Most people put little to no thought in their commute to work.

They get dressed, maybe grab a cup of coffee, and climb in their car or truck to begin the drive to work.

The uneventful trip takes place in a car that is warm in the winter, cool in the summer and blocks out the rain. It’s a bond we all share, well, most of us.

When you work on an island in the middle of Old River, the commute to work is a little more adventurous and uncomfortable.

That’s because for those who work on the island, which is a major hunting and fishing site, their commute to work begins in dusky darkness and includes a couple of small motorboats.

“It’s a chore to go to work with this crew,” Giles Island assistant chef Blackie Williams said. “It’s work to get to work.”

That work consists of battling through the growth that builds up in the stagnant water near the bank of the river, braving the cold air in the winter once they hit open water and watching out for the large number of alligators that make their homes on and around the island.

“The gators are everywhere around here,” Giles Island Manager Jimmy Riley said. “But they usually stay out of your way unless you’re fishing and bring fish in. Then they’ll get close and try to pull your fish off your line.”

But the more pressing concern for those who make the trip out to Giles Island each day is navigating the boat through the thick brush that grows in the water the first 100 or so feet from the bank.

“During the summer it’s awful,” Giles Island housekeeper Debbie Ezell said. “It’s so grown up that you can’t hardly get through it. It takes some skill and talent to know what to do. It’s amazing how you have to work to get it done.”

The growth got so bad that Riley had a crop duster come in and spray chemicals on it in order to kill it so the boats could go through more easily.

The boat operators also have to make sure that the underwater growth doesn’t get tangled in the boat propeller.

“If that happens, you just put it in reverse,” Giles Island head chef Robert Bynum said. “That gets the propeller running backward and untangles the mess.”

But while navigating through the brush is a nuisance, the five-minute trip from the levee in Concordia Parish to Giles Island can also be a bit dangerous to those who aren’t careful.

One such person who wasn’t careful ended up clinging to a tree in the river after falling out of the boat while making his way to the island several years ago.

“After he fell out, the boat kept going,” Riley said. “It went in some brush, turned around and came right back at him. He tried to grab on to it and broke his thumb. It went into some more brush, got turned around and came at him again. He dove out of the way of it. It finally got caught up in a willow tree, running wide open pointed straight up in the air.

“He tried to swim to the island, but he was probably about half a mile away when he fell out. When we found him, he was clinging to a tree about 40 yards from the island. He just couldn’t go any farther. We took him into a cabin and turned the heaters up full blast to get him warmed up. He was OK after a while.”

Precautionary measures are a part of the trip for Riley and other Giles Island employees now, but work at the hunting lodge and camps does come with a learning curve.

Giles Island secretary Rebecca Nelson didn’t quite know what to expect when she applied for the job in November.

“When I first came out here the first time I was wearing high heels,” Nelson said. “I never had been in a boat with high heels before, so it was a little weird.”

Nelson quickly learned from her mistake, and now wears boots on the boat ride while carrying another pair of shoes in her purse to change into once she gets to the Giles Island business office where she works.

Nelson doesn’t have to get to the levee quite as early as the others.

While the hunting camp workers start their day at 7 a.m., Nelson will arrive at the levee at 8. Someone from the hunting camp, usually Bynum, will pick her up and take her to the business office.

While one of the perks of her job is the outstanding view of the river from her office — she saw hundreds of pelicans sitting on the water one morning recently — a drawback is that once she gets to work, she is stuck there until someone comes and picks her up in the boat to carry her back to shore.

“You have to not mind being by yourself,” Nelson said. “You’re stranded until somebody comes back to get you. But I really enjoy it. It’s adventurous and you never know what you’re going to see in nature. I’m an outdoors person, so this is right up my alley.”

And really, why settle for a boring car ride to work when you can brave the weather and get close to the outdoors on an early morning boat ride?

At least that’s how Nelson sees it.

“I love to go across to the island,” Nelson said. “It’s gorgeous. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”