Porcupine Obsession

Wildlife is abundant at Port Ashton and one of our inhabitants is the porcupine. Last season Randy and I kayaked across Sawmill Bay and went exploring. “Get your camera…there’s a porcupine,” Randy directed. “Where?” I inquired. Pointing and with much direction I finally saw the moving porcupine. Missing several shots eventually I photographed Mr. Porcupine.

Finding the porcupine is not a problem for the dogs, Licorice the black lab, and Heila the Karelian Bear dog. If there is a porcupine on Evans Island, and there are, they will find it. Seeking porcupine is a team effort…if one of the dogs is kenneled the other dog will not go out of her way to find one.

Yet, on those occasions when they are both roaming freely, they will return to camp with evidence of their excursion. Heila, and her mother before her, especially love the porcupine. Porcupine quills cover their faces…and removing them is a family effort.

At least one adult must hold the dog while our PAL (Port Ashton Lodge) medic, Randy, removes the quills, one by one. It is a painful effort for all involved.

Now one would think that a few negative quill experiences would at least cause a dog to hesitate before harassing the porcupine again. Yet, this has not come to pass. The dogs are obsessed with porcupines.

So, when you arrive at Port Ashton you may be greeted by one dog but never by two dogs. On this island of porcupines they cannot control themselves, so we do, by always kenneling one dog…for her and the porcupines protection.

PS: This is my dog, Cloud, a Bichon Friese. Cloud lives on Kauai and although she would love Port Ashton Randy advises that she would be lunch for a soaring Bald Eagle. Cloud’s coat is like Velcro…and when she runs free she attracts weeds and mud. Kristofer and I are missing her!

Water Tank Cleaning

There are several levels of maintenance necessary to open the lodge...the first steps are Randy's kuleana (responsibility). And, with the help of friends he travels to the lodge on weekends, beginning in May each season, delivering supplies and de-winterizing the buildings and equipment. One item he cleans, and puts back on line each spring are the water tanks.


Our water tanks store the water pumped from the stream, first microfiltered and then sanitized before supplying the domestic water needs of all of our buildings. (see Pumping Water blog). The tanks and the entire water system is drained for winter and cleaned in Spring. Luckily, friend Steve Bartelli could fit into the tank to give it a good scrub!

Randy, reports that few repairs were required this spring and Port Ashton Lodge is "up and running"! His early Summer project is building a Freezer House that will sit near the dock and house a couple of freezers for freezing the fish caught and processed by our fishing guests. This will eliminate the hauling of hundreds of pounds of fish from the dock to the Cook House. A more difficult job depending upon the tide...on high tide we have to haul the fish by hand...on low tide we can use the four wheeler.

The Freezer House foundation is in place thanks to Randy and crew. Can you see the beautiful pepto pink color of the lumber? That is the color one gets after mixing free paint. The kids, Lia and I painted the lumber last summer so it would winter safely. At Port Ashton we use what we got...aesthetics are second to usefulness. So, the new building supply list has been created...now another trip to town!

Thanks to Randy every season life gets easier with a few more conveniences.