In the summer after my junior year at college at Emory, I went to Vancouver, B.C. on a field studies program. At the time, everyone at school was excited about the upcoming Olympics in Atlanta but I wanted to get out of the urban area. The Olympics did a lot for Atlanta, but at the time, it was a lot of construction, traffic and too much concrete! Anyways, I was ready for some backcountry and wildness! After all, I was an ecology major. Wasn't that the natural next step? Ha!
My trip to Vancouver actually entailed traveling to a little island, Flores Island off Vancouver Island. We camped out and studied wildlife firsthand. It was a wonderful experience. There's nothing like learning in a hands-on way.
At the time, I was one of the youngest students at 19 and the professor leading the group asked me to take notes on some of our daily excursions. I enjoyed doing it as it helped me remember what the day's full activities entailed. He loved my writing and published it in the college paper and magazine.
We got to see the full lifecycle in the wild where eagles would pull fish right out of the ocean waves and eat, then leave the rest for vultures to swoop in and finish. I loved the boat rides and the smell of the ocean surf and the cedar forest - nothing like it!
Photo of a whale's tail right by our island (Flores Island off Vancouver Island, B.C.)
On one trip, we wandered into the woods and came upon a large rock. Climbing it, we could see far and wide - it was a great vantage point. Below it, right in the sand, we discovered to our surprise a massive footprint. It was not human and it was SO large! None of us had any tape on hand, but it was easily over 9 feet as one of the tallest students (he was around 6 foot 2 inches or so) leveled his right foot beside it but the footprint in the sand exceeded it by several inches! He was surprised and we were all intrigued. Whose footprint was this? What mysterious creature had left it?
Along with us in addition to our teaching assistant (TA) and professor, we had several Canadian foresters. They were part of the Canadian national park service. They were all fit, naturally athletic and familiar with the woods and ocean in this way that I loved. There was a really lovely park ranger who led a lot of the trips for us and explained a lot of what we saw along the way. Her younger brother Corey came on some of the trips too. He was tall, lanky and had wavy blond hair like his sister.
One day when I was sitting on a massive cedar log and taking notes after a morning session, he came over and sat next to me. I offered him an apple. He bit into it and started laughing as juice squirted out, and then told me a story. It was fun and I asked him to tell me more, so he did.
Soon after it was time to get up and continue. Corey walked along beside me. We came upon this vast area of spaghnum moss. Our professor showed us how to identify the moss and other plants nearby. I loved how the moss felt.
We continued onwards and Corey asked me if I had ever seen pink moss. I laughed and said, "Pink moss? What?"
We laughed together, and then he told me that there was pink moss in certain higher areas and that it was very soft and like a bed to lie on. "Wow," I said.
"Wanna see it?"
"Yes."
"I can take you up there."
I smiled and we decided to go the next day.
We did. Corey came by my tent and woke me up at 4 a.m. the next day. He had brought along two other students too who had overheard our conversation and wanted to come too. We trudged through the forest behind our green tents, further away from the coast and deeper into the island forest.
After a while, the path became windy and started to increase in elevation. We kept going and I was glad we did not have any backpacks as the footholds were small and uneven. Corey gave me his hand to help me up as we came up to a higher area. I reached up and took it, as he swung me upward.
Right there just in front of us, there was a clearing. Corey exclaimed, "Look, a new area." We all looked. The sun was just starting to come up and the sky was a beautiful shade of light pink and white.
On the ground right in front of us, there was a bed of pink moss! It was uncanny to look at. I felt like I was in a dream. It was so soft looking, ethereal and nascent in appearance. It was like coming upon an angel's resting place.
I opened my mouth but no words came out. The other two boys Eric and Andy laughed. I gave a wide smile.
"So cool," Eric said.
"I like it," Andy said, walking around, "cool view too."
I said finally, "I love it." Corey smiled widely at me.