The red zodiac shudders in the water as Rob Wilson pulls back the throttle.

The boat bobs just metres from south Twin Island’s slick, rocky shore.

“You see that tent there?” Wilson points up to the hill where a large, shirtless man is looking down at them.

“There’s another one over there,” Wilson’s partner, Mark Grist nods to another hill to their left.

Wilson nudges the boat forward just close enough to the shore so Grist can hop off. The BC Parks ranger starts hiking up to explain that there’s no camping allowed on south Twin Island.

The first campers aren’t the most friendly.

“People have a right to live you know,” says the man, tired looking, slouched over a log, and sucking on a bottle of water. “I pay taxes.”

“Shut the f*ck up, Simon,” his buddy shouts back, then turns to the ranger. “Don’t listen to him.”

Grist stays affable, and goes on explaining the south island has archeological significance to the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, so the park is designated as day use only to reduce any impact on the land.

Then there’s the more practical reason: there’s no outhouse on this island.

“Well, we didn’t sh*t here,” Simon mutters.

His friend looks helplessly back at Grist.

The park ranger tells the men to take down their tent, and either paddle their canoe the 20 metres or so to the next island where camping is free, or head home.

Grist then approaches the next campers, introduces himself and explains the situation.

The young couple are polite, and Grist pauses for a moment to chat and salivate over the bacon grilling on the portable barbecue.

The ranger tells the couple they can stay on the island as it’s a day use area, but the tent has to come down so other park users won’t see it.

* * *

Wilson and Grist are the two lone rangers who oversee the provincial parks in the Vancouver area from Cypress, Seymour and Indian Arm on the North Shore, to Pinecone Burke by Coquitlam and Peace Arch that straddles the border to Washington State.

Both men have left a previous career to embark on a life working for the park service.

Wilson was a machinist eight years ago, and is now the senior park ranger for the Vancouver area. Grist left a job as a “lab rat” at St. Paul’s when the call of the outdoors just became too strong.

“There’s no substitute for being outside,” Grist says.

Their jobs are varied, from ski patrolling the North Shore’s mountain backcountry in the winter to cleaning outhouses in the summer.

Today, they’re on the water on Indian Arm, patrolling the water and checking in on the three designated campsites in the park.

In eight years, Wilson says he’s seen plenty of strange and spectacular sights in the marine park, from research submarines to injured wildlife, and big yachts with helicopters on board. At one of the camping sites, he once found a stag party where the group had boated in a whole pig to roast on a fire.

This weekend, the fast ferry Pacificat Voyager is being loaded onto a barge, and the two rangers are momentarily joining the two dozen or so boats on the water to watch the momentous undertaking.

Despite the large grouping of vessels on the water, Wilson figures it’s a relatively slow day on the water, likely due to the previous night’s rain.

“People see the rain and they’ll change their plans for the whole weekend,” Wilson says in disbelief.

But the two rangers still have plenty of work to do, checking for people camping in undesignated areas like Raccoon Island, south Twin Island and at the mouth of Indian River.

Besides clearing out the illegal campers, Wilson and Grist are also on fire watch, enforcing the campfire ban placed on a large part of the province.

On north Twin Island, the two rangers make a walkabout, finding no fire rings but piles of glass shards.

Wilson points to one, the cracked domed shaped bottom of a beer glass, directly under the sun on a bed of dry pine needles.

“Just one of these can start a forest fire,” he says, bending over to pick up as many pieces as he can find.

Holding one up to the sunlight, Wilson demonstrates by carefully adjusting a piece of glass trying to catch the light just right.

“If I had the time, I could probably get a spot,” he says after about 30 seconds trying.

At another secluded section of the island, Wilson points out the strips of toilet paper on the tree tops.

“We couldn’t reach those,” he says, explaining that earlier in the summer the rangers halted a grad party on the island — a common occurrence as the school year winds down.

They weren’t in time to stop the kids from toilet papering the trees.

But there are positives too.

Since the wide media coverage of the wildfires burning around the province, Wilson says people have become much more cognizant of the dangers, and they’re seeing fewer signs of fire rings.

Park users are also becoming more involved in helping maintain the area, he added.

“There are kayakers who come up here who really care, neighbours, people in the surrounding community,” Wilson says. “Many many people not in the uniform who take care of the park.”

* * *

Wilson is standing at the shore of the emerald coloured pool fed by the spectacular Granite Falls near the north end of Indian Arm park.

Two men start the waddle out of the water, breathing deeply but with big grins.

“You guys park rangers?” one of them asks.

“Yeah, nice day huh?” Wilson replies.

“Yeah, but last night was horrible!”

“With the rain? Yeah. Any campfires?”

Wilson and Grist have worked together long enough that the good cop, bad cop roles come naturally.

While Wilson chats up the park users, Grist will often be hovering around, cognizant of their surroundings. Logs collected in a pile will get picked up and chucked into the bush or thrown into the water, or trails cleared of loose rocks or fallen branches.

“Out of sight, out of mind,” Wilson explains.

Then when Grist gets into a conversation with other campers, Wilson will come by, searching for fire rings or signs of camp fires.

Further down Granite Falls, Wilson comes up on what could be a big score.

Half a dozen young people are sitting in the circle, beer cans and bottles in their hands.

Wilson introduces himself, then gets down to business.

“Okay, I see two things here that are causing me concern,” he says, and points to a hatchet on the ground next to the youth.

Wilson explains the campfire ban, that each person associated with a fire would face a $345 ticket.

“So three grand,” one of the kids does the math.

“Yeah, about that much,” Wilson replies and goes on explaining that since he sees no fire rings, he’s confident the group hasn’t broken the ban, but he repeats the warning.

Next, he brings up the issue of park vandalism — this year at Granite Falls, an outhouse was torn down and a second set on fire — which, Wilson suggests, sometimes involves youngsters and alcohol.

“You wanna see our IDs?” another kid offers.

“Yeah, please,” Wilson says, and the kids dart for their tents.

They return with their wallets and licenses, and Wilson and Grist check each one.

No one’s under 19, so Wilson and Grist remind the group about the campfire ban, ask them to flag the rangers down if they see anyone else with a fire, and wish them a nice weekend.

As the rangers walk away, they’re silent for a moment.

Wilson shakes his head.

Grist says aloud what both men are thinking.

“That,” he says, once they’re out of earshot of the campers, “just made me feel old.”

* * *

The BC Park Rangers have been patrolling on the water in Indian Arm Provincial Park throughout the summer, along with other agencies including the RCMP, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Ministry of Forest and the Conservation Officer Service.

Senior Park Ranger Rob Wilson explains the rangers can enforce rules set out in the Park Act, Motor Vehicle Act, Liquor Control and Licensing Act, Trespass Act, Firearm Act, Wildlife Act, among others.

Wilson estimates the rangers have issued more than a dozen violation tickets on the Indian Arm this summer, numerous written and verbal warnings, and served more than a dozen eviction notices.

While they’ve stepped up their enforcement during the summer, Wilson says the patrols are year round.

dpi@northshoreoutlook.com

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