A snow-filled successful trip!

When we hit the "Y" in the road that begins our climb up to the unmanned gas plant (compressor station), and the top of the trapline, I knew we would be battling a tough, rough road. A lot of snow had fallen and more than 30-inches lay on the un-plowed road. I managed to stay in the ruts of a previous driver and reached the unmanned compressor station and the beginning of Boulder Road without problem. At first, I started down Boulder Road but the previous driver had stopped at the compressor station and I was now the first one trying to get through the deep snow on the road. With Boulder Hill in mind, I decided we would back up, unload at the compressor station, then I would make the five-mile trek to the cabin where I would get the sled and come back for Dakota and our gear. My plans were waylaid when, not being able to see where we were on the road and backing up with the trailer on, I got sucked into the shallow ditch. We were stuck! I wished I had taken a photo but for some reason I didn't. After a trip to the cabin for the sled and shovels, we began the process of trying to get unstuck. In less than an hour, we were out of trouble, loaded, and ready to get to the cabin. We were running a little bit late now but would still be able to run the Pipeline Trail just as we had planned.

After getting a fire started in the cabin's woodstove and all of our stuff unloaded, we reloaded the sled with three bags of bait for the bait station - containing a deer carcass, a moose hide and legs - and the rest of the stuff we carry, off we went. The Ski-doo was working hard in the deep snow but we were managing to make ground on the lower side of Pipeline Trail. At an off-shoot down a wellsite road near the top of Pipeline trail, we picked up our first marten.

Our first marten. The amount of snow that had fallen buried many of our sets.

Our next stop was at the bait station, but a sharp hill lay before us. I told Dakota to run behind the sled and push as best he could. We made it about two-thirds of the way up the hill before we bogged down. After unhooking the sled and getting the Ski-doo turned around and now hooked back up to the sled, we unloaded the heaviest bait bag and without Dakota on the musher, I got to the top of the hill. Dakota now had to carry the heavy bait bag up to where I was.

The hill is much steeper than it looks.

Almost there!

That's it! He's had enough.

We replenished the bait station and carried on down the backside of Pipeline Trail. Most of our traps were either sabotaged by ermine (we had managed to catch two so far), empty, or completely buried in snow. In fact, almost every trap was buried. When we reached the bottom of the big hill at the end of Pipeline Trail near Grizzly Road, we picked up our second marten. So far, our success rate had been very good, despite the knee-deep snow.

Marten #2 at the bottom of Pipeline Trail near Grizzly Road.

We were laying down our first snowmobile Trails of the year as we traveled Pipeline Trail. Wherever we doubled back, I would ride far enough over to make the trail 1 1/2 Ski-doo widths wide. After learning last year that a single trail isn't wide enough, making it too easy to get sucked off and stuck in the soft snow beside the trail, I was determined to make a proper trail and was doing so. The deep snow was making it tough though. I worried about how deep the snow would be on South Trail that always seems to have more snow than anywhere else. We would find out the next day.

Here you can see the snow we were pushing throughout Pipeline Trail.

The next morning we headed straight to South Trail. Our plan was to get the farthest parts of the trapline away from the cabin done first. We'd run the center of the trapline later in the day, including Clear Trail, Unnamed Trail and what we now call Center Trail.

Pushing our way down South Trail we were finding much of the same, buried or ermine-sabotaged traps, but so far we were making decent time while laying down our trail. And then the hill on Crossover Trail  loomed before us. I tried to hit the hill as fast as I could but the deep snow wouldn't allow me enough speed. We were once again unhooking the sled, pushing and pulling it up the hill. At the top, we were both exhausted. For two weekends in a row, the Crossover Trail Hill had given me a tough time. The weather was also warming up dramatically and we were starting to get wet. The snow was changing too and starting to stick to the Ski-doo and sled, adding unwanted weight. We knocked it off as best we could and carried on.

Soon we were looking down Broken Bridge Hill, wondering how the Ski-doo and sled would handle the journey down it for the first time. The snow was deeper than Pipeline Trail, like I suspected. Pushing the snow ahead of us, the Ski-doo and sled slowly crept down the big hill and we were soon easily at Broken Bridge where we caught our first ermine. Unfortunately, something had dined on this ermine (#10) and it was now bush feed. Our next set was empty but the next one after that held another nice marten, our third of the trip. Things were looking good with many more traps yet to check. Making trail though was getting tougher.

Our first marten of the day on Broken Bridge Trail.

Things were going well again until we hit another sharp incline and once again we were unhooking the sled, pushing and pulling it as best as we could to get to the top. Our hard work was paying off though, as we caught our fourth marten of the trip and second on Broken Bridge Trail. We had caught two marten from this same spot the previous year, so it was proving to be an excellent set.

A new box, but an older set. This is marten number three from this location over the past two years.

Next up was the new Extension Route south. It has several smaller hills on it and a few boggy spots, so I knew we would be working our butts off again at some point. And I was correct. I'm not sure how many times we had to unhook but it was several. When we reached the end of the Extension Route, exhausted, we stopped for a small well-deserved lunch. We had been working hard but we were doing well. We'd caught another marten, giving us five for the trip and three on the year from the Extension Route. Exploring this area earlier in the summer had proven to be fruitful and had been a good decision on my part.

Marten #5 of the trip and #7 on the season.

We made our way back down the Extension Route and headed towards Old Forest Trail where we would take Muskeg Trail out towards the center of the trapline. Once again, Old Forest Trail wasn't proving to be any easier on us and we had to unhook a few times again to get up a couple of hills. Old Forest Trail wasn't producing either, as all of our sets were again buried or sabotaged, mostly buried. This trail has proven to be our lynx trail though, having taken three from here last season. It has never produced anything else other than ermine though, but keeping the trail open is a worthy investment.

This cow and calf on the Extension Route watched us for the longest time.

We finished up our day without making another catch but we were happy with what we had accomplished. All of our trails were now down, some 1 1/2 Ski-doo widths wide, which will make the rest of the season much easier for travel. As well, we'd had a great catch of marten. Our ermine catch had been four but two had to be discarded, the second one because of trap damage. Marten traps are a little too big for the eager bait thief.

Dakota with our catch.

 Until next time!