is probably the moment that Don decided he needed to shift over to the Honda 4 cycle engine.  Don’s 30 HP Johnson would surely have required 15 gallons of gas to do what the Honda did with 4 gallons.  That is a large potential savings in gasoline cost and excess bulk for transporting and portaging.

Dancing Loon Island.

The dead bear problem was still there.

The claws were in good shape.  We think this was a juvenile male that had been chased away from the breeding female we suspect is living at the end of the lake.

It was later discovered that the skull of this bear was totally shattered.  Don thinks the bear died of natural causes and was later found by an Indian who was startled by the bear and probably insured the bear was dead by bashing in his head with an ax.  We can only speculate.

The bear certainly did not enhance the desirability of using the permafrost cooler.

Cabin entrance.

Don moved out of the master bed room and onto the mud room cot.  This allowed Rod and Kim to stay in the Master bed room.

Kim surveys the disorganization of the cabin that always accompanies arrivals.

Kim and Don rearrange fishing supplies.

Scott arrives the following noon.

Bob arrives at the same time.

A strong following wind and minimal supplies convinced the boys to take advantage of the wind and not risk a tougher journey by stopping to fish.

Scott and Don handle the new bunk-bed relocation into the loft.

Bob hoist the bed parts up to the loft.

Don lifts on a bed part as Bob lifts it to the loft.

Don prepares to install a locking pin in the stringers of the bunk bed.

Don installs the locking pin.

Scott surveys the prospects of using this new bed.

Rod catches a rest in the middle of our mess.  It was a long drive from North Platt and no small effort at the portage or the long boat ride.  Winding down is not easy to control, regardless of the mess still on hand.

Gear gets moved into the loft and mosquito nets installed on the bunk-bed.

Don, Kim, Rod and Bob relax after getting things a bit under control.

Cabin front.

Front steps.

Rod rests under a mosquito net in the master bed room.

Don gets Scott and Bob started on a ring building projects; the ring is made from a Canadian $1 “Looney” coin.  By hitting the edge of the coin with a spoon or small hammer, it eventually produces a wide band for a ring.  Later photos will show how the center is removed by a jewelers saw.

Scott and Bob moved out to the deck for the pounding process.  Don was introduced to this craft while aboard ship in the US Navy as a midshipman.

Scott sweeps the floor.

Bob and Don work on getting the flag poles installed.

Scott is back to the loft with his ring work.

Bob uses the stool for an anvil with his ring project.

Kim looks pretty comfortable next to the stove.

Don goes over maps of the local area with Rod, Bob and Scott.

Don works on some pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast.

The picnic table is ready for breakfast.

Combining the Bunker and Ury supplies of Mountain Dew indicates we probably will not run short over the next 14 days.

Two loonies start to show progress toward becoming rings.

Bob, Scott and even Rod work on the rings.  Note that the game table log trim around the top (not the vertical corners) has been installed but not yet painted with polyurethane.

Scott on the front deck with wooden stick he is considering for carving a chain.

Scott on the ladder up to the crow’s nest.

Scott standing on crow’s nest deck.

Scott in crow’s nest.

Rod at fish box.

Rod at fish box.

Rod is preparing to clean some Northern Pike for supper.  Rod is such a good cook that he can make Northern taste almost as good as walleye.

Bob prepares potatoes for the skillet.

Rod fries fish.  Fresh salad fill the bowls on the counter top.  No guest comes to the island with a larger store of food than Rod.  Every year he seems to introduce some new delicacy that becomes a cabin staple from then on.  Walleyes wrapped in bacon strips or a very good shrimp sauce for fish (instead of plain catsup) come to mine as typical meaningful contributions to cabin lore made by Rod.

Bob and Scott listen as Don reads aloud from “Trader, Tripper, Trapper”, a favorite book about a Hudson’s Bay Trader in the 1920s.

Don cooks breakfast as Bob and Scott work on their rings.

Don and Scott are on their way to the “Honey-Hole”.

Bob is ready for some serious fishing.

Rod runs his 35HP Honda mounted on his large flat bottom boat.

Don and Scott parked over the “Honey-Hole”.

Bob has his first walleye on.

Bob unhooks his walleye.

Don lands a walleye as Scott continues to cast.

Wilson Rapids.

Bob nets another walleye.

Rod and Bob are working hard at fishing.  To say there was friendly competition between the Ury men is an under statement.  There is never a lack of good natured barbs flying amongst the men as they totally enjoy the moment.  These are true fishermen.

Rod lands another walleye.  One thing you can depend on is that Rod keeps a running score of all the fish caught, both during the day and trip to date.

Rod is happy to say the least.

Kim has a fish on.

Hey Kim, we are fishing for walleye.  What is this Northern doing in the boat??

Boys will be boys.  Bob and Rod came prepared with a balloon to attach to a released walleye so they could later find its hiding spot.  The hook will dissolve in a few days and if the walleye can keep from being eaten by a bigger fish, he will survive no worse for the wear.

Bob releases the fish and untangles the balloon attachment line.

After returning to the “Honey-Hole”, the walleye disappeared down stream and was later found in the back water we fish below the rapids.

Don and Scott concentrate on the business at hand, not letting Rod’s boat catch more fish than them!!  Always competition.

An eagle waits at the “bear beach” where we dispose of the fish guts.  They are the true scavenger.

Bob and Rod put walleyes in the fish box.

A long black spruce sapling that is destined to become a flag pole at the front of the cabin deck.

This dark black/green discoloration is typical of the normal cycle of black spruce after it is debarked.  This ugly color is easily removed by spraying the wood with a 1:1 solution of water and Clorox, especially when the sun is shinning.  It will turn a pleasant blonde color as you watch it.  Depending on the age of the Clorox, amount of sun light and initial wood condition, several sprayings may be required to obtain the desired color.

Another sunset.

Another sunset.

Bob works on carving a mini lure holder.

Kim, Rod and Bob leaving the island on another gorgeous day.  The weather for their visit is still remembered as just about perfect and the best in 20 summers to date (2009).

Scott is along on this trip too.

Bob, Scott and Kim.

North shore entrance to Campbell River.

Rod.

Scott and a small “snake” (Northern Pike).

Rod, Bob and Kim walk down the nearly dry west channel of Wilson Rapids.  Most years the water never gets this low.  The pond to the left of Rod was hoped to have contained a giant Northern caught by the lowering water level but that was not to be.  On fishing this pond on multiple occasions, no fish of significance has ever been caught there.

Scott, Rod and Bob.

Scott manages to scare many surface minnows to scurry for safety.  Similar reactions have been observed when a large Northern swims near a school of minnows.

The walleye “tagged” yesterday is found at the Interim Lake.

Scott at the end of the portage into the Interim Lake.  The Naden aluminum boat from Clear Lake is stowed here at the Interim Lake.  Several years later it disappeared for a couple years, only to be re-discovered at the Caldwell River portage by Rod in 2008.

Ground hugging berry of unknown variety.

Scott enjoys a snack on the boat ride home.

Bob as the boat approached Dancing Loon Island.

Don, Bob and Scott.

Scott.

Don, Bob, Scott and Rod cooperate to get the stove onto the new stand and properly oriented so the stove pipe will be vertical when installed.  Easier said than done.  Obviously, Bob and Scott are doing all the heavy lifting.

Scott, Don and Bob prepare to get the stove pipe reinstalled.

Scott and Don manage the top sections of pipe while Bob maneuvered the lower section.  The two sections required meeting in the middle with a considerable bow in all the pipes.  Once the middle pieces are fitted together, then the total pipe assembly could be straightened out and the joints compressed for a snug fit.

Don cuts a section of pipe to length after the pipe was temporarily fitted in place to adjust the length required.

Scott celebrates the completion of the job.  He is also doing a pretty good job of dusting the log beams.

Rod is putting insulation in any hole that might be letting mosquitoes into the cabin while Scott mans the flyswatter.

Scott and Rod pause at their task at hand.

Cabin model hanging amongst the rafters, another dust collector.

Scott in his kayak with more speed than usual.

Bob, Don, Rod and Scott moving rocks from the front beech.  We spent many hours doing this and it has resulted in a very nice waterfront area.

Rod was especially drawn to this project and put in more water time than anyone else.  All of this rock work was submerged the entire year of 2009, one of the highest water level years to date.

Don enjoys the newly elevated airtight stove.

Dancing Loon Island from the photo op spot on the Esker Lake Nature Trail hike.  This view is looking west south west from the northeast end of Spalding Lake.

Telephoto view from the same spot.  Note the sand beaches on Indian Island.

Rod and Kim on the hike.

Kim, Scott, Bob and Don on the hike and well covered with netting to protect from the abundant mosquitoes.

A float plane has no idea his picture is being taken or that he has people under his plane as he traverses this vast wilderness.

Kim rest along the hike.

Don pauses along the trail.

Bob shoots the carbine at the beach.

Rod takes his turn firing the carbine.

Scott takes aim.

Scott, Bob and Don work on a permanent flagpole for the cabin.

Bob watches as Don drills a hole for a lag bolt.

Don and Bob are going fishing, trying out the old 25 HP spare motor.  It worked pretty well.

Bob with a nice walleye at the “Honey-Hole”.

Don and Bob fishing our comfortable style of casting while at anchor.  As I recall, Bob “cleaned Don’s clock” and caught most of the fish.

Bob and Don returning to the island.

Bob and Don returning to the island.  The old motor has a lot of zip.

Scott at the tiller.

Kim.

Beach at Dancing Loon Island.

Rod gets fish from the fish box.

Scott and Rod after fishing trip.

Bob cleans a walleye.  He is an accomplished fish cleaner.

Rod checks for tools at the saw pavilion, a favorite spot to store gear that is not needed at the cabin.

Rod and his tools, viewed from the opposite direction, looking toward the lake.

Beach welcome frame with its many bone accoutrements.

Scott and Bob watch as Don shows them how to saw out the center of a ring.

Bob finishes cutting out the center of his ring.  Note the starter hole drilled in the coin and the jewelers saw used to saw out the middle portion of the coin.

Don continues work on his coin ring.

Rod with a very nice walleye caught in Northern Bay.

Is it going to rain?  That is question that occurred almost every day.

Osprey nest on rock in Northern Bay.

He doesn’t appreciate the intruders near his nest.

Rod and Northern in Northern Bay.

Don and Rod weigh the nice walleye from Northern Bay.  Looks to be close to 4 pounds.

Bob’s ring is a bit snug but looks really good.  Getting the correct size is always a bit of a guess.  Don needs a ring sizer.  These rings also require some coating, like clear fingernail polish to keep the cheap metal from turning your finger green.  This was not a problem in the past when coins were made from better metal.

Scott does laundry from the “bathing rock”.

Scott takes advantage of the nice weather to hang out his wash to dry on the deck clothes line.

Bob with another Northern from Northern Bay.

Rod and Bob.

The osprey fly reconnaissance over Rod’s boat.

Scott watches Bob and Don weigh the northern back at the beach.  Rod looks a bit proud of his sons.

Rod and Northern.

The eating machinery of a Northern.  Those teeth are razor sharp.

Rod likes to measure their length.  This method is less stressful on fish that are going to be released however,  this Northern was going to Nebraska.

Cub bear tracks at the “bear beach” where we drop of fish guts.  Today we were also making plaster cast of some foot prints for display in the cabin.

Bob, Rod and Don are locating tracks to make cast of.  Don holds some casting materials.

Don mixes some plaster of paris for a cast.

Rod has marked a track to cast.  He hold spray cans of hair set to hold the sand in place and PAM to then spray on the sand to keep the sand from sticking to the plaster.

A cast has been poured and we are waiting for the plaster to harden.

Don pours another cast.

Bob uses Clorox to clean a partial moose antler that was found.

Don and Rod charge a battery using the generator and battery charger.

Kim’s pad in the master bedroom is well protected from the occasional mosquito that we never quit eliminated.

Rod’s pad in the master bed room.  Note the electric lantern hanging next to the bed.  Very handy for reading at night.  It runs off a battery that is charged by the solar panels.

The bathroom sink area is still missing some finishing touches but is fully functional.

Rod’s bed again.  Note that Rod has his ever present “Shoe-Goo” close at hand in case he needs to repair something, actually, anything.

Don runs a board through the jointer while Ron tweaks the generator carburetion setting.

The stool is being used as a mini work bench, mainly for the ring projects.

Kitchen stool after assembly and painting with polyurethane.

Scott caulks some cracks in the siding as Bob steadies the ladder.

A Canadian Looney has been beaten into the shape of a ring.  Now the solid center must be removed.

Scott and Rod watch as Don saws out the solid center of the coin using a jewelers saw.

Scott smoothes the inside of the ring using a rat tail file.

Scott continues filing on his ring.

Wooden blocks hold the ring in the vice without scratching it.

An eagle decided to perch in a tree in front of the cabin.  He may have been looking for duck eggs.

Dons Indian friends from Stanley Mission stopped by while moose hunting.  James McKenzie seems more serious than usual.

Gord Hardlotte is his usual happy self.  Always has a funny story to tell.  He tells us about passing two canoes filled with women on the way out to dancing Loon Island.  This is indeed unusual news.  We make plans to go fishing at the “Honey-Hole” tomorrow morning in the hopes of intercepting the canoes when they depart Spalding Lake via Wilson rapids, their presumed route.  We had assumed they were camping somewhere on Spalding that night instead of pushing on through Wilson rapids today, given when and where they had been passed by the Indians.

Joe Roberts strikes a serious pose.

Joe and Don share stories.  Joe planned to return to the island later in the summer to spend a week there with his grandson, Keefer.

Don, Bob, Scott and Rod work at making a large pool to keep fish in that are destined to make the trip to Nebraska.  The fish box did not have enough size to hold four limits of Walleye and Northerns, hence a supplemental storage pool was constructed.

Scott catches a small snake at the “Honey-Hole”.

Scott is using a blue towel to grab the slimy Northern.

This fish is too small to keep.

Rod straightens out his bait after the last catch.  This procedure is normal.

Another Walleye is landed.

Scott prepares to release his small Northern as Don keeps fishing.  One of the advantages of fishing while at anchor is that others can keep fishing while another fisherman deals with his fish.  If the boat were in motion as would be the case if you were trolling, then once a fish is “on”, everyone needs to reel in to keep from getting all the lines tangled up.

Bob catches another walleye.  As the morning wears on, we start to wonder if the canoes went through here last night or early this morning.

Rod catches another Walleye.  We were about to return to Dancing Loon Island when two canoes were spotted entering Wilson Rapid Bay and heading toward us.  Now we should be able to solve the mystery of who these adventuresome women are.  Where are they from and where are they going??  

Number two girl and Megan Pieffer talk with Don and Scott.  Number two was 15, Megan is a college junior.  They are out of a Boy Scout Camp at Boulder City, Wisconsin. They started at Missinipe on Otter Lake.  They traveled down the Churchill River, camped on an island next to Stanley Mission.  Lost a canoe in the Stanley Falls Rapids where Gord had taken Don, Betty and Shirley through several years earlier.  A day was wasted while the outfitter at Missinipe brought them a replacement canoe.

The girls had proceeded across Brabant and crossed the road at the Waddy River inlet.  This is adjacent to the CanAm store and cabins where we frequently stay.  The girls didn’t even see the store.  Up the Waddy River to Waddy Lake, Elephant Lake and eventually entering Deception Lake.  On Deception they stopped at a cabin where a Nebraska rancher fed them buffalo stakes as he had for several years.  They crossed Deception and entered Pink Lake then exited that lake via Pink River.  Now they were finally running with the current.  Wathaman Lake was crossed and they went under the Wathaman River Bridge. They capsized a canoe in the rapids that guard Spalding Lake and got their food chest quite soaked. . 

They camped on “Campers Island” in Spalding Lake, after having been passed by some Indians in motorized canoes.  Meagan and #2 can be seen on the right of the rapids as they check to see what surprises it might hold for them as they descend it.  Megan was very professional an thorough, very much in charge.

The two canoes had picked a route through the rapids on the left side, then out to the middle.  Don offered to call Meagan’s parents on the satellite phone since they had been out of touch for over 30 days.  The girls had an emergency satellite phone that wAas to be activated only in the case they needed to be rescued, so Meagan was happy for a chance to get word of their progress to her parents.

Here Meagan and #2 bring up the rear as they approach the Interim Lake.

Meagan and #2 finish off the rapids without having to rescue anyone from the water.  Don later heard from Megan that they had no trouble with either the second rapids into Greenbush Lake or the much longer Scott Rapids leaving Greenbush into Reilly Lake, an arm of Reindeer Lake.  Crossing the 60 miles of Reindeer Lake, they encountered Indians who offered to tow them down to the village of Southend.  Since they were a bit short on time, the girls accepted the tow to insure not being late for their float plane pickup to return them to Missinipe.  Don called Megan’s parents from the cabin and was able to assure Megan’s mother that all was well with her daughter whom she was obviously quite concerned about.  A couple years later, Meagan and her parents visited Don in Boulder.o

Bob, Rod, Don and Scott at the fish cleaning station after returning to the island.

Bob, Rod, Kim and Scott at the fish cleaning station.

Entrance to the Campbell River.

Rod fishing in the Campbell River.

No Name Hill along the Campbell River.

Bob and Rod stand on the rocks where the Campbell River enters the still, serpentine last mile before entering Spalding Lake.

Scott works on a wooden chain as Don looks on.

Scott kayaks down the rapids from the “Honey-Hole”.

So far, so good.

Scott crosses over to the near side, pretty much following the track that the two canoes had taken.

I can’t remember if Scott got to the Interim Lake without tipping over but I think he did.

A rain storm is headed toward the cabin.

The flags are whipping in the wind.

Trees are bending over in the wind.

Even as these rain cells pass over head, a spot of blue sky hints of the temporary nature of the storm cell.

Scott saws wood for a project.

Bob carves on a proto type checker piece.  This turned out to be a very useful project, better illustrated in later photos.

Rod shows off his beard growth.

Or perhaps Rod is practicing for a “mug shot” for the post office??

Scott also poses for a “mug shot”.

Kim fishes in Northern Bay.

Bob and Scott try out the newly made checker pieces.  The natural colored pieces eventually become red as soon as the red marker pen was found.  The new game table trim has not yet been painted with polyurethane.

Game table with new checker pieces.  The red marking in the center of the natural colored pieces is the natural center color of the cedar scraps (from the kitchen stool) used to make the checker pieces.  This cedar wood has a pleasant aroma just like the cedar used to line closets or chest.

Rod and Bob get ready to clean fish.  Both are expert fish cleaners.

Scott, Rod and Bob at the fish cleaning station.

Bear trap.  The entrance vertical sliding door is on the left.  The white bucket was used to hold bate like dead fish or bacon.

The vertical; sliding door in the front of the trap.

Abandoned cook shack frame.  Harry Menton uses this area for his exercise workout room.

Don and Scott finally get “suited up” to tackle the dead bear remains which were still smelling very badly.  The plan is to put the recovered bones into the mortar box.

Progress is being made as the bones start to pile up in the mortar box.

Scott holds the vertebra assembly.

Don and Scott definitely needed the mask.  Disrupting the bear carcass significantly increased the odor.  It was strong enough to brinf tears to your eyes.

Don struggles with the remaining fur as Scott holds a plastic bag for its disposal.  The plastic bag of non-bones did not get buried until after the Urys left the island.  Don and a guest from the next visitors buried the bag contents on a beach several miles up the lake.  The retrieved bones filled two five gallon plastic buckets that were then filled with water, lids attached  and left to stand next to the beach, still casting off some bad odor if you got too close.

Bob and Rod have a game of checkers.

The red marker pen was located and the red checkers “painted”.  An excellent project.  Over the next winter, Don made a nice wooden holder for these checker pieces and they have become a permanent reminder of the Ury family visit to Dancing Loon Island in 2003.

Kim and Don relax reading while Scott and Bob play checkers.

Bob and Kim are back into Northern Bay casting for Northerns.

Rod and Bob measure the pikes length.  Gotta keep all the records straight!!

Dancing Loon Island viewed fron the South side.

Telephoto shot from the channel south of Dancing Loon Island.

Beach front on the north side of Dancing Loon Island.

Beach front.

Rod with a much larger Northern.

Rod and Scott at the fish cleaning station along with fist to be cleaned.

This northern still has some life left in it.

Rod does love Northerns a lot.  He certainly excels in catching them!!

The mouth of an eating machine.

Rod with Northerns headed to Nebraska.

Scott’s ring looks pretty good.

Scott holds up more walleyes he and Don have been catching at the “Honey-Hole”.

This Northern head was set out to dry.  Don took it home with him and eventually to Nebraska where Rod dipped it in Polyurethane and the head now resides in his machinery building.

Don and Scott at the fish cleaning station with a new batch of walleyes to clean.  Note the one fish that is missing some belly meat that was used foe “cut bait” while fishing.

Bob and Rod ready to fillet the fish going home for this trip.

Bob, Don and Rod tie down the kayaks in the 14’ Lund in preparation to the trip to the landing tomorrow.  Any “leaving the island” chores that can be completed before the departure day make it much easier on the normally very hectic day of departure.

The storage closet looks a little empty as the Ury’s prepare to leave.

Another big Northern with Bob at the beach.

Bob and his Northern.

Bob at the fish cleaning station.

Bob, Scott, Don, Rod and Kim on the front steps for a group photo.

Without the clouds, the sun would surely set “in the notch” on the far horizon.

We hoped this stretch of water toward the landing will be equally calm the next morning when we boat to the landing.

August 1 was the day to leave the island.  Don with an early morning pancake on the morning we leave the island.

Scott shows off how ready we are for the trip across the thankfully very calm lake.

A baby grouse on the cabin trail watches our departure.

Scott and Don are ready to leave.

Bob and Rod prepare to “shove off”.

Scott and Don are underway.

Kim stands on the landing pier as we empty gear for portaging up to the truck.

Scott pushes as Bob pulls their flat bottom boat out of the water and up onto the portage trail as Don gives advice.

Bob clearly provided most of the muscle to move the boat.  Scott helps from the back of the boat.

Bob, Rod and Scott move the boat up the trail.  Actually, Rod is mostly an ornamental helper at this point.

Bob and Scott have almost reached the end of the portage trail.  Bob is so strong, he made the whole portage look way too easy.  Looks can be very misleading.  After loading up the Ury truck, both the Ury’s and Don caravanned to Brabant.  Don went to pickup some fresh milk he had ordered a couple weeks earlier.  He was very unhappy to find that his fresh supplies were not available and that the 160 mile round trip was for nothing.  Goodbyes were exchanged and Don decided to drive 25 miles north of the Wathaman River Bridge and check out Johnson River Lodge.  Perhaps he could get some fresh food there.  That turned out to be wishful thinking and Johnson River appeared about as poorly run and stocked as Brabant.  Don returned to the 4 wheel road and motored back to the island.  It was 10PM by the time he got his gear up to the cabin.  Don was alone on the island until August 4 when Joe Robert and his grandson Kiefer arrived for a seven day visit.  Joe is a Cree Indian friend from Stanley Mission.

Joe shot a young bull moose near the end of the serpentine calm water of the Campbell River.  As a native person he is allowed to hunt game year around.  It is not legal for a white person to accompany an Indian when they are hunting.  This avoids having wealthy white hunters hunt out of season but with an Indian along and claim he was only watching and not doing the hunting.  Joe did motor back to the island and picked up Don and Kiefer to assist him in the butchering of the moose.  We arrived at the spot where the moose lay dead.  Joe had hung his jacket high on an adjacent tree.  This was done to act as a scare crow and ward off any crows, ravens or eagles that might then alert a nearby bear.  Joe was lucky in that while the moose was shot in the water, he had swam to shore and fell dead less that 6 feet from the water.  The land adjacent to the river is very low and swampy and the moose picked the driest spot possible to die.

Joe is an expert at butchering a moose.  It looked like 10 gallons of blood came out of this animal.  Joe gave a running commentary on what he was doing and what the various parts were named.  The mosquitos were almost a solid cloud, trying to get their share of the moose.

There was a lot of blood still left in the carcass at this time.  About the only help that Kiefer and I actually supplied was to help roll the moose over.

The large hanging piece of moose is its stomach.  Joe uses it as his “goodie bag” that he uses to carry various organs.  The stomach will eventually be ground up and added to  a jerky they make.

This chunk of moose is a large piece of loin that Joe left on the island for my consumption.  It was very good!!

Joe is filling his goodie bag in preparation for the trip home.

Don and Kiefer played a lot of checkers.

Kiefer and Don got to be good friends.  After Joe and Kiefer left, Don spent a week alone on the island and got a lot of small jobs done.

Don is at the landing to pickup Jay Niebur as the last guest of the year.  The bugs were waiting too.

Naturally Jay brought the rain.  It turned quite cold and eventually we stopped at “Camper’s Island” to change into more dry and warm clothing.

Being properly dresses when you leave the landing would eliminate this kind of mid-trip messing around.

It’s very hard to see, but there was a young eagle standing on the shore, just soaking in the rain.

Don is glad to have the heavy duty rain gear to shed all the rain.

Don is being helped by Jay to put on the T1-11 paneling on the rear of the cabin.  Jay always brings a lot of muscle and energy to cabin projects.

Cabin rear with paneling job in progress.

Don paints the paneling with Penofin Oil as it is installed at the end of day 2.

Don is painting the final bit of paneling on this project on day 3.

Don poses on the rear steps with the rear paneling looking pretty good in the morning light.

Don is at the beach working with the bear bones.  The water they were soaking in had turned a very bright purple.  The smell would gag a maggot.  Fortunately a brisk wind was keeping the work area somewhat tolerable.

Don maneuvers the boat in preparation for the end of the season trip to the landing.  Jay ran the 10HP motor in the 14’ boat being towed by Don.

Jay took this photo of Don in the lead boat as we approached the landing.  Naturally, it was raining.  We were a bit late leaving the island and combined with an earlier night fall, much of our portaging was done in the dark. 

     We had to take the big boats to 2 Mile Island for the winter.  It was almost dark when we returned.  A bear had found our garbage bags and had strewn the contents around the woods where our truck was parked.  The rain increased and made loading the Suburban a real mess.  Many empty gas cans were transferred to Jay’s truck because of the mess in the Suburban. 

     Jay picked up the garbage and kept an eye out for the bear as Don loaded the truck.  The 4 wheel track was soaked and slippery.  Don had great difficulty with seeing through the rain with only one eye.  By the time we got to Brabant for the night, they were closed. 

     A bad decision was made to drive on to LaRonge.  Don was soaked to the skin and the truck was such a mess he was not able to change into dry clothing.  About 25 miles from LaRonge, Don went to sleep at the wheel.  He obviously had slowed down a lot because when he hit the ditch on the other side of the road, he was awakened by the noise of running over all the small trees and weeds.  He was able to gradually steer the truck back onto the road.   

     He was very much awake by the time he got back onto the road.  Jay was many miles down the road waiting for him to come by.  We got together a few miles north of LaRonge and got a room about 2:30 AM.  Next morning Don extracted all the greenery from the front of the truck.  He still carries a piece of bush on his truck visor as a reminder of that incident.