It’s huntin’ month around here! Our moose hunts this fall were amazing. We had groups in from all over Canada tracking or calling moose in. All of our hunts this year were unguided. We had many groups that were successful being able to take a moose and will have nice lean meat to fill their freezer. Whether its roasts, steaks, sausage or jerky-moose meat has such a nice mellow flavor.

The cold weather hit in October-we had one night that was -13°C which is about 8°F—it was very cold and windy. With the cold weather, our summer camp at Caribou Falls Landing had to winterize many buildings as we were hosting contractors that were living in the cabins and eating in the lodge dining room daily.  There was snow and ice all around making it look like a day in December. We served them up a large turkey dinner for our Canadian Thanksgiving on October 12^th. To commence Halloween some of the guys staying had brought their pirate hats and their “ar” to the dining room and gave us all a chuckle.

Chris was able to go out moose hunting with his oldest son, Louis, and was able to get a moose almost immediately-wow what a great tasting moose it was-it was a young bull. Partridge, geese and ducks were also some of the other hunting items that were on the successful lists.

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!