I Am Going to be a Park Ranger!

My Park Ranger horse

I have decided that when I grow up I am going to be a Park Ranger.  My immediate family is quite excited about this...my plans to grow up that is not my plans to be a Park Ranger.

I have always loved nature.  I have always loved time in the woods.  I have always loved time on the water paddling silently in a canoe.  I remember as a child watching my older brother heading off on an annual fishing trip to Manitoulin Island with my father and uncle and their friends.  I remember thinking that when my brother was done with those fishing trips then all I had to do was wait patiently while my older sister had her go at it and then it would be my turn!  I never got out on those fishing trips.  They ended with my brother.  We did do family camping excursions and lots of canoeing.  I knew I was lucky to have those opportunities but before I left for university though I did ask for a chance to canoe and fish on my own in the wilderness with my father.  Off we went to the Crown Lands north of Kingston for a marvellous few days in the Canadian Shield.  It was resplendent and filled my soul.  The woods have always been a place of solace for me.  The first time I remember losing a horse I was a fairly young child.  It was most upsetting and I was inconsolable.  I left for the bush at the back at our property.  When my father came back to retrieve me he found me busily dragging about logs building the foundation of my new home in the woods.  I had decided I would live there.  Then I decided I was a bit hungry and headed on home with my father.  The beginnings of my home in the woods remain today.  I know exactly where it is and have checked on it from time to time during visits home.  But despite this early love of nature and desire to live in the woods, I never really reconciled that concept with my career.  To me it was a love and has remained a pursuit that I undertake at every opportunity.  Much to John's chagrin at times almost all of our vacations have involved a tent in the wilderness. While we have spent time backpacking,  most of our time has been spent bumping along on remote roads in a four wheel truck and then pitching our old canvas tent in astoundingly scenic places that have included Labradour, the Arctic, Queen Charlotte Islands, Yukon, Alaska, Smoky Mountains just to mention a few.  It started with just John and I and then one child then two children then three children and then four children.  We are now working our way back down that scale.  John has announced that he is not sure how much more time he can spend in a tent in the woods.  I have temporarily appeased him with a trip to a spa in New Mexico but unbeknownst to him I have also been having some rather engaging conversations with other like-minded wilderness campers about different types of air matresses available  on the market.  Apparently with some of them you would be hard pressed to know that you were not actually sleeping in a bed....This pursuit of the wilderness has all been in my free time though while my careers have led me out of the woods and into the city.  I have had no regrets with my careers.  I have loved all my jobs and I am a firm believer that you should love your work.  I believe that when your work is no longer satisfying for you then you are probably not a very satisfying employee either.  With that in mind I have never been afraid to change jobs and to embrace new challenges in my career...but for some very odd reason those changes never seemed to reconcile my love of the woods.  The two remained separate in my mind...one was work and one was play....until one day when I was driving through the Haliburton area and I passed the Ontario Ranger Training Centre.  I remember exclaining to John "Why on earth have I never pursued being a Park Ranger!?!"  With this sudden realization bouncing around in my head I barely heard his response which was along the lines of "Oh shit..."
Since then this seed has taken root in my mind.  This idea of play being work.  I remember hiking in the backcountry of the Rockies many years ago and passing a little log cabin with horses in its corral. I remember hearing that those were the Park Rangers summer residences.  I knew they went into the backcountry and lived in the woods and patrolled on horseback.  I am not sure where I thought these people were coming from and I am not sure why on earth I would not have realized that this was a career choice that involved schooling like everything else.  As our second oldest pursues his passion for living and working in the woods I have become much more aware of what it takes to be a Ranger.  Most of them have their Masters in Wildlife Biology.  It is ridiculous that I should be surprised by this.  These are strong intelligent people who need to be able to care for themselves and others in wilderness conditions.  They are charged with the protection of our National Parks and the protection of the people and wildlife in those parks.  Somehow I missed this boat.  I am not sad about it.  I have quite enjoyed my life experiences to date.  My second eldest does live in real fear though that wherever he ends up in the woods working and living that his Mother may just show up and move in with him.  With the recent addition of Big E to our family though he can probably rest more easy on that front.  Big E has the brand of the National Parks Service...a sheep's head.  He also has the rather ample haunches of a hard working mountain horse.  It is easy for me to stand in Big E's company and feel like I am a part of the Ranger service.  I live and work in the woods now and I am surrounded by wildlife.  I have my own trails to patrol and clear and I embrace my role in protecting the wildlife and the people on my little plot of land.  I have told Big E that he still has a job to do and that we will be spending alot of time on the trails working...just as soon as I finish sewing my own little Park Ranger uniform....

The brand of Parks Canada on Big E's shoulder