Camps - great, bad and weird

[Guest Bullet Remington]

CTD:

 

Now I believe I know where I''ve seen that mug of yours beofre! Were you doin the 61 rotations opposite of Dale and Neil? Cojo was an experienced fella by the name of Bert?

 

I do believe I was on that one rotation with you? I was filling in while the guys from Goose was out on course.

 

Statue?

 

BR

[Guest Bullet Remington]

CTD:

 

Now that I think of it, I could be wrong. I seem to remember it was a vertically challenged boss driver with the first name, Blair.

 

Not 100% sure though. I do believe he had that same reflective look that you have!

[CTD]

Bullet,

No, that wasn’t me, that was BF. You are correct in that we do share a common hairline.  The Iqaluit machine was IBN, and was (is) used for the O & M contract. I was on the UAR machine, OLH that summer. I did spend a fair bit of that summer on Baffin, on the UAR job, and in an A-Star on my time off. We may have met there, or in Goose, which is where I lived at the time. Problem is, I would only spend about 20-30 nights there per year in those days.

Here’s another camp story.

Inco Exploration camp, at Swampy Lake, Manitoba, January - February1989. We were living in fairly decent tents with an oil stove. I was sharing a tent with my engineer and the cargo pod from our Hughes 500. Our battery slept with us each night, as well.

The job was doing crew changes and drill moves, which seemed to be the story of my life. It was cold, and we didn’t have a bubble door, so the moves were done ‘doors-off’ in the –30 to –40º temperatures.

The camp had a shower, which consisted of an in-line propane water heater, and a small pump. Problem was, the heater was broken, and would only work on the BOIL mode, so it could not be used a shower, as the water would peel the skin from your body. So getting a decent wash involved some pre-planning. 

First, you took the large garbage can that served as the reservoir out to the lake with the snowmobile and komatik. Then, you had to drill a hole in the ice with a hand auger, and using a small pot, fill the garbage pail with water.

Then, make the slow trip back to shore, being careful not to spill any of the water. Find a buddy to help you lift the pail into the shower tent.

Wait about 15 minutes for all the bugs and beetles to rise to the top and scoop them off, as there were so may of them that they would clog the heater. Then, run the heater and pump in a loop, dumping the hot water back into the same bucket until it was sufficiently heated for a shower. When this was done, remove the heater from the loop, and just run the pump to the shower head. Elapsed time – 1 hour. There were 8 of us in camp.

[Guest Bullet Remington]

CTD:

 

You are absolutely correct. Now I remember his name. Kinda goes along with Boss. Nice feller when he wasn''t exercising his Napolianic syndrome. I really did enjoy his Co-jo B. That bugger ( sure did make great homemade bread! Felt so guilty of eating the better part of it, I let him scoff a pair of those Mil brown flying gloves. For some reason he (B the Co-Jo)took a shining to those.

 

Were you in Goose when I hired that Astar to sling that Cessna 206 outa the woods over by English River? That was one that T.P from Charlottetown plunked in there??

 

HB was the Base Boss and flew the machine.

[204B Driver]

Well boys I think the best camp that I have ever been to is at BAK LAKE ON. I just spent a week there and you wouldn''t believe this camp, it was excellent, they don''t have a cook they have chef and it was a joy to get up and have a real breakfast and lunch and a great supper. The crews there were great, I hated to leave but the rains came. If you ever get a chance to go there you will be pleasantly surpised.

[I FLY]

Those are great stories CTD...

 

Geeze you guy''s are old

 

I was a mere child or a itch with some of the camp years you spoke of.

 

I slept in a tent on Baffin Island for a week (yes, I know only a week) in 2000 and it was only +10 and no stove for warmth and no matress to sleep on and a cook who couldn''t cook and yes no shower and of course howling winds to boot with no trees to hide behind

[cap]

I Fly ---- try tents for 8 years, year 'round. How about going for the meals and you find the cook has his 'sanitary closet' next to the grill, so he can flip the eggs and what not while....... Plus 10 was nice under canvass. Try -55F and you know why you like space heaters and Woods 5 Star sleeping bags.

Old? I guess we are, ya. That's the way the industry was at one time though. DOT/MOT, the crews and Labour Board changed all that. Whenever I want to ***** about the hotel/motel that I'm staying in, I remember those days and promptly 'zipper' my mouth.

 

As a result of the above, my family has never been the proud owner of a camping tent. After spending years in one, my wife had a 'brain cramp' one time and suggested getting one for the family. No words were exchanged, but the look on my face curtailed any further discussion of that subject to this day.

[C-FCRA]

Best camp was Kaskattama; a goose hunting camp.  Located on Hudson''s Bay.  Home cooked meals, warm new cabins, hot showers and a cute cook too.

 

Worst camp was some camp set up by the MNR up near YYQ for counting geese, polar bears and whales.  Blue tarps.  Just blue tarps.  The best thing going was the toilet paper. 

[DGP]

Cfcra...I was in both the camps that you mentioned.Kaskatama was ok,and the one you disliked was called nester1...quite the dump.Had a real good party there though...the OMNR flew up for a meeting with MDNR .Good time was had by all.I did a lot of work with hydro in Manitoba...there camps are all great,especially Kelsey...Jenpeg comes in second.The best though was working for MTS doing the repeater sites...we stayed at Hecla Resort...food was great and you have a 18 hole golf course at your disposal,not to mention the bar was open late.

The worst was a diamond exploration job hauling sand near DuBont Lake.Had a tent with no door or floor,the cook was a 350 lb female that always wanted to go for a ride in the helicopter,the kitchen tent was the same,no floor,no door,and the one light bulb hanging from the ceiling was all fuzzy from the burnt blackflies on it,they had a srceened in tent in the middle of the camp for having to do your washroom thing just for entertainment.I just about quit the business after 30 days in that s---hole.

[CTD]

I can''t let this thread die - there are too many good stories out there...

 

Even the shittiest of holes can be OK if the conditions are right. There was one exploration camp in Newfoundland back in the flow-through funding days, called Cape Ray. It was a muddy, swampy, windy, foggy, treeless moonscape, but the cook was a genius and had a no-limits budget for food, as long as he didn''t waste. It was not uncommon to do your month there and never eat the same thing twice.

 

I guess it''s all a matter of perspective. One time I was ferrying a Hughes 500 from Pasadena NF to Montreal, and had landed in Sept-Iles for fuel. A gruff looking chap in a competitor''s A-Star was tanking up at the same time and asked me in French where I was going. "Montreal", I replied. He pursed his lips, as Quebeckers do, in consternation, and said "That''s a pretty good camp...."