Well let me introduce myself a little just getting knowing me and understand the things I do or have done. Excuses for my bad English writing skills. I was born on the 28th of October in 1963 in a little village in the Eastern of Holland. Me, an older sister and two younger sisters were raised by our parents who happily all still are alive. In my childhood Western movies like Rawhide or Bonanza and books like Winnetou, Old Shatterhand and John Wayne were the first connections with the Wild West.
At the age of 16 and helping a neighbor farmer out with bringing in hay for his cows, I heard a story told by the farmers son of moving to Canada and thought, yeah that’s something I would like also.
But at the age of 16 there is a lot to explore, and I fell in the trap of going to parties , having a lot of fun with friends and even more with girlfriends. And I won’t complain, I did well. One of the girlfriends became my wife and the mother of our son and daughter. I also started when I was 17 at the Roelofsgroep, a Roadbuilding Company in April 1981. Starting as a help with paving, later a skilled paver myself after studying I took the chance and became a leading roll and are kept responsible for a larger group of colleagues.
And so I’ve been living and becoming older, watching my kids become young adults and not really much to complain, just………………………….my dream.
The original plan ( 2011 ) was to visit Canada for a couple of weeks with wife and children moving around in a RV. That plan went into the fridge because my children and I didn’t agree about the route but the main cause we didn’t go was the problems my wife has with flying. I waited until 2018 with making new plans and after we made an agreement I connected a travel agency and together we worked out my visit to Canada. For the reason that I didn’t want to be alone for 7 weeks, the agency suggested to contact a range where I could stay for some weeks, and after that travelling around through Canada an Northern America in a rented RV.
So searching through the Internet I found The Chilcotin Guest Ranch. Being visually set I was gladly surprised by the beautiful pictures, and curiosity did the rest. The programs seem to fit in my so called dream. I mean, riding horses over mountain ridges, washing gold, archery, all in a stunning nature, working in a team with new people. I gave my travel agency the order to book, and so I went on 21th of May 2019.
After 2 days in Vancouver Chinatown I was very glad to leave the dirty streets of Downtown behind me. It was rather kind of creepy experience seeing lot of drugs abuse, even in broad daylight, by young and old people playing zombie. The shuttlebus from the ranch, an old pick-up with an even older driver, was a welcome change. The driver, two hunters from Texas and me drove in a 6 hour shift through beautiful country sights and over a nice road along Carpenter Lake to a little town Gold Bridge over Cold Creek and to our destination Chilcotin Holliday Ranch.
That first moment of arrival I was kind of blown away by all impressions in the first 2 minutes. The space, the peaks and the feeling of being over 9000 km from home was new for me, and so there was a lot more. Shaking hands with staff, students and owner and having a nice meal with all of them including the hunters didn’t make me feel home all ready. After the first night sleep in a tent, waking up at 5.00 AM, getting a schedule, a breakfast at 07.30 AM and a quick introduction to the work there was to be done, I recognized the patron witch is common to the people who were there before I did, but I was quickly used to it. I even did like it a lot, the hard work and getting back to basic in a stunning environment and getting new friends was a wonderful experience.
Working on the ranch in save conditions. For every job, big or little there are so called ranch procedures written down in lots of binders. Staff, students and guests will never hold the ranch liable when the procedures have been followed, and accidents are very rare. So you can say the method is successful. Students who did their graduation projects on the ranch, had to fill in big piles of paperwork. At the beginning I also was asked to do that but after a little conversation with the ranch owner, where I told him I just wanted to be a ranch hand and dislike paperwork, I was exempt from paperwork.
And so I was helping staff out with cooking, burning garbage, feeding pigs, chicken and horses, one day I became my saddle and first riding lessons. The Riverride, after some time in the Gymcana was a really fine moment. The guide make me feel save stepping over big stones and through streaming waters. It was the beginning of the Canadian summer holidays and there was work to be done on the several tent camps owned by the ranch. After a short training instruction with the chainsaw and practicing a bit, I was asked to go out and take place in a two day ride to Lake Lecky and Spruce Lake. My first real ride lasted two days within we drove 74 km on a horseback. In the meantime I repaired 7 or 8 tents and get a little sleep, but my God there isn’t enough gold in the World what can make me feel better. Feeling like a boy.
During my stay on the ranch I received hunters, families and other staff members and though I don’t like to call names, one of the members became my brother. Darcy was my mentor, my companion and supported me during my stay. Miss him a lot. Our days together specially on a 6 day horse pack is something I never will forget. Riding ridges and skiing slopes in Eldorado Mountains, fishing and catching trout in Sprucelake, outdoor cooking in a very remote landscape, just being there and have nice conversations ……….reasons to do it again.
Leaving after 4 weeks and receiving a certificate which says ; has successfully completed his ranch hand internship and guide outfitter training program means a lot to me. Calling me Mr. Congeniality is too much honor. The little spell ; you are proof you can teach an old dog new tricks, does fit to me. So Darcy brought me back to Vancouver and I closed my adventure. Closing things never means ending it, this adventure just is the start for more.
Jan