Family Tradition (Pics)

[dana]

This weekend we backpacked into our family cabin in the highcountry of the Cariboos. My wife's great grandfather built the cabin back in the 40's. This is the first time we took the kids up as the hike is pretty intense. They both did it with out any complaining even though it was pouring for the entire 3 hours of sloggin up the devil's club infested trail.
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[dana]

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[DropTines]

beautiful looking country, much for wildlife around?
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[dana]

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Didn't manage to see any goats while glassin off the deck but I did glass up a decent 4 point muley and a forky.

[newhunterette]

Dana,
that is so wonderful and pictures are so beautiful - a lifetime of memories - more families need to do these things - it sets aside the difference for children nowadays to learn about survival skills and lifeskills away from the electronic world (as i say this typing on a computer) - I love to see families like yours - makes me know that there really is people who are invovled. Traditions always in the making to hold a memory for life.

Thank you for sharing
Ali

[dana]

Fishin' was pretty slow. Didn't even get a bite.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/July22153.jpg

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Saw tons of these critters though
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[30-06]

those are some nice pic's Dana...beautiful country.i wouldn't mind building a cabin at a lake in the alpine

[frenchbar]

Looks like a good way to spend the weekend.cool looking cabin also ,dont see many built like that with the upstairs downstairs.

[Hank Hunter]

Wow, great pics. What an awesome setting

[Dirty]

That is a nice cabin. Looks like a great family adventure.

[dana]

There is a reason why it is 2 stories. Check out these pics.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/July22142.jpg

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Here's the first cabin they built.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/July22133.jpg

[dana]

It was really fun reading the cabin log books from as far back as the 40's to present day. There is no doubt they built men and women tough back in the good ol' days. They were as hard-core as they come. Avid outdoorsmen, avid backcountry skiiers, and avid hunters. There were many stories of hunting grizz, caribou and goats in the highcountry.
Here's a decent buck that is hanging in the cabin. Don't know the story but I'm sure it probably was a campmeat buck.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/July22119.jpg

Here's a cool poem that I found in the logbook.
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[mark]

Beautiful pics, and place! 2 questions?
Do snowmobilers use the cabin in winter?
How did the 100 lb. propane bottles get in there?
Dont tell me gramps packed then in there in the backpack!

[Derek_Erickson]

Dana I've been to this cabin, goat hunting in the draw there, a family was there when we were my dad knew them, brook trout in that lake there eh!

[dana]

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[dana]

Mark,
No sledders in this basin. All the recent new additions like the propane lighting and such have been flown in by a local well-known heli-ski operation.

[Jetboater]

that is just sweet, great to see some undamaged history.. post up as many pictures like that that you have!!!...my wifes great grandparents were early settlers in the gustafson lake area, some of the pictures are amazing!

[Beverly]

very cool story & pics Dana!!!...love the cabin :)

[Brambles]

Beautiful place, great photo's, definitely looks like Goat country

[dana]

Derek,
Was pretty amazing that they packed fish up on their backs and stocked those 2 lakes way back in the 40's. Here is a clip out of the book that my wife's grandfather wrote. This was before he married into the family too.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/July22148.jpg
Funny his little note about hoping nobody fishes them out. He once complained to me that his brother in laws fished out all the big ones. ;) Was pretty cool to see later in the log book where he spent his honeymoon up there. Really cool when I know for a fact he told me he shipped out to the beaches of Normandy the very next day.

[Steeleco]

Very moving pictures, thanks for sharing, your lucky to be able to enjoy such beauty.

[MattB]

Awesome pictures Steve! Looks like it was quite the trip and a good family adventure!

[lapadat]

Sweet pics Dana. I wish I had a cabin near my goat mountains :(

[Jagermeister]

Nice pics Dana. Looks a little like Ghost Lake, but I suspect that would be on the wrong side of the Cariboos. Nels Nelson, is that associated to ski jumping fame? I love old pictures, but they always leave one wanting for more as they seldom tell the complete story.
Thanks for sharing your family adventure Dana.

[dana]

Different Nels Nelson but probably cut from the same cloth.

[gameslayer]

As usual great post Dana, that is some awesome history you have in your family. That is great you managed to get the family in there to see your family special place. I hear you about the toughness and fortitude it took back in the day to build a place like that and stay in it with out today's modern equipment. I think most of us today have not a clue what it took to be an adventure back then. What a beautiful place.

[Phil]

Amazing History and superb pics old and new!! Thanks for sharing.

[tooley]

Wow nice place, every outdoorsmans dream

[gary mok]

very toughing letters and pics,unbelievable can keep going on,you guys so lucky to have a such good memory!!!

[Alpine85]

Awsome photos and weekend trip Steve. Amazing when you look at old pictures and storys, how tough and rugged men and women were back then.
Great looking pup you got there also....

[Gun Dog]

Very cool pictures.

[Caveman]

Great Story and great Pictures Dana, Very cool to see the whole family out there together.

[mrdoog]

Way cool, hope it remains a legacy in your family for generations and generations.
ps
-when's your birthday, I'll send you another oar

[Derek_Erickson]

This place is truly amazing, Its an experience you have to get in person, without the pics

[Mik]

Excellent pics, its great to see your family all together on a hike. Not too many people do that kind of a hike now-a-days. Thanks,
Mik

[308BAR]

Very excellent, I'm all green. Thanks for sharing.

[one-shot-wonder]

Neat weekend trip Steve!

Was the cabin built just as a weekend get away/hunting/skiing cabin?

Back then I guess you could just do something like this, without ruffling any feathers.....Hopefully the cabin will remain for a few more generations to enjoy!

Race you up there for opening day!:wink:

[dana]

One-shot,
It was built just as a family getaway spot. The old family house was at the base of the mountain in the valley bottom. Back in 1992 the family had a big shindig at Weigle's for the 50th aniversery of the cabin. Everyone who had ever gone up was invited. The government reps came up and gave the family official homesteading rights. The land is now private and held in the family trust. It will be there for our future generations, for my kid's kid's kids.

Another pic of the first cabin.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/July22122.jpg

Too bad more kids don't follow these rules today.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/July22144.jpg

[dana]

There is a good story they told about one of their horses, could be the one in the pic. Nels had shot a nice grizz in the basin above the cabin. He brought the horse in to drag it back down. The horse got really skidish when it smelled the grizzly, so he put blinders on it and harnessed the horse up to pull the grizz out. Everything was working well until they came to some thicker timber and the blinders got pulled off by the branches. The horse saw the grizz and bolted. Of course the grizz was still in tow and the horse thought it was being chased by the bear. Nels followed the carnage down the mountain until he found the broken harness and the bear. No horse in sight. He took care of the bear and packed it down on his back, all the way down to the main house, and there standing in the correl was the horse. Still shivering from it's narrow escape of almost being attacked by a grizz.

[one-shot-wonder]

That is definately a family heirloom.
Neat pics I love black & white, share more if you've got 'em!

[dana]

During the summer of 2002, 308win and I were doing some layout in a remote drainage. The newly built road into that drainage was the first access in the valley. We were extending the mainline another 5 or 6 kms further up the drainage. As we were laying out the boundary of one block we cut down under a rockbluff and came across a frying pan and old coffee can under a over hang. They looked like they were from the 40's or 50's. We assumed it must have been an old trappers camp. A year or so later, I was talking to my wife's grandfather about the developement in that drainage and he said Nels used run his trapline into there. Good chance the frying pan and coffee can was his. Our road was eventually built and in 2004 I was hunting moose in that drainage with my then 8 year old son and my dad. We ended up having a close encounter with about a dozen wolves and Cody and I howled them in. It was the coolest experience. I ended up getting one of the wolves and my dad missed one. We continued on the trapping and hunting heritage. Later that day I took Cody up to the overhang to show him the frying pan and can that may just well have been his great great grandfather's.
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[Kechika]

I rarely have anything positive to say,but that was awsome thanks

[mark]

Very cool story and pics! Awesome to have some private land in the alpine! Does anyone else ever hike in there and use the cabin? Is that yer dog, or a dead wolf, or just a friendly one ya howled in?

[dana]

Mark,
The deal is, the only way nonfamily can go up to the cabin is if they are going with a family member. In the summer it is rather busy and we have to book several months in advance to get the weekend we want. One of my wife's aunts looks after things when it comes to scheduling ect. In the winter it is less active now, but does still see several weekend family outings and Weigle's uses it for some of his avalanche training. Thus the reason the family gets real good heli rates. :)

As for the pic, it's a wolf, not a pet dog. Here's some more pics of it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/IMG_0891.jpg

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[30-06]

once again.nice pics

[browningboy]

Nice pics Dana, but did your forefathers keep a "log" of their outings and hunting trips up there? I think that would be really interesting and did they leave behind a old camp gun from back then?

[dana]

Numerous hunting adventures in the log books. Was a fun read. As for family rifles, my son just killed his first bear with his late grandfather's 30-30. He'll be hunting with that rifle during deer season as well. Next year, my daughter can hunt with it and my son will have to switch to the Dana side of the family and hunt with the 300 Savage that was my grandfather's, then my dad's, then mine and now is my son's.8)

[frenchbar]

Numerous hunting adventures in the log books. Was a fun read. As for family rifles, my son just killed his first bear with his late grandfather's 30-30. He'll be hunting with that rifle during deer season as well. Next year, my daughter can hunt with it and my son will have to switch to the Dana side of the family and hunt with the 300 Savage that was my grandfather's, then my dad's, then mine and now is my son's.8)

I did that last yr steve handed down the 270 to my son that my dad gave to me when i was 12. but i have 2 sons that hunt,so i had to ask them who wanted a new one or who wanted the old one.well i let the older one use the 270 last yr and he took a muley with it . so he ended up with it and my youngest ended up with a newer one.he didnt seem to mind:-D.and me i just got an old browning in 30-06 from my uncle . and once my yougest gets a bit older i will give him the 30-06 .then once that happens maybe i will just spot for them...... :wink:

[quadrakid]

that,s some fine family traditions,rare these days. thanks for the great post.

[dana]

Frenchbar,
That's cool. When I was a kid, my brother started hunting with the Savage before me so by the time I came up I ended up shooting my first deer with my mom's 243 instead. But, Horshur went and bought himself a rifle the next year, so I got to pack the ol' Model 99 from that point on. One Christmas when things were tight, dad gave me the 99 as a present with a card that read, "Please pass this on to your son or daughter." Last Christmas I did just that with my son. When the kids were still really young, I picked up another 300 Savage so they both can have one. I couldn't pass up the deal, it was only a hundred bucks. The father-in-law's 30-30 is ideal for the first year though, as it doesn't have near the kick the Savage has. My son is growing like a weed, so I'm sure next year he'll handle the 99 quite well. Either way, he's hunting with a family heirloom.

Here are some more old pics from the glory days at the cabin.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/BCBOY/July22191.jpg

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Gotta love skiing in July eh?
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[frenchbar]

ya the gun handing down is neat .i have 2 other brothers and we were all givin a 270 when we were young,my dad also shoots a 270,guess he thought it was easier just packing the same caliber bullets when we went out together.i got a 243 win for my youngest boy so hopfully he will knock down a a nice mossy for his first buck when we head for the alpine this sept.

[dana]

Frenchbar,
Can't wait to see the pics come Sept.

When you look at all these oldtimer pics it sure makes you wonder what all the fuss is about when it comes to all the latest fangled gadgets that we somehow think we need to be outdoorsmen nowadays. Somehow, as a society of hunters, we think we need all this "Stuff" to make us successfull. And yet, the oldtimers only had the old 30-30 or 300 Savage, a pair of wool pants and a wool jacket and a Trapper Nelson pack and they were living the good life.

[frenchbar]

Idont use any of todays fancy gagets,i got my knife binos rifle and nothing fancy ,i travel light.seems to work for me.gotta have the grey wool stanfield sweater tho lol.ya its going to be a trip ive been waiting for for awhile,lets hope they connect,they are looking forward to the trip im going to take them both out of school for a weeksept 10 and maybe hunt a couple days of the youth hunt in3-17 onsept 1st.good luck to u and cody in sept hopefully he will connect.

[Nimrod]

Dana
I'm sure I've been to that cabin, it's on the west side of the valley just north of blue river ...right?
buddy of mine was running the guiding service form mike Wigley heli skiing. We were the first one in after a major dump of snow one December ski touring ,only we cheated ... got a drop off with an A-star, the pilot came in hugging the cliff to the left of the cabin and put it down just in front.It was nice not having to pack in the Guinness and red wine (lots), we ate deer steak and sausage for dinner and breakfast every day:-D.
What a trip that was, we were there for 4 days with amazing snow conditions. It was one of the coolest ski experiences I've ever had. I was amazed at the cabin and history especially. that is a very very special place.
We skied down to the highway at the end of the trip, it's long way down.

Dana thanks for reminding me about that place, made my day.

[bckev]

Amazing,thanks for sharing.

[Orangethunder]

I had a goat draw there years ago. No goats but a nice trip. We did fall asleep and woke up to a nice caribou feeding 5yds away. Glad to here its still in good shape. Nice pics