These Boots Were Made For Traveling

Imagine waking up in a chilly tent at 5:30 every morning, six days a week. You have to throw on your clothes, make sure your bag is packed for the day with bug spray, duct tape, extra socks, snacks and pens, among other things, lace up your boots and hurry down to the mess hall tent for breakfast and to pack a lunch. It’s crowded and noisy and everyone is jostling everyone else so they can be ready on time. The trucks leave at 7 am sharp.

When I was first thinking about going tree planting, I wanted an honest review of what it was like, and to know what the structure of each day looked like. My boyfriend had nothing but complaints and bad things to say about it (despite him going back for a second year this summer), and my cousin got sent home from planting one year for not getting enough trees in the ground, but despite that I still wanted to go. Luckily, the sister of a woman whose retreat I’d attended in April 2014 had tree planted for 7 years, and had some helpful tips and good things to say about it. Still, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I’m not going to lie to you, tree planting is hard. It was by far the hardest job I’ve ever had in my life, and it’s even featured on BBC’s World’s Toughest Jobs (watch the episode). I cried every day for the first four weeks (of six), and had endless anxiety attacks. Planters never stop feeling tired and sore, and my neck was so covered in bug bites that I looked like I had some sort of weird disease.

However.

I came out of the six weeks that make up the spring season with a huge sense of pride. I made it through. I didn’t quit or get asked to go home, I didn’t get injured and sent to the hospital, and I didn’t break up with my boyfriend (planting can make or break a relationship). Instead, I met a ton of interesting people, I made a bit of a profit, and I got in amazing shape. A few days, we got to take a helicopter to work, as there was no road access to the “block” where we were planting, and that was an absolutely unreal experience.  I learned a lot about myself – especially that I can handle a lot more than I think I can. I’m stronger and tougher, mentally and physically, than when I went out there.

I absolutely adored “camp life”. If there was a way I could’ve done a different job and still lived at the tree planting camp, I would’ve jumped at the chance! Our camp was set up right on Augustine Lake, and it was beautiful. We built a dock, brought in and dumped sand to make a beach and someone had brought a canoe. There was a shower trailer with four stalls, a kitchen trailer, a huge “mess tent” to eat and hang out in (we even set up a projector and watched movies in there sometimes!), and another large tent to store all our gear in. There was cell service, and power bars to charge our phones and electronics. It was a lot easier to live in a tent for six weeks than I thought it would be. My boyfriend and I shared a huge four person tent and had a comfortable, deluxe air mattress and a bunch of pillows, sleeping bags and blankets – it was very cozy!
If you’re in physically good shape, are willing to exert yourself, love being in nature and work well alone and as a team, tree planting might just be the job for you.

Each crew of 5 has 1 foreman, who drives the truck to the block and piece you’re planting, and tells the crew the plan for the day, as well as checks the quality of the planted trees. You plant for 8-10 hours for 3 days, and then get 1 day off. This is a great series of videos to watch to get the basics of planting (the link leads you to part 1 of 9, the video will take you through to the other parts!). You plant until your bags are empty, and then head back to the truck (or “cache”) to eat a quick snack, chug a ton of water and reload your bags. And repeat. And repeat and repeat and repeat. I assumed we’d be planting in nice, clear, freshly turned dirt and the hardest part would be planting on a hill or something. However, that was not the case. The land hadn’t been cleared at all, and often you were planting amongst shoulder-high bushes and fallen trees, and in rocky terrain. The trees had to be spaced about 2.5 meters apart, and planted deeply in good soil. I was planting trees quickly and well, however I lost time trying to find spots to plant. My highest planting day was 1075 seedlings. Sounds like a lot, right? Not so much! My boyfriend and some of the other “highballers” were planting upwards of 2200 a day. We got paid $0.13-0.18 per tree, so speed really determined how much money we made.

On days off, we went into the town of Prince George, British Columbia (about a 45 minute drive from our camp). The routine was always the same. Get smoothies from Booster Juice, do laundry (my first time ever going to a laundromat!), go out for lunch and drinks at Nancy O’s, visit the gorgeous rec centre/swimming pool (complete with hot tub, sauna, steam room, wave pool and a “lazy river“), go to the bookstore/cafe (Books and Company/Cafe Voltaire), get dinner from Tim Horton’s, McDonald’s or Wal-Mart and head back to camp. Once, we got two days off in a row, and we stayed overnight in PG at a hotel (the luxurious Sandman Signature), for some much needed relaxation and pampering.

I brought a ton of warm clothes, thinking it would still be cold in northern BC at the beginning of May. The weather was ridiculously hot, however. It snowed on our second day, and we got a “snow day”, and I think it rained 3 times, but other than that it was hot, hot, hot and all you needed was the basics. You could wear whatever you wanted, but the typical tree planting uniform consisted of leggings (plus shorts over the leggings for boys), a loose cotton shirt, gloves, wool socks and sturdy hiking boots. Bug nets and duct tape optional. Also, for the three days of work, you pretty much wear the exact same clothes every day, and then just wash them on the day off – no need to bring your whole wardrobe!

All in all, I’m glad I tried tree planting and am so proud of myself for finishing the season. Would I do it again? Probably not… Although if I’d been better at it and made more money, I probably would. I would highly recommend this job to anyone looking for a change and a chance to get out in nature. I would also highly recommend being in top physical and mental shape before starting the job!

Also… Bring a good tent and air mattress, warm blankets and a lot of tarps, plus rain pants, a rain jacket and rubber boots. You’ll thank yourself.