Wrapping up an amazing year of travel

Last March I reached a personal milestone: I have been to all 10 Canadian provinces and 3 Northern territories at least once. Business trips have helped immensely, especially to get to Canada's North.

Here's a quick accounting for 2014. Leisure trips with Jan took us to:

• Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a perfect yoga retreat with our local studio
• Yukon for hiking, camping, arts and culture and visiting friends this summer
• Adirondack Mountains in New York for further High Peaks bagging
• Toronto, ON to see friends 

On the business side, I added considerable mileage with trips to:

• New York, NY
• Boston, MA
• Phoenix, AZ
• St. John's, NL (twice!)
• Charlottetown, PEI
• Halifax, NS
• Haliburton, ON (twice, too)
• Midland, ON
• London, ON
• Toronto, ON
• Portage La Prairie, MB
• Whitehorse, YT
• Iqaluit, NU

I traveled about 70,000 km which is more than any other year so far. Put another way it is close to twice the circumference of our home, Earth.

For 2015, a few trips are already confirmed including a return to Halifax and a first trip to Regina, SK for conferences. We are looking at a return to the Yukon to keep exploring its wild places, perhaps combined with a first foray into Alaska. And it is time for a trip to Germany to see family and friends again, even though perhaps it will have to wait until early 2016 - we'll see. 

Meanwhile, Jan will kick of 2015 in amazing style with a few weeks to explore Ecuador from the Andes to its coast. Look for her blog posts right here as her adventures unfold!

Ah, so many places to go next!

Lesser 46ers deliver big

Gil brook near Indian Head 

We headed back country in the Adirondack High Peaks for the Labour Day weekend to enjoy the essential life of the outdoors for a few days.

It was a stellar weekend.

A lovely and very large camp site just for us.

The drive down on Saturday was fast, as I didn't need to stop in at US Immigration due to my still valid I-94. We left our car in a spot at the 73 at St. Huberts hiker parking that had just become available - sometimes, on one of the busies hiking weekends, it pays to arrive relatively late in the day. From there access to the back country runs through the private Adirondack Mountain Reserve - Ausable Club (A short history - driven by conservation). Mandatory trail head registration featured the Club's security person quizzing us on our overnight plans, whether we had bear barrels and so on. Satisfied that we were well equipped for 3 days he wished us a fine trip.

Inga on a cloudy Colvin summit.

After about an hour we left the private Lake Road, and within 30 minutes we located a designated camp site near Indian Head. Arriving much faster than expected, we decided to set up camp and then work up a proper appetite. As the trail became noticeably steeper that worked very well. By 6:30 pm we were set up by the brook to heat up dinner. An hour later dusk began to rapidly turn to dark.

The rain arrived on cue overnight. We lucked into a dry spell for breakfast and then headed out on the trail to Mt Colvin and Blake. These are two of the lesser 46ers. In fact, Blake is a historic artifact, since it is not quite 4,000' in height. (These two are 4,057' and 3,980' respectively.) However, the 46ers years ago decided to not alter the historic list just because newer surveys recalibrated heights a little better.

Hiking out on a super beautiful, sunny day.

Still life of boots drying and gear awaiting packing.

Summit-wise, neither offered us much: Colvin was engulfed in clouds and Blake is in the trees. Hiking-wise, we enjoyed the usual Adirondack wilderness challenges of steep, rocky and wet terrain that requires the hiker's constant attention and vigilance. One hallmarks of the remarkable technical hiking here is that the descent often takes as long as the ascent did; this 7-mile return took us about 7 hours through rain and clouds and mud. We met just 5 other people in 2 groups all day: When the weather forecast is for adverse weather, the back country-exploring population drops dramatically. This usually feels like a bonus; at least as long as the weather is "bad within reason".

By the time we settled back at camp to make dinner, the rain had subsided and we enjoyed a well deserved meal by our own private brook.

On Sunday, we had a leisurely morning followed by a quick hike out and a drive to Chapel Pond, the best High Peaks swimming hole. The it was off to The Cottage in Lake Placid for a late lunch, a bit of shopping and a beautiful drive home.

Best patio in Lake Placid! The Cottage at Mirror Lake. 

In recent years, wilderness has taken an ever greater place in my world. These days, it is the  perhaps mythical place where we can still roam freely that makes most sense to me. Living in a city, even one as splendid and close to the outdoors as Ottawa, has me feeling wistful for the essentialness, the self-reliance of the unpaved.

It's great to have the Adirondack wilderness close by and to have mountain excursions and wild places on my mind for the next adventure.

Fording Bullion Creek (video)

We don't usually cross creeks like this in the Eastern part of the country. So it was exciting to feel the power of the water tugging at our legs as we dealt with the largest obstacle on Slim's River West trail. Enjoy.

Slim's River West, Kluane National Park

Happy: Jan. 

The last substantial hike of this Yukon trip took us to Kluane National Park, located a couple of hours from Whitehorse in the Southwest corner of the Territory. We opted for a relatively simple trail along Slim's River West/Ä’äy Chù West, which is entirely located inside the Park. The 22.5 km long trail features a wide variety of mountain features, alluvial fans, brush, sand dunes and creek crossing. The crossing of Bullion Creek made us stop and think. These glacial waters run fast, cold and quite high. Wading through such waters has not been part of our regular outings, so we were happy to have paid attention at the briefing with Parks staff.

Beautiful mountains, river and valley.

We also had been told that this trail has frequent bear activity. Around km 16 as expected we spotted a grizzly heading across the slope toward some tasty berry bushes. As we hiked hugging the river rather than the mountain slope, we decided to proceed and kept an eye on the bear until it disappeared into the bushes. A few minutes later, we saw him stand up on his hind legs, look at us and sniff - he had noticed us by the river as we were now perpendicular to him and he might have heard us finally as we moved up-wind - then turn and run off. Clearly this adult had better things to do than be near a couple of hikers.

See the grizzly? 

We continued on our way, happy and content that this would be a bear observation rather than an encounter. We made it to the camping area at Canada Creek in just under 8 hours. Like in Tombstone I was a little under-fueled in the last hour or so of the hike - which also happened to be the part of the trail with some steep ups and downs, even though they are not that sustained - and ended up hauling out the last piece of tastiest salami EVER from my bear canister. I needed that!

The many parts of Canada Creek heading into Slim's River.

We set up camp in the open area by one of the

Our tent fit the vast landscape well.

many arms of Canada Creek. Four other tents were there belonging to three separate groups. One group was hanging out at camp. Two other pairs were still out at Observation Mountain. We met up with each later in the evening to hear about their fairly epic 10-, 11-hour days of route finding, impressive creek crossings, awesome views and generally exhilarating hiking. One had gone fast and light, the other carried overnight gear just in case. All were elated.

Glaciers above the toe of Kaskawulsh glacier.

We decided that if we were to head up Observation Mountain, we would want to get an early start so we could avoid the very high water crossings both of them described. As it turned out, sleeping in was the order of the next day and we spent a few hours exploring the Canada Creek area below Observation Mountain toward the Kaskawulsh glacier.

In the afternoon we met up with three new arrivals at camp. They had had a whole different kind of encounter with two juvenile grizzlies over about four hours and were ready to relax and take it easy. We decided to hike out together the next day, as there is considerable safety in numbers. We enjoyed campfire chats with Colleen, Tom and Danielle. As it turned out Colleen and I had met before through my work in the performing arts! It was surreal and fun when we both realized that we were having a quintessential"small world" moment in the Yukon wilderness.

This is what wind looks like.
Foot of Observation Mountain.

The hike out the next day was uneventful, despite the occasional route finding challenge along sections of the high trail. Jan showed us all the perfect spot for crossing back over Bullion Creek and we said our good byes that evening at the trail head. We drove to Haines Junction where we camped at Pine Lake, after enjoying a well-earned meal at Frosty's. The next morning, we headed for breakfast and then to the Da Ku Cultural Centre. Then we returned to our Whitehorse "base camper" to see our dear friend Michele, her sons and the dogs for an awesome weekend of memorable meals, meeting lovely dinner guests, beautiful Okanagan wine and fruit, walking with the dogs, and all manner of stories and music.

I made fire ... which was easy to do with the tinder-dry wood
and constant wind.

This was our last weekend. I found leaving hard. Both the unique geography of this place and an indelible sense of an expanded family have been imprinted on my soul. I think it may be the closest to home I have ever felt.

9 hours in Dawson City

Our Tombstone hike out delivered us to our SUV around 10 pm with the sun high in the Northern sky. After high fives and trail head selfies, we headed to Dawson City. We knew that the Dawson City Music Festival was on that weekend, which likely meant little chance of vacancies or camping. But 5 days of oatmeal, an assortment of trail bars and re-hydrated vegetarian dinners had me craving meat protein, so off we went.

The entertainment.

We arrived in Dawson around 11:30 at night and quickly learned the only place to eat was Diamond-Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall. We giddily entered an alternate reality in "Canada's first casino" complete with the midnight show, gamblers seeking fun and fortune, plenty of drinking and, yes, a late-night kitchen. Jan bought us beers, I got myself a cheeseburger with a side salad ('cause that was the more healthful option) and Jan had veggie pizza. After the show I had another cheese burger and another pint. I was happy.

By 1:30 in the morning we needed to sleep. We pulled into an RV / camping spot, parked in a quiet corner and slept for a few hours in the SUV. We left before the office opened (we would have happily self-registered but there was no such option) and headed to the Eldorado hotel for an early breakfast. I consumed all manner of protein to last me until dinner in Whitehorse.

Before embarking on the 500 km trip back to our "base camper" in Whitehorse, a hot shower, a brief catch-up visit with a friend and a lovely dinner at Burnt Toast (yeah to locally made Elk and Blueberry sausage), we took a few photos around Dawson to remind ourselves why we'd want to come back to spend some quality time that includes day-time hours. (Click on pic to enlarge.)

Every town needs a theatre!

Open every Friday noon to 5 pm.

"Romance Capital of the Yukon"

How to maintain that historic Gold Rush feeling.

Tombstone's flora

Among the formidable aspects of Tombstone's beautiful tarns, soaring cirques, ragged mountains and wild moraines is its multitude of vegetation. While much of it is tiny, it is amazingly resilient: after all much of this land is alpine tundra. Following are a few close up impressions. I checked on names in The Boreal Herbal by Beverly Gray (Great to meet and chat with Bev at the camp fire in Atlin!) ... If by chance you know these plants or their uses, leave a comment and I will update accordingly. Other than that simply enjoy the minuscule majesty of these plants!

(I took all of these pics at Divide Lake. Click to enlarge.)

Nature's rock art.

Geoblock appears just like square foot gardening.

1:

2: Labrador Tea (use leaves and flowers)

3: Arnica (heart-leaf)

4: Arctic Cotton

5: 

6: 

7: Lungwort (use leaves)

8: River beauty (use leaves and flowers)

Tombstone Territorial Park shrouded in magic

We spent 4 days back country hiking in Tombstone Territorial Park. A magical place deserving of much more of our time! (Click on pics to enlarge.)

Marmot Meadow featured marmots, pikas and
ground squirrels, but no bears.

The 7-hour drive from Whitehorse is scenic, of course, and the first 10% of the Dempster Highway we drove were in great shape even though it is unpaved.

We booked the Grizzly, Divide and Talus Lakes campsites - the only 'developed' sites in the Park - complete with 10' x 10' tent platforms, cooking shelter, outhouse and even grey water barrels. When visiting this well-established loop, booking is necessary. Other than that, trekkers can hike and camp anywhere; the message that this is remote wilderness where people are expected to be self-sufficient is unambiguously communicated.

Ground level clouds roll in at Grizzly Lake.

The first night we camped close to the Visitors Centre awed by the beauty of these mountains already. The next morning we got our back country permits, a briefing on what to expect and off we went. As we hiked up Grizzly Ridge the rain started to move in. Still, we enjoyed the varied mountain terrain and reached Grizzly Lake in just under 6 hours. There was no-one else until another couple appeared later in the evening.

Jan descends Glissade Pass. Fun boot skiing.

Our new ultra-light tent (Big Agnes) would got its first wet weather test. Happily it stayed dry, kept us warm and we discovered that the fly sheds water so that it's not even wet when packing it despite some heavy rain.

The next day, we set off to Talus Lake via Divide. This meant crossing Glissade Pass with its 1,400 feet elevation. We had been told that it can be arduous especially when carrying weight. Alas, we were prepared for this terrain.  Even the rain held off for some of the hiking; it resumed as we finished putting up the tent at Talus. It was amazing to have the whole valley to ourselves.

Talus Lake was dramatic and our tent was perfect!

There will be a break in the weather!

On our third day in the back country, rain had been with us every day: the clouds revealed and obscured these rugged and ragged mountains creating ever-changing moods of light and dark; a feeling of a landscape shrouded in old stories and ancient spirits. We had been walking all alone among them.

That evening we went to Divide Lake - a short 2-hour hike. As the weather improved we met a few people: four Germans including two lone hikers and a couple of Canadians. The most impressive itinerary belonged to Andreas from Stuttgart: a 3-week self-supported trek throughout the Park. His gear was remarkable: from a tent weighing 350 grams to carrying Pemmican, nature bars and dried fruit to eat, so there was no need to carry any cooking equipment at all. That is a kind of wilderness experience to which I can merely aspire! (I think we could manage a good week given our much lighter equipment now.)

The next day we set out on the long trek back to 'the other world.'

The clouds lifted in the morning and we enjoyed ever-changing light, stupendous views of ridges, rocks and mountain tops for our 9.5 hour hike out. Glorious. And leaving us wanting so much more.

Divide Lake turns mirror-like
as we arrive for the night.

Overlooking Grizzly Lake and seeing the surrounding
mountain tops on our hike out.

Photo essay: Yukon Wildlife Preserve

Woodland caribou

This 700-acre preserve features large Northern animals that can be difficult to see otherwise. We spent a few hours walking the trails and taking pictures. We finished this outing by heading to the end of the road to the Takhini Hot Springs for a drink and a snack. Then we drove back to our friend's place in Whitehorse to eat, drink and be merry (no doubt!)

With that a few close ups of great Northern animals! (Click to see larger)

Spot the Canada lynx cubs!

Dall sheep on mountain side

Musk ox

Wood bison

Thinhorn sheep

Elk

Birds

Arctic ground squirrel

Mule deer

Arctic fox

Montana Mountain in Carcross, YT

View of Winy Arm from the Montana Plateau.

Montana mountain looked like a worthy target for a day trip from Whitehorse. The information on www.yukonhiking.ca was excellent and helped us in our trip planning.

We talked to the Carcross Visitor Centre staff and decided to take the Sam McGee trail and then connect it to a scramble up to Montana's summit at 2,205 m (7,230 feet).

View across the Plateau toward Mount Matheson.

This route meant we traversed about 5,000 feet in elevation and went through a series of eco-zones ending up in the alpine. While the day started with clouds, they cleared completely through the afternoon and we got to enjoy a brilliant orange sun set around midnight on the drive back to Whitehorse.

One of he great things about hiking in the North in July is that daylight is near-endless. In fact, in early July, Whitehorse gets about 19 hours of daylight with the rest twilight. That means start times are often of little consequence (except perhaps if the hike features major creek crossings; those are often best accomplished early in the day.)

Crossing small snow fields along the way.

Mountain Hero!

On the way up we took the detour via the old tramway which meant bushwhacking for an hour or so through small brush on the way to the Montana Plateau. We skipped that happily on the way down for the much shorter direct route that is part of the awe-inspiring Mountain Hero bike trail.

Summit happiness.

The Montana Plateau is a beautiful space with several peaks in easy range.

We summitted Montana, the highest of them, around 7 pm after 6 hours of mostly uphill. Once we got onto the scree field on Montana we picked our own path among the rocks to the top. It was a fun summit that offered stunning views of Windy Arm on Tagish Lake and the surrounding mountain ranges.

Summit view toward the coastal ranges.

The way down went fast at about 3.5 hours. We arrived at the parking area around 11 pm, happy and content.

One the way back to Whitehorse, we briefly stopped at the Carcross Desert to learn that these are really sand dunes dating to the last ice age and now replenished by sand from nearby Bennett Lake.

We also encountered a rabbit, a fox and two black bears while driving up the Klondike highway.