Today was berry picking day.  My friends Naomi and Karen and I left this morning for the back country.  And back country it is!  We live 45 minutes out of Burns Lake.  We went another 2 hours into the woods in pursuit of berries.  We were scouting out huckleberry bushes in cut blocks.  We found lots of bushes, and Karen found a polaski head.

Naomi had a few cranberries in her bucket but they were so few they didn't show up in the picture! Bridget was along as an early warning system for bears.  As usual, she did not want her picture taken.  It was cold and rainy as we were very high in altitude and closer to the coast.  We were in the Morice Lake area.  If you look on a map you will see how close it is to the coast.  The weather there is heavily influenced by coastal systems.

We left the huckleberry patch to seek out high bush cranberries.  Our usual haunt for these berries was inaccessible via Land Cruiser as the road had been deactivated.  We did see a beautiful black bear and a handsome bull moose (no pictures as they were on the run and soon out of sight).  Another fellow we saw was a porcupine.  He did not want his picture taken so the shots are mostly of his hind end.

 

Not the best shots but he was a very uncooperative subject!  I did not want to distress him any further so left him to his business and we went on our way. 

We found another patch of berries so spent several hours in the rain and wind filling our pails.  I wore fleece long underwear with rain gear and my bogs and a toque so I was toasty and dry.  Karen stepped into a swamp hole getting a soaked foot.  Naomi forgot we were climbing in altitude and dressed for weather down at the lake, which was warm and sunny when we left, and warm and sunny when we got home!  Nevertheless, we had a great time and a lot of fun.  It was good to get out into the back woods with some beautiful cranberries as a bonus.

When Dennis was getting wood yesterday he took a couple of pictures to show the area.  He is cutting in a landing where there are debris piles.  When it is windy or he is alone he cuts at debris piles as falling snags (dead trees) is dangerous.  Here is what it looks like where he gets wood:

 

You can see it is very beautiful, making a heavy task a little more pleasant. This place is only a few kilometres from our house.

Fall is really and truly my favourite time of year.  The colours and smells are stimulating.  The air is cool and brisk, there are no mosquitoes or black flies and it just feels so good to be outside.  I tried to capture the beauty of fall with my camera.  The camera does not do it justice, but here are a few photos to show you fall here in north central BC.

The above photo is of the Colleymount Road, just past our place.

The above photo is the view looking south from the kitchen and dining room windows.

The above photo is the view looking east from the kitchen window.  You will notice how calm the lake is in these photos.  This is rare for Francois Lake.  Francois Lake is 100 km long.  Winds can, and do, whip up at any time.  We have had unseasonally warm temperatures this fall, along with no wind.  We have had no rain also, making the lake drop to the lowest level I have ever seen.  The rain we have had the past couple of evenings is very welcome.  We all need the lake levels to rise to protect our water lines from freezing this winter. 

I am off to Terrace for a week, starting tomorrow.  I will not have a computer so will not update this blog until I get back.  I will be looking after my two grand daughters, Rose and Ella, while their parents are off on a trip.  I look forward to the week!  Bye for now!