Greg River

Last weekend we loaded up the quads and camped at Greg River near Hinton. The first day it was terribly smoky from the forest fires in BC, so She wouldn't let me run very much and the ball playing at night was mostly just me finding the ball in the tall grass and brush. But that night it rained really hard and cleared up the air quite a bit, so I got to run lots the next day. We came across an old cabin with a footbridge that crosses a stream to get to it.

Lots of times Her friend and dog Abby go to the river too. I didn't like Abby much when we first met, but I get along with her ok now. Abby likes to fetch logs and she's not especially keen on chasing the ball, so that works for me.

Since we came back from the Charlottes, we haven't gone very far from home, but we do go to the river pretty much every day, and I swim and fetch the ball in the river.

All in all, it was a pretty good trip. I didn't like the ferry part and I wasn't overly impressed with the ocean... (hard to swim in and it tastes bad) but I loved the beach and all the interesting things on it. I ran so much that the sand wore off the pads of my paws to the point that I was ouching by the last day. I even went on their friends' sailboat, right into the galley, which was kinda cool... (how many dogs can say they've been on a sailboat?), although getting back up on to the deck was another matter.

We left the morning of the 26th, and once off the ferry, drove as far as Terrace. Left Terrace the next morning and discovered we had no 5th gear in the truck. So we drove all the way home in 4th, making for a slower trip, but we got home about 1:00 AM.

One day we came across this freshly killed seal washed up on shore. Its head had been cut off and it had been branded, although the brand was not fresh. Nobody They asked knew why anyone would brand a seal. After we came home She emailed the BC Fisheries people and asked about it and the response came from Fisheries and Oceans Canada:

... "I am the Marine Mammal Response Coordinator for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. I track and respond to reports of dead and distressed marine mammals throughout British Columbia. We investigate causes of distress and mortality in efforts to better understand and lessen the impacts of threats that marine mammals face in BC waters.

The dead animal you observed was a male Steller sea lion that had been branded as a pup on Forrester Island, Alaska, in June 2004 by Alaska Department of Fish and Game as part of a long-term study to monitor movements, and survival and reproductive rates.

DFO was unfortunately not made a aware of this carcass until some time after it was first observed and we were unable to assess the intact carcass. There are conflicting observations as to the suggested cause of death and at this time we are unable to confirm if it was in fact killed or died of natural causes. Sea lions are commonly found throughout British Columbia and some level of mortality is expected. We suspect the head was removed as a "souvenir" for someone wanting to recover the skull, teeth and/or whiskers..."

Another chase

There's this one place on the beach called Rose's Point, where thousands of gulls gather and I got to chase them as much as I wanted. I almost caught one a couple times but they always take off over the water which slows me down quick.

Queen Charlottes

and hundreds of jellyfish like this one...

Queen Charlottes

Every day we quadded from our cabin to the beach. There was lots of giant driftwoods like this.

Queen Charlottes

On July 16th we left for the Queen Charlottes. We drove as far as Fort Fraser the first day, stayed overnight in a motel, then on to Prince Rupert the next day. Again overnight in a motel, then up and on to the ferry the next morning. Then for the next 6 hours I had to stay in a kennel thing. I wasn't very impressed with that, I would just as soon just stayed in the truck, but oh no, She had to bring up the seat belt thing again. (Gee wiz, you chew up chew up one little seat belt one time and they never let you forget.)

But once we finally got off that dang boat, it was a fairly short drive to our cabin. This was where we stayed for the next week. I had to sleep on the porch, but I didn't mind too much. We had campfires most nights and I didn't have to be tied up.