Aftewr the earlier scrambling, I thought I better put on something more positive - mind you I'm still trying to catch up. The pictures for some reason are very balky.
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joined the BC Forest Service just after my 19th birthday, first as a Lookoutman, then went on as a Compassman doing timber cruising. The work was tough. Up and down steep timbered slopes 8 – 10 hours a day, in rain, in snow, my clothes never dry. Never in town more than a few days at a time, then out on another cruise. Zeballos, Jordan River, Sayward, Pitt Lake, Desolation Sound, Knight Inlet were only a few of the destinations. Then we were assigned a six-week stint on the MV Yellow Cedar, going from cruise to cruise working from beach level to mountaintop. The foul weather followed us like a faithful dog.
I was beginning to think there must be something better I could do with my life.
Then one day we headed up coast, entered and followed up the waters of Bute Inlet. It was late spring, the weather cleared and the sun glinted off the wind rippled waters. We tied up that evening at a log boom anchored to the shore in a small bay. Late in the evening I went out on deck and was instantly aware that although darkness surrounded me, the mountain peaks that towered over the waters of the inlet were glowing with an effervescent beauty.
The sun had long lowered below any horizon; the glow I was witnessing was emanating from the snow-covered peaks so high above.
I stood and watched those peaks for a half-hour or an hour, who knows? But when I went below, I knew, beyond any doubt I knew, that rain, snow, steep mountains and wet clothes were a small price to pay for the privilege of what I had just witnessed and if I followed this life, I would be rewarded many times over.
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