Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

At the end of May, I was invited to give a workshop in Yellowknife (Thank you, Storytellers of Canada). This would be my first time really north in Canada. And I would again enjoy endless daylight as we did 6 months ago in Patagonia at the other end of the Americas.

The sunlight lasted from 4 am to 11 am, but the few night hours never actually got dark. It's more like the sun was hiding just behind the horizon making for amazing skies.

I found the welcome  by the conference organizers exceptional. (Ben was beyond gracious.) And the city, well it is different. Located 1,500 km north of Edmonton, Yellowknife is out there. Few roads exist in the NWT, so I stayed in town for an extra day and hiked around a couple of the many lakes, watched birds and enjoyed the amazing weather. Back country starts as soon as one leaves the built up city.

Would love to go to the Arctic Ocean next time  ... more than another 1,200 km north ... and Nahanni for some hiking. 

Walk around Frame Lake

The Legislative Assembly, NWT. Gorgeous location and
I was told the only round house using
Consensus Government. How cool!

At Bullock's. They boast the best Fish and Chips in Canada.
Filled with character, it was awesome,  as was the price

Great Slave Lake still iced up.

Chile volcano eruption pics

Dubbing itself "Probably the best (non-governmental) earthquake reporting site in the world" Earthquake-Report.com has assembled some of the most awe inspiring pictures as well as status updates on the weakening volcanic eruption.

Nature is a powerful thing. There's been quite a bit of seismic action in this part of Chile - happily none while we traveled in the area in December. I trust that Chileans will continue working together and make good choices to deal with the fall out from this eruption.

Volcano eruption in Chile

Chile is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire - the most seismically active region on Earth. Today, one of its many volcanoes erupted spewing smoke and gas up to 10 km high."End of the worlders" appear to relish in this occurance as another sign that the end is near.

I take it as a sign that Earth is alive and ever changing. And that it's good to pay attention when travelling as to where one is and what reasonable actions are to stay out of trouble. Chile's volcanoes don't present a huge threat to human activity, but when they erupt they create some challenges, in particular with ash and sulfur getting spread over large areas. The present eruption is the cause of a government evacuation order for about 3,500 people in the area.

Black underlines = where we travelled last year.
Red underlines - area being evacuated due to eruption.

English-language media has not updated its reports much it seems. I've tried to get a sense of the magnitude by looking at Chilean media.

The area affected appears to be just a bit north, maybe 100 km or so, of where we were travelling in last December near Puerto Montt/Cochamo. Click on the map to enlarge.

Chileans are a resilient people, who are accustomed to the big picture geographic challenges they live with. I hope and trust they will deal with this eruption by being smart and following the precautions to stay safe.

You might remember the huge 8.8 magnitude earthquake last February was a shock in particular as the tsunami that followed came without warning, which meant many people were caught off guard and had not gotten to the necessary higher ground. From what I've heard people now tend to self-evacuate when bigger earthquakes happen rather than wait to be told to seek higher ground. That is a good thing.

Knowing that many earthquakes have happened leading up to this eruption, might mean people were already alert to the possibility of a bigger issue.

Family pics from Germany

And here are some more great shots from our trip to Germany:

One of Gitte's awesome dinner salads. Yum!

Gorgeous summer days during the Rheinsteig hike in April :)

Gitte and Laura looking awesome.

Study: Wilhelm, apple and emply ice cream vessel.

Dwarfs - somewhat of a germanic obsession, possibly.

Sunset during our last evening in Germany. View from
Inga's brother's family house.

Impressions of Wiesbaden

For the record, a few other impressions from Wiesbaden and the Rheingau during our April trip.

Jan at my fiend Wilhelm's place in Wiesbaden,

Playing on public art in Wiesbaden.

Billboard ads on HIV.

Lovely architectural detail in Wiesbaden.

Jan and Laura on urban shopping in Wiesbaden's
pedestrian zone.

Sunday ice cream! Near Biebricher Schloss.

Rheinsteig - Dörscheid to Aulhausen (Day 3)

Day 2 ended  in Dörscheid just outside of Kaub at this beautiful, high-end country retreat - Landgasthaus Blücher, run by the Fezt family.

Day 3 - started with a lovely buffet breakfast and some first aid treatment for blisters. While Jan and I had no difficulty whatever with the weather and the attendant challenges of keeping ones feet from blistering (blisters really are type of  heat damage), Karl and Laura weren't so lucky.

Anyhow, I've never quite seen a blister as large as the one my brother sported on the ball of his foot. He decided to hike with Jan and I anyways, even as his wife and kids opted for a return home by train.

All six of us took off toward Kaub where 3 would catch the train and Karl, Jan and I would set out to hike - another 30+ km day with over 1,500 m in elevation change.

Jan in the vineyards above Kaub.

Customs house in the middle of the Rhine. Jan and I
visited there in 2004 - it was fun.

Trail markers - my fav is the wine glass :)

Click to enlarge for full enjoyment.

Heading down to Lorch - Karl left us here, so Jan and I
completed the final leg on our own.

Cigarettes are still available via
vending machines.

Steep vineyards in the Rheingau. Heading toward
Assmanshausen.

Evening light - with another couple
of hours to go to Aulhausen, our
final destination - and starting point.

Rheinsteig - Kestert to Dörscheid (Day 2)

Day 2 - After a fine breakfast and making our lunches, 2 of our group of 6 took the train to St Goarshausen to pick up the trail there, while 4 of us embarked on this 2x normal day on foot. We covered over 2,000 m in elevation, over about 32 km. A big day by most standards. We ended it with a tasty dinner and great night at  Landgasthaus Blücher in Dörscheid, just outside of Kaub. 

Military practice run.

It so happens that my brother and his wife redesigned the interior of several of the guestrooms, so it was great to experience their work in action.

With the heat on - Germany basked in a very early heatwave with high summer temperatures every day - the hiking in among trees was a welcome brake. We still got our share of open vistas - and a most unusual bird - in the form of practicing fighter jets and military transporters that used the Rhine valley for training.

It was just like during the cold war - and I think it was quite a shock to Jan, who had never seen such a thing.

Balcony art. It actually worked.

Sculpture along the trail. Some might have wished to
get carried the last bit into Dörscheid:)

Laura, Karl and Jan hiking on.

Beautiful greenery everywhere
and that in mid April!

Military transport dropping down into the Rhine Valley

Rhine is a very busy economic
artery connecting Switzerland,
 France, Germany and Holland.

St Goarshausen - on top of this rock is a vertical Steig
like they have in the Alps: fixed ladders, bolted to rock.

Castles around every bend
in these parts.

The views of the meandering Rhine are all so pretty
here. This from the famous Loreley.

Rheinsteig - Braubach to Kestert (Day 1)

During our recent visit to Germany we spent about 92 km hiking along one of the most impressive parts of the Rheinsteig - a fully developed hiking trail that runs along the right side of the Rhine river.The route is divided up into 20 "normal" day hikes of about 15 km each and might see an elevation gain of about 700 or 800 m.

We combined 2 of these "normal"days each day to make for awesome  hiking days instead; it was my brother's doing, knowing one could maybe take the train part of the way if needed, not ours:)

Day 1 - We left from Aulhausen by car and drove up with Braubach. That took just over 1 hour. Over the next 3 days we were to hike back through the awesome scenery this UNESCO world heritage site boasts. We covered about 29 km that first day and took about 7 hours of hiking time, plus a few breaks. It was a gorgeous day!

A few impressions from along the way on Day 1.

The Rhine river just south of Braubach - one of many fine
lookout points to admire the views.

My brother, Karl. He put the 3 days
together for us and his family.

The hiker's party, chatting with a couple of "Rheinsteigers"

Laura, Ninja and Inga.



Above the Rhine the path goes by fields and woods.

Hiking in Germany

Photo copyright: Rheinsteig project office

Just before Easter we are off to Germany for a few days of visiting my family ... and hiking! We will be staying in the Rheingau, a gorgeous part of the country, where some of the best wines are cultivated. From there, we have innumerable options for hiking in the woods, along the Rhein river and through near endless vineyards. One option we are considering is a 3-day hike up the Rhein along a trail called the Rheinsteig. The idea of walking out of the house, no transport needed, and just go is very cool.

Hiking in these parts is very well developed and not exactly roughing it. But we can get some serious mileage in and that'd be awesome. In the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis - the Taunus part of which I gre up in - there are many hiking trails we can pick from for shorter jaunts as we head off to see friends and family.

We will blog about the goings on while we are on the trails in Germany :)

Rainy season in Bolivia destructive

Associated Press image

The news from La Paz at the end of February wasn't all good. This la nina rainy season has been creating challenges across large parts of Bolivia. Flooding and mud slides have destroyed houses, people have become homeless. Most recently the news from La Paz, the large city built at the edge of the Altiplano, Bolivia's impressive high sierra sitting at 4,000m altitude, and reaching down the mountain sides into a valley at 3,000m, has seen bucking roads, and mud slides destroying hundreds of houses.

There have been no death reported. People self-evacuated when the saturated hillside started to move and the roads started to buckle.

Our first glimpse of La Paz in November 2010. Every inch
of the hill sides have houses, often right to the edge of the
sharply dropping sides. 

Here are a couple of articles in English that give a sense of what the local people are dealing with.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/massive-mudslides-in-la-paz-leave-older-people-homeless

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=134107477

Spending a month in Bolivia left us with a sense of a resilient people, helpful people despite the daily difficulties due to poverty. I imagine the community will help those affected and the public services seem to be responding quickly. Best wishes to Bolivians as you deal with this challenge and best wishes for finding new homes and basic necessities quickly again.