#17 Wilderness

Note: This is my longest post so far... just saying. :D

First, the last post came a day early, and now this post comes in the middle of the week. But I'm experiencing so much here, and I feel like I need these lines to remind myself of the situation I'm in. But let's start from the beginning. First, I wanted to tell you a little bit about the job.

How did I get this job?

It's no secret that Canada has very high living costs. I didn't come here with 15,000 € or so, but with an amount that will really cover the year if I mostly work "for free" here and get food and lodging in return. But I also have other plans here in Canada and need the money, so I decided to look for a paid job for the winter months. I also noticed that I sometimes got annoyed when I had to work longer than agreed, as I didn't earn any money on the farms for that. Then I always had to think of a Wwoofer who had three jobs! I'm not saying that's the way to go - definitely not! I'm too young to let my dynamic energy (höhö) go down in three jobs, but I felt that I could really use a "normal" eight-hour working day again, which would also be (a little) paid. Unlike before, it shouldn't be on a farm, so I signed up on a website with various job offers (of course, you have to pay for everything, so annoying) and the search began. Always entered in the search ad that I wanted a paid job and then I found one. It sounded too good to be true... it was a job in northern B.C. A couple where the man is a nature photographer and they also have a kind of retreat. They were looking for someone who could help them with the construction of the buildings and also interact with the customers. I wrote to them at that time (my job search started at the end of October) and also wrote to them that my English is not yet good enough to offer a satisfied 'customer service'. But hope dies last, so I waited.... waited.... waited.... and then I gave up hope for this job and started to write to other jobs and everywhere I either received rejections or no feedback at all. The problem was that my time on the farm was slowly coming to an end and I really wanted to earn money AND THEN I finally received an answer and was told that I could have this job. I was so relieved, because this job sounds really fantastic and yes, you all know the rest. My time on the farm ended with stress, I flew here and now I'm here.

Who are the hosts?

Dave and Jenny are two kind-hearted people. Dave looks a bit grumpy and at the beginning I just thought: Oh no, please don't let him be a bitter man, and no - he's great and has a great sense of humor. What I already knew from the job ad was that Dave is a nature photographer who also sells pictures to National Geographic, for example (by the way, they don't pay well - I heard). I thought that since it's a relatively big magazine, he can't be a bad photographer. What I found out the day before yesterday, though, makes me sit here at this shared meal (which probably doesn't happen very often, why? will be explained soon) a little more respectfully next to him, because Dave is not just any photographer, he is one of the world's best wildlife photographers, especially birds (he's probably the best there is) and a highly respected international photographer. Just before I arrived here, Dave came back from Colombia to photograph albatrosses. He said the island he was on was awful and ugly, but the bird life was breathtaking. You can really feel in his stories how much he loves the wildlife and especially the birds. Currently, he is traveling with Fathie to photograph bison, and then he will be here for about a week before leading a workshop on polar bears (HELLO?! How awesome!) He travels a lot (he must have seen so many incredible animals!), too much for his wife Jenny. She bought this property together with him so they could focus more on "local" wildlife and conduct the workshops here, so he doesn't have to travel extra for that. Jenny is responsible for the suites and all the construction of the buildings. Currently, we are building new house walls here, which will lead to the new bedroom. The funny thing is that Jenny had no experience in this field at all and learned everything from YouTube. She's a really kind soul and a really good cook! It's amazing what is served here... so, you can't be a vegetarian here.

What is my work here?

First of all, I don't get paid for eight hours here, but I work four hours for food and lodging and the remaining four hours are paid. So, I'm saving a (sau) expensive rent and expensive food, so I'm really happy with that. My daily task consists of feeding the horses twice. Otherwise, it's quite varied. Currently, I have to get a lot of wood from the wood storage and stack it in the basement, as we now have time for that, because when we host the next workshop, all of us (Dave, Jenny, Fathie, and me) will be busy 24/7 for five weeks and it will be a very stressful time as hosts.

What happens in such a workshop?

A workshop like the one Dave is soon offering for polar bears or here in February looks like this:

The next workshop (here) is a lynx workshop. Shortly before it starts, Jenny and I go into the woods and look for lynx tracks. We remember these sightings and place shelters in suitable places. Then we go with the photographers who have signed up for these workshops to the shelters and show them how to take good lynx photos (which means waiting for hours in the snow). Yeah, even if you think now - Hä, totally easy... no! No! It's definitely not easy. Dave had someone here who trained to be able to lead workshops... this took four years! It takes a lot of time and passion to be among the best. I'm currently one of those who have exactly 0 experience with this. So, in December and January, I will be trained, not only in handling the camera and how to take good wildlife photos, but also in the various animal species. Especially the different birds, I have to learn here (appearance and song), as customers often ask what kind they are and then you have to know that, of course. And it's not enough to know that it's a woodpecker, but you should know the exact species in case a customer asks for more details. You see, I have to actively learn things again.

And why wilderness now?

Just as I have to actively learn about the various bird species, I also learn to recognize animal tracks. I was kindly given two booklets with animal information by a friend from the first farm before she flew back to France, as she didn't need them anymore. So, on Sunday, I had my first day off and I used it to explore a (according to Jenny) beautiful hiking trail that ends at an eagle's nest. So, I set off, turned there, turned there, until the end of the road, and then turned left. The problem is this: There is so much snow here that you can't see any trails. So, I walked along the "trail" that I interpreted as a hiking trail, and at some point, the trees got denser and denser, and I knew that I wasn't on the hiking trail anymore and that there were no longer just rabbit tracks, but also some other tracks. When I saw a track with possible claws, I also thought: And goodbye. I wanted to go back and on one hand, I could have just followed my footprints (advantage of the snow!), but I decided to fight my way down through the bushes to the lake and then walk along the lake. When I got home, I showed Jenny the animal tracks... a moose (I would have loved to see it) and a wolf (I wouldn't have liked to see it) and then I just thought... crap. The tracks are not far away (maybe 30 - 40 minutes I was on the way until then), but the probability that such larger animals come to us is close to zero. Other animals are already coming closer in that regard. Yesterday (Monday) I had my second day off and I really enjoyed it, up to a certain point. I only had to help Jenny on the roof for a moment, and she let the dogs out to pee during that time. You have to know that for a few weeks now, the dogs have gone crazy because they run away. They have always come back so far, but sometimes they only come home at two in the morning or so. On the one hand, there is the danger that they will run too far away, not find their way back, and freeze to death (especially the female with her only 6 months) or they will be eaten by the coyotes, because they are active on the other side of the lake.

Coyote knowledge with Samuel

Unlike in most movies (e.g., The Lion King), coyotes are not dumb, but very smart animals that always act in packs. What is their tactic? The pack sends a single female. The dog (man as he is) now thinks: Oh la la, a single female.

Then the following can happen:

The dog goes to the female. Once he arrives, the pack comes and the dog has no chance. 

Or:

The female plays with the dog for a while before taking him to the pack, where he is then killed by the pack leader.

So, we saw the dogs playing down at the lake and then running to the right... and not coming back. Well, we thought, they came back for dinner yesterday, so they'll be back soon, but no, they didn't come back. What reached our ears was the howling of the coyotes. Right across the lake. After dinner, I couldn't help it and put on my clothes, grabbed my flashlight, and headed into the darkness. Thanks to my voice (Jenny was really surprised because it echoes here so loud), now it was time to shout, shout, and shout again (the names of the dogs)... but as a response, we didn't hear the dogs, but the coyotes. Meanwhile, their howling had moved to the right, so it was a bit closer to us. Then I thought that I wanted to go to the wood storage (on the right side of the property) again and wanted to call the dog names there before warming up inside. But shortly before the wood storage, I heard something rustling to the left of me. The problem is that it was snowing lightly and through the ice crystals on the grass and in the bushes, it looked as if a thousand eyes were looking at you. So, I stopped and called the dog names for the last time, and then I heard it. The howling of the coyotes, but now no longer on the right side of the lake, but maybe only a few hundred meters to the right of me. Running away is the dumbest thing you can do, but let's just say... I walked back home with an increased pace. There on the terrace, I waited again and called the dog names, and suddenly something rustled to the right of me in the bushes, and I heard a snorting sound, and no matter how cool you may consider yourself, in such a situation, you get really scared. So, I went inside immediately and waited at the door. AND THEN FINALLY the dogs came back. I was so relieved, because the coyotes were also new to Jenny, and as I said, the female is only six months old.

The tracks of the larger animals in the forest and the coyotes on the property and the possible proximity to me, as well as the danger that the dogs can be killed here through the intentional directing of the coyotes, shows me one thing... this is nature and wilderness. Either you learn to live with it or you're in the wrong place.

You see, I haven't even been here for a whole week and I'm experiencing so much. I could write so much more, but this is actually my longest post so far. But I still want to say one thing:

I'm doing well. :)

Samuel