Not so Quiet Lake, Yukon Territory ~ Porcupines

Quiet Lake

Here's a little tale about a night of camping on our recent trip to the Yukon Territory.  

We traveled part of the Canol Road, which is quite a long gravel route that takes you through some very beautiful scenery and by some gorgeous lakes.  We decided to camp for a night at Quiet Lake.

Having a good scratch.  

We pulled into the campground up in front of the cooking shelter.  A good sized porcupine was standing there having a chew on the wood.  We watched him for a few minutes, before he noticed us.  He had a good scratch the ambled off.

Our tent was damp from the rain the night before when we stayed at Boya Lake in Northern BC, and the campground was empty, so we decided to set our tent up inside the cook shelter so that it could dry out.  

Not long after we settled down for the night, we heard a porcupine grumbling vocally as he made his way along.  He commenced to begin chewing loudly on the shelters wall quite near our tent.  Not long after that, another porcupine came along and took up chewing on the other side of the shelter.  The sound of their chewing was very loud and echoed throughout the building.  

We lay there laughing and listening to it for a while, but eventually wanted some sleep.  Our "Ok! That's enough!'s" "Knock it offs" and shouts didn't faze these ravenous dudes.  Neither did the banging on the floor.  A few seconds pause, then 'Crunch, crunch, crunch".  

Eventually, the sound of crunching wood turned to that of teeth on metal, so I grabbed my camera and got up to make sure the stinkers weren't going to town on the vehicle.  Porcupine have been known to have a taste for wires, and tires.  The metal chewer took off when I exited the building.  I went around the shelter and peeked around the corner.  The wood chewer was still chowing down on building.  Eventually he noticed me and came to check me out.  When he got fairly close to me, he snapped his teeth at me.  Most likely disgruntled by having his meal interrupted.

Looks at me and chomps his teeth.

I start backing up as he decides to make his grumpy exit.

That's it!  If I can't eat, I'm leaving!  Food tastes like sawdust here anyways!

So while I'm giving Wood Chewer some space, I hear a noise behind me, and down comes Metal Muncher.  

Hmmm....  wonder if there's anything left to eat?

He pauses a moment, and we look at each other.  Then he continued on and down the other side of the bank to the lake, as if that were his plan in the first place.

Darn...  I think she seen me!  

At this point, I'm ready for a nice hot cup of coffee.   

Quiet Lake....  Not necessarily quiet.