In the beaver

We finally made it yesterday!  I had left Mogens, my wwoofer, at the Precipice when I went to the cattle drive party, but to thank him for all the great work he did for me building the stone oven, I treated him to a flight into Nuk Tessli, my mountain resort, and a couple of days’ stay.

I started Nuk Tessli from scratch 23 years ago.  I built the first two cabins single-handedly.  There are no roads to the lake; in summer it can be walked in one very long day (a lot of the route is bush-bashing and there is no trail over the long stretch of alpine country) but I usually take 2 or 3 days; in winter, when I used to go out on snowsnoes, it takes 4 days.  Now that I am getting older, I usually fly in and out.

There are 2 float plane companies at Nimpo Lake on the Chilcotin.  The larger plane is a beaver; because of the drag of the floats and the comparatively high altitude (Nimpo os higher than Ginty Creek) it can take 6 people without much gear or 3 adults, 2 large dogs, and about 400 lbs freight.

Mogens sat by the pilot, and the dogs were squeezed in the back.  Both dogs like flying – they think the plane is just another car.  Harry usually goes to sleep but Badger always likes to look out of the window.

The 40 – mile flight takes about 20 minutes.  Here we are coming into my lake.  (I call it my lake as it has several different names.)  The ridge just beyond the upper lake in the middle distance is the boundary to the Tweedsmuir Provincial Park.

My cabins are at the end of the point on the right of the picture near the foreground.

What looks like a beach is the last of the ice.  There are 3 cabins.  I built the first two without any help whatsoever.  The first one is hidden in the trees from this angle.  Number two is on the right and number three is where I live.  I had some help with that one.  All the adventures of my building and living at Nuk Tessli are described in my books.

The first job was to unload the plane and then check that the internet was working.  If the winter storms had moved the satellite arm, or the house had shifted due to frost, or the solar panels had been blown away, the system might not work.  I have no phone up here so if I had problems I could send a message out with the pilot.  But everything seems to be functioning properly so far.

Here is the view looking southeast from my home at Nuk Tessli

And this is the view looking up the lake towards Mt Monarch and his entourage.  Mt Monarch is nearly 12,000 feet high and is permanently covered in snow.

The weather remains cool and uncertain.  We were lucky to get a clear morning to fly in.  This morning at first light it was socked in, and soon it started to snow.  Back to longjohn weather again.