One man’s trash is another man’s treasure
Approaching the clearing, I switched off the ignition quietly coasting, all eyes were focused in a southerly direction, as the clearing unfolded before us we saw no less than 12 black bears, of various sizes. For the next few seconds bears were moving in all directions, sows sent their cubs up the nearest trees others jumped out of the pit heading for the bush, others stood on their hind legs observing us as if we were their next item on the menu. Some days the land fill was like the drive in theatre cars and trucks were lined up in rows watching that evening’s performance. Recently Darwin reminded he lived for the rides to the landfill along with the other children in the campground. When they heard the garbage truck start up, it was like all aboard. Kids came from all over the camp wanting to help pick up the garbage solely for the ride in the truck box, back and forth from the landfill as no two rides were alike. There always seemed to be an unexpected event along the way to peak their curiosity. Lee, one of the young boys had his first driving lessons picking up garbage, he was envied by a few because he got to drive the truck by himself as the rest of us loaded the trash. When the rounds were made we would head off for the land fill doing the coast in watching for the bears After unloading and spending some time observing the bears, the next highlight was to try and drive straight up the hill and make the u turn at the top. In those days we only had two wheel drives so we didn’t always make it. I guess spinning out was part of the fun, then head back to camp, the main beach or perhaps a short tour along the old road anything to extend that day’s excursion. If we had a particularly eventful trip upon our return the kids couldn’t get out of the truck fast enough running to their campsites with a report of our activities. Those rides were 25 years ago and it’s nice to see those children today as adults and find out events like those formed some good memories of Ministikwan Lake. |
