After a great vacation up North, we’re back. But I’m left wondering why? Was it the traffic we missed? The heat? The crowds of people? It’s nice to be home, but I already miss the simplicity of being on the trail or on the road, far from phones and e-mail and everyday worries.
The Chilkoot Trail was a fantastic hike and has become my all-time favourite. There are many stories to tell and I haven’t even begun to sort through the 600+ pictures we took on that trip. I’ll probably set up a small website to cover it rather than try to cram everything in here.
Along with some great camping and fun in the Yukon, we also crossed off another item on the “have to do” list: a flight-seeing tour of some of the lower glaciers in Kluane’s St. Elias range. Words fail to describe the experience of soaring above those jagged ridges and massive ice fields in a little 5-seater Cessna. That flight alone probably accounts for a quarter of the photos we took. Stay tuned, there should be some good ones.
And now back to life in the city. At least I brought back some of that Yukon Gold.
Yesterday was my last evening class downtown, so I guess I’ll have to find another another excuse to take night shots from the False Creek bridges. This time I was prepared with two sets of fresh batteries and got to the bridge a little later than previous weeks to coincide with the fireworks.
I’m glad to report that apart from all of the tripod geeks there was at least one person using the railing to balance her SLR. I mastered my fear long enough to learn a few lessons about timing the exposure just right to catch the fireworks in full bloom. There’s quite an art to it: maybe with some more practice I’ll do better than 2 decent photos out of 40. But I’m satisfied with the results and I think I’ll take a break from heights for a bit.
The latest issue of explore features the “Life List 100: Things you have to do out there”:
The list of great Canadian hikes, bikes, paddles, climbs and must-see destinations is long, long, long. Life , on the other hand, is short. So get going.
So without further ado here are the ones I’ve done (and would highly recommend to others):
Update: Our recent trip North has pushed that number up to 21.
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So much for attempting a triathlon this season — I’m suffering from a neck injury that should keep me from training for some time. That bus driver was right to worry about me. The diagnosis: either torn connective tissue or a damaged facet joint in my neck. Thankfully, it’s much better since the weekend when I could hardly move my head at all. Painkillers and ice have helped immensely.
I think it happened early last week while helping Agnes practice for her lifeguarding certification. She didn’t escape unscathed either and is sporting one — possibly two — broken toes. So we’re in pretty sorry shape for hiking the Chilkoot in two weeks.
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