Leaving Kananaskis

Even on my last day in Kananaskis, which was the second to last week in August, I couldn’t get away from doing a bit of work. We got up extra early to finish off Nikhil’s and Crisia’s grids, then we went to Fortress to wait for Jack’s class. We were taking them up to the long term grids to show them how we trap mice. They asked good questions, and we moved through my half of the grid fairly quickly and even met Nikhil on the other side. My group was lucky because we got a good variety of animals. I found that I rather enjoyed showing them what we do.

Upon return to the field station, I loaded all the stuff I spent all night packing (leaving some of it for the others to take back by car), got everyone together, and took off for Calgary. Those of you who are familiar with the way we work at the field station will know that this inevitably took a ridiculously long time. Crisia, Nikhil, Kurt, and Tracy were all along for the ride.

In Calgary, we had time for a nice lunch in Chinatown. Surprisingly that was my first time eating in Calgary’s Chinatown despite how often I found myself in Calgary. Afterwards we ran some errands and made it to the airport right on time. I said my goodbyes to my new friends, two of which I would be seeing in a couple weeks and two of which I might not be seeing for a while.

The flight was quick and uneventful, and I landed in Montreal to be greeted by Eliott and Steph and to the news that apparently Montreal was collapsing. It was so humid and gross in Montreal that night. It felt weird knowing that I was wearing a wool hat and gloves in the morning in Kananaskis. Eliott and I then met Bryan and Angelene for bubble tea downtown. It was nice to be surprised with a small group of friends after being away for four months even though it was rather late. Afterwards, we stopped by Jackie’s, and I gave a sleeping Jackie a good poke with my foot and got to see Bucky for the first time in a really long time.

Now that I’ve been away from Kananaskis for a while, I can now reflect on the things that I miss about it.

Things I miss

• The mountains: everything from the way they appear out of nowhere on a cloudy day and the way they turn pink when the sun is setting to the way they cause a lot of pain in my knees after a long hike
• The people
• The relaxed atmosphere
• Midday naps
• Being outside
• The wildlife
• The feeling that despite having to wake up early and do work during the day, I was still on vacation
• The ever-changing weather
• The ability to quickly (okay sometimes not so quickly, but never more than 3 hours) get a group of people together on almost no notice for supper, a movie night, or just general hanging out
• The mice

Things I will not miss

• Mosquitoes
• Waking up ridiculously early
• Poor water pressure
• Paying for laundry
• Calgary