John Gammage

John Gammage, known as Dug, has been flying over this corner of Vancouver Island for more than 40 years, long enough to have known the land around Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge through several different lives. He flew here during the region’s gold years and later its heli-logging era, developing such an attachment to the property that, when it was once offered to him for purchase, he imagined turning it into a homestead for his young family. The remoteness ultimately made that dream impractical, but Dug never really left the place behind. Instead, he found another way to make it part of his life. Today, he spends the lodge’s season based on property, piloting its helicopter and sharing a landscape he has spent decades exploring from above.

For Dug, flying at Clayoquot is less about following a set route than seeing what the day might hold. “I simply can’t wait to start the day and find out what the guests, the guides and I can dream up to do,” he says. That might mean heli-hiking, fishing, sightseeing, or his favorite pursuit, “old-fashioned exploring by helicopter.” Even after four decades in the air, there is always another mountain, river, or stretch of shoreline he hasn’t investigated. What makes those flights especially meaningful now is watching others see the wilderness through fresh eyes. Guests’ reactions of “marvel, delight and awe,” he says, still warm his soul. Dug believes everyone who comes to Clayoquot should give themselves the chance to simply bear witness to the landscape. After all these years, he knows better than most just how much there still is to see.