Road Trip!

July 15, 2015 2:20 pm Published by Shay Yaskovitch 1 Comment

Another week, another blog – what to write about this time?

          In the past three months I have had the chance to work a few weekends here and there, which has resulted in a small collection of ‘banked days’. Seeing as I am somewhat closer to the mountains here in Hudson Bay (as opposed to Thunder Bay) I took the opportunity to take a small vacation/trip to explore Jasper National Park. I got ahold of a friend of mine whom is living in Kelowna and we secured a campsite within the park. After work on June 26 I got home, quickly packed up my car and began my drive to Jasper. The first portion of the drive went very well, up until we hit Edson, Alberta. As I gassed up my Escape at the closest gas station off the highway, I heard a slight ticking noise coming from beneath my car. Naturally I began freaking out and looked under my car to see a broken bracket just near my flex pipe. Now this would seem like a small issue, but with the awful luck I have endured time after time with my vehicle, I called my father and older brother to hopefully get some advice from them. From what I could see and what I described to my family, it seemed like a minor issue but I wasn’t keen on chancing it another two hours to Jasper. Luckily my friend was willing to come pick-up/save my boyfriend and I, allowing me to still have the opportunity to enjoy my highly anticipated trip.

           We arrived in Jasper around 11pm, making it incredibly dark while we set up our tents and made our camp. It wasn’t until I woke up in the morning that I was pleasantly surprised to find myself surrounded by towering mountains. I’ve only had the opportunity to be out west once before, but looking back it seemed so short lived that I really didn’t have the opportunity to explore or experience my surroundings. Luckily this time, having a full week, I was able to go on many hikes and experience some of what Jasper has to offer (not nearly all since it is much larger than I had originally anticipated). We spent a few days hiking at the Athabasca Falls, Maligne Canyon, Patricia Lake, Valley of Five Lakes, Old Fort Point, as well as the Sulphur Skyline. We also spent a good deal of time walking around the town and checking out the little local restaurants and shops. The mountains and surrounding areas were so extremely breathtaking that it brought me to the conclusion that I would thoroughly enjoy settling somewhere close to the mountains when I am finished school. Everything was going so well that I had completely forgotten about my car, which I had left abandoned at a Canadian Tire parking lot in Edson. After passing it along to many mechanics and receiving a wishy-washy diagnostic of “issues”, I was finally fed up and sent it to a ford dealership to have it properly looked at and fixed. During this time, I rented a rental car and followed my friend through the Icefields Parkway to Golden, British Columbia (where my boyfriend grew up). In Golden, we spent the weekend visiting his friends and family as well as swimming at Cedar Lake and visiting Boo the grizzly bear at the Grizzly Bear Interpretive Centre at Kicking Horse. Before I knew it we were picking up my formerly broken down car and heading back to Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan to return back to our home and work. As much as I enjoyed my vacation, I was surprisingly happy to be back in Hudson Bay and back at work (especially after the amount of money I spent throughout the trip).

           It’s funny, during our time out West I was constantly receiving texts and phone calls from family members concerning the forest fires in Saskatchewan, although I was so busy I wasn’t even aware of how bad the fire situation had become. It wasn’t until the drive home that I started realizing how serious the situation had grown. For the majority of the drive through Saskatchewan, the sky was filled with smoke and it smelled heavy of burning debris and wood (I constantly referred to it as a campfire smell). Some areas in Saskatchewan were smokier than others, that I began fearing the potential situation in Hudson Bay. Fortunately Hudson Bay hasn’t been too bad, there are often days where the smoke hovers above the sky but the majority of the days so far are clear and sunny.

           Being back at work this past week has been nice, although I did enjoy the break from constant slaps in the face from trees and consistent nagging buzzing from bugs. This week I was extremely fortunate to come across two saw whet owls, which I must add are the CUTEST furby-like looking creatures I have ever seen, as well as finding my first and second moose shed. As much as the bugs and constant bruises and slaps suck, there are many plusses to working in the forestry industry.