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2000

Jan. 6 -- Boudreau, of Tolko Lumber, phoned to say they are logging more of the trail.

Jan. 19 -- Beautiful sunshine. I snowshoed over the Telegraph trail toward Keys road.. Very pleasant.

Jan. 20 -- -25°C. Watched a total eclipse of the full moon this evening. It took well over two hours to pass.

Jan. 21 -- The relations with close neighbors are more important than the relations with faraway relatives -- Oriental proverb.

Jan. 23 -- Pulled a container of spring water home with the toboggan over the T. trail. Sunshine made it pleasant.

Feb. 4 -- Clear and cold. Broke trail up the creek with snowshoes.

Feb. 14 -- Mark Lauckner, Director, phoned. He requested some pictures of the T. trail so he could include info about the trail on a web site.

Feb. 15 -- Sent pictures off to Mark for the web site.

Feb. 18 -- "It isn't your position that makes you happy or unhappy, it's your disposition".

Feb. 24 -- Chopped out a couple of trees on the way up the creek trail by skidoo. Melting when the sun comes up.

Feb. 27 -- Talked with Barb Janze of Hazelton by phone. They are thinking of starting a Telegraph trail society up there.

March 8 -- Walked up the creek trail to look for my axe that we lost from the skidoo. Found it. Cleared some hazel brush from a bypass section.

March 9 -- Walked up the creek trail to finish cutting brush from the by-pass section. Another nice day.

March 12 -- The logging trucks have stopped hauling on the road for break-up.

March 14 -- Sent $200 from our trail fund to Mark so he can purchase a bronze plaque to be placed on the trail at Herkyelthtie lake.

March 21 -- Received application forms from B.C. Hydro for Youth Options grant. Decided to decline.

April 10 -- Sunshine all day. Donny and I walked over the ridge on the T. trail with our axes and came back along the creek. A few patches of snow.

April 11 -- Donny and I traveled out to Blackwater with the saw. We cut out any new windfalls all the way up-river on the Lhtakoh ti trail until it joins the Mackenzie trail. We cane back along the escarpment. It's a long trip. Saw one deer on the way back

April 19 -- Met with Forestry and West Fraser Hills at Frappier's to look at proposed beetle tree harvest on the T. trail. Explored a bit up Blackwater river along the south side from the lower bridge.

April 20 -- Don arid I decided to go out to Blackwater and clear out the Beaver Pond loop trail down river. Saw five elk and two deer. Found a. tick on my neck.

April 25 -- We had our AGM at Betty's. Laura Zee Sutton was installed as a director.

April 28 -- Brian Jungwirth, along with Ed and Wesley Boyne, arranged to have United Concrete pour a fire-pit slab at the Telegraph Park at Whittier creek. Thanks guys, a fine job.

May 2 -- Asked the road foreman to have the trucks dump some fill in the park area to enlarge the parking lot. They are digging the road ditches deeper.

May 18 -- Picked up the Punchaw trail markers, 200 at $1 apiece. They are red and white with a fish logo.

June 2 -- Went for a T. trail hike with Charles Froese, his sister-in-law, her husband, and Marty Charles' boy. Perfect weather.

June 10 -- Despite the dampness, Don and I cleared the T. trail from Goose lake to Five Dollar hill. We saw a total of 3 bears, six deer and two rabbits.

June 12 -- We did the Goose lake to Rawlings road section of T. trail in the rain. There are several new clear cuts which don't look. too bad as they have left the larger douglas fir. I was attacked by an angry falcon protecting her young. I felt the wind from her wings. Lots of wild flowers along the trail.

June 16 -- Don and I went out for a half day in the sunshine to clear from hive Dollar hill to Twin lake. Saw one of the large woodland toads along the trail.

June 20 -- Ventured out to Goose lake to do some improvements to the T. trail. Cut a detour trail around a private lot.

June 23 -- Showed Argo where we need the gravel at Goose lake. They have agreed to donate four or five loads of gravel to us for a parking lot and trail access.

July 1 -- Decided to celebrate Canada by going to Punchaw lake and doing some volunteer clean-up on the Native trail. Put up some of our new trail markers. Had a very successful day, workwise. Saw a coyote and two deer. One rain shower.

July 8 -- We went out to Twin lake to clear a section of T. trail from there northward around Hidden 1ake and across Charleson creek. Saw two moose and one deer. Observed two cedar waxwings while were we having lunch at the creek meadow. One brought a dragon-fly for the other to eat, which it did right beside us. The creeks were high from all the rain this year.

July 18. -- Journeyed out to the Onion meadow on the Blackwater river with Shaun and Donny. Cut most of the windfall on the trail in. Went swimming in Punjab lake on the way back. Saw a deer and a coyote. Weather good, not many bugs.

July 21 -- Shaun and I explored along the Baker creek trail as far is the Saber Tooth rock. No clouds in the sky. Went swimming at sandy beach.

July 23 -- I drove out to Tako road at Blackwater to check on some of the trails. Put up a few Carrier Punchaw trail signs. They are widening the Tako road. Saw a bear and three deer, including one that was lying on the road to escape the mosquitoes in the bush.

July 27 -- Bought a new trail axe and bow saw.

Aug. 2 -- Picked up four informational signs, $255. Put one up at the trailhead park.

Aug. 4 -- Put up an informational sign at Goose lake. Cleared some brush away from it. Argo has done a good job with the gravel portion of the Blackwater road. With the chemical solution on it, it is almost like pavement. No dust from the logging trucks. Very nice. Extremely hot weather.

Aug. 6 -- Ventured all the way out to the Punchaw trail off the Tako road. Cut through part of the mess that Weldwood left. Nice in the bush. Not many bugs except spiders on their webs. Saw two moose and a small deer. Stopped at Punjab lake on the way home for a swim.

Aug. 10 -- Shaun and I walked in 4 1/2 km. on the old Kluskus road to the Telegraph trail and then down it to theMackenzie trail. We put up a couple of historical information signs. Had a good day in the sunshine. Swam in Punjab lake on the way home.

Aug. 13 -- Shaun came with me out to the Punchaw trail off Tako road onto Y1 road. Finished connecting the trail to the Y1 road. We saw a deer and an odd colored bear. Stopped at Twin lake on the way hone. Discovered the beautiful wild meadows along Charleson creek. Picked more blue berries.

Aug. 15 -- Shaun and I cleared from 11Q road to Charleson creek on the T. trail.

Aug. 20 -- Justin and Shaun came with me out on the trail. We cleared from 11Q road northward for about 2 km.

Sept. 17 -- Middle-age is when your knees buckle but your belt won't.

Sept. 21 -- Went out to Twin lake arid explored the loop trail around the meadow along Charleson creek and back to the lake. Nice trail. Sunshine. Cool breeze but still comfortable.

Sept. 25 -- Cleared the Pantage lake section of T. trail. Absolutely gorgeous weather.

Sept. 28 -- Went out on the T. trail at Frappier's. Lots of blowdown from the clear-cuts . Still good weather.

Oct. 2 -- Received the bronze plaque for the Goose lake rock from Mark Lauckner. He also sent a souvenir insulator with the year 2000 on the bottom as a gift from his glass shop.

Oct. 3 -- Cleaned up a difficult section of T. trail south of Frappier's s .

Oct. 5 -- Sunshine after the fog. Rented a rock drill and installed the bronze plaque at Goose lake. It reads: COLLINS OVERLAND TELEGRAPH TRAIL -- 1866.

Oct. 6 -- Managed to finish clearing the stretch of T. trail between Pantage lake and Pantage creek crossing,. A beautiful day.

Oct. 13 -- Finished up the section of trail between Pantage creek crossing and the bridge over the Blackwater river. Don came along. We found some ancient, broken stone tools at Frappier's on a new road that was put in.

Oct. 24 -- Weldwood informs me that Forestry has agreed to a 50 metre reserve on the Punchaw and Lhtakoh Ti Native trails. In practice, this means very little as they continue to log right up to the trails.

Oct. 25 -- "Once the game is over, the King and the Pawn go back into the same box".

Oct. 28 -- Put up an informational sign on the T. trail at Blackwater bridge. Took pictures of the signs and plaques along the way to send to Mark for the website. Found another handful of Indian blades at Frappier's. ,

Nov. 5 -- Explored down the west side of Pantage creek for possible relocation of that section of trail. Much nicer.

Nov. 14 -- Betty dipped into our trail fund to pay for 15 T. trail signs, $299. They are our blue and white logo with black lettering. Each is 9" X 11 ".

Nov. 18 -- Put up four trail signs along the highway into town.

Nov. 1 -- Got Donny out of bed to go with me out to the Punchaw trail off Tako road. We were surprised to meet a group of Nazko people with an archeologist on the trail. The Tako creek hill was extremely muddy and slippery. We saw a nice buck at Blackwater. No snow at Pantage lake but a couple inches on the Punchaw trail.

Dec. 10 -- Councilor Pete Coldwell stopped by to pick up a trail sign to be placed within the city limits.

Report on the development of the TTPS website.

A website for the trail organization has been launched. Mark Lauckner submitted material to Bill Meier who purchased the domain name "www.telegraphtrail.org" for the Society. This name has been purchased for 2 years and is renewable. Mark gave Bill a damaged Tillotson insulator as a thank-you for his assistance with the website. The site has the exciting potential to become part of a much larger resource pool of related (historical, recreational, ecological & tourism) organizations.

Presently, the site contains the trail map brochure and the society's annual newsletters. Soon it will also have available colour photos of many of the "Points of Interest" as indicated on the trail map. This would enable the viewer to point to a location on the trail map and see a colour photo of what they would be viewing at that position along the trail. Also in the works are links to other trail organizations and related interest groups, and links to 1rovinci:.l Archives online photographs.

Dwight Dodge