Life in the wilderness of Canada's mountains
When I first came to the ranch, I stayed for 4 months to live in the Canadian’s wilderness. Coming from France, my ordinary life was very different as I was not used to live in nature, but I was up for the challenge. I first planned to stay for 2 months but filled up with daily successes, I decided to stay for 2 extra months so I could deepen my experience living in the mountains. Everyday, I was grateful for living in such an environment interconnected with nature.
I then moved on to Whistler where I stayed for a year and a half. In the mean time, I was staying in close contact with the ranch community and visited pretty often. Thanks to that, I found a balance between a busy social and work life and a remote place deep in Canadian’s wilderness. The mountains are different here, they are wild, they host lots of wildlife and offer lots of adventure opportunities. I was satisfied for a while in Whistler but was looking for more. I wanted to challenge myself, live some exciting adventures, spend time in nature and work outside. Therefore, I came back for another summer and fall and my experience was amazing.
Amazing does not mean easy. From day one, I have been challenged in taking ownership, responsibility, accountability and committing to everything I did. When I first came, I spent a couple days looking after the ranch by myself. I then spent a week cooking for everybody and successfully delivered all meals on time. My main struggles were following recipes and procedures as I am usually more into creative cooking. This taught me precision and guaranteed results. I then moved on looking after the barn organization and fixing our 100 years old saddles so they remained safe for riders and our horses. It was then time for me to take the guide school with the goal of becoming a lead horse back guide within the following month. I revised my packing, shoeing, horse care, staking, hobbling and camp management skills. Together with two other guides, we then took our first guests of the season out in nature. The 3 of us committed to the success of the trip and put all our efforts in to offer the best horseback mountain riding experience to our guests. They left amazed by their experience and everything they learned during their trip.
After a few trips, I was ready to take the role of a lead guide for our packtrip. This meant that I was responsible for looking after myself, the other guide, the guests, the horses and the trip organization. This was a lot but everything went well. The whole group was amazed, learned everything about mountain riding, they connected with nature, their horses, and got involved in conservation. As a team, we overcame every challenges we faced and made it back to the ranch with incredible memories. I then guided a hiking packtrip over the South Chilcotin Mountains provincial park. I love hiking and it was an amazing adventure. As we were hiking up the mountains, I felt more and more grateful for the hard work of our horses safely carrying us on those rough trails.
On top of horseback guiding, I got involved in cooking, housekeeping, working on cars, managing and fixing the waterlines, driving the tractor and unloading hay. I got involved in setting up the new water boiling system from beginning to end. I started digging trenches, lining up the pipes, insulating them, covering them, winterizing them, getting the right parts in town so we could fix what was not working and even cutting and moving the firewood to heat the boiler. This showed me how much you can accomplish with a plan, a creative mindset, some knowledge and commitment to the project. We solved any issue that was popping up and improved the heating system at the ranch.
In October, winter was coming fast, and living in nature makes it much more realistic. The mountains started getting covered with snow, so we prepared our camps and the ranch for winter. The empowered women crew went to wrangle the horses from the alpine to bring them back home so they can rest and been looked after for the winter.
It is now time to fulfill some other exciting projects and to jump into winter adventures!
Alexia, France
