Finding Serenity In The Mountains

Those who know me know how much I love the outdoors and I have since we’ve lived on our small acreage back in Quebec prior to my parents’ divorce. Rainbow and speckled trout fishing in small creeks, small game hunting, even trapping and doing taxidermy, building a little log cabin, a log bridge for the creek on our property… Forget dating, those were the things that made me happy as a teenager. And I have my cousin François to thank for teaching me most of what I know about it. He was – and still is – a true outdoorsman. So François, if you read this… thank you!

Discovering British Columbia

In early 1992, I decided to take a break from my job and the recession that was hitting Quebec quite hard at the time. I made the decision to go “out west” to visit my mother and my sister who had left a couple of years prior. It was supposed to be for a maximum of a year, to perfect my English and spend time with them. But I discovered much more than I was anticipating.

The mountains… You see, I was born and raised with the Appalachian mountain range around me. To me, they were mountains as that’s what I knew. Imagine my awe when, driving out of Calgary, I started seeing the Canadian Rockies. It took everything to keep my eyes on the road. If someone saw me driving, they must have thought that I was having a stroke as my jaw was dropped almost the entire time! The sheer size and beauty of the Rockies, there are simply no words to describe. It’s something that you feel. I’ve been in BC for over 30 years now and every single time I drive or fly through (or over) the Rockies, I still get the same feeling of amazement. I don’t think it will ever go away.

Aside from the size of the mountains, I fell in love with the fact that the interior of BC has unlimited Crown land. And that one reason why a lot of people love living in this beautiful province. It provides almost unlimited opportunities for outdoor activities in nature. Hiking, hunting and fishing, camping, ATV’ing, wildlife watching and other similar activities in the summer and border seasons. Or skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing in winter time, it’s easy to spend 12 months of the year outdoors if you so feel inclined. And all of it is in a surreal, absolutely stunning environment. When you live in BC, you understand why it’s referred to as Beautiful British Columbia.

The Okanagan

When I got to the Okanagan, the landscape was different than my drive through the Rockies. No rocky peaks, but still very big mountains around us. For those of you who have never been there, the Okanagan is a valley, with mountains on either side. Okanagan lake is is 135 km long and is between 4-5 km wide. It starts North in Vernon, and ends South in Penticton, going through Kelowna and small communities in between. It almost looks like a big river.

I got a sense of the size of the mountains by simply looking at the trees on them. We’re talking about the Canadian desert here so evergreen trees outnumber deciduous trees by a wide margin. And the spruce, fir and hemlock grow much thinner and taller than what I was accustomed to in Quebec. Even then, they looked tiny compared to the mountains they sit on. It is simply beautiful. For the first time in my life, I saw tumbleweeds roll across the highway, like in old John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies.

The Kootenays

When, in 2019, I needed a change of scenery from the Okanagan, I started looking eastbound towards the Kootenay region. Not quite as dry or as populated, less crime, cooler temperatures and a different climate were all some of factors in my decision to relocate. At that point, the love of my life and I were looking for a retirement property. Still at the top of the list was some acreage, a nice view, proximity to Crown land for outdoors activities and, of course, mountains. A dream retirement property for her and I. And did we ever find it!

We ended up stopping our search in the Nakusp area where we found a small acreage that we purchased from a couple with whom we shared a similar vision and lifestyle. Maintaining an acreage was becoming a bit much for them and we connected the day that we’ve met on our first meeting. I will spare you the realtor nightmares and heartaches coming with it, but we loved the place so much that we ended up offering substantially more than the asking price. We are still very fond of that couple and knowing their love for the property, we issued them an open invitation. Allow me to describe it a bit, to perhaps provide you with some clarity as to why we love it so much.

It’s a small acreage (5 acres) parcel, with no immediate neighbours as there is some forest between us. Important for us was some privacy and tranquility. We wanted a one-level house as we didn’t want stairs as we grow older, and that’s what was on the property. I can go hunting right on our property or beyond, on Crown land. From our house, we have access to seven fishing lakes and countless trails and forest service roads for mountain biking, hiking or ATV’ing. In fact, we can hop on our Yamaha ATVs and drive straight from home to those trails, no need for loading up a trailer.

But what we truly fell in love with was the view. A front deck just shy of 1,000 square feet facing East, the sun rises to the left of The Sisters, three rocky mountain peaks, part of the Selkirk’s mountain range. On our property, lots of green grass with a few fruit trees, a She-Shed for gardening tools and trees surrounding the property. A big two-car garage, lots of outbuilding for storage, a wood shop, it has all that we need. A multitude of all kinds of birds, bees pollinating in our flower gardens, whitetail deer, black bears and coyotes paying us a visit from time to time. Sitting on the front deck in the morning, watching the sun rise, listening to the creek running through our property, is one of the most relaxing, reinvigorating and peaceful feelings in the world, I swear.

The Sound of… Silence

You see, we both had very stressful jobs as a career. Both of us had to deal with people and job situations that were very traumatic, stressful and demanding emotionally. Both were dealing with people that we wouldn’t recommend dealing with, in situations that could put our safety – and even the safety of our families – in jeopardy. For both of us, the need to get away from it all was crucial to our health, both physically and psychologically. And we found it.

When I go hunting or fishing, getting game is secondary. My best times have been walking slowly in the bush, listening, looking, even smelling, using all of my senses in anticipation of seeing something. Or sitting in a tree stand, or at the base of a tree, doing the same thing. Sitting by a lake having a sandwich and coffee, watching whiskeyjacks approaching in hope to get a bite. Sitting in a u-boat or a canoe, casting, watching the loon dive in and out, listening to its call. Or simply riding a mountain bike or driving a quad while enjoying nature, stopping to breath and admire the views. All of that with no cell service, no internet connection, no road noises, no sign of human noise pollution with the exception of the odd airplane thousands of feet above in the sky… then peace again.

There is no WiFi in the forest, but you cannot find a better connection.