Dear Interweb,

I spent three days last week hiking, camping and learning near Chaekamus Lake, an old growth forest very close to Whistler.  The trip was led by our professor, Nobi Suzuki, who is a very endearing Japanese man with an immense knowledge, expertise, and love of nature.  Though we were collecting data on biodiversity, sampling the forest for deadwood, familiarizing  ourselves with herbs, shrubs and trees of the area, discussing readings from our textbook and listening to Nobi for over 10 hours a day, it didn’t feel like school.  Nobi’s absolute love of nature was infectious and we were all enthralled with the new awareness of all he pointed out. The trip was truly “Quest-style”- innovative and intimate. 

In the forest!

Our little class learning about ecosystems on the beautiful lake

My group members, Celeta and Bryn, identifying plants

The most inspiring and charming time was early each morning.  We rose very early to listen to bird calls, learning to identify birds by their individual sound.   From a lifetime of experience of doing studies in forests (wildlife/bird conservation, etc.), Nobi is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about identifying birdcalls. He listened to the all birds as if he was conducting an orchestra.  I wish I had a video of it!  Then, throughout the day, he would stop us suddenly, pointing upwards towards a sound, saying, “listen:  ja-JA-JA-ja-JA-JA”, hoping we’d recognize them as easily as he did (that’s the call for a Steller’s Jay, Cyanocitta stelleri ).  We didn’t…but we were completely enchanted nonetheless. 

Sincerely,

RozG

Post-script:  The weather was amazing and we found a little time each day to enjoy the vistas and hangout in the sun.

The View from our Campsite