As September rolls in, the concept that summer is coming to an end is welcomed by the beautiful fall days with the changing leaves. It was an amazing September—we had a couple of days where we went fishing for a couple of hours and caught lots of walleye! Cannot wait to see what next year’s fishing is going to be like as we have great fishing but with hardly any fishing pressure in 2020, the 2021 fishing season is going to be absolutely fantastic! Chris, Bob, Kim and Amber broke away from Caribou for 3 hours to go lake trout fishing on the last day of trout season. Holy Toledo! We all caught multiple fish at this fly out lake and Chris caught a mammoth of a trout—weighing 17#! It was sure an awesome way to wrap up September.

We were able to get to One Man and figure out the front wall. There were over a dozen logs to replace on the log building. WOW!! The first thing that had to be done was to remove the entire stone wall that was behind the woodstove. This stone has been on the wall for 25 years and it looks so bare without it now. Gene came up and headed the project and got it done in a day and a half. There is still one more portion to replace but that will have to be a spring project.

Normally we would be posting pictures of fish, shore lunch, and our guests having an amazing time fishing. Our current reality is taking pictures of little projects that we are completing. This August was definitely a different one compared to what we are used to. We at Caribou, (Chris, Amber, Bob and Kim) were working to take care of all of the cooking and cleaning for all the crews that we had in camp.  

We made time to get to Kettle Falls and start some projects there. Chris, Bob and Jonny had leveled out the lodge while Kim and Amber were taking one some painting on the lake side of the lodge. Even though we had no guests at Kettle this summer, maintenance still had to be performed on the grounds and buildings. Some of the big ticket items were tree clearing and brush clearing. We are looking forward to next year to hear the laughter and chatting from all staff and guests and smelling the tasty aromas of the homemade meals baking and cooking.

One Man has been very quiet as well. We did some tree clearing and organized a plan to replace some of the logs in the lodge’s front walls. Chris and the boys went to the mill and cut enough lumber to be able to replace the logs in the near future.

Something that is amazing as we look forward to the future of Halley’s Camps is that we have our 75^th anniversary coming up in 2021! That is something we are so proud of. We have toured each lodge and are planning on doing something a little different at each lodge for 2021. We are a family-based business and know how important family can be so why not ensure that there are more family friendly activities and we are putting a lot of ideas forth especially at Kettle Falls.

If we learned something going through the pandemic lock downs, family is important and they are the ones that should be by your side and we invite families to come and breakaway from normal boundaries and the every day routine and let us cater to you at Kettle Falls-let us give you a guide to take you fishing or adventuring, let us be the ones to cook and do the dishes, let us serve you, after all vacations are meant to be admired and dreamed about while working the every day life-let us be your escape, your something to look forward to.

Again, as we get ready for our 75^th, we have been going through the old pictures and re-reading the notes of the interview that Amber did with Grandma (Yvonne) Halley 15 years ago. Sharon had given us some really cool pictures of when her and George lived at Caribou and while they were building and living at Kettle Falls Lodge. We have also been to all the lodges digging up old pictures and getting pictures from Wanda as well to get our historical facts, pictures and quotes ready for our 75^th yearly tale. If you have any pictures you would like to share, please email them to [email protected] and give a location of which lodge and a year you stayed with us. Trying to collect as many amazing memories that has built our family company for so many years. Please don’t send us any pictures you don’t want used for publications!

Also, for lodge guests, please send your photos from 2019 if you’d maybe like to be a Halley’s Camps rock star and be part of our website or brochure. Please again, send me your photos: [email protected]  again with a date and location!

At Caribou Falls Landing, we were able to get another construction company in for a few weeks. Kim and Amber have been tackling the cooking and cleaning. Chris, Bob, Louis and Jonny have been working on getting big projects done here at Caribou Falls Landing. We are trying to get 2 possible cabins up and we have started clearing the land where the cabins go and all the material to level the building site.

Besides working, we have to get out and see some nature too. Usually in the last 2 weeks of July and the first 2 weeks of August are the best for blueberry picking. Remembering Grandma and her love of blueberry picking, she would start getting dropped off way in the bush and would go picking for the day, she would have loved the sights this year. The blueberry picking this year was like no other year-there was literally no words-the ground was BLUE and berries everywhere! We picked 7 gallons in 6 hours and made blueberry crumble, blueberry pie and blueberry muffins-oh everything tasted so fresh delicious with juicy blueberries.

Jonny and Chris built a brand new boat ramp at Kettle Falls to be able to pull all the 17 boats out at Kettle this fall for the winter time. Can’t have all work and no play-off we go fishing!

We all went fishing and it was soooo good that the fish were hopping in the boat—nice catch Chris!

Started being open to essential workers at Caribou Falls Landing. Which in this case it was construction workers and iron workers that are currently doing work on the Caribou Falls power dam that is right across the bay from us. It was announced on June 4^th that we could be open to having Canadian fishing guests come and stay with us. When that was announced we only had from that point for 16 days until the next announcement of whether the border was going to open on June 21, 2020. We did have a couple of groups but that didn’t leave much room to book already booked cabins at Caribou Falls Landing. Then it was announced later in June that the federal US/Canada border was going to remain closed until July 21, 2020.

Well even with no guests, the amount of lawn cutting that has to be done is absolutely unreal! The lodges have huge yards to cut but the after picture is still breathtaking how beautiful each premises are. With Chris, Amber and their 2 boys Louis and Jonny maintain all 3 lodges and the boat in outpost, Dufault’s and with guests in, it’s been busy. We called Bob and Kim the Kettle Falls managers to come and work for us in July so we can get lots of plans, renovations, and ideas in the works up and down the river.

But it cannot be all work and no play-fishing here we come!! Chris brought a group of us out fishing and it was a nice summer day and we caught the heck out of the fish! Amber caught over a 30” walleye, smiled for the picture and released it ready for one of our guests to catch next year when it’s even bigger!