In the Bush

Now in Canada, they call the forest "the bush."  Once you're off a path or road, you're in the bush.  There's no walking through it.  It is thick and tough and impassable.  Yesterday, Phil and I ventured into the bush to see the sucker fish in the Jackfish stream.  The boys went down there last night to do some hand-fishing, or noodling.  The youth group from Sioux Lookout are coming out tonight to give it a try.  It's Canada... what do you expect they do for fun?  Actually, they could be making their own Duck Dynasty show.

When we got back to camp we took a hike on the east loop.  Matt Gates had told us that beavers had built a dam there and we wanted to see it.  And, sure enough, there it was.

Why beavers would build a dam here, so far from the lake, is a mystery.  But once word got around camp, there was no holding them back.  The whole crew set out to take that thing down.  Little Emma was driving away with them and saying to me so sweetly, "We'll be back in a little while, Ms. Pam, after we tear down the beaver dam," as if this were an everyday occurrence. Yet another Duck Dynasty episode possibility.

We also came across these tracks.  Are they wolf or bear?  We're not sure.  

Phil came out of all this looking pretty beat up.  He had a couple of nasty encounters with "the bush," which resulted in a big scratch on his head above his eye.  He tried to blame it on me, but we all know that's not how it happened.  He wanted to tell the story as if he were scratched by a bear, but no one was buying that.

Today Phil had a better day... in a boat, not in the bush.