Day One of Pack Trip Continued

We reached Spruce Lake around six. There are some tents and cabin there, the cabin is pretty modest, and used mostly just for cooking. It sits at the edge of spruce lake, there is one other cabin on the lake. Apparently the guy who owns that cabin had it before all of the Chilcotin land became crown land so the government couldn’t kick him off. Every once and awhile a floater plane lands on the lake, usually to drop mountain bikers off.

We started making supper right away and had finished eating around seven-thirty. The sky was already starting to get dark and we still hadn’t staked the horses. Staking is basically when you take a stake drive it into the ground, tie one end of a long piece of rope to the stake and the other end to one of the horse’s legs. You do this so that they can graze but they can’t run back to the ranch (although if they really wanted to they could pull up the stakes and take off). Usually you stake four or five of the horses that are the more leaderly type and then you hobble the other horses. Hobbling is when you take a lead rope and loop it around the horses two front legs. The idea is to slow them down so that they can’t wander off to far, but it doesn’t always work. I’d never staked or hobbled before this, and I realize that it may sound a bit cruel. The truth is the horses are still able to get around pretty easily, and they really don’t seem all that concerned or bothered by it. When hobbled they look like really big bunnies.

So we headed out to stake and hobble the horses, it was about a twenty-minute walk to the field where we were staking, by this time it was getting pretty dark. The field wasn’t so much a field as it was a steeply slanted patch of grass. I actually got sort of scared because it was really steep and my boots were slipping on the dry grass. I kept on imagining myself falling into the abyss of dark forest below us. We finally finished staking and hobbling and headed back to camp, it was pitch black by this time and we had to navigate on pretty bumpy terrain with only a couple flashlights spread out among the eight of us. None of us were very impressed, and we were all exhausted. When we got back to camp we had to clean up the mess from dinner and I think it was about ten-thirty or eleven when I got to bed.

you really don't need anything to get on the greyhound bus. my mom just bought me a ticket and they gave her a confirmation number and a password so that i can claim it at the station here in vancouver.

i lost my wallett. i have no id. and so i cannot get on the flight i had booked for tomorrow. instead i will sit on a bus for 18 hours.

Day One of Pack Trip

We met outside the barn at six in the morning. It was still dark and fairly cold. Thankfully Dave had given me one of his jackets to take with me the night before. The mornings up here are so cold and then by mid-day you’re sweating. Or at least I’m sweating.

After we had rounded up all the horses we were taking (one for each person as well as two pack horses, so ten total) we started to secure the loads on the packhorses. Brenda and I packed a big grey horse called blue. He had just come back from a hunting trip and was a little skidish. Understandably so, those horses carry huge loads of dead weight over crazy terrain. Packing involves a lot of knots and a lot of co-ordination. I’m bad at both these things. Despite this Brenda and I did a pretty good job, and we didn’t have to repack it at anytime during our eight-hour ride.

We left the ranch around nine-thirty. The path we took involved of a lot of up and down, but mostly up. When you are going up hill on a horse you have to lean forward so that your weight is off its hindquarters. This allows the horse to more easily maneuver and push its way forward. The amount you lean forward depends on how steep the hill is. Some of the slopes we went up were so steep that I felt as if I was standing straight up parallel with the mountainside as my horse navigated its way on the path. It’s like floating, but with almost every muscle in your body clenched.

The ride was beautiful. We spent a good part of it traveling alongside a fair sized fast moving creek, I can’t remember the name of it, but it was fairly shallow and sea foam green. When we stopped for lunch I drank out of it since I’d forgotten to bring a water bottle. Our path took us progressively higher up the mountain, and as we got higher the water got clearer and bluer, and the trees thinned out. We had lunch at a campsite called Eldorado (which is also the name of the horse I was riding). We sat in the sun eating our paper bag lunches that the kitchen staff had packed us before we left. At this point we were about four hours into our ride and had another four hours to go.

Eventually we emerged from the woods into meadows of dry yellow grass. Linda told me that the last time she had been this way in July the fields had been covered in wildflowers. Now the fields were the colour of autumn, but beautiful nonetheless. We traveled along a narrow winding path. To the left was a deep valley and another mountain that rose up, covered in fir trees, dead patches of dead trees stood out from the deep green, they looked almost purple. In front and behind were snow peaked mountains. The view was overwhelming. Being so high meant you could see a lot, for some reason I found the amount of trees I could see overwhelming. I’ve driven through the mountains quite a bit, but the much slower pace on a horse really drove home how freaking big mountains are.

Back in the City

I’m back in Vancouver now. Well, Surrey. But I’ll be in Van soon. I ended up not staying for the internship because I wouldn’t have been able to get a job guiding, not 'til the spring at least. The four-day pack trip was great. I wrote in a journal when I had time, so over the next few days I’ll update with stories from that.

Now I’m trying to figure out how to set up myself up. I think I’m going to move to Toronto. I guess this is what 'freedom' feels like?

I Made It.

I’ve been at the ranch for almost three days now. We head out on a pack trip tomorrow and will be back on Saturday. So far we’ve gone on a few couple hour rides. The trails here are steep and rocky. It’s pretty amazing what these horses do. The terrain is pretty insane and they are so calm and steady. There’s no way I would have taken the horses I rode at Keno on these trails.

We saw a bear by the ranch the other day. It stood up and looked at us and once we got closer it turned into the bush and disappeared.

I’m not even sure what we’ve done with our days so far, but they generally last from 6:30ish ‘til 8 or 9. Today we shoed a horse. My lower back and knees are going to hurt so much tomorrow. I also got on bareback from the ground today. I could never do it when I rode at Keno, but somehow I was able to today. I was pretty happy with myself. Mostly because I’d decided I couldn’t do it before I tried and then it wasn’t very hard at all.

We packed all our food tonight. And tomorrow we will pack it onto the horses at 6am before we eat breakfast. It’ll still be dark then. Then we head out after we eat. Probably around 8. It’ll take us 8 hours to get to our first camp, called Spruce Lake. We’ll spend two nights there and then head back to the ranch, stopping at a camp I can’t remember the name of, for one night.

I like the other people taking the guide training. In the early afternoon we’re all so tired and delirious and we start being really silly, and then we all get quite and sort of grumpy shortly after. Sometimes I have no idea what to say to any of them, small talk runs out pretty fast. But I do like them. There’s one other girl from England who will be staying on with me to do the internship. She calls diner tea.

It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get a job here, the season is ending and only the hunting guides stay on. This sort of messes up my plans for the next little while. I’m not sure what to do. Going back to Edmonton seems so depressing right now. I don’t know why, probably just because it’s not what I’d planned for. I was thinking of looking for work on saltspring island. My mom has a friend there who worked on a sheep farm. Maybe she would know someone who is looking for some farm hands. I’m not sure. If anyone has any ideas or connections let me know!

Okay I should go to bed. Long day tomorrow.

silverado is on. how fitting. it was made the year i was born too. good omen perhapse?

these are my boots

well, i turned this whole horse camp thing into a good excuse to spend tons of money on shoes.

Loose Ends

I figured out some student loan stuff.

I ordered transcripts from the UofA to be sent to Trent.

I mailed a thank-you letter.

And I finished up Claire and my application for the Grasshoppin’ contest. Check it:

Pack Attack

Last night I had a going away thing at black dog. Then somehow I ended up doing five shots in a row and had to leave. It was fun though. I really love my friends, and I’ve met a bunch of interesting people working at Blue Plate this summer. I wish I could have gotten to know some of them better. Then again I might be back in a month.

I really am bad at goodbyes. When I left Ghana I didn’t say goodbye to so many people and I know I offended people by neglecting to do so. Ghana was a strange situation though because I’m never going to see those people again, and I think I got sort of apathetic about it. I didn’t see the point. Just let it be what it was, was what I was thinking I guess.

I’m packing right now and I’ve been listening to Fleetwood Mac (the Rumors album) and U2 (the Joshua Tree album). Those are the two albums I remember my parents listening to when I was young. Those and I’m Your Man (I made up a dance routine to First We Take Manhattan), and Was (Not Was) which incidentally I heard someone at the Empress quoting the other day. There’s this song on that tape (we only had the tape) called Dad I’m in Jail (I think) and these guys were reciting it.

Anyway, I’m packing. I find myself wanting to take the most useless sentimental stuff. Like this little picture of Ramona that I’ve had forever. It’s in a small silver frame and her little seven or eight-year-old head fills the whole thing, she’s sticking out her tongue. But what would I do with it if I brought it? Do I really need to carry every letter I’ve ever received around with me? Do I really need that plastic rat I found on the main street in Peterborough? NO, NO I DON’T.

I do need to remember to bring my alarm clock though.

My new boots make my whole room smell like leather. New leather. So like Lammle's i guess..

I bought boots today! About freaking time too. I guess I’ll have to work them in when I’m there. Bring on the blisters. I still need gloves, and a belt. But I think I spent all my money on these boots. They are pretty hot though.

Oh money. Why do you always cause such problems!?

I’m having trouble sleeping, and I’m making lists. Lots of lists. And I’m watching project runway Australia on sidereel.com. Other than those signs of stress though I’m not feeling particularly tense. Except when my mom asks me questions, then I feel really stressed out.

The challenge for the designers in the episode of project runway Australia that I’m watching right now is to make a gown (or frock) for the girlfriends of famous (?) Australian soccer players.

long underwear are expensive.