THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME

I love the Kootenays. In my opinion, there's beauty here which is
unrivaled. I've realized that since I moved here in 1977. This
province has much to offer when it comes to scenery.

Even though I have lived here for almost 27 years, there are still
areas which I have yet to see.

Recently I had opportunity to see the rugged beauty of Bonanza Basin,
which is near Gerrard.

The day was beautiful and so six of us on three ATVs decided we would
go to Bonanza Basin.

To get there, one has to travel some fairly rugged terrain and our
friend Neil, who grew up in the area was our guide. Because it had
been a while since he had been up there, he forgot which turn to take
to get up to the Basin.

So, we tried the first turn to the right. As we traveled in a bit we
saw an RCMP vehicle parked in the boonies. No one was in sight and
quickly talking over the situation we suspected they were there
harvesting marijuana crops. We thus chose to turn around and try the
second road.

Laura-Lee and Doug, who had initially brought up the rear, decided
they would take the lead. They were followed by Neil and Lisa and then
by Tom and I. As we rounded a corner on the second trail we took, we
could see a flash of white ahead of us around yet another corner. Tom
turned to me and said, "Cops."

I nodded my head in affirmation as the sound of the ATV would have
drowned out my answer.

As we neared the RCMP truck and turned a corner a female RCMP officer
jumped out of the bushes, the "business end" of her gun (as she so
politely put it) pointed in the direction of Doug and Laura-Lee. An
auxiliary RCMP had a shot gun pointed in our direction. One by one we
came to an immediate halt, uncertain as to what we had ridden in to.

"Do you all have ID?" asked the female officer.

"I do," said Tom.

"I don't," I said.

Who brings ID when quadding?? I could just imagine me taking off for a
day of ATVing, my hefty purse tucked in to the back carrying box.

Then, we heard her walkie talkie blurt out, "Two quads coming your
way."

It quickly became obvious that the other officers down below on the
other road were letting them know we were headed their way.

"Uh, three," corrected the burly officer.

With her gun still pointed squarely at Laura-Lee and Doug, the officer
asked us what we were doing up on the trail.

We explained that we were just out for the day looking for Bonanza
Basin.

She then explained they were waiting for the owners of the marijuana
grow-op whose crop they had just harvested and which was now in the
back of the RCMP truck.

Then, she looked over at the front of Neil's quad and said, "What are
those for?"

With a growing horror I realized that Neil had a shovel, chain saw and
ax strapped to the front of his ATV.

They were perfect tools for harvesting mature marijuana plants.
Especially the chain saw, I thought with a smirk. Mighty big plants we
grow here in the Kootenays, officer!

She slowly lowered her gun as she realized that we were, indeed,
simply enjoying the day and were not the grow-op owners they had
initially believed us to be.

Then, she looked at a white-faced Laura-Lee and said with a smile, "I
wish I had a camera -- the look on your face!"

I'm sure Laura-Lee is eternally grateful the officer didn't have a
camera, but I am just as certain she much would have rather preferred
a camera aimed squarely at her instead of the barrel of a gun.

After about 10 minutes of conversation, she told us we were free to
continue on, but warned us about the grow-op owners who, once they
discovered their crop had been ripped off, would be more than angry
and might assume we were there to harvest more.

Wonderful.

Yup. That made us feel real comfy. Thanks.

Continuing cautiously on our way, we were relieved to not see a sign
of human life -- or a grow-op.

We finally reached our destination. It was stunningly beautiful and
about impressive as scenery gets. Of course, the rest of the day, and
that evening too, we rehashed our quirky day and were actually able to
giggle and joke about the circumstances.

It's a day I'm certain all of us wouldn't have missed for all the tea
in China. It was truly memorable in all ways.