Weekly Grub Menu for 2016

I can take enough grub for three months.  I come out to my vehicle at half way point to resupply for another three months, typically one week of canoeing and portaging each way.  All grocery supplies are off-the-shelf items.

I now drink hot water alone with each meal instead of tea or coffee.  For each of months 2 and 4, I bring a treat of 500g peanut butter and 250g honey.

Breakfast - 5 days:

scotch mint

protein bar 72g

seed mixture 1/4c (hemp, chia, buckwheat, pumpkin)

vitamins

Breakfast - 2 days:

scotch mint

1/2 hot cinnamon bannock (See below.)

grated Parmesan cheese 1/4c

real bacon pieces 1/4c

vitamins

Lunch - 5 days:

scotch mint

1/2 cold bannock  (See below.)

almonds 1/4c

Mini Babybel or cheese stick 20g

(Mini Babybel in its wax cover stores at least 6 months unrefrigerated.)

gum

Lunch - 2 days:

scotch mint

1/2 cold cinnamon bannock

almonds 1/4c

granola bar Nature Valley 35g

gum

Supper - daily:

scotch mint

Dairy Milk chocolate bar 42g

fresh salad (alder or fireweed)

   (with sugar 1tbsp, Lemon & Herb seasoning 1tsp, grated Parmesan cheese 1/4c)

fresh fruit if available 1c

   (blueberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, bunchberries, rose hips, Saskatoon berries, pin cherries, red currants, raspberries, crowberries, bilberries)

Supper - 5 days:

macaroni and real cheese 2c (Kraft Deluxe Four Cheese or Original Cheddar 400g)

OR both of the following

potato flakes, quinoa flakes or quick brown rice 1c, or bulgur, couscous or orzo 2/3c (seasoned with chicken soup mix 2tbsp, and butter 2tbsp)

sardines 106g, herring 100g or canned meat 85g portion (corned beef, Holiday Luncheon, Klik, Prem, Spam or Kam)

Supper - 2 days:

stuffing mix 120g with butter 2tbsp, or oriental noodles 170g

PLUS one of the following

fish coated (cornmeal 1/8c, Montreal Steak spice 1tbsp), fried in Crisco shortening (1/2lb saved and used over a period of two weeks)

OR

fish diced, boiled and added to the noodles

OR

small game (roasted over coals and/or meat sliced and sautéed in shortening 1tbsp)

Bannock:

1-1/2c premixed before the trip (flour 1c, skim milk powder 1/4c, baking powder 2tsp, salt 1/2tsp, sugar 1tsp, Crisco shortening 4tbsp)

PLUS 1/4c each of cornmeal and currants

Cinnamon bannock:

premixed bannock PLUS 1/4c each of cornmeal and rolled oats

The dough is split into two layers, between which is added raisins 1/4c, cinnamon 1tbsp, brown sugar 1/4c, butter 3oz (3/8c).  A large tart is formed and then baked in Dutch oven.

Northern Saskatchewan 2015 - Wolves

There were wolves near my campsites quite often, sometimes very close, starting right in May at my very first site and continuing through my last camp in October.  I made three wolf sightings this year which is uncommon; usually I hear but do not see.  So far I have never seen a wolf while he was howling.

When wolves howl so close that it raises the hair on the back of my neck, it is somewhat intimidating.  This occurred several times.  I wish I knew more about the nature of wolf calls.  Are they upset with me, or are they welcoming me?

One morning, there was a wolf howling between my camp and the lakeshore about 70 meters away at daybreak.  I just happened to be heading to the shore and a black wolf and I saw each other simultaneously.  She was trotting about 20 meters away.  She paused for a few seconds, stared at me  back over her shoulder and then was gone into the bush.

I was canoeing one day and a very large very long wolf with the typical variegated brown coat loped along the hillside on the shore about 100 meters away, trotting effortlessly parallel to me for about 50 meters before being swallowed up by the brush.  He stopped once and gazed at me for a few seconds.

One evening, while I was having a nice hot shower under some pine trees, several wolves howled just out of sight in the bush.  It is a bit disconcerting to be standing there with no clothes on while the wolves are so near.  Are they mocking me?

Another night just after I went to bed, several wolves howled nearby, moving to different spots and howling again and again.  In the morning when I went outside I checked for wolf sign.  One or more  of the wolves played silly beggars with me.  There was a large burned stick from the fireplace laying on the ground a few meters away, with a pot stick also carried nearby.  The latter had a tooth mark in it.  The burned stick scared me as I wondered if the stick was still a live ember when it was moved.  It would be hard to explain a forest fire started by a wolf.  Perhaps he was functioning as "Smokey the Wolf"; "Only YOU can prevent forest fires".   I now make sure all fireplace embers are extinguished for the night with water or soil even if otherwise well contained.  When I went to the shore, my canoe had one of the painters that had been coiled underneath the canoe stretched straight out along the ground.  The rope was fastened securely to the bow of the canoe but the wolf hauled it away as far as he could.  Where I had my shower the night before, the ground underneath had been torn up and matted when a wolf had lain there for a snooze, leaving one of his tracks in the ground.  There was fresh scat close by.

One day I had hiked a long way and was returning to camp.  About one kilometer from camp two wolves howled quite close, moving along a small ridge and howling over and over.  I turned away from the ridge and made for camp and the howling frequency diminished.  I assumed they were telling me where they were located and to please avoid their spot.

Many of the howls were during daylight, early in morning or late in afternoon.  Several times I heard one wolf howl and then far away another wolf call, presumably talking to each other to identify positions or to pass on a message.

These are two wolf pups.  I had landed my canoe nearby and ate lunch.  While getting back in the canoe one of the wolves walked along the shore towards me but ran back when he detected me.  We were both equally surprised.  I walked around the small point to take these photographs.  The one fellow jumped into the water and swam across the narrow bay, disappearing into the bush.  The other wolf looked at her brother in the water and made as if to follow, but she was reluctant and ran towards me and then into the bush beside me.  This must have been a "rendezvous" site where the parents leave the pups while they are away hunting.  An amazing experience.  I tagged one as male, the bolder one who swam to flee, and the cautious one as a female.  I wanted to search the brushy area where I think they had been resting to see what evidence was there, but did not want to disturb the girl, so I quietly left.

 **********************************

 "If you've ever seen the forest

when a fire is running wild,

and you love the things within it ...

... then you know why Smokey tells you

when he sees you passing through,

'Remember...please be careful...'."

From: "Smokey the Bear" song by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins

Northern Saskatchewan 2015 - April

Week old black bear tracks in the snow-covered ice surface.

I was sitting at this lunch fire spot  half asleep when I heard footsteps in the snow quite close.  As I  looked towards the lake, I saw a streaking flash of black bear running on the ice surface.  I was curious if he had approached me from inland so I circled around the spot but could only find tracks on the lake.  He had walked towards me on the lake with the wind in my favour towards me.  When he realized I was there he turned and ran back on the lake and then into the bush.  It was not the closest a bear has approached me, but it is always a bit unnerving.

Northern Saskatchewan 2015 - May

On warm days, scattered snow drifts were a welcome supply of a "drink" of fresh water.  Just make sure it contains no rabbit droppings.

Can you see the black bear in the top photographs above?  From a tall hill I watched through binoculars as the bear walked along the far lake shore ice.  When he got to the rotten ice he fell through into the water and very quickly scrambled out retreating the way he had come.  Even from such a distance he looked very surprised and I could imagine him saying "Aie, aie, aie ...".  The poor guy was soaking wet.  I laughed out loud, and chuckled about it all afternoon.

My 30 year old tent received a retrofit this year, getting a zippered door and a silicone stovepipe thimble to replace the old asbestos one.  Both were much appreciated as they helped keep bugs outside where they belong. 

There were a lot of strong winds this year, as attested by the foam at the above lake shore.  In the top photo, I had to land quite a distance from my lunch stop so the parked canoe would be sheltered from the waves.

This is a male (yellow capped) black-backed three-toed woodpecker.  He took turns with his mate sitting the eggs.

Northern Saskatchewan 2015 - June

 A probable glacial erratic.

Red sun indicates forest fire smoke-filled sky.  I was not bothered much by smoke this year, and most of it seemed to be carried by winds from the south where north-central Saskatchewan had a record number of forest fires, threatening several communities.

Video of a portage.  (This video had to be compressed and edited  to six minutes from the original 12 minutes; the quality is better viewed unenlarged.)

Northern Saskatchewan 2015 - July

An ant hill.  The most common insect on earth is the ant.

Woodland caribou droppings from last winter.

Moose droppings from the past winter.

I get stung by wasps at least once every year, most commonly on the portage trail when inadvertently disturbing a colony that is hidden underground.

A red squirrel midden, a large one that has not been disturbed by fire for many years.

An immature bald eagle that appeared to be deserted by his parents.  He had not yet learned to fly.  Most of the nests I see are in tall trees.  Boulders such as this one are more commonly used by osprey.