I’m slowly finding places that are the sort of places that I would love to work in – i.e. ecotourism for the cash-strapped. I already wrote about Koeye Lodge, and last week I read in British Columbia magazine about Mountain Hostel in the Kootenays.

This is a proper hostel – all bunk-beds, shared bathrooms and bring-your-own food. The difference is that it is extremely eco-friendly and based in a wilderness setting (you can explore on your own or pay for a guide to take you to the good hiking spots). It is in the Incomappleux Valley in the Kootenays, which I had never heard of (always a good thing, you know you’re going somewhere rare and special in BC if I haven’t heard of it), and is one of BC’s last pieces of Inland Temperate Rainforest.

The place looks spectacular and is so remote that a rock slide closed the road to the hostel back in 2005 and it is only just being repaired. All this time the owner of the hostel has had a vehicle at either end of the rock slide so that he can get supplies (including petrol for his cut-off vehicle) from the nearest town, clamber over the rockslide with it and then take the supplies to the hostel – guests at the hostel drive as far as they can and park up then get shuttled to the hostel by the owner.

Guess what? I really want to visit. And having a quick look at their website has brought up two possibilities: 1) Get some friends to join us for a long weekend away there and/or 2) Ask Graham if he’d be interested in the live/work option mentioned on the website next year (they are on the lookout for couples who will stay for 2 or 3 weeks and work a bit, play a bit – perfect experience for me!).