1 week to take off

In a week we are heading North to Whitehorse and to explore the Yukon's amazing landscapes, people and cultures.

We're just about ready:

• Air North tickets are booked
• truck rental is booked (well, we left that a little late, so there were no cars or SUV left - lesson learned!)
• our satellite phone loaner from Iridium - the rugged 9555 - has arrived and I've started putting in important phone numbers just in case
• gear testing is complete - love the new super-light Big Agnes tent
• our lovely Whitehorse host has been so helpful and we are stoked to spend quality time
• we have our house sitters briefed on all things house so they are comfortable while staying here

I have just a few small things to update, like my trekking poles, get a few more light hiking socks and decide which few pieces of trekking clothes to bring to maximize on layering and be ready for cold nights while optimizing weight to performance ratio.

The only booking we'll do is camp sites in Tombstone. While we could camp anywhere in the park, there is a 3 lake circuit that looks amazing and as such there's a limited number of campers allowed which in turn requires booking in advance.

While I have been to Whitehorse once before, and have managed through work to touch down in all three territories in the last 3 years, it will be Jan's first time up North.

Meanwhile, an article I wrote about our recent mountaineering excursion to Bolivia and specifically the opening up of new climbing access in the Cordillera Real's rarely visited Chachacomani area will be published in the July issue of the Alpine Club of Canada's Gazette.

A Giant - Esther weekend

Actually Esther at 9.4 miles (15.2 km) return was a longer hiking day than Giant's 6 miles (9.7 km). Especially the way we did it this weekend: for Esther, we parked at the Reservoir which adds 2.6 miles to the return trip. Esther is the kind of herd path that is impossible to lose, and best of all, it follows the ridge with just small up and downs to get to the summit once we turned off the main trail to Whiteface.

Inga posing on Esther's summit. The clouds were thick,
there was a little bit of sleet, views non-existent, but that
was all  secondary to making it up in the first place.

The trail was very wet, with muddy puddles on flatter parts and running water most everywhere else. The picture below doesn't quite do that part justice. In any case, we did our best to walk right through it all and not make new detours that further erosion. Happy to wear my backpacking boots, which are water proof. Even though I never bothered putting on gaiters, the wet stayed out despite "testing" a few rather deep.

This 6.5 hour excursion, featuring over 3,000 feet of elevation difference, I did with a 40 lb backpack - for training purposes; made the gluteal muscles take note as well as the knees, while merely 'massaging' the feet and ankles.

Summit plaque commemorating Esther McComb's first
ascent in 1839 at 15 years old. Just for the joy of it.

After another easy camping night at the ACC Montreal's Keene Farm property - this spot is like a home away from home having spent many nights both in the hut and camping - we embarked on the shortest route up Giant.

Jan provides gorgeous scale on open ridge
below Giant's summit.

This is a very pretty and varied hike, passing 2 mountain-side lakes (Giant Washbowl is aptly named), and rising steadily by over 3,000 feet almost right from the roadside parking area near Chapel Pond. The sunny weather made us appreciate the alternating shady wooded sections and wide open ridges with gorgeous sweeping views. The summit affords beautiful views of the Dix Range and over to the Great Range. We took 2:30 hours up and 2:10 down - with much lighter packs. Well, Jan could certainly do this faster, so I always go first to set the pace :)

View from Giant's summit across into
the Dix and Great Range.

Esther is our 19th 46er. Giant was our first in 2007 just ahead of our trip to Argentina and our first foray into the higher altitudes with a trek to Aconcagua's Plaza de Mulas. That feels like such a long time ago considering our varied trekking and mountaineering ventures covering much mountainous ground in North and South America and even a challenging foray along Germany's Rhine river. Still the Adirondack's High Peaks are our best training and proving grounds, where miles and miles of steep, technically demanding climbs - usually more difficult than anything we've encountered on most other routes - help us get trail fit for our further afield adventures.

Algonquin Park

We spent the May long weekend in Ontario's Algonquin Park (of Group of Seven fame), because the Forest Rangers in the Adirondack High Peaks asked hikers to stay below 3,000 feet until the ground was dryer. As we are preparing for our 3-week jaunt to the Yukon this July, we wanted to test our brand new, super light Big Agnes tent (1.6 kg total down from about 4!); give our gear a good test run and do some long hiking with (reasonably) heavy backpacks.

We had hoped to do the full Highland loop, alas all back country sites were already booked (hard to get last minute bookings in Algonquin), so we settled in at the Lakes of Two River campground. Then we day hiked the larger 19 km loop around Provoking Lake. (Check out Jeff's awesome map of the Park!).

The next day we did a series of the short hikes all along highway 60 as we slowly headed toward Ottawa.

All in all, a successful weekend.

Jan overlooking one of many lakes.

Algonquin is gorgeous, even as it is much flatter than the High Peaks
it does present some fine challenges back country.

This warning is for tourists, the kind that wear flip flops
and bring no water or food along.  

In May signs of spring were just starting to come through.

Exuberant first flowers.

Great day hiking - in total we took about 6.5 hours for the 19 k

See the woodpecker pecking? 

We did stop in Eganville's Schnitzel Haus
on the way back to Ottawa for this fine meal.