Levette Lake

Sometimes talking about my experiences up here makes me realize just how unique my situation is, now that I'm living on my own in a tiny town in the mountains, running a one-room school. It is astounding how quickly a reality, however far from what we once knew, can become commonplace. Spending most of my time up here with other people who live a similar reality makes me forget that most of the rest of the world does not live like this. Up here I live in isolation in a sense, but because of the small population, and because of my role as an educator, I have become an influential part of a tight-knit community. I know the people who live up here more intimately than I would ever have known even my own neighbours in the city. I know what kind of cars they drive, know what their hobbies are, know who is related to whom. I hear things about people, both positive and negative, and people must hear things about me (there was a rumour that I was a lesbian for a while because I am a single woman living on her own); I choose to believe only what I hear first-hand, but I practiced this before I moved out this way, and I think it has served to keep me well out of the small-town dramatics. Living here one can soon forget that there is an outside world, and this can make petty differences stand out more starkly without the buffer that an over-abundance of anonymous strangers provide. It can also make the positive things people do stand out like raindrops in a spider's web.

Leading these meandering thoughts was my weekend out camping with my North Van friends, many of whom I have not seen in years. It was nice to catch up with people, and in doing so I was reminded of just how “crazy” and unusual my whole life may seem. Living in a town of 43, running a one-room school. Yup. I’ve certainly never been one to choose the well-traveled path, and this is no exception.

It was great to see some of the friends that I grew up with. I was craving a little dose of long-term friend love, and I have honestly never laughed so hard for so many hours in my life! At times we were crying we were laughing so hard, and all this laughter in the place I love most: the great outdoors. There were about twenty of us all together camping at Levett Lake in the Paradise Valley (Squamish). I was acutely aware of the differences between the costal rainforest climate in which we were camping and the dryer more interior climate of Gold Bridge and Lillooet. Living in different places is good for noticing things like this that you otherwise wouldn’t if you just stayed put for most of your life.

The roots of the old-growth trees splayed out below our feet creating a trampoline of fallen pine needles. It was easy to get lost in the woods because the canopy of tall trees blocked the sunlight from hitting the forest floor, meaning that there was not much growing at walking-level. There were also these huge grey boulders scattered everywhere, and hundreds of years of needle pile-up and thick moss was growing overtop of them, allowing us to scamper up hills, imagining that one day the rocks would be completely buried under a laver of dirt.

The water was spring-fed, and warm enough for multiple swims on Saturday while the weather was nice. I had an awesome time walking out on a huge log that was hanging about ten feet over the lake. I tried to walk right to the end, but the log bounced and shook so hard that with just a foot of log space left I ended up flicking off into the water below. It was my best friend’s 30^th birthday, and what a way to spend it.

This week is another busy one, with some mountain biking happening as well as some time in the garden and a day or two of horseback riding. I’m planning on spending this coming weekend here, which will be AMAZING since I have been going out on ridiculously long drives every weekend so far this month!

I found out this week that I got the job as the teacher here again next year, which is great. I already know and am loving the community here, I know my students, know what the job entails, and have an amazing house to continue to live in, so I am happy to stick it out until the teacher who will be taking an extended maternity leave decides to return. Sure, it hasn’t been the easiest posting, but I made it through the cold winter months and am making the most of my time up here. I feel like there is just too much exploring to do around here before I am ready to move on, so I’m sticking around as long as I can.

Hope you all had a wonderful long weekend as well!