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I can’t pretend I wasn’t a little nervous.
It was to be the first season I had run at Wild Bear Lodge since Covid first struck – and the first since Kristin, my wife with whom I set up the operation more than 15 years ago, died after a mercifully short illness.
The intervening two years had been among my hardest. First I had returned to Canada alone. Then the world had closed down and stayed closed for most of the next 18 months. That year I wandered, bereft, until I eventually washed up in Budapest.
The Hungarian capital had been a haunt of mine when I was in my twenties, I spoke and still speak the language, and an old friend invited to me to teach university-level students about war and journalism, two subjects I knew from my previous life.
At first I was lukewarm about my new job. The peeling wallpaper, poor organisation and shabby hotel I was housed in adding to a sense of feeling discombobulated. But the bright eyes and agile young minds of my new charges soon began to win me over.
Besides, I figured, there was probably no better way to distract from my own misery than by focussing on doing the best I could by others, even if they were a small group and few of them really wanted to be journalists.
Meanwhile the lodge sat idle. In the autumn of 2021 we opened briefly to run a charity programme for wounded and injured military veterans, three of them British and two Canadian. All were suffering from mental trauma, and several had serious physical injuries.
But with Covid restrictions still in place and Canada unsure whether it wanted foreign tourists back, the rules that year were too uncertain to open properly.
That finally happened this past autumn. In September guests, some of whom had waited two years for the chance to visit, began to trickle back in. By October, our peak bear-viewing season, the trickle became a steady flow.
Without Kristin I worried we might have lost our sparkle. But the magic of heading into the forests alongside the fast-flowing wilderness river, watching the salmon making their way upstream, seeing bald eagles gathering, and the sudden appearance of a wild grizzly bear had not in any way diminished.
In fact in terms of viewing bears it was the best season we had in several years. With the fish run finally beginning to recover after a decade-long dip, several bears turned up in their chosen sections of the river with pleasing regularity.
It’s true there were some things I had simply not anticipated. Sage, who has been with us five years, was working full-time and more. Paul a veteran wilderness guide was pulling hard too.
Kim and Bree, both of who had worked at the lodge before, were taking the weight of the cooking. Mel and Cheryl, our outstanding housekeepers who have been with us for more than a decade, were keeping the cabins and the lodge spic and span.
But many of the myriad little things – washing tea towels, bringing in firewood, taking early morning coffee to the guests in their cabins, restocking fridges, even feeding Katya the dog –now fell to me.
By late October, when the last guests head off towards Vancouver or Calgary and home I was mentally and physically spent.
In the daytime I had been hiking and rafting – I guided more river trips than I had in a decade – and in the morning and evening hosting, giving talks, and doing chores.
Then there were all the tiny details that make any business work – payroll, taxes, insurance, book-keeping, keeping the equipment running, and the rest.
When I stepped on the bathroom scales at the end of the season I was the lightest I had been since I was in my late teens, a testament to what two months of 16-hour days and a lot of walking can do for you.
But, amid the exhaustion, there was also the realisation that the lodge was still a hugely important part of my world. And – gratifyingly - it seemed many others, both guests and those I worked alongside, felt the same way too.
With the bears now deep in hibernation once again I am immersed in my academic duties. But the sense that the lodge is a rare gem to be treasured has only grown. I am determined to keep it, rebuild it, reinvigorate it.
The operation will never be quite as big as it once was. One of the decisions I have made is to only open for peak bear-viewing seasons, and stay closed during the shoulder seasons. That means for 2023 we will be offering spots from mid May to mid June, and throughout October.
In the winter I will continue to teach in Hungary. In September my intention is to run a charity week for more wounded veterans. Two of the vets who took part in the earlier course - both former Royal Marines - have said they will now help on the training side. If I can raise the funds, I may even run two courses.
One possibility I am looking at is bringing over Ukrainian veterans suffering from PTSD in a bid to help them rebuild their shattered lives.
As for bear-viewing some of our 2023 slots have already been snatched up, but many are still available. If you think you might be interested in visiting the lodge, and viewing wild bears in wild places, please drop us a line.
Please feel free to comment and offer corrections.
LINKS
Availability for 2023. Availability at the lodge for the coming seasons.
Article in The Guardian. The story of our wounded veterans programme.
My journalism newsletter: Back to the Front. Both paid and free versions available.
I've been so touched by your story, I have associations with the military, BC, the UK and health care and have a lot of admiration for your strength in adversity.
Long may it continue 🙏😘💪
Loved the recent newsletter!!!
We are not vaccinated so don’t think we can enter Canada, both of us have had covid jan 2022
Can you supply prices?