When I first visited Clint, now CEO of Northern BC Tourism, back in 2007, I was excited and optimistic, and honestly had no idea the journey I was beginning.
As a young boy growing up in England I’d dreamt about adventure. But I’d never been adventurous. I’d lived in the city, and my parents kept me close.
Canada changed that, and the North in particular.
For years the great Northern Circle Route was where I travelled: the Alaska Highway up the east side, the Stewart Cassiar down the west, Highway 16 along the bottom. I’ve driven it more times than I can count, from Prince George through the Pine Pass to Tumbler Ridge and Chetwynd, Hudson Hope, Dawson Creek, Taylor and Fort St. John, up to Fort Nelson, Muncho Lake and Liard Hot Springs, past Watson Lake into the Yukon and back into BC, down the Stewart Cassiar through Jade City and Dease Lake (with that incredible drive out to Telegraph Creek along the Stikine), on to Iskut and Kluachon Lake, Meziadin Junction and Stewart, out to Prince Rupert, then home along Highway 16 through Terrace, the Hazeltons, Smithers, Telkwa, Houston, Burns Lake, Fraser Lake, Fort Fraser and Vanderhoof, all the way back to Prince George.
Out there, with my cameras and all that beauty, I felt a wonderful freedom and endless possibility.
And the people. So friendly, so ready to help, and this feeling of optimism everywhere I went. On the east side April and Danny looked after me in Charlie Lake. Out west it was Gladys and Shawn, and Smithers became my base. They always joke about Simon’s bedroom in the basement.
When I pull over on a Northern road to take a photograph, someone often stops to ask if everything is okay. That’s happened to me so many times. That’s just the way folk are in this part of the world. If I ever broke down, I could always count on Shawn. When an axle bearing went on my trailer at Meziadin Junction, he drove his flatbed more than 260 km from Smithers and sorted the whole thing out. I always felt his was the only phone number I needed. But to be honest there were many really good folk that I could count on, and often did.
Everyone knows the North is beautiful. The lakes, the mountains, the wildlife. But the beauty I saw was just as much in the people: the operators, the volunteers, the communities.
For almost two decades I’ve been out there with my cameras recording visitors and telling their stories. Stories from the road, Clint and I call them. I’ve loved making those, and I want to keep doing it. Keep heading north, keep soaking up all that space and beauty, keep telling those stories.
On my very first trip up the Alaska Highway, travelling with April, I met Urs and Marion at the Northern Rockies Lodge at Muncho Lake. Now their son Daniel has asked me to lead photo tours there. I’m excited. I’m honoured. It feels an incredible privilege and opportunity. I can’t wait to show guests the North I love, and help them capture all the beauty Simon Sees.
People connecting with people, in a vast, beautiful landscape. That’s the North for me.
The adventure continues. I’ll be in Prince George for this year’s Northern BC Tourism Summit, emceeing again, and I can’t wait to see you there.
