I haven't been back to Vanderhoof or anywhere in Canada for almost 5 years. We finally had a good excuse to go because we had a wedding to attend to. There isn't much better than a July in Vanderhoof so the whole family took an extra week or more to be around town before the wedding. The Trip Because it has been so long since I've been there I got a reminder of how beautiful Banff and Jasper National Parks are. Driving through the mountains I realized again that this specific stretch of peaks, valleys, rivers and glaciers are the most beautiful I have seen. Not to mention everything I saw was only from the road because I never even stopped and got out of the truck. Because of the wet summer there were so many waterfalls all over the place. Tucked between peaks or falling down the cliff-sides there were simply waterfalls everywhere. The rivers are all such a rich blue/green color and every new angle of the jagged peaks or valleys amazed me for the 3 hours driving through the parks. We stayed with Gerald and Maurine while we were up there and throughout the whole trip Emelia loved seeing and feeding the horses, running around on the property and just enjoying the open spaces and fresh air. It was fun being back in vanderhoof and we enjoyed being there. Had poutine a few times, went to BP's, had probably 10 screamers/slurpees and bought 100 dollars worth of candy and snacks to have back at home. It was great seeing all the green fields and we saw so much wildlife, a few coyotes, black bears and a load of deer, including easily 25 nice bucks. Also there were bunnies everywhere this time. Also saw a moose and even a mountain goat in Mt Robson. Allie and I got to go with Charlee horse back riding too. Got to ride through trails in the bush as well as through some hay fields. I got to show off a little and gallop past Allie through one of the fields and it was a lot of fun, galloping on a horse is such an adrenaline pumping thing and genuinely a lot of fun and we enjoyed riding for a half hour or so. Fishing A large part of why I love where I come from and love being in this part of the world is for the phenomenal fishing opportunities. There are so many lakes and rivers and so few people that there are so many honey holes that are simply not pressured at all. We fished 2 spots that were absolutely awesome. Kuzkwa River After years of dad talking about how awesome this river is to fish we finally made the trek out there. It was a whole experience getting out there, we drove past the fort, down the logging roads about 50k, unloaded and drove the 4 wheelers another 30 minutes then bushwhacked for the final bit on foot just to get access to the river. All the effort getting in here was completely worth it. When you first break through the thick forest and see the river you instantly know its going to be a great spot, deep enough to hold big fish but shallow enough to wade and have good presentation at all times, rocky bottom, big pools but some fast water. I knew it was going to be a good day. Dad casted one before we even dropped our gear and caught one on the first cast... Bridger followed it up quickly and hauled in like 6 in a row in a matter of a few minutes. Usually this river is a very reliable place for fly fishing so I brought my fly rod, I caught one on a dry right away but then the rain and clouds came in which made it hard to cast and there was too much surface action that nothing was being seen. All 4 of us switched to some kind of spinner, spoon or rooster tail and we absolutely slayed them. It rained on and off on us all day but we still had a lot of success, we caught a pile of rainbow trout, and a new species for me called pikeminnow. Also had some suckers in there that we tried to get rid of as many as we could. I think most of the river is rainbows but we were close to a big marshy hole that carried a lot of those suckers and pikeminnows. I caught a really nice rainbow and a 2 pound pike minnow as well as about 20 other fish. It was non stop action all day. Camsell Lake The more I fish around North America the more I realize that Camsell lake might be one of the best places to fish in the entire world. We fished with a couple boats at a few different times of the day and caught literally over a hundred fish. It didn't matter what you threw out, we trolled with willowleafs and trout killers or just a willowleaf and a worm. We spun from the shore and did well like that too. These fish have zero pressure in this specific part of the lake and we just kill it. There were many times where we would have 2 or 3 lines bringing in fish at the same time. Lots of these rainbows were pretty good size too, caught a couple pounders and I think 2 over 15 inches. The girls caught plenty as well. I was the boat driver for one of the boats one of the days and that was a lot of fun too, getting to see everyone bringing in fish left and right. Such a fun time on a beautiful and world class level fishing lake. Its a great lake to fish and we had a chance to camp here as well for a few days. So good to be out in the open air and hang around the fire, eat good food and catch fish. It was a little cold but we still had a great time all together camping. Thats a Wrap It was a good trip, saw some old friends, met some new cool people. Good to see family and visit church one last time in Vanderhoof. The wedding went really well and was lots of fun. The drive up and down was long but also got to spend some time with my new truck and see some beautiful things along the way. Got to go around the ol stomping grounds and hit some memorable things and places. And especially stoked to spend time outside and catch a hundred fish.

I double dipped spending time outside this weekend. I did some great fishing on Friday as well as a strenuous hike on Saturday. It felt great to just be outside on both occasions, got to be in my new truck and I always enjoy solo time outdoors and just time outside in general. Fishing at Currant Creek I started my weekend on Friday with a fishing trip to Currant Creek, a small, quiet creek in Utah that isn’t heavily pressured by anglers. This made it an ideal spot to enjoy some quality fishing. Over the course of two hours, I caught about 10 rainbow trout using a dry fly and a spinner. It was a pretty unsuspecting spot, not real but there were a lot of great holes with plenty of fish. One thing that was really cool about it is that it was kind of desert vibes, red rock and sand but still mountainous and help rainbows. It was honestly just nice to be solo and outside for a while. Birds were singing all day and the sound of water rushing is always a great sound. I also got to drive my new truck on the way to the creek, which was a lot of fun in and of itself. I only saw one other person on the whole creek and I think that was a big part of the success. Hiking Mount Timpanogos After a day of fishing on Friday I doubled up and tackled Mount Timpanogos for my second time, though we did a different route than last time. The trail is about 15 miles round trip, making it a full day adventure. The hike is challenging but rewarding, with stunning views and plenty of wildlife along the way. The Timpanooke trail which we took this time seemed to be a bit easier as it wasn't quite as steep but the Aspen Grove side is slightly prettier in my opinion. The blisters were kept to a minimum this time and they didn't come til the last quarter of the hike and that really helped my overall enjoyment. On the way up we saw some moose and coming down we snuck up on the bull just 20 feet off the trail. It was wild to see a big ol moose up so close. We saw plenty of other wildlife too and that was a highlight of the trip, had to be over 30 mountain goats including a handful of really young and cute babies. Saw a few deer including a small buck, a marmot as well as a pile of squirels, pikas and chipmunks. The push to the summit was super windy, with gusts reaching 33 miles per hour. We still pushed up and spent some time at the top eating lunch before tearing back down. The amount of wildflowers was crazy, saw at least 20 different types of flowers and they were littered all over the mountainside. It was a long hard day of hiking but it was a lot of fun with the group and I think anyone that can should do Timp at least once.

There must be over a hundred beaches on Maui and we had the chance to hit up a lot of them. Some of them are better than others, of course the red sand and black sand beaches were awesome but we are talking about classics here. Sitting on the fine sand and enjoying the sun was great no matter which beach it was. Makena beach was cool, Big beach was also amazing and riding the huge waves were a blast. Baldwin beach was massive and the first we went to. There were a few different beaches we just visited enough for a quick walk or sunset watching, Kapalua and Wailea beaches made good for that. I do think that Kaanapali beach was overall our favorite and we spent a lot of time there.

This will be my longest post yet because there is so much to cover, none of which really fits into any other sections like food reviews or photography. This was simply an adventurous hunting trip to the Limpopo province in South Africa. I am going to breaks this down into sections rather than days. I am going to skip over most of the travel because it was long and grueling both there and back. Lots of hours in a plane and just as many in airports. We flew into Polokwane, the nearest city to the lodge and hunting properties and from there we drove the 2 hours got settled and got some rest. The lodge was pretty nice. The first few days were the slowest as far as the hunting goes, first day we went out and sighted in all the rifles and then headed out for a hunt. That first day it was pouring rain for much of the morning. Saw some massive Baobab trees and just enjoyed driving around in the truck. I had some success that morning as well, shot my first impala. It was a pretty simple kill, spotted it on the road, stopped, got the sticks out and found a nice shooting lane. He stopped about 85 yards out quartered towards me so I shot at the chest. It was a good shot but he took off and died 15 yards away after smacking into a tree that actually broke its neck. Got some good photos with it and that was the last animal I shot for a few days. If you zoom in a bit on this video you can see the impala run after I tagged it. We didn't hunt on Sunday but instead we hung around the Limpopo River and did some things there. It actually turned out to be one of my favorite days while there. When we first rolled up to the river we spotted a big crocodile on the other sides banks and a hippo hanging out in the water. We had some lunch and sat on some catfish rods for a bit. I only caught a really small catfish but it was fun, we lost some big ones because of our line breaking and even lost a rod. We used birds and squirrels for bait. That was fun too, I went out and shot a bird with a 17 HMR and hooked it up as bait. After a few days of getting skunked I started getting a little doubtful that I was going to get all of my animals. It was already day 5 and I only had 1 of my 4 downed. The other guys all had some luck but I couldn't get any shots off. That all changed starting with a day 5 evening hunt. We were out driving along the river and we spotted a big ol sow warthog and I had a good shot on her but they discouraged it because she had some young with her and they prefer not to kill the factories for more animals so I passed. After seeing another handful of pigs including some big males I was getting frustrated because they all ran off far before I had a decent shot. So when the chance came I took it. We saw a boar cross the road in front of us and the truck sped up to get to where it crossed and I spotted it. I am not even sure if the truck had stopped yet and I slammed the bolt closed and threw the safety off as I stood up and swung the gun to my right. Within a second or two of me spotting the warthog I had already squeezed off a shot. The truck had just stopped, it was a freehand and rushed shot and the pig was in some brush and trotting but I placed that .308 right where it needed to be. It ran a few yards and thats it. Really cool hunt, the pig had a huge body but the tusks arent huge but it is still a cool trophy and great story. My fortune started to change from there, could also be slightly because of the weather and the moon turning. A gemsbuck was the main reason I wanted to go hunting so that was on top of my list. Days 6,7 and 8 we were targeting them specifically. Once or twice we saw and stalked a few young males but I passed on them because they weren't big enough. One of these stalks we crawled through thorns and bramble for quite a ways just to not shoot but it was a fun stalk. On that same ranch there were 3 or 4 lions but it was a huge ranch so we didn't expect to encounter them. One late evening we spotted a nice mature male gemsbuck but the truck spooked it. It was a nice one so we decided to pursue and try and track it down for a shot. This was in an area where we had seen lion tracks the day before but we went for it. Unfortunately the gemsbuck pulled a fast one on us and walked us in a circle and then its tracks disappeared so we went back to where we started, only to find fresh lion tracks on top of our tracks we just made. We decided for we should try a different place where there was a waterhole that we found and knew gemsbuck would be if there were any in the area. We got to the water at about 9 am on the first day and saw some tracks. When we snuck up into this water hole there was a herd of about 25 cape buffalo and that was super cool to see, once we spooked them off it sounded like a thunder storm crashing through the brush, so cool. We sat there until dark, no sight of any gemsbuck but they don't need to drink every day like most animals. We saw a bunch of cool animals come to the water though, from elephants to tsessebe. Then an absolute monster of an impala came in and I couldn't resist shooting it too. I used a 416, which most people would know as an elephant gun. Its all I had but it did the trick, it was an easy 30 yards and I dropped it in a heartbeat. At this point we were in a blind with dirt floors and again, this rifle was massive and the second I pulled the trigger my ears blew up and the dirt on the floor was thrown in the air and it left a layer of dirt on everyone, my pants were covered, it was a cool experience. That was the end of that day. Got a nice video of the shot DJI Action 2 view The next morning we came long before the sun came up so we wouldn't miss them we hoped that the gemsbuck didn't drink at night or they wouldn't be back for a while. When we got there we looked for tracks and saw no fresh tracks and at that moment I knew we were going to get one because they were going to need water sometime during day. After a very slow day with no action at the water hole a heard of at least 40 Impala came to drink, it was fun to watch the male chase them all around and they were in every direction of the blind of us making all kinds of noise and running around. After a few more animals came in out stepped a massive gemsbuck and my heart instantly started to pound, it was a monster. She came in right to the water and started to drink but she spooked when she heard the dirt move as I moved into position and she started walking away. We waited a minute hoping she would come back but I saw her from another angle going back into the bush so our guide said we should go outside the blind to see if we could get a shot. Once I stepped out we saw her, about 65 yards away almost broad side walking into the bush. I didnt have much time and I knew it so I took the safety off, pulled that .416 to my shoulder and with iron sights and freehanding took the shot. She instantly turned and ran but as she took off I could already see heavy bleeding. The adrenaline made my legs shake, I'd been waiting for that shot the whole trip and was in overdrive once the chance came. We gave her a half hour and then started to track her, it was a pretty easy trail to follow, her tracks were apparent and there was an awful lot of blood to follow, she made it about 100 yards before she dropped. We found her, brought it back to the road and the hunt for the gemsbuck was over. It ended up measuring 41 inches which is a very nice trophy. Here is what it looked like from inside the blind The last animal on my list, duiker. A rather small and pretty cute animal. We actually were at another waterhole waiting on a warthog for someone else in our group when a duiker came in. He wasnt sticking around and he barely gave me a shot, he didnt even look like he was going to drink but kept on walking, luckily I had the gun ready and shot right as he entered my shooting lane, he went down instantly as a .30-06 was more than enough for the little guy. I used 5 or 6 different guns on this trip to get all my animals, so much fun and I got some amazing trophies, stories and experiences under my belt. Even just being in my hunting gear and driving around looking in the binoculars was so much fun in and of itself. I made a list of some of the animals we saw throughout the trip that I didnt mention already: Bat eared fox Mongoose Golden variants of the gemsbuck and Wildebeest Franklin Ginea fowl Rock python and Black mamba Ostrich Hippo Black impala Monitor Lizard Egyptian goose African wild cat Civet Cape Buffalo Sable There were also a pile of other birds like the yellow billed horn bill, kori bustard, white backed vulture, sand grouse and a bunch of other pretty ones Lots of our animals that we hunted we ate for lunch and dinner: Impala curry Impala breakfast sausage Nyala pot pie Kudu pasta Gemsbuck tenderloin steak Wildebeest steak Here are some random photos and videos that I took that didn't fit into the main stories Our blind for the gemsbuck hunt Impala + Tsessebe Sable

Some of the family decided it was time to get the crew outside and do a trip to Arches National Park, especially because Landry, Mum and Dad have never seen delicate arch or anything in the park for that matter. We booked an AirBnb in Moab for the 9 of us and spent the weekend out there. Allie and I got in pretty early on Friday followed by the rest trickling in at different times during the evening. We spent all day in the park on Saturday doing the best hikes and viewpoints. We started with Delicate, did Balanced Rock, and Landscape Arch. We just had lunch in the park and spent time out in the desert. This was the second time Allie and I have done Arches together but it was very different because it was Emmy's first time in the park and her first National Park. She absolutely loved being out in the great wide open. She tuckered herself out pretty good too and slept every minute in the car between trailheads and everything else. Moab was a cool little town and we went to a fun little pasta joint that wasn't too bad. The next day for lunch we did the food truck park that was there. That is something I would highly recommend, though the trucks are pricey it was good food with lots of options and all under shade. We finished up Sunday morning with a few more short Hikes and arches like Double Arch. Hit the food trucks up for lunch and we all packed up and headed home. It was a good weekend and nice to be out doing something.

On one of our days on the coast we took a day trip to an underwater national park. Around Wasini Island is a park with shallow sand bars that are uncovered at low tide as well as piles of coral reefs and thousands of fish. It was a crazy experience getting out there, the boat looked like it barley floated and I'm pretty sure it was 300 years old. When you mix that with a motor that needed its spark plugs replaces on the water and the fact that there were some pretty good waves, it made for a crazy 90 minutes. Once we were at our destination though it was quite worth it. The water was a brilliant blue and warm. There were a bunch of really cool fish and our new snorkels were awesome to have, I was able to dive pretty deep and get some good footy with my camera too that you can see on my portfolios page. There was a lunch included too which in hindsight was not worth the money, 3 of us got food poisoning from it and I would be lying if I said I didn't see it coming. For sure took an L on that aspect but the rest was great, after some classic Kenyan pole pole we finally headed back to shore and back to the beach house.

Seems like I have been making my way out to the bookcliffs an awful lot over the last few years. This was a last minute planned trip that the whole fam took for a weekend. Headed up to the old Jensen campsite that the family has been going to for years, now known as chipmunk ridge. We did some of what we always do, knocking branches off dead trees, walking in the sagebrush and constantly dusting ourselves off. We did find a really cool find while out looking for sheds, a winter kill 4 point buck. I also shot some tracer rounds out of my Glock and they were super fun. Saw an antelope buck and a pile of wild horses. Good little trip overall!

It was that time of the year again, anyone that is tough or dumb enough heads out to the desert for a winter campout and wildlife drive or 2. It was a good time this year, we headed out early Saturday and had ample time to set up a real camp this time and the shelter was great. Found a rare shaded campsite that we are dubbing skull camp or skinwalker camp. Between that., the fact that I was overpacked for sleep and the temperature being a bit warmer, I think we all kept warm through the night. We had a pretty good camp set up and spent a lot of time moving rocks for the firepit and our nice rock tile floor. The highlight of the trip for me was what it usually is, spotting all the wildlife. We went on a few morning drives and a couple evening drives too and it was completely worth it. We saw every animal on what we call the Bookcliff Big 5, mule deer, antelope, bison, big horned sheep and elk. We had to have seen almost 50 bucks and a handful of really nice ones. A pile of elk with a handful of bulls, a herd of 5 bison, another herd of sheep and then a small herd of pronghorn on the way in. I was able to get a few nice pictures with the camera but not many, between shooting in really low light and not being able to get very close, it was hard to get a good clear shot. Here are a couple that turned out though.

I organized an off shore fishing trip for the boys when we were down in Cancun as a family and it was such a great time! We booked the boat for 6 hours and decided to start by targeting the trophy fish by trolling with a bunch of rods out baited and set up. A couple hours went by and we didnt get a single thing, we tried for another hour because I was really wanted a shot at a sailfish or something like that but it ended up not working out. After talking with the captain we decided to try a different method and try to fish off the bottom for some smaller reef fish and that proved to be far more effective and a lot of fun. Between the 5 of us we caught about 10 fish, I think about 2 each. I caught the first, Bridger caught the biggest and I think Dad and Caleb caught the coolest with Coleson slaying the Banana Fish. We caught I think 4 species in total, Triggerfish, Blue Runner, Bananafish and Yellowfin. All of which were really cool, apparently Bridger caught a really nice Triggerfish and they guys said the Blue Runner I caught was massive compared to your average on that species. They all put up a pretty goof fight and it was just a blast to real them in and see what we had on our lines. We caught most of our fish at about 75 feet but the water was so clear you could still see the bottom for most of the time. After catching all 10 in the same place we moved to try somewhere else but didnt catch anything else. The crew however did take both our Triggerfish and made an extremely fresh Ceviche that was absolutely fire! We felt like the trip was pretty successful and after hearing most of the boats out that day came back to harbor empty handed we were pretty happy with our results. At one point we did see like an 8 foot Wahoo right off the side of the boat but couldn't seem to get his attention, really cool looking fish and it was cool to see it lurking around the boat.

Spent the weekend in St George and had some fun while we were down there. It was just a quick weekend trip but we filled our Saturday up. First thing we did was woke up and tried a new pastry shop that we heard was really good and it did not disappoint, usually I get pictures of that kindof stuff but we scarfed it down far too fast for any of that. We then went up to Snow Canyon State Park and did a few quick hikes there with Emmy in the backpack. She loved it and we saw some pretty cool rocks and had a good time exercising out in the sun. I think we only did a total of about 3 miles but it still felt really nice. After The baby was in bed and Allie was home safe, Unlce Kasey took Caleb and I to Sand Hollow to do some bass fishing. The weather was far from perfect and it was pretty windy, not to mention the fact that it was in the pitch black and that made it difficult. The 3 of us still managed to haul in 4 bass in a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun and it made for my first 2 bass id ever caught, the first one I reeled in was aparently a pretty nice fish, enough so to call it a football. It was interesting to see how different in behavior, fight and the actual fishing technique was between these guys and trout. All in all it was a great night and we were able to do pretty good for ourselves.

Spring break 2026 was a full family trip to Cancun Mexico. Everyone was there for different times but we all overlapped for about 5 days. Coleson and Katie got there on the first day followed the next day by Allie, Emelia and me and Caleb, Gabie and Hazel. Mom, Dad and Landry as well as Charlee and Bridger got there on day 3. The all inclusive resort was a blast and everyone had a blast. The food was pretty good and I had to have had over 50 drinks led by the piña colada. The rooms were great as well and the pools and beach were fantastic. It even had 3 different waterslides that all went pretty hard, one for tubes, and 2 for people only, both of which were fast but one was open and smooth and the other was dark, fast and threw you around. We all loved the slides the whole trip. There was a lazy river that was fun too, the babies especially enjoyed that part aside from the buckets dumping water over their heads. We had a day where the babies stayed back with the parents and Landry and the couples went out to an adventure parks with cenotes, rope wings and cliff jumping and a lot of snorkeling. This was a great day and then Allie and I finished it off with a fancy dinner at a place called Arca in Tulum, ranked the 67th best in the world this year. The food, service and atmosphere was off the charts, it turned out to be a fantastic day and we were even pulled over by the Mexican police on the way back to the resort. The boys all did a day of fishing too, I will write another more in depth post about that but it was a lot of fun to get out and catch some reef fish out in the Caribbean sea. After those 2 days there was just a lot of time chilling and hanging out at the resort, lots of pool time and Emelia absolutely loved it. She swam ran and played all day when she wasnt napping and she also liked the fact we ate 5 or 6 times every day. A couple dinners, multiple lunches, a big breakfast and all day snacking and drinking. Allie and I had beachside massage one day too which was really nice and we tried our best to relax and catch our breath. It was a much needed and very nice trip, we were excited to be back home but had such a fantastic time as a family on the beach and by the pool.

This was our 3rd year out in the winter for our campout/game drive. As per tradition we go out for a day and a half, sleep in a rough shelter (this time again at skull camp/skinwalker camp) and drive around looking for animals in the Bookcliffs. This year was a little different because we were scouting for shed spots and a little in the future because it is likely dad draws out this year. We stayed at Skinwalker Campsite again this year cause we have a nice spot set up and there are more trees in the area, we did plenty of walking and hiking and that felt great. It was only Caleb, Dad and myself so we did lots of driving and spotting. We saw a pile of deer, over 400 in fact. 331 does, 67 bucks plus 12 "gold" and 3 "diamond" bucks. those 3 would be day 1 shooters and the gold we would have all been happy going home with. We also saw a bobcat which was awesome, thought it was a rabbit at first but then it scratched the tree and we knew. Looked just like a lynx back home but seemed smaller. Saw 53 cow elk and a few spike bulls as well as an injured bison but nearly 60 wild horses. This little trip has quickly become something I look forward to every year, good to be out in nature, see animals and live under the sky and in the dirt and sagebrush. Continued: I didn't want to make a whole new post because it is a short update. We went out a month or so later to do some shed hunting, we planned some great spots based on what we saw this winter and set out and did about 30 miles of hiking total, had a little camp set up and just spent some more time out on the mountain. We only found one solitary shed and it was a tiny little spike that was a year old at least. We also found a really really cool artifact, a full, intact and beautiful indian spear head. It was barely sticking out of the soil but I knew what it was as soon as I saw it.