Inuvik (Aug 22/03) - Campground attendant Albert Rufus knows a lot about camping and life on the land.

He enjoys the outdoors so much, he refused to be born at the nursing station.

"My parents were reindeer herders," Rufus said. "I was born 10 miles out of Tuk, while my mom was on the way to the nursing station."

This is Albert's second season working the gate at Happy Valley Campground and he really enjoys meeting the people who come to stay there.

The campground opened June 4 this year and Rufus said business was steady until July when they were busy all month.

"During the festival weekend, we had the Midnight Sun Caravan pull in here," he said. "There were 20 RVs from Ontario."

The campground has been full to capacity three times since then.

He said they get people from all over at the campground, using all types of transportation.

"We had one 72-year-old man who pedaled a bicycle right from Vancouver," Rufus said.

"There were a few who bicycle from Whitehorse right to here.

They also had a group of people who had canoed down from Colville Lake stay at the site.

His daily duties include registering the campers, keeping the washrooms and campsites clean and patrolling the site.

The traffic has slowed down quite a bit this month, but he says they still get pretty busy on the weekends.

Depending on the weather, the campground will likely stay open until Sept. 1.

"Last year they were open to the 10th of September."