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August 2004 -- Vol 5, No. 8
In this month's COUSINS:
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decorative bars)
WHAT'S NEW
I’ve not melted away
completely, but it’s REAL close. It shouldn’t be this warm. I don’t function
well in this much heat.
THIS MONTH'S FEATURE: Marie-Charlotte
PÉPIN, husband Charles-Etienne LAROCHE, and their two sons
Last month we looked at
Marie-Catherine PÉPIN and husband Jacques TASSÉ.
This month we look at
Marie-Catherine’s little sister Marie-Charlotte
Marie-Charlotte PEPIN (IIICharles;IIJean;IRobert)
Married 9 January 1752, in Trois
Rivières
Charles-Etienne LAROCHE, son of
Augustin LAROCHE and Marie-Louise CORBIN
Together Marie-Catherine and Jacques
had two children
1. Etienne LAROCHE, baptized 11
December 1756, at Pte-du-Lac
2. Augustin LAROCHE, baptized 14 March 1759
If you can add/subtract/change any of this, send it on via email.
RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE MONTH
"Weather
forecast for tonight: dark." -- George Carlin (1937 - )
RAMBLINGS
FROM THE EDITOR
When I first
started playing in the past, 4 years ago, there was talk of doing something
“just for us, no public”. Last fall, an outfitter was found who, for a
modest fee, would take us on a 2 day trail ride of a Royal Engineer built
trail in the backcountry of British Columbia, providing horses and
accommodations. I made a new outfit for this venture, a two-piece garment
called a Canadian Dress, which according to the pattern I used, was a
“favorite of Indians and Mixed Bloods on the Canadian Frontier.” I
hadn't been on a horse in over 15 years, and figured it would be better than
anything else I had, seeing as how we decided to Dress according to
persona: Royal Engineer, Royal Marine Artillery, Civilian Naturalist,
Voyageur, and two Métis women.
In the beginning, we were 8. The Outfitter preferred parties of 6 but was
willing to make an exception for us. At 9 a.m. on July 23rd, in the Cascade
Recreation Area parking lot (http://tinyurl.com/52hf9),
a two hour drive by The Number 1 east out of Vancouver, we were 6. We were
met there by our guide, Jim McCrea, his wife Marilyn, and the two mule
drovers, Jack and Lou. The 4 of them loaded our 40 pounds of kit
per/person into panniers, which were in turn strapped to one of 6 pack
mules. Not only had we kept to the 40 pounds per person limit, but, en
bunch, we came in a bit under. Jim gave us a quickie riding lesson,
introduced to our horses, and rolled a feed tub over for me to stand on so I
could mount up. The horse I rode was a gorgeous 25 years old gelding named
Shilo. According to Mr. McCrea, the only critter he had with a smoother
gait was his mule. After taking my stirrups up yet another inch, we were on
our way.
Jack, leading three of the pack mules, went first, followed by M. Bastien,
the Old Voyageur; Henry Reynolds Luard, Captain, Royal Engineers; Srjt.
James Lindsey, Royal Marine Artillery; Dr. David Lyall, Naturalist; Mr. Jim
McCrea, owner Snass Mountain Outfitters; Mrs. Innes, Métisse; and Mrs.
Huston, Métisse. Lou brought up the rear with the other three pack mules.
For 2 hours we rode up in to and through forest that had never ever seen an
internal combustion engine. Massive old growth cedar and hemlock that
brought to mind dusty green cathedrals draped with of garlands of ghost
green and carpeted in rich brown humus. Further on, in areas where there
had been rock falls --including one especially massive one that had happened
earlier this year-- there were tiny pale brown birds with black heads and
quicksilver eyes. Critter prints abounded, some old, some still fresh; one
set marched down a spill of dirt to the creek side that small pebbles still
rolled down from. Alpine meadows with wild flowers in bright puddles of
red, blue, and orange, wild tiger lilies, lupines, Indian Paint Brush, and
butterflies of almost every conceivable colour. No phones, no lights, no
motorcars. No power lines buzzing over head.
We stopped for lunch in a cedar cathedral with moss-covered pews of fallen
trees. A scattering of dust-jeweled shafts of sunlight dappled the
clearing. The lack of Modern City sounds was deafening, but there was the
undercurrent of a couple creeks chattering in their stone beds, a gentle
breeze through the trees, bird song, annoyed squirrel and jay sounds, the
soft whickering of the horses and the muttering of the mules.
Where the first 2 hours had been a gentle climb through forested park land,
the second 2 was a steady climb back almost to Pre-contact West Coast. We
started the climb near a sign stating that we were leaving this area and
entering that area, with a short sharp list of things to avoid, with an
implied warning of "If you mess up, you will be found only because some
critter dragged one of your inattentive bones onto the trail." Not far from
this sign was a bit of black bear scat (had to be black bear, there were no
bits of brightly coloured clothing, bells, or bear spray that are so common
in Grizzly scat).
Our destination was “The Deluxe Base Camp in Paradise Valley”. We got there
about 3 pm, and unloaded with varying good natured grumbles about assorted
sore spots – Mrs. Innes and I commiserated about now knowing the EXACT
location of where our thigh bones entered our pelvises-- and divided
ourselves off into tents (Luard and Lindsay; Lyall and Bastien; Innes and
Huston). The horse corral was up slope from the main camp of widely spaced
walls tents, a main cook tent, and two outdoor biffies, one with a green
tarp, one without. The view from the one without was great: a rolling bit
of high altitude meadow, tufted with berry bushes and long needle pine.
It was so quiet; you could hear feathers rubbing together as the ravens flew
through, and the thunder of chipmunk paws pounding past the biffies as they
hurried from over here to over there.
Now part of the Snass Mountain Outfitter’s gig was they provided meals, but
we asked if we could wave that and provide our own food. We looked upon it
as a bit of a challenge to see if we could bring our own food AND the
pots/pans to cook it in. I say “a bit of a challenge” because as we got
tents and bedding provided, the real challenge would have been to bring
tents and bedding, too. Jim offered to let us use the really skookum cook
stove he had in the tent; we thanked him and used the battered old
sheepherder's stove outside (sheepherder stove = metal box 2 feet long, 1
foot wide, 1 foot tall).
After breakfast the next morning we mounted up for a day trip out to a
section of the Dewdney trail built by the historic Royal Engineers, part of
which was maintained by an assortment of volunteers and Parks Canada folk,
and part of which hadn't been touched since gold was found in Barkerville in
1870. None of us were as sore as we thought we might, at least in part due
to Jim McCrea's constant attention to stirrup length and riding tips, so it
was a pleasant ride to where the maintained and un-maintained met.
We parked the horses and took a nice walk. Had our picture taken on the
un-maintained stretch of the Dewdney, then tramped back to the horses, and
headed over to a log cabin set in a Hollywood-esque mountain meadow. Jim
mentioned that folks volunteer to stay in the cabin, and do local trail
maintenance for this privilege. I asked how one might volunteer; Jim said
that the cabin belongs to a BC horseman's club and is available to club
members only. Dr Lyall asked if one needed to own a horse to be member of
this BC horseman's club; Jim grinned, said nope, adding that if any of us
joined, he'd be happy to meet us next year in the parking lot with horses to
bring us in, or we could go round to the other park parking lot from which
The Cabin was only a half hour hike . . . when that parking lot was open.
We stopped for lunch beside a creek named after a Royal Engineer who’d
worked on the Dewdney Trail and had a nice lunch. Feet, hats, and head
scarves were soaked in the snow-melt waters of McCall creek, and off we
went.
I really really need to get *WAY* away from the city every so often, and
where we were was just what the doctor ordered. And I felt good about the
fact that the bit of horse riding I did some 15 years ago hadn't left me.
When combined with Jim's little riding tips, I felt a confidence I don’t
recall ever having before.
My horse, Shilo, liked to just sorta kinda amble along the trail. He’d
mutter under his breath and groan like a cranky little old man on steep
downhills. And as Jim had warned, every so often, I had to give him a
little kick to urge him to catch up. Each time we jogged to catch up, I did
a little less slapping up and down in the saddle and by this point in the
weekend I'd found the trick for "moving with the horse".
Word came down the line that the mounts behind Jim should water at the next
creek. The horse Mrs. Innes was on, Shilo’s 22 year old daughter Sandy,
took a tiny sip, and scrambled after the others. Shilo, however, stepped
into the creek, sighed one of those big horse sighs and made like he was
going to drink the creek dry, and well, it was a warm dry day and we were at
the back of the pack.
Now, one of things I brought with me was a leather shoulder bag that the
inside compartment held my sewing kit tin and all my other sewing
accoutrements, and the outside compartment held a swim suit, chap stick, and
film for the camera that hung from the saddle horn. I’d gotten tired of
having the bag over my shoulder and had wrapped the strap around the saddle
horn, so it hung down in front of my left knee. My small pottery jug (full
of water) hung down in front of my right knee. The camera hug down which
ever side grabbed me at the moment.
Shilo finally finished and sauntered across the creek. The rest of the
group was far enough ahead that I couldn't hear them, Lou’s horse was still
drinking, and from what Jim had said, there was only the one trail and Shilo
had made many trips on this trail. Feeling confidant of my horsemanship, I
gave him three quick kicks in the ribs, and shouted, "Huphuphup" and got up
on my toes in the stirrups.
He gathered himself, surged up the bank, and I got The Major Adrenaline Rush
as he launched into a dead gallop. It was like flying. Shilo's mane
whipped in my face, his hooves pounded rhythmically on the hard packed dirt,
and like the wind we wove along the winding path, through the trees. A
Summertime slalom on iron-shod skis. For those few moments I was somebody
else from another time and another place. *Nothing* else in the whole wide
world mattered. Shilo and I were a single, winged being, skimming along the
path, nothing to bind us to anything anywhere. And then . . .
. . . I had just enough time to think, "ohshit" as Shilo trimmed a
left-hander just a tad too tight.
Everyone else watched with hugely evident concern as I and a really droopy
Shilo came slowly into the meadow where they had all stopped to wait for me
and Lou. Though not unhorsed, I had probably shouted something, and was
leaning way over with one hand cupped tightly over my left knee.
My knee hurt so very bad and I was trying so very hard not to cry but when I
saw what was left of the D-ring that had held the two thin leather straps
that Shilo's coiled lead rope was tied to the saddle with, I just fell
apart. I felt Stupid, and well, when added to the Scared, the Embarrassment
that I couldn't stop crying, and the One Big Throb that was my left knee
that I was just sure had been reduced to goo, well...
In the time it took Jim McCrea to leap off his mule and rush over to me, I
had said, "I hit a tree with my knee. It hurts. And it's mostly my fault."
and Lou had come up, and was saying, "I didn't think to hurry because, well,
gosh darn it, she looked so good as she rode up out of the creek". And
because I'm me, I pulled up the hem of my skirt. I needed to see just how
bad it really was.
There was a red spot just on the inside of the knee, and a long wide
swooping scrape on the outside bag.
Mrs. Innes offered some of the Ibuprofen she was carrying; 800 mg; I asked
for and received 2. I had pulled me together some but common consensus was
that I go back to camp and ice the knee immediately. I didn't argue. Lou
took me the short way back to camp. By the time we got there, I burned from
hip socket to toe tip. Jack came out from under the shade of a tree with a
slightly puzzled but pleased to see us look on his face. Lou hopped down
off his horse saying “She hit a tree” and tied Shilo to the hitching post.
Then both Jack and Lou helped me down off Shilo.
Shilo looked so very very bummed, I tucked up under his head, hugged his
neck, then patted it and told him he was a good boy, it wasn’t his fault.
After a bit of conversating, the unanimous verdict was that I should have a
beer and go sit in the creek. If I needed *ANY*thing to holler. Beer in
hand, I limped to the creek, waded up to that tree-shaded wide spot, and
less-than-gracefully plopped down in the snow-melt water and had myself
another good cry.
The day before, the whole bunch of us had spent a fair amount of time in
that spot, and had seen a single, solitary baby fish, about 6 inches long,
swimming in the shadow of the creek bank; I was told it was a Kokanee or
Land-Locked Sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka). As I sat there still
feeling stupid and just a tad annoyed with myself, the juvenile Kokanee came
out, followed cautiously by his fingerling brothers and sisters. I spent a
delightfully preoccupied non-specified amount of time happily squashing the
flies and skeeters trying to snack on me and feeding them to the little
fish. In short order, the little fish lined up just the other side of my
toes and waited. I sat there until I ran out of bugs to squash and could no
longer feel my toes, then went to my tent and slept until the sounds of
everybody returning woke me up.
Another amenity that the Deluxe Basecamp boasted was a soaker tub. Start
with a large round hole dug into the ground in the shape of one of those
nice expensive 8 man hot tubs. Put boards along the back rest, place a
specially made wood stove on the creek side of the tub, and then line the
rest of the tub with a blue plastic tarp. To fill this delightful thing,
you place a common garden hose in the creek upstream and uphill from the tub
and let gravity and the current do the rest. Allow two hours for the
woodstove to heat the water.
While Mrs. Innes and I made dinner using the really skookum cook stove in
the cook tent, Jack pronounced the water in the soaker tub hot. Because
Mrs. Innes and I prepared the entire dinner while the men sat in the shade
sipping sherry and smoking cigars, the men agreed to do all the dinner clean
up.
It was after dinner that I checked the contents of my leather shoulder bag.
Probably a good thing I waited. Had I looked earlier, I‘d have probably
passed right out, but I DO know that had it not been for my sewing tin and
the double bag it was in, my left knee cap would have been turned to just so
much goo. The force of the impact mashed one side of the four-inch-tall tin
down to half its height, driving the little Period Appropriate spring steel
scissors in the tin a quarter inch through the opposite side.
Leaving the bag contents on the big outside table, Mrs. Innes and I went to
our tent, put swim suits on under our chemises, and then ran like giggling
schoolgirls to the soaker tub. A hue and cry went up –the gentlemen had
earlier said that we women could have the tub after them– and the men joined
us a few minutes later. We sat in that tub for hours, talking about a wide
variety of things, from old cartoons, to Things Historic, to just pain
silliness, and the bazillion and twelve stars in the night sky.
The next morning I ate enough 800 mg Ibuprofen to serious alarm a normal
person (good thing there were none there) so I could make the ride back to
the Cascade Recreation Area parking lot. None of us wanted to leave and
could have happily stayed another week, but there were those with jobs who
need to get back to them. When we stopped for gas Hope, Captain Luard
hunted up ice (none in the stores –the truck hadn’t come yet– but a
vacationer who was only an hour from home gave him what they had left and
the ice sat on my knee all the way home. The next morning, there was a pale
brown bruise around my left knee cap that hurt enough to wake me up.
It still aches a bit, but if I had it all to do over again, I wouldn’t
change a thing.
To see the pictures from this
adventure, please direct your browser to
http://www.royalengineers.ca/TrailRide.html
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COUSINS
comes out once a month --
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This month's was finished 12 August 2004, 3:25 PM PDST
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