A quick trip to the snowy south – Queenstown ‘tramping’

This trip of four adventurous days with Matt was a blast and so good to catch up again. The first time in person since Christmas. We tramped 25 odd km around Ben Lomond for three days and had a day chilling out in Queenstown. We spent two nights camping, one up near Ben Lomond saddle in the snow and the other near the tranquil Moke Lake.

 

Map of where we went

Both having jobs now we didn’t think twice about catching the steepest chairlift in the southern hemisphere up the first 450m of elevation gain. BUT we stupidly forgot to buy gas for the camping stove before catching the chairlift!

 

We arrived at the top station, huddled in the cafe for an hour while the rain came down, then started our charge through the lightly falling rain. 20 minutes in, and like a light bulb going off in my head, I realise we forgot the gas. Matt instantly said, “oh well we’ll go without it. You can probably eat those freeze dried meals by adding cold water.”

 

I was like, “Woah, hold up. Let’s take more than 2 seconds to think about this!” The idea of no hot water for a couple of days camping in the snow didn’t sound appealing to me.

 

One of the problems we had was there was no gas available at the top chairlift station. And the other being we had return chairlift tickets so if we went down, then we’d have to pay another $39 for a ticket back up.

 

I thought it worth a shot though, so I called the chairlift reservations and plead my case for a free ride back up. Thankfully, after a decent think about it, and saying “this isn’t what we normally do”, she gave one of us a free pass.

We had gas.

 

So an hour and a half later we were back at the same point on the trail and on our way up the slippery, icy trail.

Matt on the climb up the slippery trail to the saddle which is visible in the background

Camping 1000m above the lights of Queenstown

The night was chilly, hard to say how cold but I think the forecast read -5. We spent many an hour that night huddled in our sleeping bags and talking away.

One of the things when you’re camping in cold weather is you’re in bed as soon as the sun goes down and you stay there until it comes up again. At this time of year the sun went down at 5:30 so we were horizontal for a good 15 hours. Needless to say we were pretty stiff in the morning and ready to bust out of the tent and stretch the legs.

 

We’d planned on climbing Ben Lomond (1710m) the next morning, but that wasn’t to be. Snow conditions were too hard, the ridgeline too steep and without crampons, neither of us fancied on giving it a crack. As Matt said “I’m not an alpinist and never will be”. His energy levels were down that morning. Probably something to do with those 15 hours horizontal I’d say.

Soaking up the morning rays – a great day when the sun arrived.

Matt’s comment about this picture – “Look at those wrinkles around my eyes. That’s not me. I’ll have to edit those out or something”

The morning did bring a lovely “bluebird” day though and we enjoyed roaming around the snowy plateau and getting a higher vantage point on the slopes of Bowen Peak. A few people passed our tent and one guy in particular was stoked with our effort of camping up there.

 

Over the next couple of days we finished off the tramp, descending north down to the valley floor along the Moonlight Track, and following the dirt road south west around to Moke Lake. It was very scenic being in the valley surrounded by mountains, and peaceful too. We only saw a handful of other people.

The night at camp 2 was so much warmer in comparison to the night camped in the snow

Not celebrating the summit – just posing for the hell of it

After a second night camping, Matt and I eventually limped down to Glenorchy Rd, he with his blistered heel and me with my tender achilles. We’d dashed into this tramp with next to no recent walks and, kind of surprisingly, were paying the price. We must be getting on at the mature ages of 23 and 27!

 

I stuck my thumb out waiting to hitch a lift for about 10 minutes while Matt changed and freshened up. After a couple of days without a shower we probably didn’t smell the best, let’s be honest. But literally, as soon as Matt is ready a car pulls over and whisks us back to Queenstown. Hitch hiking has never been so easy.

 

The following and final day of my quick trip, Matt proceeded to dissect me in a game of Frisbee golf. This was round two after we’d played the same course with fellow traveller/cyclist Lari 3.5 years earlier. He beat me then and he beat me again. This time by about 14 shots. Matt finished 4 under, a damn good effort that.

 

It was a bit sad leaving to head back to sunny Tauranga. Good quality time is much harder to come across now I’m living across the ditch. No doubt they’ll be another adventure around the corner sometime soon though. I have no idea where in the world it’ll be but it’ll happen.

Oxfam Trailwalker – 100km in 36 hours

What a tough weekend this was! Even reflecting on it a week and a half later it still doesn’t seem any less daunting. I’ve come to the conclusion there’s no easy way to walk 100km, regardless of how much training you put in you still have to grind out the distance and it’s inevitably going to take 24 hours or more (for a normal person!).

I’m making my first post in a long long time and it comes about for two reasons. 1. I’ve already penned the words which I posted to Facebook which makes it easier and 2. It was the hardest challenge I’ve ever attempted so it simply had to make a blog appearance.

It’s also my first post since I moved to New Zealand on 10th April, 2017 which obviously marks a pretty major milestone in my life.

So this whole 100km journey started back in September 2017 when I put my hand up at work to get involved with Oxfam Trailwalker. Gratefully my work supported Oxfam and got on board with my wacky proposal. Three of my fellow young colleagues (Bridget, Liam and Nathaniel) also (strangely?) thought it to be a great idea so we decided to give it a crack. The challenge was two-fold. Walk 100km as a team of 4 and raise a minimum of $2500 for Oxfam New Zealand.

The seemingly large fundraising target was a bit scary to begin with but as the months went by and we slowly ticked away the dollars, mostly through sausage sizzles and bake sales, we quickly found out the real challenge was going to be the walk.

So how did we prepare for such a challenge? By walking as much as we could but to be honest, I don’t think any of us did the ‘recommended’ level of training. It just takes up so much time! We did about five group training walks varying in duration from 5 – 11 hours with the longest being 50km. Most of them were only 15 – 30km so you can imagine how ominous 100km looms when you’re not even doing a third of it and it takes you a full day’s walk.

Rather than reword the Facebook post to fit my ‘intro’ (consider yourselves lucky to get an intro! ;), I’ve copied it verbatim below:

Posted 12 March 2018

“100km done in 32.5 hours for the Oxfam Trailwalker! A big thankyou to everyone who supported the “Water we doing here?” Beca team and especially to our four tremendous ‘on the day’ supporters for tending to our every need and getting us back on the trail when it was the last thing we wanted to do. We definitely couldn’t have done it without you.

Walking 100km was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. A big call but true. No intense pain, just an endless grind. It didn’t help that our team of four barely got any sleep the night before due to the impending early start and excitement (maybe 2 hours for me). 6am Saturday we got going, the slow, seemingly painless exercise of walking was so easy. What could possibly be hard about this?

7km – Overlooking picturesque Whakatane Heads

Check point 1 @ 16km was a welcome refuelling stop but we were all feeling good at this stage (you’d hope so only 4 hours into it!). From here it was 19km along the beautiful Ohope Beach to CP2, the hardest part being the sense that you weren’t making progress as the horizon didn’t look any different km to km. We were ‘boosting it’ though thanks to the firm, concrete like sand and arrived at our supporters tent in the early afternoon. 35km in, feet sore but mostly all good. Although I do remembering hearing comments of “I just can’t be bothered hey, how good would it be to just stop now” and “as soon as I sit down it feels like all my problems are gone” (may have come out of my mouth…)

22km – Still going strong along Ohope Beach

65km – Struggling big time at Check point 4

We had further breaks at 50, 65, 74, 85 and 92km. My lowest point personally was at 65km (CP4). It was 1am and we’d been going for 19 hours. I walked straight past the chairs and dumped myself into the car to get some shut eye. Apparently I ‘slept’ for 30 min but it felt like 10 min if that. I forced down half a burger, it was all I could manage, and trucked on through the cold night air.

One of our supporters was allowed to walk one leg of the event with us and Jakub was superb for us in this regard and kept us plodding along through the night from 65 to 85km. For me, the tiredness, the pressure on my feet from walking for so long, and lower back stiffness were the worst of it, so you could say I got the good end of the stick. My fellow team mates experienced bad chaffing (walking like a penguin for 35k didn’t look fun) and blisters that nearly forced our team down to three members.

A couple of times we implemented the power nap strategy where you’d find the most comfortable looking patch of real estate, laid down and got 5 min in (the gravel was super comfortable). I feel like it actually worked really well and apparently the marines use the technique so it must be ok.

At the 85km checkpoint I can remember one comment that summed up our mindset pretty darn accurately. Liam asked, “where’s my other shoe?” To his surprise, he found it right where he’d left it – on his other foot!

The last 5km were a real struggle for us, all hobbling along at our maximum pace of 4km/h. We’d all lost the ability to run and felt like we were as old as the km we’d walked. Crossing the finish line brought a mixture of feelings – relief, joy and disbelief. Disbelief that we’d actually finished and didn’t have to take any more steps.

I’m really proud that we were able finish this thing together and I’m proud of our support crew for being there through it all. We don’t often push ourselves to our limits and leap over such high hurdles. Thanks everyone! Cheers”

100km – Ruined but very proud of ourselves for making it. Back row (from left): Renee, Nathaniel, my girlfriend Ashleigh, me. Front row: Bridget, Jakub, Liam, Michelle.

A wet climb up Mt Bartle Frere 1622m

Yes, it’s been over a year since I last posted anything! But this latest adventure up Queensland’s tallest peak was worthy of a post.

The short story is we made the summit, but there were certainly unexpected difficulties along the way – the worst was the blood sucking leeches and a wet, slippery trail that went on and on through dense tropical rainforest.

The trail mostly meandered through wet, tropical rainforest

We started from the Josephine Falls trailhead (an hour’s drive south of Cairns) and finished at the Gourka Rd trailhead near the Atherton Tablelands – a distance of 15 hard km and some 1500m elevation gain and loss.

Even though it was supposedly the “dry” season, we were soaked in sweat only 10 minutes down the trail. The humidity was intense! The gradient started off pretty flat until we reached this incredibly picturesque creek crossing.

Splendid!

But as is usually the case, with good comes bad, and our bad came in the form of one small, black, wriggly creature – our first leech encounter…

I was slightly disgusted and definitely grateful that I’d packed the salt. Thankfully we found that the higher up we climbed, the less of an issue the leeches became.

The trail really steepened up between the 3 and 5km mark (note that the trail is marked in 1 km intervals, and regularly with orange arrows or tape), and left us gasping for air. Especially since we were lugging up 15kg packs. The kilometres seemed to go by at a snails pace.

Towards the upper slopes we entered into the clouds which was cool at first – turned out they never left us though and we didn’t get a view for the entire trip! Unfortunately this is apparently quite normal.

With several more stops we reached eastern summit camp (7km) after 6 hours, which we thought was pretty good…until we met another couple of guys who did it in half that time! And they made the summit and back down in the day.

Rain looked ominous, so we quickly set up the new tent and bundled into it for the night.

New tent – One Planet Goondie 2 – worked well

Unfortunately the weather deteriorated overnight and we woke to rain lashing sideways at the tent. The decision was made to stay put for the day in the emergency shelter, and we boiled the water that ran out of the shelter’s drain pipe for drinking.

Also worth mentioning is my phone got reception at eastern summit camp so I could advise of our change of plans.

The final day on 15 July was a solid one. Light rain lingered around all day and made the rocky section between eastern summit camp and the real summit painfully slow! Every step had to be taken with such care so not to slip. The rocks were large in this section and scrambling skills were definitely necessary.

Matt scrambles ever upwards

The summit was made 1.5 hours up the trail and then it was all downhill. The trail was less obvious on this side of the mountain, but we never made a wrong turn. And we didn’t make many stops cause we didn’t want to become leech lunch! Still, we both became lunch at some point…they got everywhere!

All in all, it was a successful trip full of new climbing conditions.

Funny thing was Matt found two leeches on his dirty clothes a full two days after the climb, 150km away from the mountain, after having gone through a washing machine…and still alive!

A leech ready to grip onto anything that runs into it

At the top!

Brisbane Valley Rail Trail cycle tour

The big tester ride for New Zealand is done and dusted. The Brisbane Valley Rail Trail proved a great ride and a success.

In preparation for our cycle tour of New Zealand’s south island at the end of the year, Matt and I were after a ride that would test out all of our gear and setup completely. So the BVRT it was. Plus, we needed to ride to find out if we even enjoyed cycle touring, given we’d never done it before!

Here’s the map I took along for the ride…the blue lines mark the open rail trail sections and the dotted lines mark the closed section of the trail, we had to ride on the highway along this section. We started down at Fernvale and made our way up to Blackbutt and back to Fernvale over 4 days and 250km.

Brisbane Valley Rail Trail map

We set off on Day 1 from Fernvale and rode the smoothest, easiest section of the whole trail to Lowood. It was quite unbelievable how easily the km’s ticked over. At Lowood Matt had his first and only fall trying to ride his loaded up touring bike around the local skate park…luckily only his pride was dented.

We pushed on from Lowood and found the largest old railway bridge out of all the ones we encountered. This one was over Lockyer Creek. It was interesting seeing all the old bridges and thinking how much harder the builders had it a hundred years ago. Quite impressive work, and to think it’s all just slowly rotting away now.

Old railway bridge over Lockyer Creek

As we quickly learned there were two constants on the trail – closed railway bridges, which meant descending into the gully and slowly pushing our bikes up the other side, and the other constant was opening and closing countless cattle gates.

Matt pushing his bike across the Lockyer Creek gully

One of many gates…

On the second day the funniest moment of the whole 4 days took place – well for me at least. We were riding along in the morning coolness about 10km north of Esk, Matt about 30 m ahead of me, when we saw a road overpass ahead. There were a couple of Council workers shovelling excess gravel off the overpass. So there goes Matt, “scrape”, “smack”. Yep they shovelled gravel off the roadway all over Matt, a good gravel shower to wake him up. How’s that for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

By the end of the second day we made it to Linville where we stumbled upon a brilliant free camping/caravan overnight area. Peter and Diane, a kind retired couple caravanning around Australia invited us over to their fire where they gifted us with hot tea, and we shared stories. Thankyou Peter and Diane for your hospitality! We were also gifted with a brilliant dark sky and the milky way stretched right across the sky. I love it.

Admiring the Milky Way from the dark skies of Linville. A couple of old rail carriages are here too.

By this stage, the end of day 2, I had planned to already be at the end of the trail in Yarraman but our progress was only 50km/day instead of 80km/day. We decided to make a big push for Yarraman on day 3 with our new technique…

One thing was clear, Matt was way more bike fit than me, so we decided that he should ride ahead of me and open every single gate, then I’d ride straight through, he’d close it, and pass me again. This technique helped us get up the range from Linville to Blackbutt in great time but it left me dead! I smashed a meat pie and coke and felt so much better!

We headed on towards Yarraman until a couple of kilometres down the trail we found it blocked off. It looked like it was temporarily shut until they got a chance to mow it, but there was no signpost explaining what was happening. After we had spent time trying to find a way around the fence, we realised the day was ticking away from us, and we both agreed to head back to the awesome Linville camping spot.

The point where we turned back. That arrow only lead to another barbed wire fence!

One of the most picturesque parts of the trail on the descent from Benarkin to Linville

Setting up our tent in Linville

When we began riding from Linville on day 4 we planned to camp again that night, but as the day progressed we realised we were flying through the km’s. Somehow I managed to find my legs and we powered through to Esk by 1pm. It was quite weird actually, I think my body just got used to riding everyday and made overnight adjustments to cope. I loved it! So after a big day in the saddle, 8:30 to 5pm, we finished off the 100 odd km back to the car at Fernvale.

What got us there? Definitely the thought of a hot shower and pizza! Wow, I downed that  deep pan pizza in 10 min flat!

So the big question is what do we take away from this ride?

• Highway riding with little road shoulder is best avoided. Especially when big trucks are rumbling passed. The highway section was the least enjoyable, so we’ll aim to ride as much off road trails as possible in New Zealand.
• Bikes performed superbly. My pannier rack fell off once because I forgot to tighten the bolts and Matt had one flat tyre. That’s it.
• I need to do some training!
• Matt needs some more spare clothes!

A great ride.

The next adventure – cycling New Zealand!

This one’s been in the works for a while but now it’s official! My brother, Matt, and I are going cycle touring in New Zealand at the end of this year for around 8 weeks. Interestingly this whole idea started way back on 19 July 2013, when I posed the idea to Matt on Skype from a McDonald’s in Paris! He was as keen as a bean from day dot.

Why cycle touring though? Well, both of us are right into bikes (as Mum would confirm by the growing number of bikes finding homes in every nook and cranny), cycle touring gives so much freedom and independency, it’s a physical and mental challenge, and it works for uni students on a budget. It also gets us out into the outdoors and the elements.

First the grand idea was to ride from the northern tip of the north island to the southern tip of the south island, and call it the “Tip to Tup”, the “Tup” being a play on words of how a Kiwi says “Tip”.

When I came home in November 2013, we delved further into research and decided to focus our energy on the more interesting places rather than just ride “Tip to Tup” because of two points on a map. So for a few months we thought we’d fly into Auckland on the north island and ride south to Queenstown, and across to Dunedin or Christchurch and fly home.

Only in the last couple of weeks have we had another change of heart and finally (I think) decided to spend our entire time on the picturesque south island. That way we can ride a big loop of the south instead of just one way, see impressive landscapes the whole time, plus the added bonus of quieter roads – considering only 1/4 of New Zealanders live on the south there’s bound to be less traffic.

I’ve also found hundreds of km’s of dirt road sections that will really make this trip unique and only doable on bike.

Maps, lists and books. All valuable information.

After we realised this was actually happening we quickly turned our attention to gear – specifically, what bikes were we taking? A pretty important subject for a cycle tour. I already had a mountain bike that could work, but Matt was in desperate need of a bike that fit his growing frame!

In January we hadn’t spoken about the trip for a month, when I said, “Hurry up and sort out your bike, time’s ticking.” To which he replied, “Are we still going? I thought because you hadn’t said anything lately we weren’t going anymore.”

“Are you kidding me!?!? Of course we are!” We couldn’t believe how fast communication can fall down even when you’re living together!

So with that anomaly resolved he got to work researching bikes. A process that lasted months, and convinced him at various stages on a cyclocross, road bike and 29er mountain bike. Finally though he got a 29er, which will be good for the dirt roads, and I stuck with my 26er.

My bike in the works

Tyres, bar ends, top tube bag, pannier rack and bags the additions so far

The preliminary gear list we put together is slowly but surely being ticked off. Tent – check, sleeping bag – check, bike spares and repair kit – partly checked. It’s taking a while to acquire gear because we are trying to get it second hand or at reduced prices. So far so good.

Our next step towards preparing for New Zealand is a practice 4 day ride on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail in a few weeks. It’s the only way to properly test our gear out and see what’s needed, what can be left at home, and see what we are getting ourselves into!

Not long ago Matt said, “The idea of touring seemed so much better when you were in Canada.” Now that the realities of keeping warm, keeping the stomach satisfied, and riding on roads with no shoulders have hit home everything isn’t as rosy as first imagined. We’ve already resigned ourselves to the fact that we are going to lose several kilos, but it will all be worth it no doubt.

Bay to Bay yacht race

If there’s been one constant in my life over the last 8 years it’s been the annual Bay to Bay trailerable yacht race. The 2 day, 87km race through the picturesque sandy straits off Fraser Island in Queensland has been a great weekend getaway with Dad.

Back in 2007 we started off in our 18 ft Compass Careel and had mixed results. By mixed results I mean some years we finished and some years we didn’t. When the wind don’t blow the boat don’t flow and we don’t make the time cut off.

We’ve definitely started a trend though. When we began we were the one and only Careel but these days there’s consistently 5 or more. Dad’s sailing mates have realised this is actually doable in a little Careel and it’s become quite the race for Careel supremacy.

Nowadays we’re in a bigger, but still not much faster Sonata 7 (23 ft). Let me tell you it’s so much more livable! A great overnight boat.

Through the Great Sandy Straits beside Fraser.

Dad and some of the Careel boys at Garrys.

Getting on to this year…2014 brought along the 34th annual Bay to Bay and it delivered spectacularly! Brilliant 5-20 knot winds from go to woah kept the pace high, so high in fact that Mad Max broke the course record! 87km in just 3 hours 41 min! We got home in 10 hours 40 min. Given that neither Matt nor I had sailed in over a year we did well.

Memorable moments of this year’s race was the drenching rain when we were rigging up on Friday night, the hairy moment when we almost tipped over on Sunday, the race to make the start line on Sunday morning after we slept in, and of course launching the boat at 4am Saturday morning at Tin Can – trying to navigate through the darkness to where we wanted to anchor proved a challenge.

It went a little something like this, “Alright, you’ll have to get out and push us off this sandbar” Dad said to a wide eyed Matt. When Matt couldn’t push us off, all three of us had to get out and push. Not the kind of thing you dream of, pushing a boat barefoot through pitch black water at 4:30am. Thankfully it was only knee deep.

“Keep splashing your feet around” was Dad’s uncomforting but welcome advice. Got to let those stingrays know your coming. Splashing was not a problem when Dad started power walking it out, pulling us in tow. He was running tight on time to drive up to Hervey Bay with the trailer and make the return bus. Good to know he made it by 15 min.

It was another great weekend away at the Bay to Bay.

Dave’s Careel weighted at the front for minimum drag, maximum speed.

Looking aft at the splendid spinnaker run past Turkey Island, always a highlight.

Climbing Mt Ngungun, Glass House Mountains

If you’re up at the sunshine coast in Queensland and are a bit awestruck by the Glass House Mountains, then make your way to the summit of Mt Ngungun (pronounced “gun gun”). It’s not hard or long. Two hours return is very achievable for most, and the views from the top make it one of the most rewarding hikes for the minimal effort required.

The 2.8km return hiking trail begins from a well marked carpark along Fullertons Rd, a few short kilometres from the Glass House Mountains township. The grade is a steady incline suitable for the whole family, although upon arriving at the 253m summit there is a dramatic cliff you’d need to keep kids away from.

If you find this trail a bit tame then head down the road to Mt Tibrogargan. It provides a testing scramble up to it’s 364m summit. To read about that climb click here.

My brother and I on the Ngungun summit (253m) with Mt Coonowrin (377m) and Mt Beerwah (556m) behind

On the trail up you get a nice view of Mt Tibrogargan

The final summit ridge is easily negotiated

More views from the top

The home run with Mum

My “gap year” as it’s called has sadly come to an end – 360 days away and once again I’m back home. For both good and bad.

It’s strange being back for sure, in one way it’s great seeing family and friends again but it’s also so much more boring. After being home for two weeks I’ve enjoyed relaxing in a way that’s not possible when you’re on the road, and I love watching the cricket again.

The last three weeks of my trip I spent with Mum who flew halfway across the world to see me. It really was such a perfect way to conclude my time away. I am thrilled that I got to act as tour guide and show her around the Canadian Rockies for two weeks and then another few days in Hawaii.

I certainly got her straight into adventurous trips…we jumped in a freezing cold lake, crawled into a cave, climbed a couple of mountains, rowed a boat, and did lots of hikes – even encountering a couple of moose.

It’s fantastic that we both share a strong appreciation of nature and she got to discover how beautiful mountains actually can be.

Mum climbed her first mountain, a solid eight hour day

Stumbling upon this moose couple was a lucky surprise

Maligne Lake on a stunning October day

More of the Rockies

As Hawaii is directly over the flight path home we thought why not stop over for a few days. So we did. We attempted Hawaii’s most famous hike – the Kalalau Trail which is on the north side of the island of Kauai. It follows the rugged Na Pali coastline which made for hard work going up and down, and through slippery mud.

The dramatic Na Pali coastline

We made it to the first camp after 5 hours which was 10km down the trail – sunset put an end to any plans of pushing on to the beach, another 6km away. Mum was happy about that!

Following that hike we didn’t have much time for anything other than a quick swim in the crystal clear Hawaiian waters and before we knew it we were flying home.

Mahalo (Hawaiian for thanks/regards)

Now that my big trip is over my posts will become a little more sporadic. Whenever there’s an adventurous trip though, you know it will be told on here. My next big trip in mind is cycling the length of New Zealand, Mahalo!

My first northern lights sights

At long last I’ve finally seen the northern lights!

Not just a dim green glow on the horizon (which I don’t count), but the no holds barred version – the full blown overhead real deal. Amazing! The green and red-ish lights flashed across the sky in an unpremeditated manner of madness. There was no pattern to them.

Now the challenge is to try and describe them accurately in words to someone who has never seen them. And that’s a challenge!

Even seeing a photo doesn’t portray them in their right light (excuse the pun). Generally an aurora photo is captured with a 20 to 40 second exposure, and so the colours come across as bold, bright and vibrant.

Seeing all those photos tricked my mind to expect that same level of vibrance, but they just weren’t (at least not this time). If they weren’t moving they would have honestly just looked like wispy, unassuming grey clouds with the faintest touch of green.

And that’s exactly what they did look like when I first spotted the faintest green “clouds” on the horizon.

A dim glow on the horizon

But boy oh boy when they move they move!

Appearing in the east sky, beams of faded green and red light proceeded to shoot across the sky from random places like a round of bullets. Each shot of light just a little different to the last. Each one swaying and wiggling just a little different to the last.

My camera’s limited 5 second exposure wasn’t the best tool for the job

At one point a battle ensued between red and green – the battlefield encircled by a ring of clouds. It was Harry vs Voldemort. The lights began shooting into each other. It was surreal. Unbelievable how perfect that scene appeared and so quickly disappeared. Sorry to say I can’t tell you who won.

All in all we watched active lights for at least a couple of hours, it was an incredible experience and I’m so grateful I did get to see them at last. Now I can go home satisfied.

Goodbye to summer in the Rockies

It’s now the start of October and a fluffy blanket of snow has tucked the mountain peaks to bed for the looming long and cold winter. The summer crowds are long gone and daily highs are now hovering around 10 degrees.

It’s the perfect time to sit back with a cuppa tea and reflect on what was one busy, adventurous and fulfilling couple of months. Join me in a recollection of events.

When I arrived back in Jasper in late July I wrote down a list of ten trips I wanted to do before summer was out, and blow me down I did them all!

With all my trips, and other trips going on in the meantime, there was always more to plan, organise or just jump aboard and go.

Given I was simultaneously working full time at the hostel there was no time to rest on a day off. My housemate and I pushed each other to do more and more, and on the rare occasion we found ourselves inside on a nice day we certainly heard about it from the other! It was great motivation and I can look back proud at everything I got done.

My Summer To Do List (in order of completion)

1. Beat Donny’s time of 1:39 up Whistlers Mountain.     Check Aug 1 with 1:35.
2. Get to Edith Cavell Meadows.                                        Check Aug 2.
3. Berg Lake camping trip.                                                  Check Aug 6,7,8.
4. Go whitewater rafting.                                                     Check Aug 19.
5. Climb Mt Temple.                                                             Check Aug 25,26.
6. Hike the Skyline trail in one day 44km.                         Check Sep 3.
7. Climb Mt Hardisty.                                                            Check Sep 9.
8. Climb Pyramid Mountain.                                                Check Sep 10,
9. Tonquin Valley camping trip.                                          Check Sep 16,17,18.
10. Maligne Lake canoe/camp trip.                                    Check Sep 30, Oct 1.

More trips not on my “list”:

1. Grouse Grind, Vancouver.                                                Check July 25.
2. Bald Hills trail.                                                                    Check Aug 13.
3. Maligne Canyon.                                                                Check Aug 15.
4. Sulphur Skyline trail.                                                         Check Aug 21.
5. Sunrise kayak on Pyramid Lake.                                     Check Aug 24.
6. Plain of Six Glaciers trail.                                                  Check Aug 25.
7. Palisades Lookout.                                                            Check Aug 30.
8. Slept on top of a mountain.                                             Check Aug 31.
9. Climbed Mt Tekarra.                                                         Check Sep 3.
10. Photographed a wedding.                                               Check Sep 28.
11. Horseback riding                                                               Check Oct 6

Palisades Lookout – WOW! The two hour uphill slog on a bike was worth it.

Rafting! That’s me taking cover front left

Waking up on top of a mountain was both strange and very awesome.

Sulphur Skyline hike.

Photographing my first wedding was a great experience for me.

And horse riding today – our end of summer staff event.

To try and pick my favourite trips is hard as every one is so different and they are all great but nonetheless I devised a system that works. Are you ready for it?

To pick my top four I simply asked myself, “if I could only take home the memories from four trips, and all the rest would be forgotten, which ones would I choose?”

And that brought me to my top four…in no particular order.

Berg Lake, Mt Robson Provincial Park

An awesome three days and an exhausting 80km of backpacking with Ben around the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, Mt Robson.

Berg Lake was freezing!

Mt Temple, Banff National Park

A quick two day run down to Lake Louise with Donny, Arne, and Jakub to summit the giant Mt Temple.

Descending Mt Temple

Peyto Lake

The Skyline Trail, Jasper National Park

One monster of a day hike with Grayden, Laura, and Joel. 50km along the premier Skyline trail including two mountain summits along the way.

The Skyline trail was captivating!

Maligne Lake canoe trip, Jasper National Park

The most recent big adventure, a two day canoe and camping trip with Jackie and Joel to the far end of the breathtaking Maligne Lake.

A well earned break at Spirit Island, Maligne Lake.

Thanks so much to everyone who shared this memorable summer with me – the corner stones of a great trip are great people.