Middle of Nowhere, Living Off-Grid | Destination Adventure

When I decided to take this trip out here into the mountains, there are several things I expected to find. Nature, isolation, maybe a grizzly bear. What I didn't expect to find was people. I set up camp on the first night and looked across the lake. Lo and behold, there's people. It's a couple that spend a percentage of their year living out here in the middle of nowhere, completely off grid. Well, after spending about a week in the area, we've become very good friends. So today I'm going over for a visit because you guys got to meet them. It's easy if you just go back to logics. Everything is easy. I've got to pack wood every day to put in the wood box, to put in the stove, to cook, make hot water. Most people don't understand what basics are. They're looking for a microwave, they're looking for a toaster. There's nothing you can't do. When something goes wrong, of course, yeah, you're responsible to try to figure it out what went wrong. It's not like at home or in town, like it's too easy in the morning to go grab a cup of coffee and sit down and watch the TV. Here you're active right away. You know, you get up in the morning and it's not like the coffee pot's been on the timer. It's like you got to light the wood stove, but you know, luckily we have a propane stove now, so you put it on, but you still got to light the wood stove because we need hot water. Of course, I got to take the boss coffee in bed, you know, that type of thing. So that's, that can be stressful. We installed that new propane stove and Bill cut the wires and we're like, we're dead in the water for our communication. But you know what, you just sort of hunker down, figure it out, backtrack, go back, get some electrician tape after we're done and yeah, you're back up and running. Here I fix the electrical. If it's propane, I got to fix it. If it's water, I got to fix it. You know, if it's a broken door, I got to fix it. It's, you got to fix it all yourself. So there's no one to call upon. There isn't a day where there isn't something to do. Like there's lots to do. Luckily I have hobbies and all the rest of it at home, but you're kind of forced into doing a hobby when I'd rather be out here working physically and doing all that kind of stuff, right? Most people look at me and go, are you kidding me? Why would you go back and start doing this in retirement? But I think part of it is, I will never let this property, this 40 acres, what we have, what my parents built in 40 years, I'm never going to let it go down. My family built this to the extent that when they passed away, I could not let this go. When my brother left, I could not fathom the fact of giving it up because of all their 40 years of hard work of putting it into what we have today. If you would have seen what we walked into when we did, there was nothing here. And now we have hot showers, running water, plush toilets, the whole nine yards. When we first come in, you know, we don't know what to expect. The trapper down the road, he sometimes has the road open, but usually it's just the width of a snowmobile. But to get from his place into where we are, another 15 to 20 kilometers, probably cut 40, 30 to 40 trees off the road. Bearing the road conditions for what you had for width and height, we were like, I don't know if he's going to make it in. We saw you coming in going, oh, it wasn't so much the width or that you weren't going to make it in. It's just that there were some trees that were not cut up high enough that are hard to get at as well. And, you know, and they hadn't been touched because there was no other vehicles coming in that were your height. So these trees were there last year as well, a lot of them. So you're dealing with last year's tall ones and this year's tall ones. So a lot more of a challenge, that's for sure. I said, you know, Bill, I think this guy looks like he's not going to give up. So we were hoping that you would make it. And yeah, look, three days later, here you are. We call it the Bobblehead Road. It's 40 kilometers south of Nehemiah, but it takes three hours. In a vehicle that you cherish, and you go any faster, you're going to have breakdowns, like you're going to break something. So, you know, it's 10 to 12, maybe hit 15 K an hour. Usually it's about the beginning of June before the snow is off the pass. Trees down, beetle kill falling more and more and more and more every year. Thank God I'm with a follower because it was getting to the point where I was 63 years old trying to learn how to run a power saw, which I didn't want to do. I'm not capable. I don't know what I'm doing, but if you have to do it, you have to do it. There's no other way in. Nobody's going to come along to help you. You have yourself and my gal as your only help. So if something's quite a bit to cut out of the way, of course I put my hard hat and screen on and earmuffs and you try to take all those safety precautions. It's just natural. You can clear the road and then the next day, if you have any wind come through, away it goes. But the other issue is the wildlife, the bears. There's a lot of grizzly bear sign and the odd bit of black bear, but mostly grizzly. This is their area. So I take a bear gun with me, a 12 gauge shotgun, and I don't want to kill them, but you have that if they do come at you. I mean, you have to look after what you got, I guess, but I don't like doing away with anybody if I don't have to, but it is what it is. I don't find them aggressive at all. In fact, they're very curious. Every time I've encountered one, they're standing up to see who I am, but usually just working the action of the 12 gauge, especially after you've taken a shot at them prior, just working the action, they bolt. I'm scared at times, but you can't be a prisoner in your own home. Like I could sit in here and be so frigging scared that I don't want to go out of the yard. I don't want to do anything. Yeah, you can have fears, but I think the more you experience and have encounters with the things you fear, you realize that it was, it's more, you still got to respect it. You still can't, you can't get cocky. You can't go out, it's a piece of cake. No, it's not. It puts you on edge, especially the bears because you just, you have to respect them and it can be unpredictable. This is their land. This is where they live. They chew on the picnic table. They chew on the windowsills to think that when you arrive, they're all just going to go away. It's probably not going to happen. Consider where we are. We're in their territory. Yesterday, a moose with a young calf swim in the lake. Well, then you feel bad for them because they got to survive, you know, the bears and wolves and all the rest of it too, right? But to me, it's just peace and serenity and just a great way to live. You know, I enjoy people and I enjoy the town. I enjoy everywhere I go, but if I have a choice, I'd rather be here. Most of these little guys are pretty entertaining. We spend hours watching the chipmunks and I bring food from town, bring bird seed, make hummingbird food. Yeah, the woodpeckers are nesting. The little blue swallows are nesting out there. I like getting up when everything else is waking up. Like, it's just amazing. You got, yeah, we got pesky woodpeckers, but they'll be leaving soon and, you know, the loon will be on the lake and there may be some deer in the yard, the eagles flying around, you know, those types of things. The chipmunks are busy and it's a constant, you know, there's always lots of activity. You get beavers, you got loons. I mean, I know our friends down the lake, their grandson came and said, gee, grandpa, the birds at your cabin are way too loud. Well, it's a loon. I mean, how many people don't want to lay in bed and listen to a loon calling? But they don't know. It's not everybody's forte. Some people think retirement, you should get in the rocking chair and watch Dr. Phil or something. I don't know. But I think this finds us keeping more active. Now I've got a partner who enjoys exactly the same as what I do. So what more do you want? You know, I'm getting up there in age and I just find that I have to stay physically fit because one thing about doing the work around here, like nothing's light. Everything, like the, you know, even a 2000 watt generator and then, you know, your five gallon jug of gas, the water pumps, everything you grab has weight to it. Well, I don't want to have a, there's nothing worse than if you've got a buggered up back or you're injured somehow. So I just get to take the time and try and stay as fit as I possibly can. And you know, don't seem to have any problems. In the winter, you, we don't have water. So we shut our water supply off because we have to drain everything out. So you go to the creek, you dip a bucket, you bring it up and you heat water or put it in the water jacket and we run a line down and we still have hot showers. That stove came from the Hutterites in back East and it came out on a train. It's different to cook with, but it's just cooks the best food in the world. Put up approximately eight ton of ice out of this lake, cut by chainsaw. They use vegetable oil instead of chain oil in the power saw so it doesn't contaminate the ice. Cut it into blocks, put it into the ice house, pack it in sawdust, row after row after row. It lasts till October, from March till October. Then we bring the blocks up and we wash them off because they look like coconut marshmallows, like the sawdust is all stuck. And we wash it off and we bring it in a wheelbarrow and bring it over and put it in our outside fridges. One block in the middle, put a couple in the crispers and you're good for four or five days. It's no different than an ordinary fridge. It is a vacation for sure, but you have to make it that way. That's why we talked earlier about being prepared. It takes a lot to get prepared and then you get to enjoy it. Actually sometimes you say, listen, and Janice will say, well what? I said, you can't hear nothing. You might hear the loon or you might hear a bird or you might hear something, but there's times, many times throughout the day where you just say, listen, and it's nothing. Some people can't handle it, the quiet and all the rest of it, but if you're of sound mind and all the rest of it, this is just pure serenity. Like it's just, this is nature. This is as close as you're going to get to it. It's home. It's home. Totally. This year, last year was kind of home, but there's been such a turmoil in my life of losing all the family members and trying to grasp my straws and now I've found a partner that's been, you know, wanting to do this with me so it makes it far more easier and enjoyable. Now I can come here and stay for long lengths of time. My mom and my dad are up there on the wall in their urns. My brother's in his gun cabinet in the corner. Bill's dad is in his chest. We have our whole, what we have left of our family in the elders are all here with us and when I leave, 100% every time I, before I go down those stairs to lock that door, I talk to them, say look after the place, see in a week or a month or when we leave at the end of the season, we'll be back but look after it for us until we get there and so far it's worked. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time exploring here around Fisham Lake and meeting Bill and Jan. In fact, they've actually extended my stay by a little bit with some beautiful dinners because over a month now without services or civilization, it seems I have officially exhausted my supplies. So today's the day we're heading down the mountain, going back to town. Finally made our way back to Lower Taseko Lake which means we're about halfway out of here and that lake is gorgeous. Holy smokes, I can hardly believe it, the bottom of the hill. Much faster coming down because I already had everything cut out of the way but it still took me just over six hours. Now about four more hours, we'll be rolling into the big old city of Williams Lake. By the time I got back to civilization, it was well after dark but we made it back safe and sound. The truck has held up remarkably well, needs practically nothing. The boat trailer on the other hand needs some serious attention so I think I'm gonna have to stick around here for about a week to get things ordered in and fabbed onto the trailer. I'd like to ask you guys, would you like a little bit more western content before heading north or are you ready for some northern stuff? I'll be getting north this summer either way, just not sure if you guys are enjoying this western stuff enough to justify another couple weeks out there. I'm kind of hoping so. Nevertheless, thanks for watching everybody. As always, take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints and I'll catch you on the next one.