American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 40 Exploring the Area Around the Fishing Platform
The next morning, the weather was still clear and calm.

Lin Yu'an tucked his logging axe behind his waist, slung his American hunting bow and quiver over his shoulder, and then paddled the Pioneer canoe across the calm lake.

He skillfully rowed with two homemade long wooden oars, first arriving at the river bend where the gillnets had been laid the night before.

He carefully observed the state of the float from the canoe. The water was calm, and there seemed to be no sign of fish getting caught in the net.

"Looks like my luck wasn't so good this morning," he muttered, without pausing, and continued toward the wooden fishing platform from yesterday.

After about half an hour of paddling, the canoe came to a steady stop on the lake shore where the fishing platform was located.

Lin Yu'an pulled the boat ashore, tied it to a tree by the water with a rope, and then began to explore the surrounding area.

He did not rush into the dense forest, but instead walked along the lake shoreline, carefully observing any possible traces.

Soon, some unusual sights caught his attention at the edge of a woodland not far from the fishing platform.

Some of the tree breaks were unusually clean, clearly caused by tools, and judging from the degree of weathering, the time was not too long.

"Hmm? These are..."

Lin Yu'an squatted down and touched a tree stump about 20 to 30 centimeters in diameter with his fingers. The cut surface was smooth and showed signs of mechanical cutting.

"This cut could only have been made by a chainsaw or chainsaw. Could someone be living nearby?"

He looked into the forest following the logging marks and found similar marks extending deeper into the forest.

"With such a large number of broken tree stumps, it seems that the fishing platform was likely left behind by workers who were logging here before."

He decided to follow the logging trails, keeping an eye on his surroundings as he walked.

Occasionally, he would find discarded cigarette butts or fragments of chewing gum wrappers on the ground, which further confirmed his suspicions.

"The logging industry is a vital pillar of British Columbia's economy, with large quantities of timber being harvested and transported from these primary forests every year."

“It is common for small teams of three to five experienced loggers to go deep into the forest and selectively cut down trees.”

"They usually set up temporary camps, and after the logging is completed, they transport the logs along the waterways to the distribution center."

"Hopefully I can find something at their makeshift camp."

After passing through a relatively dense spruce forest, a small clearing appeared before him.

In the center of the open space, there was a circular hearth, clearly built of stones, with some completely cooled charcoal ash still inside.

"This should be the loggers' temporary camp!" A hint of excitement flashed in Lin Yu'an's eyes!
"Judging from the traces of this campfire, which haven't been completely washed away by the rain, it means that people may have been active at this campsite three to five days ago!"

On one side of the open space, there was a simple wooden shed made of logs as thick as a bowl.

The roof is now openwork; it was probably covered with large pieces of waterproof tarpaulin before.

The wooden shed was empty, but a faint smell of diesel and engine oil still lingered in the air.

Lin Yu'an walked into the wooden shed and saw some sawdust and a few small puddles of dark oil on the ground.

"This is probably where they store chainsaws and diesel fuel. At night, the chainsaws and tools are left here, and the workers may go back to sleep on the boats moored by the lake."

He noticed that there were several rows of large iron nails nailed into the inner wall of the wooden shed, obviously used to hang tools and clothes.

Most of the nails were hollow, but on the innermost nail, a small piece of something gleaming with metallic luster was hanging.

Lin Yu'an took a closer look and was overjoyed – it turned out to be a broken chainsaw chain!

The saw chain looks quite new, jet black and shiny, with still sharp teeth and no obvious signs of wear or rust. However, there is a noticeable break in one of the chain links.

Lin Yu'an happily removed the saw chain from the nail and weighed it in his hand.

"How lucky! This must have been left here by a lumberjack who either forgot to take it or didn't think it was worth taking."

He carefully examined the material of the saw chain and the sharpness of the saw teeth.

"This is a great piece of equipment! Although it's broken, if we can figure out a way to fix the remaining part to an arched wooden frame, we can make a very efficient hand saw!"

"It fills the gap of not having a saw with me, which greatly improves my subsequent logging and timber processing!"

Without hesitation, he took the chainsaw chain.

Then, using the back of the logging axe blade, he pried off the large iron nails that were driven into the wooden wall one by one.

"These nails are also a valuable metal resource that can be used to make other tools, or for other purposes that I can't think of right now."

Lin Yu'an was not satisfied with this. He continued to search the small lumberjack camp carefully, hoping to make more discoveries.

He noticed that there was a road near the camp, carved out by the tracks, that meandered towards the lake.

"It seems they dragged the felled logs along this path to the lake, and then tied them into rafts to be transported downstream."

Lin Yu'an walked along the path towards the lake, which eventually led to a slightly sloping riverbank that stretched straight to the water.

The soil on the shore was soft, with some deep gullies left by the dragging of large logs, as well as some scattered wood chips. This was clearly the dock where the logs were pushed into the water.

On this somewhat messy riverbank, his gaze was drawn to some things scattered among the rocks and along the shore.

He walked closer and a look revealed a hint of surprise in his eyes! They were sections of nylon rope in different colors!

These nylon ropes are not very long, mostly between one and two meters in length, and vary in thickness, some as thick as his own paracord, and others thinner.

They are not concentrated in one place, but scattered in this riverbank area of ​​about ten meters.

Lin Yu'an bent down and picked up a 1.5-meter-long piece of blue nylon rope. The surface of the rope was covered with mud and sand, but the main structure was still intact.

"These should be scraps left over after the loggers cut the logs while binding and dragging them."

"These scattered broken ropes are of little use to them, so they just abandoned them here."

Lin Yu'an patiently collected the scattered nylon ropes piece by piece. He roughly counted them and found that there were more than a dozen pieces! Although each piece was not long, the total length was quite considerable.

"Although I brought paracord, you can never have too much rope in the wilderness. These nylon ropes will definitely come in very handy!"

For logging teams with ample supplies, these loose, short ropes might indeed be considered "unworthy of the effort to recycle" waste.

But for Lin Yu'an, who was in the wilderness and needed to be careful with everything, this was undoubtedly an unexpected windfall.

"Guys, look at our unexpected surprise today!"

Lin Yu'an picked up the broken chainsaw chain, which still gleamed with a cold metallic light, and waved it in front of the camera.

"Even though it's broken, it seems to me like a magical artifact! I've already figured out how to use it!"

With a bountiful harvest, Lin Yu'an paddled his canoe again. He couldn't wait to return to the shelter and begin his new tool-making project!
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(End of this chapter)