Hunting Camp

I did lots of other survey work for people in the general area. Slightly to the south of the

Bugaboos, a big game hunting guide hired us to survey a hunting camp on what is called Diana

Lake. It is a pretty lake and a nice game hunting place. People would pay thousands of dollars to

be taken in there to hunt sheep and elk.

To get there, we had to go in on horseback. I happened to have one employee that knew a little

bit about horses. He did not have one himself, but his girlfriend's father had some down in the

Salmo area, and so he knew about horses. Anyway, the guide left horses for us but did not stay

around to saddle them up or anything.

So, there were two of us: a fellow who was a good amateur horseman and me who had never had

anything to do with horses. We had to saddle up the horses, put the gear on them, and ride up to

the site without the help of a guide. He was up there at Diana Lake already. The halter of the

back horse was tied to the tail of my horse.

As we were entering a little gully, my poor horse got part of his tail torn off. The other horse did

not want to go through the gully. He just stopped, dug in, and my horse went ahead.

But anyway, we got up there and then the situation turned out to be quite different than I

expected. I thought that he should change where he planned to build his little lodge.

I decided to walk out and phone the government in Victoria. I described the plan to senior people

in the Lands Branch. I got permission to make the change and then walked back the same day.

We did the survey with the approval of the guide. He agreed with my recommendations. This

was a case where planning comes to the forefront. My employer in this case had not been able to

plan his small lodge site because of concerns about the availability of water, a corral area for

horses, and other considerations.

I felt that I was doing a really good job in terms of having the confidence to just take control of

the situation. I also got a chance to see some of the most beautiful countryside in the world.