We Got Wheels!

July 22nd (Wednesday)

We got wheels!  We made an agreement with Dave from work, so that we can have use of his extra vehicle.  It is a green, four-door Ford Explorer, and although I would not trust it to take out of Ocean Falls, it is perfect for around here.  All we wanted was a vehicle to use for getting us up to the lake with fuel for the lake boat, and our camping gear.  It will also be nice to be able to go out to the other end of the road out past Martin Valley and explore the area of Twin Lakes.  We will also no longer need to hitch a ride from others on grocery day when we have several large boxes of groceries to bring back from the ferry to the boat.  

Jason went up to the truck in the morning and spent a while cleaning it, since it had been neglected for some time.  While Jason was cleaning our truck I did a bunch of cleaning on our boat, and then in the afternoon we drove up to the lake.  Near the beginning of our last two-week shift we had removed the shift and throttle cables from Dave’s little boat, which we have the use of as our lake boat.  We have named her “Little Red”.  We removed the shift and throttle cables because they were so sticky that it was impossible to make any fine or subtle adjustments to our speed.  We literally had to hit the throttle handle to get it to move at all and then the boat would leap forward suddenly and go flying along.  To slow down we had to yank on the throttle handle and the boat would then lurch as it was suddenly dropped back in rpm.  So, over our time at work we oiled up the cables, and today we went up to put them back on.  

We took Little Red out for a spin and the difference was incredible.  We could now make fine-tune adjustments easily, and accelerating was smooth and pleasant.  It is amazing what a little TLC and lubrication can do.  Since it was a lovely day we headed over to the area of the lake by South Saiak Creek where we have planned to start our hike up to Baldy Mountain from.  Over out time off, we plan to come out and do some camping on the lake, and to hike up and camp on the top of Baldy, fingers crossed that the weather cooperates; right now the forecast is looking promising.  

South Saiak Creek is the same area where we kayaked to back in February when we went out exploring on the lake for our first time.  We had stopped at South Saiak on our paddle home and hiked up the creek, admiring the beauty of the creek with its many waterfalls and crystal clear pools.  The sand and gravel bar that we had pulled our kayaks up onto was now a lot smaller, since, after our very wet July, the lake level was quite a bit higher than it had been back in February.  We discussed different ways that we could secure Little Red for the time that we would be away hiking, and once we had a plan in mind we headed home.  

On our way home we passed Dorothy and her brother, Doug, heading up to the lake.  Doug had recently come home to Ocean Falls from helping to look after their mother back east.  We chatted with them between vehicles since they were still in their 14-day isolation period since he had arrived home.  Doug is the only person we know who has actually been up Baldy Mountain and he was able to give us some tips on the route.  He had climbed it with two friends back in 2001, so it was quite interesting to talk with him.