B.C Road Trip Adventures

After our tree planting season ended, another crewmate and I road tripped from Red Deer Alberta to Smithers through the Rockies.

I then spent four days camping along the Bulkley River in Smithers. The view from my tent was amazing! You could see the mountains, the river, and the gentle glow of the campfire. Every day we would go for a swim in the cool glacier water and one time even rode on a log down the river.

Summit Reforestation paid for some of us to drive company vehicles down to Vancouver, so I got a free ride! We didn't have to be in Vancouver till the Friday so we took a route through Whistler and Squamish.

In Vancouver, I said goodbye to my remaining tree planting friends and got a ride down to Surrey to visit my Godparents.  It was the first time in three months I had set foot into a house, and I felt very dirty and very out of place. After a shower, and a clean pair of clothes though I felt a bit better. My uncle and aunt were very welcoming and it was great reconnecting with them. Two days later my brother and Dad showed up! They had decided to road trip down to B.C so the timing worked out perfectly.

Godparents have honey bees!

After exploring and visiting family down in the mainland, we headed off to Vancouver Island!

There I met up with my two road-tripping tree planting friends!

There are other people like me who impulsively climb things, lol

If you come to Courtney B.C check out the Mud Shark cafe. They have really good coffee! 

Blackberries grow everywhere here!

Being right by the Pacific Ocean is amazing! 

And now for the bittersweet news! I have decided to stay in B.C till the next tree planting season. It's for many reasons.....I think the biggest one though is that I was born out here, and I always felt like I had just been stranded in Ontario. I love the people and experiences I have had in Ontario. I am going to miss everyone a lot, but being out here I finally feel like I made my way home, and I am happy here!

I plan to go back to Ontario for Christmas though, and I will make a great effort to see you all then! Next destination is a little vacation in Tofino B.C with - you guessed it?! More tree planting friends!

Survived!!!

Tree planting season 2019 is over!

It's kind of hard to believe! The last three months of my life revolved around the task of putting a couple thousand trees in the ground every day. Now, I don't have to do that for another eight months, I'm not sure what to do with my life anymore! Lol

Tree planting was physically, mentally, and spiritually hard. My fingers developed this condition called trigger finger; They don't open normally anymore. I ended up with painful bruises on my hip bones from the planting bags, and my muscles are very stiff.

Mentally,  it was kind of numbing, boring, at moments extremely frustrating! After talking to several of the planters who stuck it out, they said that the mental aspect of it was definitely the hardest.

Spiritually, I was unable to make it to church being so remote. There were few practicing Christians at the camp, and occasionally my views would be challenged.  However, the opposite reality of my tree planting life to my religious one made me focus on my beliefs even more. God works in mysterious ways.

Overall though, it was a great experience! I feel stronger in many ways, and I've made amazing friends! Adventure and money was what I was looking for when I signed up for tree planting and I got both!

There was something rhythmic and epic at moments  for me near the end while planting. The flagging tape would rip between my fingers flawlessly, I could spot the micro sites better, and climbing over logs became smoother. The day became a rhythm and I started to actually enjoy it.

So I guess the standing question is, will I come back to this next year?

Hell yeah!

You are Stronger this Rain

I remember back my first summer away from home, it was a literal drought. I prayed desperately for rain, and when it finally fell I rejoiced! Now it rains consistently every single day, and I feel depressed.

Storm in the distance

Storm clouds behind my boxes of trees

New rubber boots for all this rain

This is definitly the wettest summer of my life. Any moment I see the sun feels like a miracle! The average temperature each day is seven degrees Celsius, I can see my breath almost every morning when I emerge from my tent. Even when there is a patch of sunshine while planting, its unpredictable because a few minutes later it can suddenly start hailing, or down pouring. This is Alberta 2019; Sounds like Ontario just stole our heat.

Hail outside my tent

Rainbow over camp

Camp fire is a source of warmth

Crew chilling on one of those rare sunny moments

We are coming closer to the end of our season, and the crew has been getting smaller. I'm planning on sticking it out to the end, which will probably be sometime early August. The rain is bringing me down a little bit, but as our camp cooks like to remind us at the end of the day, with a promise of hot soup and tea....

I Look Homeless, but I'm Rich!

Our last camp was in a mud pit. Essentially, a horse paddock in the spring, minus the manure. It also rained consistently since forever, so everything anyone owns is pretty much soaked, muddy, or destroyed.

Our last days of planting were pretty chaotic! We did helicopter work, but it was foggy the first day, so we started work late. The second day tree boxes were in the wrong locations. The third day there were issues with the helicopter again and our crew bosses had to quad the trees into the block, which equaled a lot of sitting around waiting for trees.

One of our blocks before it started raining forever.

What we do when we wait for trees

On camp move day, I decided to go on planting mission to plant the remaining trees from the contract to make up the money I lost on the chaotic days. I did make up the money, but I was so covered in dirt afterwards. We didn't have enough time to drive to the new camp, so we stayed in a nearby town for the night. I had not packed clean clothes so I looked absolutely disgusting, but I was super hungry. I waltzed into subway covered in mud looking very unflattering, then bought a tonne of food! "I look homeless," I laughed with my friends, " But I'm rich!"

We are at a new camp now which is not so muddy. The new contract has harder specifications on how to plant trees, so its been a bit of a learning curve. However, I'm sure once I get these new specs down, I will be able to plant just as much, if not more then the last camp!

New tent set up with hammock