Wednesday August 11th, 2021
The Atlin Whisper “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world.” Margaret Mead The ongoing story of Paul’s adventures will continue for many months yet. If you have missed any of it, you can check it out on What’s Up Yukon who publishes the Whisper on their site https://issuu.com/whatsupyukon.com
HEADING FOR THE LIGHT III The City, the Bush, and the Road Ahead Paul Lucas
Vancouver,Mid 70’s. The discovery of a magic land is the stuff of myth. The idea that there must be a place somewhere, long forgotten, where mountains soar, streams gurgle, animals stalk, and faint old trails lead to long lost cabins, is one of the ultimate romance stories. The Vancouver watershed, for the longest time, was just such a place. This is where we built our first cabin and, as the years went by, this is the area I explored with a variety of bushwhacking, ne’er do well pals. As it turns out, our teenage experiences in that country were just the thin edge of the wedge. The land revealed itself to be, more and more, the mythical landscape of our imaginations - complete with mountains, streams, wildlife and, yes, faint old trails that led to long lost cabins. The area is the water source for the City of Vancouver. It’s huge - 330 sq. miles (530 sq. km), It contains two large man-made lakes (Seymour and Capilano) and many smaller lakes at various altitudes. The level of all these bodies of water has to be monitored and the depth of the snowpack checked on a regular basis. And this land is rugged. So, in the old days, the water board built cabins on these remote lakes, and trails to those cabins, allowing technicians to overnight as they hiked from location to location. At some point, that practice stopped, the trails were allowed to grow over, and the cabins sat un-maintained. When we set out to rediscover those trails we had our work cut out for us. They were often hard to find, and the cabins, when we reached them, were in poor repair. They were, however, still in one piece, and were a wonderful sight to see. Not only were the locations spectacular (perched on the side of glacial lakes in some cases), but they contained history. The old stoves and kerosene lamps had remained intact - on their last legs, but fixable. The roofs, for the most part were tight to the weather. But the biggest surprises were waiting for us inside.