Photos from the first part of the voyage NL 2015

Here is the first instalment of photos from our trip to Newfoundland and Labrador with Adventure Canada. I haven't used this way of uploading before so this is an experiment.

https://picasaweb.google.com/104135492874704004816/NewfoundlandAndWildLabradorPart1?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Fleecy clothing and rubber boots

Out on the land in the rain

I know a lot of people think that I'm out of my mind but I was perfectly happy the last two weeks travelling the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador where the daytime highs were around +5 or +6 celsius.  I was sometimes cold but never when we were out on the land and the only time I wore my long-johns was to bed one night. To me the temperatures were perfect for hiking. If we were headed up, which we mostly were having started off from a ship, we warmed up quickly and it was easy to unzip the rain jacket and pants to get some ventilation. If I then cooled off too much I simply zipped up again.

Modern shipwreck

One time I dashed out onto the bow deck to photograph icebergs without anything more than a t-shirt. By the time I'd spent 5 minutes out there I was happy to get back into the restaurant. The day we hiked in the rain I was glad enough to get into dry clothes at the end of the hike but the grey moving fog and the shipwreck made for marvellous photo opportunities.

Adventure Canada provided us with rubber boots

It would be different if I were out on the land with a backpack and a tent. Then getting warm would have been quite a bit more complicated.  As it was we huddled against the wind and the spray on the ride back to the ship and then went into a nice warm cabin, got a cup of tea which was always available and changed into non-sweaty clothing. It is a luxurious way to travel and, at this point in my life, I'm all for it!

Riding in the zodiac

The Chilkoot Trail 1984 and 2013

Up up into the fog and rain

The saying goes that you can never go home again. I beg to differ.  You can, but you must be prepared for an entirely different landscape, both inner and outer.  In my case I'm not talking about a literal home but about retracing our steps on the Chilkoot Trail between Yukon and Alaska that we hiked 29 years earlier.

In the spring of 1984 Liz, Richard and I decided to hike the Chilkoot Trail.  Liz was living in Whitehorse at the time and we thought we'd drive up for a visit and the three of us would do the hike.  Perhaps it's just the passage of time, but I don't recall a lot of preparation going into the trip. We had tents, sleeping bags and stoves and we went out and bought packs. I probably did some walking and may have even done some walking with the backpack loaded up. In those days we'd been doing quite a bit of canoeing and some hiking. 

Getting food ready for the trip meant heading for the grocery store and laying in a supply of Minute Rice and some boil-in-the-bag dinners. For breakfast we had instant oatmeal and powdered milk and for lunch we had apples, peanut butter and cheese. Oh, and we had curry powder to give the meals a bit of taste.

The weather was perfect, sunny and on the hot side during the day with cool temperatures at night. We quickly discovered that the rations for breakfast and lunch were okay but dinner left us searching the bottom of the pot to see if there was any more rice left.

Going over the pass was tiring and chilly.  When we got over onto the Canadian side a ranger met us and fed us mugs of hot chocolate to warm us up before we crossed the snow fields. I remember the flags that marked the way through the snowfields and that Happy Camp wasn't particularly so we pushed on beyond Long Lake to the next campsite. We were pretty tired by the end of that day but the sun continued to shine and we carried on.  Instead of going all the way to Lake Bennett, we opted to walk out on the railway track to the junction with the road where we had left one car. Just as we got into the car to head for Skagway to pick up the other car it started to rain, the only rain we encountered on the whole trip.

Fast forward twenty some-odd years.  Someone, and I might as well take the blame for this, suggested that it would be fun to hike the Chilkoot again and take Liz's two grown children Ryan and Leah with us. The five of us camped together while they were growing up and we thought it would be a brilliant adventure to crown the camping experiences. 

In the summer of 2013, 29 years after we first hiked the pass we were ready to tackle it again. 

Richard and I had long since sold our small tent and the sleeping bags we had on the first trip had lost their loft and we had given them away.  We had a decision to make.  Would we make do with the equipment we had, I still had the original backpacking stove and it still worked, or would we buy new equipment?

After some deliberation we decided that we weren't as young as we used to be and that we should think in terms of what would make the journey easier on us.  We bought new gear.  Since the first trip Richard and I had learned quite a bit about how to eat well in the backcountry and in January I started searching the net for recipes and began planning meals and drying food.  By the time we were ready to leave each person had a large bag containing a series of smaller zip-lock bags each holding a meal. We packed one extra dinner for each person just in case.

We had a new lightweight stove that boiled water in a flash and a great gravity-fed water-purification system. When it was time for supper we'd boil up the water.  Each person would select a meal and pour boiling water into the plastic bag.  Then we'd mostly close the bag and continue with setting up camp for about 15 minutes.  By then the meals were rehydrated and still warm.  We even had brownies two nights.  There was minimal clean-up and we put the used food bags in the garbage bag and carried them out.  That part worked well.

Although I had been running half marathons and was generally in better shape than when we first attempted the trail, it was hard going. I fell the first day and hurt my tailbone and my shoulder.  It could have been worse for as I went down I thought I was going to pitch onto the steep slope beside the trail. Not the way to start a hike but, at least, I didn't need a helicopter to get me out.

The weather was not as cooperative either.  We had rain and more rain and we were pretty thoroughly soaked by the time we got to the top of the pass.  I don't know what our time was on summit day the first time but in 2013 we were on the trail for 14 hours.  The young folks were very patient with the oldsters who couldn't go nearly as fast as either group wanted to.

The trail, too, was very different. There was a board walk through a huge beaver pond that hadn't been there. There had been some landslides and  the switchbacks of the 1984 trail had been wiped out so that we found ourselves clambering over boulders to get to the top of the pass. It was exhausting.  Happy Camp was much happier than on our first visit.  There was a warmup shelter and a shed to store food in order to keep it away from the bears.  We were able to get warm by the stove if not dry.

The next day it rained again and we squelched on through the mist. We were disappointed in the weather.  The first time we did the hike we were treated to blue skies and wonderful vistas and while there was undeniable beauty in the rain-shrouded forests, it was not what we hoped to share the the next generation of hikers.  By the time we got to Lake Bennett the sun was out and we had a couple of days to relax and dry out before catching the train back to Skagway.

I'm glad we had the opportunity to do the trail again and to share the experience that meant so much to the three of us with Ryan and Leah.  It was very clear to me the day we ascended the pass that I would not being doing this trip again.  The difficulty to fun ratio was simply too high. Apparently there was a 75 year-old woman who completed the trail that summer. My hat is off to her but I'm not about to try it again.  To my way of thinking, we cut it close enough to the line the last time. I was working at my full capacity most of the time and felt that I had very little strength in reserve and in those situations it's too easy for things to go seriously wrong.

I'm grateful we had the trip and I'm grateful we were able to share a part of the country that meant so much to the three of us.  I hope that someday the young people will return to the Chilkoot trail  and hike it at their own pace. I hope the sun will shine for them, that they will feel fit and strong and that breath-taking vistas will wait around each corner.  As for me, I'll think twice about returning to some of the areas I always thought I'd revisit. I'm not sure I'm up to the changes.