By Don Urquhart, Times-Chronicle
In a demonstration of what makes small communities like Osoyoos and Oliver unique, volunteers showed up on the lower slopes of Mount Kruger on the morning of Nov. 7 to help clean up the garbage from illegal dumping and the remains of an addict’s tent home.
Photos of the mess on Crown Land frequently used by Osoyoos residents for various recreation uses were posted on the local Facebook page, Osoyoos Connect and soon enough netizens were offering help to clean it up.
Mt. Kruger cleanup: the remains of what looks like a trailer. Don Urquhart photo.
“I saw the post about someone talking about the mess up here and I did see in the summer that people were camping here and I figured yesterday I would come and take a look,” says Eric Burris. He then put up his own post asking anyone that wanted to help to show up Sunday morning.
This saw over a dozen people show up to help collect and load the garbage into a trailer provided by Nathan Ondrus of Ondrus Construction.
The first area involved what looked like the flattened remains of a small camper while a second area further up the road was covered with the remains of someone’s encampment, including an abandoned car.
“I just actually moved back here,” says Burris. “I grew up here, I was here from about 1990 until 2003 when I moved away. We partied up here, we spent our time quading and dune buggying and everything, and nobody left a mess like this and it’s just disgusting to see.
“We just want to do what’s right and clean it up,” he adds.
With the large trailer filled to the brim from the first site plus only half of the second, the plan is to finish it next weekend (Nov. 14). The material will be taken to the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) landfill outside Oliver which is waiving the dumping fees, and Usher’s Towing will be taking care of the car.
Casey Brouwer, Acting Public Works Superintendent at the Town of Osoyoos said that because the area on Mount Kruger where the refuse was located is part of the RDOS, it was natural to take it to the Oliver landfill.
“They did not approach us but had they asked us we would review and consider whether to issue a waiver of fees for the Osoyoos Landfill,” with Brouwer adding that the same process is used within town limits when non-profit and citizen groups undertake cleanups.
Mount Kruger cleanup: the flotsam and jetsam of a meagre, troubled life. Don Urquhart photo.
Local resident ‘Nick’, a former picker who has been living on this patch of land overlooking Osoyoos on and off for nearly 20 years, says he has never seen it so bad.
A nasty combination of the COVID-19 pandemic which hit the lowest income earners the hardest, the ‘drug pandemic’, limited treatment programmes and lack of affordable housing created the perfect storm forcing some to turn to outdoor living on the slopes of Mount Kruger.
“You never used to see many people up here, just locals for the most part,” Nick says. He adds that the area is now on the iOverlander website and smartphone app which is essentially a database for people looking for places like this to camp.
“Even five years ago – the last time I was living here – there was nobody up here,” he says, adding that the vast majority of people using the area clean up after themselves.
“Her name was Jess, she was an addict,” says Nick of the woman who called this encampment home. “I talked to her a few times and gave her a ride into town, stuff like that,” he says.
Mt. Kruger cleanup: volunteers load the refuse into Nathan Ondrus’ truck. Don Urquhart photo.
“She was in some sort of abusive relationship and her boyfriend just chucked all her stuff out and so all of a sudden she’s out with no place to live. It’s a shame.”
She told Nick that she came from Surrey. At some point, she was joined on the site by some relatives who had a fifth wheel. Nick says he and other ‘residents’ were constantly on them over their behaviour. “Garbage, ripping up the whole area, driving through the sage,” he cites as examples, adding that they just didn’t care.
Jess’ relatives left with their fifth wheel at some point after she went into rehab, but just left everything else on the site.
And make no mistake, it’s an eyesore to be sure. It’s easy to be offended and angry that anyone could leave such a mess in such a beautiful place.
It’s almost overwhelming looking at it all. The list is long. Wet, dirty mattresses, some chairs, an inflatable boat, some cutlery, pots and pans, coloured rocks, a sewing kit, bar stool, soggy clothes spilling out of torn garbage bags, a keyboard, an unused syringe, and children’s toys. Nick says Jess had two or three kids who are in the care of ‘someone’.
Mt. Kruger cleanup: a heart-rending semblance of home. Don Urquhart photo.
In the small tent torn and without its fly yet still standing, sits a small rattan dresser at one end, its mirror absent.
On one side of the table, an anniversary clock sits improbably intact in its glass enclosure. It’s an incongruous scene. Perhaps it was a wistful attempt at normalcy, at creating at least a tiny illusion of a home amidst the utter chaos of a drug dependency.
Out in front, offset by the stunning backdrop of the town, the lake, and Anarchist Mountain sits Jess’ car. Most of the windows smashed and tires flat courtesy of her ex-boyfriend, the car is crammed full of more of Jess’ former life, the flapping yellow police tape now the only vibrancy left.
For Nick, who is on disability assistance, he’s had his own share of life challenges. He says he was ‘renovicted’ from an apartment in town that he was renting for $600 a month last February during the cold snap. With no other options, he ended up sleeping in the back of his truck. “It wasn’t very nice,” he says wryly.
Mt. Kruger cleanup: Jess’ broken car in contrast. Don Urquhart photo.
He ended up getting an RV that he got running and wired it up with solar panels on the roof. “It’s all I can do, I don’t really have a choice,” he adds.
Willy, who’s parked next to him on the lower flats, was also a picker, in fact, Nick calls him the “Picker King.” Willy suffers from spinal issues, and then the next person over in a fifth wheel is a man undergoing radiation therapy for cancer.
Almost apologetically, Nicks says, “we’re all on disability so none of us can afford a place. We care, I do volunteering in town and so does Willy. I volunteer at the food bank so I pick up old ladies from home and take them to the food bank and Willy delivers food to people.”
The presence of Nick and his two neighbours on the mountainside doesn’t seem to bother the officialdom, however. “The RCMP come up all the time, I talk to them and the conservation officers when they’re up there they stop by to say hi.
“They like us because we keep the place clean and I do call them when there’s a problem.”
All of this may soon become irrelevant as the proposed National Park will forever change everything on Mount Kruger.
Access will change not just for those like Nick and his neighbours with no formal home, but also for quad users, romantically inclined couples who drive up to enjoy the twinkling town lights and stars above, and for the Jess’ of the world too.
