Greg is a VMI ,MCV and Ohio State graduate. He is a retired prosthodontist (a dental specialist) who enjoys traveling in the Airstream, fishing, national parks, photography and just being outdoors. He rode horses most of his life and loves being around them. He is married to the lovely Martha. Greg and Kelly have been friends since we were 15 years old.
Disclaimer: I get no money, kickbacks, rewards or any other favors from anyone.
On the last morning, we needed to pack up and get out of the cabin because all the St. Marie family was coming. There were a couple of messages about the float plane not being able to get out due to low ceiling. Thankfully the flight from Labrador City to Montreal was moved to 6:30. Once packed, I took my last tour of the lodge with interesting things in every corner. I walked down the dirt road to a bay, then walked the other direction to the sawmill. It’s pretty amazing to get all this stuff to this remote location. There is no Lowe’s. Yves had to cut trees before milling them into lumber to build the lodge, cabins, docks, generator house and workshop.
I’m going to miss this!
“The office”
All those dots on the hillside are Caribou
Communication system
Smoldering smoke stove to keep bugs away
The above picture is a story! Yves discovered this WW2 B52 bomber on the bottom of the lake. Divers. Divers attached airbags and floated it to the surface and it was pulled 90 miles, very slowly to town. The U.S. took it, rebuilt it and put it in a museum. Apparently the navigation system failed and they missed landing in Goose Bay.
Expanse of water, lakes, bays, islands and smoke from distant fires.
This has been an expensive trip, but a great one. We didn’t catch a hundred of the great Brook trout, but we caught some beauties, and they are an amazing fish. This vast expanse of water, lakes, islands, trees and bears is a wonder. I was appreciative of our guide, Michelle, who guided us safely every day. I am in awe of Yves and Pattie St. Marie for all they have done to build this place and to keep it going. They are two of the nicest people I have ever met. Their season is only two months long, and most things have to be flown in, or brought on sleds on frozen ice of winter. It was great spending time with Ron. I always learn a lot, and the stories of his many adventures are legend.
I would like to explore more of Labrador. Two months of driving the only road in Labrador would be very cool; then back on a ferry on the St. Lawrence. I’d like to explore Torngat Mountains National Park, and I’d like to catch more Brookies!
Our last day would be our best fishing day. We caught 15 Lake trout and 6 or 7 pike. In the bay where we caught most of the Lakers, a bear cub followed us around the shoreline. We were about to give him a fish when we saw his mother with two other cubs. Michelle said these were likely the ones we had seen a couple of days ago.
It was a weird day. the sun poked through a hole in the clouds, but the hole didn’t move. About 2:00 Michelle told us to put on rain-gear as it was pretty dark in the west. At one point Ron said he smelled smoke. Michelle and I didn’t smell it at first, but later we got a whiff of smoke.
It’s a little sad to think this was our last day and our last wonderful meal by Patti. Like all adventures, it wasn’t how we envisioned it, but in many ways it was so much more than we could have imagined. Mostly it was the kindness and humility of these people. What they have built here is amazing. The vastness of these waters is cool on one hand and frightening on the other. Yves said many have gotten lost on these waters. Without the right equipment, you could be in serious trouble. Even Michelle used a Garmin GPS at times, and he has a satellite phone in his backpack and a lighter on his belt. with the waters being so low, islands of rocks popped up in the middle of the river where they are usually not seen. Hit one of those going full speed and things could go bad in a hurry. I admired Michelle’s vigilance, always paying attention, reading the water and the sky.
Every day starts with a great breakfast. Yves and Patti are a delight to be around. By now we had heard bits and pieces of the story about them building this lodge 90 miles from Labrador City. Yves came out in winter, pulling equipment, including a sawmill, and built the lodge in 39 days! He cut the trees, them cut into lumber and built it. Caribou were here in abundance. Huge black bears, like the huge Brook trout, grew here.
It is especially devastating to the Inuit people whose lives are intertwined with the Caribou. Some disease seems to have devastated the herd. The effect is not unlike the loss of the plains buffalo in the U.S.
As I walked down to the boat, I passed Yves in his workshop/tool house. I commented that I had never seen such an organized workshop. He smiled and said it has been a process. He has been robbed several times. He reinforced the front door with steel, but they hooked the back door to an ATV and pulled it off. They came in masks and cut the security camera wires. They shot the satellite dish, broke into the lodge and took cushions to put the motors on. Out here in the wilds, this is a difficult thing to prevent. They followed the tracks back toward town, but when they got close to the town, tracks were going everywhere, so they lost the trail.
Then there are the bears. This morning I noticed two white things in cellophane next to our front door. I thought they were peppermints. Perhaps someone thought we had bad breath. Then when I went over to the lodge, they were in all the windows. Yves said they were moth balls to keep the bears away. Last week Patti had put an apple pie in the window to cool. A bear came and ate it, then tried to get in the window, so Yves had to shoot it. Now she cooks with the back windows closed, so it gets a bit hot.
If you fish enough, you are going to get tangles!
Due to a fire ban, this was the first day we had a shore lunch. It is in a beautiful spot with great views. Pike, cod, potatoes, toast and onions.
Monday was a big pike day – 8 pike, 3 Lakers and 1 Brookie. We were a little disappointed with the Brook trout we were not catching, but we would learn there were two issues at hand. One was the lake being down so much. They had an early spring, and it became apparent they were spawning.
We saw a mother bear and three cubs. Michelle, who also guides in Alberta for hunting trips, blew a wounded rabbit call. That mother bear spun around and looked like she was coming for the boat!
Since it was Sunday and Patti is a Newfoundlander, she made a wonderful Turkey dinner with bread pudding.
Monday, August 12, 2024
So important to start a long day of sitting in a boat fishing with a great breakfastRon’t wading boots have cleats in them, so Michelle duct taped them. Worked greatOnly caught 3 of these, but these two were beautiful
We only caught 2 Brookies, and 3 pike that day, but coming back to the lodge was always a pleasure. Yves and Patti are incredible people, very nice, humble people! Only two fish were kept the entire trip – the Ouananiche seen here and a pike for a shore lunch on Tuesday. Fabulous dinner of the salmon, cod, macaroni salad, lettuce salad and home fries.
The coffee pot was full at 5:00 in the morning and kept on until 7:00 when breakfast was served. Friday morning was eggs cooked to order by Yves, bacon or sausage and toast from fresh bread baked by Patti. By 8:00 we were in the boat with Mike, whose real name is Michelle.
Last night we tried to solve our problem of not getting down deep enough. I put on a sinking tippet and pinched on some ball weights. Ron had a better solution with three hanging weights, which may not have been pretty, but they did the trick.
Weights looked like an extracted molar
It worked well. He caught two pike, one nice Brookie, one lunker Brookie and one Laker (Lake trout). Even so, we still needed to be able to get down easier, which meant we needed sinking line. Jimmy saved our trip by bring us a half spool of sinking line, which we measured, figured it would be just enough for both of us, cut it in half and added it to our reels.
Pike, or Northern or Northern pike. there are lots of these!Lake trout or “Laker”This is the trophy fish we came for
Ron is very good at knots and helped me a lot with solutions that would not come apart at critical times. We were not well-aware of the potential size of some of these fish, so we tied on #1 leaders, but cut off the ends tied on 10 lb. tippets. Even that might be broken by some of these fish, especially the pike with their sharp teeth.
A VERY important floating fly for these waters is the Orange Bomber. We had bought four at Canadian Tire, but they didn’t float. However, Jon had brought us one that was a little beaten up, but far better than ours. We celebrated with a drink before heading over to the lodge for dinner, which was moose stew and cake covered with raspberry and whipped cream for dessert.
I don’t know if that is a raspberry compote, but it is not a sauce. There is a huge raspberry plot in back of the lodge. Like wild blueberries, these wild raspberries are small. Just picking enough for 9 people would be a job.
Saturday
Each day we were a little better prepared. Now we had sinking lines. Bead-headed streamers were working pretty well, but we were still experimenting with dry flies. We also rigged four floating flies with dropper nymphs – Copper Johns and Prince nymphs.
These snowshoe hares are quite tame. Patti feeds them cabbage
Michelle turned northwest this morning for 30 or 40 minutes. I know it looks cold. With all the clothes we had on, I felt lite the Michelin Man. With the boat going full speed, it is pretty chilly. With a shirt, sweater and a rain parka it was fine. Always while the boat is running hard, you must wear a life jacket. Rain pants are essential along with a good hat. We had great weather though. In the middle of the day, we started shedding layers.
What a dork! Have to have surgical glasses to tie flies on.
Michelle turned north up a river. When the lake is up, he could travel a big loop, coming back out to the main river, but the reservoir and river were down about 4 or 5 feet. At Churchill, there is a huge dam that makes electricity for Canada and the U.S. As luck would have it, that affects the fishing, especially the Brook trout. The pike and Lake trout don’t seem to be affected as much.
We worked our way up the river. I lost a couple, one untying my knot at the fly. Another took my fly and took off upriver 100 yards before shaking loose. Then I hooked a big, heavy, fighting fish – a big, beautiful Ouananiche, a land-locked salmon. Ron was coaching me to keep my rod tip up since I had lost a couple by not doing that.
Small pikeNice Lake troutBeautiful Brook trout!
I think we caught one Ounaniche, four pike, one lake trout and one hen Brook trout.
Our cabinA little too much sun!Yves showed us a map of all the water surrounding us.
We saw a few other boats today, but maybe five boats for the whole week!
Can’t remember, but that might have been the night with the world’s best lasagna
I wanted to fish the Green River with Ron Lowry, but he said it had not been fishing well lately. After some discussion, we agreed to go after the monster Brook trout in Labrador. Actually I don’t care about big ones, but I wanted to catch a lot of them.
Some of the fishing lodges have struggled since Covid. Getting shut down for two seasons made it difficult to get up and running again, and to find staff and guides. Northern Lights Lodge on Shaw Lake and Smallwood Reservoir was highly-rated, so we booked it.
It is quite a trip getting there. Ron was flying from Idaho, and I from Virginia. I landed in Montreal at 2:30 on Wednesday. By the time I walked the long way to customs, got through, picked up my bag and walked all the way to the other end of the airport, I was tired. Ron wouldn’t get in until 11:30, so after checking into the airport hotel, I went back down to find Pal Airlines for Thursday’s flight to Labrador City, but couldn’t find it. We would have to be there at 6:00 for a 7:30 flight we did not want to miss. Finally a nice lady pointed me to the right place.
On Thursday morning, Ron and I checked out of the hotel, walked downstairs to the airport and found Pal Airlines. It was a local, with stops in Quebec and Sept-Isles on the way to Labrador City. Two guys across the isle were also going to the lodge, this being their third year at Northern Lights Lodge.
A nice gentleman named Javier picked us up at the Wabush airport adjacent to Labrador City. He then took us to the grocery store to get any drinks or snacks we wanted, and there was a liquor store next door. Then he took us to the Two Seasons Hotel for the night. After cocktail hour, we went to the hotel restaurant, which is reported to be the best in town. It was surprisingly good, efficient and friendly. We discussed the need for a $600 deposit on the room. Javier had told us this is a big iron ore mining town. Maybe there are some cowboys that come to town and make a mess.
On Friday morning we were to take a float plane to the lodge, but it was delayed due to weather or low ceiling. Finally we got the go-ahead and Javier took us to the dock. A tall young man weighed us and our gear before loading. Javier had bought supplies for the lodge as well.
It was my first time on a float plane, so I was a little nervous, but I also wanted to see the fire damage. Just 10 days ago the whole town of Labrador City, 7,412 people were evacuated due to a big fire approaching the town. There is only one road in Labrador, so they all went east. It was pretty scary. Fortunately, they were able to stop the fire before it got to the town.
We must have gone in the opposite direction because I couldn’t see any burnt areas. Looking at all the thousands of lakes, it is a wonder a fire could spread very far. Flying north and a bit east, we saw infinite numbers of lakes or ponds. Woven in between was rocky land with black fir trees. I was surprised to see a railroad track. The Canadian Shield is a huge area of eastern Canada that was scraped of all but a thin topsoil by glaciers, leaving bedrock, boulders and round rocks polished by water, snow and ice.
I was surprised to hear that Quebec province has more lakes that Labrador, at a half million or so, but it is also a larger province. By any measure, it is a whole lot of water and difficult land to travel. Some lakes had a house or cabin on them, especially close to Labrador City.
After a 50 minute flight, we landed smoothly on Shaw Lake, and our pilot expertly glided next to the dock where four men helped tie the plane. As we got out we were introduced to Yves, Jimmy, Brad and Mike. They told us to go to our cabins and they would unload the plane and bring our things to the cabin.
On the lodge grounds we met Patti, with whom we had exchanged many emails and messages. Just in those blind conversations, one could tell this is a good-hearted person. She showed us to our cabin, which was very nice with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a sitting area with a small table and a serious, iron wood-burning stove that was quite warm. That would be the only time it was used on our trip. The group from the previous week were going out on the plane as soon as our gear was unloaded. I talked with one gentleman from New Brunswick who had been coming every year for 30 years!
Once we got settled, Mike came by to see if we wanted to go fishing for a couple of hours just the get a feel for the water. On the front side of Northern Lights Lodge was Shaw lake, which is full of pike apparently. We went out back to a HUGE body of water, known as Smallwood Reservoir, that covers some 2,500 square miles behind the dam at what used to be Churchill Falls. The rivers leading into the reservoir are the Ashuanipi River and the McKenzie River.
I don’t think we caught anything that afternoon. One major problem was we didn’t have sinking lines, so we were not getting down enough in this big water. Dinner was at 7:00, but we gathered at the lodge to see what the two Johns did. Actually one was Jon, the tall one, and one was John, who was a retired oral surgeon.
“Supper,” as Patti called it was superb, as was every meal at Northern Lights Lodge. Patti and Yves are married, and they do everything, with the help of the two guides.
Ron’s flies. We would use the streamers and Orange Bombers most
We collapsed in our beds with the windows open and the ceiling fan on low, and it wasn’t long before I was asleep. I was startled by a couple of sounds in the night, but slept well.
If I could catch as many fish as I took flower pictures, I would be in paradise. Similar to Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park, you could take pictures in all seasons and they would be different. We didn’t see any bears or signs of bears, but surely they are here. There are lots of deer and rabbits, but they are both wary of people. In Big Meadows, you can walk right up to them, and bear are plentiful.
Expert photographer, Mark Zablotsky, recommended an app to identify flowers – Picture This, and it is great. You have to have internet, of which there is none in Hidden Valley, but when you get home, I just took a picture of a picture and it quickly identifies a plant, tells you the origin, uses, how it might be used in your home garden and much more.
With a macro lens or a phone, you can get good pictures of flowers. The difficulty is getting pictures of a bunch of flowers and to get them in focus. Looking into photostacking.
The Jackson River Trail is approximately 16 miles long following the Jackson River flowing south from Cedar Creek To downtown Covington, Virginia. We wanted to ride from Cedar Creek down, but that section isn’t finished yet, so we went down to Natural Well, first riding north as far as we could, then riding south for about an hour before turning around. It is a beautiful trail with great scenery of farmland and the Jackson River. We talked to a few people, but mostly we had it to ourselves.
After loading the bikes in the truck we drove up the mountain to explore Lake Moomaw from the east side. There is a very nice campground with shower houses at the top of the mountain with very few people there. Driving down the mountain, we found a beautiful sandy beach with only two people there on a hot July day. At the bottom of the mountain the road ended at the bottom of the Gathright Dam, which should be a great tailwater fishery, but I think there is only a short section that you can fish. Not far down is a beautiful private property.
Lake Moomaw is 2,530-acre cold water lake fed and drained by the Jackson River. It boasts 40 miles of undeveloped shoreline. There is a nice campground on the other side as well.
We chilled back at camp for a couple of hours before exploring the bird trail in Hidden Valley. I was surprised by the numbers of birds in trees surrounding a marshy-looking low area. Like the day before, we were amazed at the variety of wildflowers that were worked by bees and butterflies. An ebird list of Hidden Valley birds identified 127 species! Sadly, in a perfect setting, not one quail was noted. Maybe next time I will take the big lens, a tripod, water and some snacks and sit on a bench.
I have been to Hidden Valley several times to fish the Jackson River, but I wanted to return to explore more of the area. A beautiful B&B, Warwickton built in 1848, sits in the heart of the property, but I love staying in the campground with our Airstream. The campsite fee is $15, and is only half of that with a Senior National Park Pass. Originally I was going by myself, since Martha was going to Africa with her girl friends. However, the flight was cancelled, so they returned home from Atlanta. Well, it isn’t Africa, but she decided to come along and discover Hidden Valley.
After loading groceries and clothes, we got an early start for a pretty two-hour drive to Warm Springs. We drove around the campground a couple of times to select a site, which is difficult because they are all nice. We got setup, fixed some lunch and went for a walk. there are about 200 acres of “hay fields” that are just loaded with wildflowers. Well-maintained paths are cut around and through the fields. Butterflies and bees are busy gathering nectar from all the flowers. It was hot in the sun, even though it was about 8 degrees cooler than at home. The elevation is about 1,500′ with mountains surrounding it in 8,000 acres of George Washington National Forest. The Jackson River runs through the valley with 6.5 miles of river. Connecting to the north is Poor Farm, offering more river frontage and dispersed camping. My goal for tomorrow was to hike to Poor Farm along the river, crossing the swinging bridge. On Wednesday I wanted to bike the Jackson Trail, a rails-to-trails, well-developed trail along the Jackson River.
Trying to keep things simple, we just brought the Cobb Stove, a small grill that uses 6-10 lumps of charcoal. Martha is a great camp cook, cooking chicken for me, a pork chop for her and a riot of peppers, onions and squash. It was wonderful. There is no cell phone service in the valley and no radio or TV reception. It is interesting to spend four days without things we feel are “essential”. I had a new book by Kelly Sutton, A River Runs Through It Outdoor Reflections. I finished that the first day, and found it quite entertaining. We have been hunting and fishing together for a very long time. You can find his book on Amazon.
I get up early every day, but I slept till 5:00, which is quite good for me. With all the windows open, it had cooled to about 69 degrees, which was perfect with a sheet. Birds were waking and talking to each other, so I crept out to the field to look for a deer or perhaps a bear, but no such luck. We knew it was going to be a hot day for an 8-mile round trip hike, so we filled the water bottles and packed some granola bars and sandwiches. We were off by 7:15.
We drove up to the trail head in front of the elegant Warwickton. Our phones would have to do for cameras today. We had already seen four deer and several rabbits. The grass was wet with dew, and it was a beautiful morning for a hike. Deer, rabbits, butterflies and bees were everywhere. After two hay fields, we were in the forest, nice and cool. It took about 45 minutes to get to the first bridge, where I went straight toward Muddy Run. The trail followed it along until it crossed the now small stream. We saw a blaze on a tree on the other side, so we crossed, but were unable to follow the trail. Disappointed, we headed back down.
When we got to the bridge, we decided to cross and see where that went. It led back to the Jackson River and the famous swinging bridge. We paused in the middle to admire the beautiful river, then crossed to the other side. A sign pointed to the right to Poor Farm in 2.5 miles, but we had spent our energy going up Muddy Run. I turned around to cross back over the bridge when I was attacked by yellow jackets, quickly running back to the side. those little things just stick to you and keep stinging until you smack them off.
Well, fortunately the path went in both directions, so we headed downstream, hoping to end up at Warwickton. With no phone service and no map, we weren’t really sure where we were going, but hopefully not up and over the mountain to Back Creek. As long as it followed the river, we should be good, but we were on the mountain side, so it went up and down on a narrow trail.
After a lot of trekking, we indeed found ourselves in front of Warwickton. Crossing a bridge we saw a man leading people on a horse ride. Now THAT’S the way to do it! We talked to him for a bit, getting his information before they jogged on. We were tired, hungry and thirsty by the time we got back to camp, but it was all good, except for a bunch of itching bee stings.
Saturday’s highlight is the Farmer’s Market, which is conveniently at the end of our street. Starting at 8:00 gave us time to have coffee and sweet rolls as well as cleaning up our trailers. As a good will gesture, people can go into our trailers and check them out like an open house. We also find it interesting to go and see what other Airstreamers have with their trailers. Martha had new bedspreads made, which we were quite proud of.
It’s a great Farmer’s Market – not too big, not too small, but with great variety. Martha made two trips. My college roommate, Doug Schnabel, came up from Nashville for a visit, so we stood in front of the trailer talking while people came to take a look. It had been raining, so they were very polite about not wanting to walk all the way through. Two couples stayed to talk a while. They were friends who had come to watch the play. One lady was in the Marines for 27 years, so we called our neighbor across the street who had also been a Marine. They talked in terms we didn’t understand and told stories about 46’s, which we finally learned were helicopters that had a habit of crashing. Our neighbor, Richard, had flown helicopters, told about a 46 going into a combat area to pick up a squad, but they refused to get on, saying, “We’d rather fight the enemy than get on that thing!” Then they asked where they were stationed and what their duties were. David said he was SecNav while she was there. We later learned that was Secretary of the Navy.
Richard’s beautiful tableJeff and Kevin Slevin’s gorgeous 33′Jeff wants to catch a trout in every state
Then Doug took us for a tour around town. He had raised his family in Abingdon, and they still have a house here. He had a sawmill for about 8 years until he sold it. He showed us where it used to be and the machine shop which was so valuable for his business. A few weeks ago he had walked into the building and was attacked by two German Shepards that tore him up pretty good before the owners came out. We drove through his neighborhood, then through a rather high end development on a golf course. He took us through a lot of places we hadn’t seen. Then he took us to his ice cream store, “The Ice Cream Stop,” which he owned for four years before selling it. We went in to see it and give it a try, and it was very good. We told the young lady with a Virginia shirt on that Doug was the original owner who had built the building. That brought a big smile to her face. Turns out she had just finished her freshman year at UVA.
We had dinner at the Greek restaurant on the corner, having a nice dinner and solving all the world’s problems. Walking back, we toured a large, new business that Doug called a yuppie grocery store. He wondered if there were enough to support such a business. We would continue our conversations in the morning.
