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November 04, 2008

If you could live anywhere, where would you live?

If I could live anywhere, it would be in a small, remote community or - even better - out in the bush. It's no secret that I don't enjoy living in the city with its traffic and line ups and pay parking and stinky air. I loved living in Fort Liard. I loved being able to walk out my front door, choose any direction, and go for a good long hike or snowshoe in the bush. I loved the fresh air. Ahhh, I miss it.

Back in September, I had the good fortune to meet Bryan and Vikki. Bryan and Vikki are trapping partners in Northern BC. They live over 100km from the nearest community, over rivers, lakes and mountains.

They haven't always been trappers. They had good work in Southern BC and they were doing well. So why did they move? As Bryan explained it to me, he wanted to live a more sustainable, environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Bryan hangs out on the shoreline with Wayne Carlick.


They acquired a trapping concession, hauled everything they needed in by Beaver, and began building their cabin.

The homestead.


And what a cabin! Bryan's former life as a logger and carpenter are obvious in the craftsmanship and attention to detail. The cabin has all the amenities of a modern home, including plumbing, electricity and Internet. It doesn't mean they're living a life of leisure, though. They work hard. When they're not tending to the garden or the chickens, they're hunting for their next meal or improving their traplines. They work hard, but they're happy. It's obvious when you talk to them just how contented they are.

I think I would be perfectly content to live the same way, and I would want to if my situation were a little different (ie. a seizure-free kid). In the meantime, I have to live the lifestyle vicariously through Bryan and Vikki. Vikki started a blog called "The Happy Trappers".

Please drop by and say, "Hi!" They don't get a lot of visitors where they live.

Vikki waves hello.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I have to be practical about it, I am where I want to be now - on secluded acreage close to town so Cathy doesn't have far to drive to work. This is something that we discuss a fair bit, and even though we thought that New Zealand could work for us as a permanent move, we both love the Yukon. A few weeks away in mid-winter wouldn't hurt every year, though. Even though it was minus 24 here this morning, OHMYGOD it was (is) beautiful :)

Karyn said...

I am content in Whitehorse. We don't have far to go to be in the wilderness, but are still close to the amenities that we need...like Walmart and Starbucks!

dogsled_stacie said...

I hear ya Michael, I'd LOVE to be further out in the boonies and be able to afford it! Although I totally love my place, I wouldn't give it up. It's got almost everything - it's far enough from town, sometimes too far to drive, lots of privacy, miles of no one around me, - but I'd be happy to be holed up here and only have to go town occasionally. Maybe in a few years...

In the meantime I'll be stopping by to visit the Happy Trappers! lol

Matt, Kara, Hunter and Cavan said...

I miss land. As a child, I grew up on 8 sections of land. Then when my family got out of grain farming, they went down to a 1/2 section of land. That seemed so small in comparison. With Matts job he has to do a lot of oncall work, so we have to live in town. I find it so hard to look out my window at another home.

We do own 15 acres in Cape Breton where we hope to build a vacation cabin in the next few years. And we do get out on the land a lot. Faro is the perfect spot for that.

Anonymous said...

Not in town - that's for sure!
I'd like to have a mountain at my back, a lake in front of me, no neighbours close by (meaning anything from 1 km to ....). Preferrably a view from every window that did not include any other structures erected by man, aside from what I had caused to be erected.

However - with the need to support myself, I'm kind of stuck in town - for now!

Mongoose said...

I CAN live anywhere. That's why I live where I do. But if I retire some day, I wouldn't mind getting some land and running some dogs and horses on it. Maybe even a peacock.

Peter Tyrrell said...

I would live encased inside a plexisteel tank, my body washed in warm anti-agatic fluids while my mind inhabited a robotic proxy exploring the edges of known space.