Dad arrives

Dad finally arrived on May 25th and good friend Pierre decided to join us for a couple of days. Pierre wanted to get a load of firewood to take back to his home in Jasper, so we traded off some work. He'd help build a couple bridges and we'd help him get a load of wood. I think I won the trade-off.

Another bridge on the Cabin Trail.

My dad, Vern, falling a tree for bridge beams.

Dad (top) and Pierre hauling logs across the creek.

Good enough for a quad, maybe not the skidoo!

And getting a trailer full of wood to haul to Pierre's truck.

Dad and I would be here for a full eight days. Our plan was to get up as many marten boxes as we could. Google Earth had proven to be a welcomed resource for plotting my route. Combined with what I already knew, I was able to plot a course that, by the time we were done, would run a full 38 miles of which about 10 miles would be backtracking. The Google Earth plotted route was only 32 miles long at the beginning, but new discoveries, an impassable trail and a long, too-steep of hill changed things up and the end result is 38 miles of trapline trail.

We managed to get a few signs up around the trapline.

Dad on one of the trails.

Dad posing in front of a marten set we just finished putting up. We got so good at this,
we could have the poles cut and installed with the marten box attached in less than 10 minutes.

Another marten set.

My dad is a workhorse who will outwork most men half his age. My dad is 75-years-old. You can read about him and this trip on the Alberta Outdoorsmen website in my Outdoor Pursuits column. Here is the link, enjoy.   75 Years Tough!