-36 and everything is hunkered down

Friday, December 21 to December 24:

We arrived at the cabin to a balmy -28 Celsius. By bedtime, the thermometer was reading -36. The road in (Boulder Road) was drifted in with snow and hadn't been plowed in awhile, making 4-wheel drive necessary. Luckily, the big hill on Boulder Road has been in good shape this year; unlike last year when it was touch-and-go each trip whether the chains would have to come out or not. Smiley Rock Road is now completely out of commission, adding an extra 20-minutes travel time to the cabin on the rough Boulder Road. This road is given its name for a reason.

Dakota went right away to check the mink set near the cabin while I started a fire in the cabin to start warming it up. The woodstove in the cabin is the perfect size and regardless of the outside temperature, the cabin is always toasty warm. I can get 5 to 6-hours burning time out of the stove if it's filled to the max before bed. Dakota returned with another bait thief, ermine #9.

Dakota with another ermine.

The snow from the roof is building up and adding another layer of insulation to the cabin sides.

Overnight it warmed up and by morning it was -22. Our plan was to run the north end of the trapline only. Sunday we would run the south end. Throughout the night it dumped another 4-inches on us and I was sure that running the Pipeline Trail would be a tough task, trying to find the trail that would be drifted in. I knew early on that our chances of a catch were slim, most of our boxes were filled in with snow and frozen up. And I was right; we returned to the cabin without a catch and the time delay at each set only allowed us to get up one more lynx cubby.

On the top side of the Pipeline trail.

The one-sided cubby we built on the Pipeline Trail.

Saturday never saw the temperature get over -22 Celsius and Sunday was the same. We were locked in at highs of -22. Another 2 inches of snow fell overnight and South Trail, which always seems to get more snow than anywhere else on the trapline, would be tough to navigate in the early portions that are wide open, and it was. Several times I was pulled off the drifted-in trail but luckily we never got stuck like we had on West Trail the previous trip. Today we decided to put up a cubby on South Trail where lynx tracks were frequent and two more on Old Forest Trail where lynx tracks had also become commonplace. We also built a hanging beaver lynx pen surrounded by seven snares. By the time we were done, it was dark and I couldn't get photos of the set, but will next time through.

One of two walk-through cubbies we built on Old Forest Trail.

A CD is suspended on a string from a branch above the cubby.
As the wind makes it spin, it flashes, even in moonlight. The CD is an attractant to lynx.

Sunday we awoke to more snow and the same -22. I thought chains might have to be used to get out, but we made it to the top of Boulder Hill without issue. Before we left, Dakota wanted to move the mink box near the cabin to another location along the creek. While I got a bucket of wash water for the cabin, Dakota made his set. We'll be back shortly after Christmas for about seven days. We hope to get a bait station set up and several more lynx cubbies and trail snares. We'll also be making some snow-hole sets for fox and coyote. As the photo shows below, on the way home the Peers Highway was in poor shape and very icy.

Until next time!