Expect the unexpected
July 29, 2015 10:51 am Leave your thoughts
When it comes down to it, a lot of my job is exploring, given that I have to travel to all these roads to inspect them. Sure, I have maps and a GPS and everything, but I never really know what to expect when I get to my destination. Some areas I am already familiar with, from having worked for Millar Western last year, but a lot are new to me. These past few weeks, it seems I have spent most of my time in places that I had never been to before, and that has led to some unexpected finds.
Life gets really fun when you are trying to get to a certain point using a map showing lots of lines leading up to it. The problem is that you’re never entirely sure if the lines represent good roads, bad roads, pipelines or roads that no longer exist. It seems like the more oil and gas activity, the more confusing it is to try and navigate through the area. One day last week, I spent more hours than I’d care to admit trying to reach a handful of different roads in an area north of Swan Hills. Every time I thought I was getting close, I’d get stopped dead by either a reclaimed road or an overgrown pipeline. My day somehow still ended up being productive, as I managed to get to and inspect all of the roads I was hoping to reach.
Amidst all this exploring, I have found lots of berries and come across a few pretty interesting and bizarre things. My most recent find was what appeared to be some sort of water filtration system, consisting of a big pile of rocks in the bottom of a channel created by erosion, with a tin can just down the hill to catch the water. Next to this set up was some flattened grass where it appeared as though someone (or something) had slept. Needless to say, I was a little confused, especially considering I was less than 20 minutes away from Swan Hills.
Among the other exciting things that I have encountered include a family of ducks who kept me company during one lunch break, a fan propped up next to a stop sign on a gravel road, and an old leather chair with a horse design on it. Strange as it is to see these sorts of things in the middle of nowhere, none compares to the time the helicopter pilot and I found an intact barbecue sitting in the middle of an unnavigable road. We actually had to circle back around and hover over it a bit, to make sure we hadn’t imagined it and to ponder how it got there. I still have no idea, but if anyone lost their barbecue around the Chickadee Creek area, get a hold of me and I can point you in the right direction!
Lots of berries!
Ducks keeping me company at lunch.
Some kind of crude water filtration system?