All posts by wilderness dweller

I have lived for more than 30 years as a Wilderness Dweller. Most of that time was in cabins I built myself far from the nearest road, high in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada. My "retirement" home is accessible by a bush road but still far from neighbours. I live off the grid, and operate this blog by solar-powered satellite internet.

Boardwalk

I went to Anahim Lake last Wednesday to pick up a wwoofer. I have hosted these doughty volunteer workers for a number of years.   Mogens is a wwooferMogens is from Germany and he plans to spend the summer wwoofing in Canada.  Wwoof stands for: Willing Workers On Organic Farms.  Well, I don’t have an organic farm but the organizers don’t mind.  I have had a lot of wwoofers from Germany, many also from Switzerland, some from Britain, France, Belgium, Canada, US, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan.  A few don’t work out but 90% of them are absolutely great.  Mogens seems to be enjoying the work I am giving him.

Our first job was to build a boardwalk to the upper pond.  I have always been frustrated at this time of year because I can hear all the birds landing on the newly open water but it is too difficult to get there across the flooding creek.

The new boardwalk at Ginty CreekI helped Mogens build the first part, but he finished the job himself, including the bridge part.

The next morning I could walk there dry-shod and was delighted to see a pair of American Widgeons.

An American widgeon on the Pond at Ginty Creek.

But most interesting of all were a pair of hooded mergansers. They are not common but this is the second time I have seen them at Ginty Creek.

hooded mergansers at Ginty Creek