twodustysoles

Mammoth amounts of snow!

Just one days worth of snow. We averaged about 16-24 inches to shovel daily for 9 days.

What do you do on your 7th day snowed in? First, count your blessings that you have a couch to curl up on after shoveling ump-teen feet of snow again this morning. Then, you write a blog, a blog about the sunny days you had in Utah just a couple months ago exploring the canyons…

I will start off by saying, we have now spent 8 days in 4 walls and plumbing thanks to our kind friends who are letting us flop in their condo in Mammoth. We had planned to be here just a few days last week, but Mother Nature had other ideas. I’m not even sure on the storm totals, 15 feet, maybe more. I think once you hit the 2 foot mark its all just too much white stuff, so much that you can’t even ski, walk, snowshoe, or barely get out your front door. I grew up in a snow belt area in Michigan; I have no words to express how much MORE snow this is! The Mammoth area is experiencing the brunt of the “Atmospheric River” and we were lucky enough to be here to experience it. This morning Miren, Dizzy and I put on our snowshoes, did our morning routine of shoveling and tromped up to the van to see how she is doing. We are both feeling a little homesick and missing our cozy little home. Yes, we are crazy! but it is home. Prior to this week, we had only slept outside the van two nights since April! Creatures of habit and I guess even though our scenery has changed daily, our little van and home had not.

Dizzy would disappear in the snow and wondered where she was supposed to pee.

Let’s think about the warm sunny days we had in Escalante-Grand Staircase, Utah. Haha, I have to laugh at myself because even there, our time started with a 2 day rain storm that washed out Hole in the Rock Rd. We had to back the van about 1/2 mile up hill and around corners to find a spot we could turn around after coming upon the road being washed out. So we changed our hiking plans and ended up meeting Jessika and Sebastian, a couple our age from Germany who took a year sabbatical and are traveling the US in their Land Cruiser. It was fun to have them over to the van for drinks and the next morning see their vehicle over coffee. Miren and I realized we have it pretty good in the Van. They can’t even both be sitting in the back of their land cruiser at the same time and the pop up roof area for the bed is pretty tight and cold they say.

Hello from the top of Squaw Valley. That is Lake Tahoe in the distance.

…a week has passed since I was writing this post. My computer crashed and I am just now getting around to finishing up fixing it, fingers crossed. I will have to post the Utah pics in the future when I rescue them hopefully. Miren and I just can’t seem to escape the blizzards. Everywhere we go it seems to follow us. Great news is, our Inergy Kodiak Lithium Generator is performing very well. Hope we had expected our goal zero to preform. We are so happy to be rid of that piece of poo. In short, we went from a 110 pound piece of crap that would not maintain a charge, shorted out, and the display was inaccurate to a 20 pound! Yes 20 pound smaller generator that has been holding a charge for many days in below freezing temps and what really rocks; if we can’t get sum to charge, we can easily carry it in to a house, coffee shop, wherever and plug it in. AND it charges so much quicker than the Yeti did. It has been a huge relief for us. Now if we could just escape the blizzard dumps of snow! 🙂 Also like to report, the van drives like a champ in the snow and the chains have been getting a ton of use.

The wall on the left is about 8 feet. For days they did not clear this path and it was our only way out of the condo to the van… In snowshoes we still sunk to our knees.

Winter living in a van=not an easy life

Christmas Day Dizzy though she would break trail for us and soon realized she better stay a heeler at the heel

Winter came quick for us in the high Sierra mountains of central California. And not with a little taste of cold weather to get our feet wet. Instead we were plunged into single digit temperatures to learn that lead acid batteries don;t work for a darn in the cold, and that diesel gels when the temps drop below 15 degrees. What does this mean for van dwelling; a lampoons vacation style Christmas morning. How so? After not sleeping all night in the parking lot at Squaw Valley Ski resort due to a snow plow clearing the lot from midnight to 3:30 am around us, at 5 am our heater shut down with a flame lost error code. Okay, no biggie, we will just start the van in the 1 degree temps to warm up a bit before we go ski for the day in the 18″ of new powder they had gotten that weekend. What, the van won’t start….great, it’s bone cracking cold, our heaters out, the solar generator is dead, and the van battery is kapoot, what else could possibly go wrong? Just wait for it. So I get up and flag down a truck to give us a jump start. We then cook a little breakfast while trying to figure out what to do and ultimately decide we shouldn’t even try to ski on nearly no sleep for preservation of our bones. But now what to do about the heater, it’s Christmas Day and we haven’t a clue how to fix it and we surely can’t survive another night in these temps. Miren and I are realizing we will have to drive to warmer temps and somewhere we can get some help…and shelter thanks to friends! Ren and Zach, you guys are the best, thank you so much for letting us crash your space once again.

So while doing the breakfast dishes Miren begins laughing hysterically. I look over and all she can do is point at the waterfall of water coming in throughout the dome light area of the drivers compartment of the van. We both roll with laughter because what else can we do at this point. I think my abs are still sore from the laughing. After getting ourselves under control we do a little investigating and find that so much frost built up on the ceiling above the headboard of the van that as the sun warmed it, the water began flowing in. Okay, that is an easy fix, we can deal with that one. But what of the heater! We begin our 8 hour trek down to the Los Angeles area with temps barely coming above 15 degrees most the way. I finally decide to google if diesel can freeze. Duh! We are such morons! So turns out we will just have to do a little maintenance to declog the heater from the gelled diesel. Okay one more problem lifted, but what of the car battery getting sucked dry if we camp out for more than one night. Time to bite the bullet and put in an auxiliary battery for the heater. Luckily we found a shop in LA that would do it for a few hundred bucks, battery included and they are doing it now as I type. Okay, only one problem left; the dead weight solar generator by Goal Zero that is not making the cut in cold weather. On ebay it goes for someone who won’t be winter living with it and we will be trying out a new Lithium solar generator by a company named Enerplex. We will have that Friday and give it a go, fingers crossed.

Squaw Valley, Christmas Eve… Unaware of what we would get in our stockings come morning 😜

These are the stories of our travels I often think of avoiding to mention, but I realized we should give a better representation that this life is not the vacation most people think it is. Every day we have to research and plan just to have a place to sleep at night. We never know if loud machinery, roosters, or the ever noisy and rude humans will keep us awake at night. Nothing is routine, nothing is controlled, everything changes everyday. It’s not easy, and in the end it just has to be worth it for the individual. For now, Miren and I will press on, having more places and things we want to experience. Overall, we both know we are not lifetime travelers. We each have our days that we miss the security of a home town, friends, familiar places. Until the time comes when we settle down again, we will keep playing as much as we can. The ski season has begun and California is the perfect place to kick off this chapter of our travels. And with the security of the few changes we were forces to make, we will hopefully sleep a bit better at night knowing we won’t wake up cold, without lights, and with a dead van battery.

We had a little Christmas tree we made of pine branches, sage, and a few pine cones, but it dried out and we chucked it a few days before Christmas. We still enjoyed a little holiday cheer with our lights a glow

Breaking our own path through a winter wonderland salvaging a bit of Christmas Day

Mirror Lake in Yosemite. I could have planted myself on a rock and sat for hours in the stillness of the morning.

Yosemite was peaceful and amazing mid December. A morning run through the valley, it really can’t get any better than that.

Not sure if we mentioned Dizzy had a toe and all but 2 teeth removed in Nov. she is much happier now and her breath is amazing 😊

History, waiting for us.

Bandalier National Monument near Los Alamos, NM

October was the month of ruins. But first we kicked off the month with whimsically climbing Dizzy’s 2nd 14er, mount Shavano. We had intended to make it a “two-Fer” day (two 14000 foot peaks in one day) but wisely retreated back down Mt Shavano to leave Mount Tabaguach for another day. The wind was so strong and cold, even with covered faces we were becoming chapped and wind burnt. At about 13000 feet, two young men were huddled on the ground lying next to a boulder trying to catch a break from the wind. We had a brief screaming conversation as they wanted to know if the wind was less up above. I shook my head and laughed, which they could not see through my beanie and hood nor hear over the roaring wind. So I yelled, NO! Miren and I continued down the trail and shortly after glanced back to see they had chosen to turn back and were following us down the trail. We didn’t see them again but it was good to know they weren’t trying their luck with a good storm rolling in.

Tabaguach peak in the distance, what you can’t see is the freezing temps and pounding wind that stopped us from summitting it a well

Mount Shavano covered in snow the morning after we hiked it

That finished up our time in Salida, CO where we had played tennis in wind and blowing sand. After asking around, I learned that the area tends to be a bit breezy most the year. Hmm, I think wind is my least tolerable element.

A couple hours south of Salida we breezed through the Great Sand Dunes National Monument (I came away with a load of sand in my pants) and continued south to the Taos, NM area.

It’s not a full experience until you have sand in your pants

I had expected Taos to be much smaller than it was. Reporting a population of 5000, I anticipated a quaint little artsy town. Artsy it was with its Adobe style homes, businesses and galleries, lots and lots of galleries. Being in NM, we had to get some chili rellenos, and this started our love of rellenos and inspired us to start making them in the van. Did you know you can make pancake rellenos?

The town of Taos itself was a bit to tourist driven for me, and the streets were filled with exhaust as the main road through town was continuously filled with cars idling at the street lights and backed up trying to find parking. The surrounding area has a lot to offer outdoor enthusiast. We did some mountain biking, hiked Mount Wheeler, NM’s highest peak, and checked out the ski resort where we will hopefully ski later in the season as its part of our Mountain Collective pass.

The Rio Grand river below carving the Rift canyon

Our view from the top of Wheeler, yep, it snowed on us and the wind joined us again.

Amazing lightning storm rolled across the Rio Grand at us
We attempted to go into Taos Pueblo, the unchanged, unimproved original settlement of the Native people but were quickly turned around and shooed away as a funeral was taking place. To this day, the homes are passed on from generation to generation but few live in the dwellings with no running water or electricity. Instead they live outside the walls in more modern homes.

There was a lot to see in NM. Santa Fe, Los Alamos, hot springs, Chaco Canyon and Bandelier National Monument. Los Alamos was described by the local bike shop owner as a outdoor haven filled with awkward people. If you are not familiar with Los Alamos, it is where the atomic bomb was created and to this day houses the US laboratory of about 10000 brilliant minds. Brining that many intelligent (socially awkward as the local service level people called them) together in a town that is incapable of growing makes for a strange community. It’s tucked in the mountains with trails and nature all around and running through the city, but there is no more private land to build housing on. Workers in the service industry can not afford to live there and even the highly paid government employees are living in old, drafty apartments. Have you ever heard of a town closing its McDonald’s because they could get any employees.

They were our first over stuffed, yummy rellenos

Bandelier NM, a neat hike that lets you climb high on the walls of the canyon into the dwelling used from 1100-1550 A.D.

Chaco’s semi-circular main town site. Huge!

Six Months of Living in the Van

Pealing Anaheim peppers in the “kitchen” to make chili rellanos

Six months seems so long and so brief all at the same time. On April 23rd, we had all our belongings out of the house and were officially “homeless” living in the van. The other day a couple asked us, “so after 6 months, do you still have anything interesting to say to one another, I mean I’m sure you can talk about the election.” My first response was, well, we haven’t been following politics or the media, at all. And then Miren and I looked at each other and both nodded in agreement that we still find stuff to talk about but it is more challenging when you do everything, everyday together. No going off to a job or activity and then returning home to share the days experiences. But after 6 months of living in 90 square feet and 4 1/2 months since we quit our jobs, it is nice to know we still really like each other.

A side canyon off Cottonwood Narrows in the Grand Staircase that ended in blown in sand Miren just had to play in

So how did we celebrate our 6 months in the van day? We are in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Rain was in the forecast for the next couple days so we opted to stay out of the slot canyons and do some relaxing…which entailed an eight mile trek through sand, across slick rock, around gorges, and over whatever else happened to be on our random path.

Our own personal wave, scrambled over some dry falls to get down to it

But now it is raining and giving us the excuse to actually relax, something I don’t think either of us know how to do. On yesterdays 6 month hike, we found a mother load of Moki balls (darker rounded balls of rock thought to be formed from wind and sand) perfect for ammunition for the slingshot. This morning consisted of a successful hunt of a 20 ounce Arrogant Bastard can, a very good beer if you like IPAs I must add.

A couple days ago we drove and hiked the most southwestern parts of the Grand Staircase, stumbling upon a couple slot canyon surprises. Our favorite required no scrambling, stemming, or down climbing believe it or not. Willis Canyon had a small stream of crystal clear water running through it’s red sandstone walls that quickly grew to 500 feet above our heads.

Our futile attempts at staying dry, further down stream we had to walk in the partially frozen water.

What Bull Valley Wash looks like from the topside

Our escape route out of the 600′ deep Bull Valley Wash that up canyon was a slot that required stemming and down climbing

One of the many interesting formations about the Grand Staircase area

13yr young Dizzy the Mountain Climber

Cameo looking up on the Mesa kissed with a September snow

In the end of September we headed home to Grand Junction (GJ). Having been away for more than 4 months, we were excited to eat familiar food (SUSHI), see our friends, and be somewhere we knew. Holding true to ritual, we did the respectable thing and camped outside of town making sure to take a desert shower outside the van before heading into town. We don’t want to seem uncivilized…even though we are 😉 And thank you to every one who offered up a shower, I hope it wan’t because we looked like we lived in a van. Truth is, not having the convenience of hot showers everyday has been a challenge but we have done a pretty good job of keeping clean. While driving down a forest road in New Mexico we found a 5 gallon solar shower lying along the side of the road (frozen).

Outdoor shower set up, it’s actually quite luxurious

We now keep that one strapped on the roof basket so a the end of any sunny day we have a pretty warm shower. With that and our 3 gallon pressurized shower we have enough water to take about 3 showers each. No, we don’t shower every day, but activity dependent we shower every couple of days. Ok, enough on personal hygiene, lol. Visiting GJ proved a bit interesting. Miren and I both had a longing to visit “home”, but everything changes, and changes are more obvious when you are not around to see them happen. Some of our favorite spots to hike and camp had been renamed, the roads to them improved, and most disturbingly, it was no longer free to camp or camping was banned in the area all together. We searched a little further and found some places further out, and some new places to explore but both were a little taken aback with the change.

Made a route up to the rim of the bookcliffs from Cameo

Time keeps ticking. We went back to our favorite sushi place on our Wednesday night date night as we had every week while living in GJ. For the first time we walked in to find the bar full, we ordered a drink and after standing and waiting for about an hour we gave up and ordered sushi to go. Just before our food arrived some seats opened up and we ate at the bar. The rolls were ok but did not live up to our expectations. Expectations, they can ruin a good thing. Now had my expectations grown with time, and had my memory created something grander than was, or had the quality of food and service diminished because we were not putting in our time and effort going every week? It’s funny how relationships, even at restaurants are contingent on both parties involved…

So this next section is not actually my prose. I tricked Miren into writing in a journal and snatched an excerpt she wrote…
After a disappointing meal at Suehiro’s, we decided to take it as a sign and move on and see what other possibilities await us. We found ourselves heading toward Aspen to drive over Independence Pass which neither of us had done. Dave had warned it was a really narrow road, but then again he’s never seen the places we’ve taken Greengo. The drive was spectacular!

The aspens were in full bloom. The dark granite canyon walls looked like black liquid against the yellow blanket of leaves. The creek ran clear below caressing the fallen trunks and smoothing the various rocks forming its boundary. As seems to be the case, people were everywhere! I really thought we were going to have an Indian woman pressed against the grill of the van for the remainder of our drive. She had absolutely no plans to get out of the middle of the road and insisted on taking pictures. Those leaves must have their picture taken!?

Campsite by Twin Lakes for a couple nights

For some reason we started chatting about Leadville, and things to do around the area. Mount Elbert popped up, Colorado’s highest peak. We really had no plans to do a 14er but, “what the hell.” Next day, the three of us headed up the road. The lower portion was simply a road walk, with a creek crossing being our biggest obstacle. Anyway, three hours later, we were at the top, looking at the snow capped Elk Mountains in the distance.

Dizzy enjoying the view atop her first 14r (14000 foot Mt)

The wind was strong and frost was kissing the rocks to the north of us. Dizzy was unfazed. She had just climbed her first 14er and was high on puppy biscuits, which she had deservedly earned. Aimee was munching on leftovers from Dave and Jenny’s, bundled up like it was Christmas. The descent took no time and we treated ourselves to a rare opportunity to simply enjoy our campsite and our view of Twin Lakes.

Next day we awake to a fresh, light blaket of snow on the peaks above us. Talk about timing! Mt Elbert had itself nestled in snow! We drove to Leadville, then Buena Vista and finally Salida. Along the way we passed several other 14ers and chatted about the possibilities of where we could call home…

Wyoming winds worth it for free hot springs and showers

After leaving western Wyoming with it’s might mountains, Miren and I were joyed to find Central Wyoming as appealing and intriguing with it’s high desert land formations, canyons and hot springs. Ok, ok, we really liked the hot springs but were jumping for joy that we found a couple towns with public bathhouses to go along with the free hot showers. Free hot showers! If you have ever lived as we are, you will understand what I mean. We have also found a website freecampsites.net helpful in finding last minute camping spots in places like casino parking lots or dispersed camping areas. Luck would have it we were on a streak of 4 days of rain with another day of rain ahead. Miren was obsessing over the solar battery and the fact that we were not getting above 40% charge. In our months of travels we had never plugged in, or had the opportunity to. I looked on the free campsite site and sure enough there was an indian casino an hour away that allowed free camping and had power on the light polls for RV’s to plug in!

Miren and I trade off driving every other day, wether we drive 2 miles or 200, we both like to drive so if it’s your drive day you get dibs. It was a Miren drive day and we were heading for Saratoga Springs, WY… or so we thought. When we both saw a sign for Sinks Canyon I knew we were not where we intended to be. Miren’s little misdirect turned into a fun day of exploring a river (Popo Agie) that disappears into the side of a mountain and does not emerge again for a quarter mile.

The cavern where the Popo Agie River disappears into the mountain

There it surfaces as a deep pool for Brown and Rainbow trout to gather before cascading down the canyon further. The mystery of Sinks Canyon comes from where does the water go? If the water flowed in a normal coarse from where it disappears to where it reappears, it would take the water a couple minutes to run that course. Scientist, having had no success using trackers and GPS to trace the waters course died the water red and found it took the water over 2 hours to travel the quarter mile. To this day they still do not know the network of tunnels that must exist in the canyon for the water to flow through. Crazy.

A little snow welcomed us as we drove back into CO for the first time since June

This side route also took us to the town of Lander, WY. We had never heard of it but Outside Magazine lists it as one of the top 20 small towns for outdoorsy people to live. Small it is, less than 4000 people, but it served up the very best hamburger I have ever eaten. Okay my veggie friends, close your eyes… local Wyoming cows taste amazing!

The Mighty Snake River

Winding over 1000 miles through the states of the Pacific Northwest, Miren and I were bound to cross paths with the mighty, yet little heard of outside the northwest, Snake River. Recently, we found our way to the Snake’s headwaters in Yellowstone National Park. While standing atop 11303′ Static Peak in the jagged Teton Range, we looked down upon the valley filled with fall color Aspen and saw the snaking waters winding through the meadows and trees, earning its name. Seeing its modest size peacefully wandering below amazed me to know what a powerful being it would become, and through a arid landscape at that. With at least 25 massive energy producing dams along it’s journey, we will never really know what the river once looked like. While in Oregon, we drove through Hell’s Canyon along the Snake River. Even the road there is private and owned by Edison Power. Points of interest along the way tell the story of the brave soles that first explored the canyon by River, many of them heading down canyon to never be heard from or seen again. There are no pictures to be found, but the story goes that a unescapable waterfall that took many lives now lies submerged under a reservoir in Hells Canyon.

We visited one of the dams south of Spokane. By damming up the river our forefathers were not only producing power but paving a way for ships to pass through locks and over reservoirs delivering goods and removing minerals from the interior of the country. This mighty passageway cuts from Lewiston, Idaho all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

it was windy on Static Peak and mother nature asked us to leave with a n assault of hail. the snake can be seen in the valley below.

Along with locks, the Army Core Of Engenieers operates giant tubes of flowing water that switchback from the lower River level up to the reservoir at each of the dams allowing passage for the thousands of fish, mostly salmon that run the River every year. They have replaced the old concept of salmon ladders with these tubes that more closely mimic how the River may have once before been for them.

Saw a black bear on the trail down from Static. what a beautiful place she has to live.

rain , hail and wind, but mother nature let us summit. 5000′ climb on a 8 mile trail.

On our way to Jackson Hole, WY we stopped for a night not far from Swan Valley, ID. After driving a few miles down a dirt road along the Snake River we found a nice site tucked in the trees by the River. Across the river a 200′ rock wall rose above. Miren and I were enjoying an evening glass of wine sitting on the river bank when a bull moose swam to the island in the River right in front of us. Seeing a giant beast with spindly legs and a towering rack on its head gracefully swim across a river is an odd little treat.

a little gift of a rainbow in Yellowstone

Two Dusty Soles get filthy

Being dirty if fun; more fun if you know you have a good creek to clean up in afterwards.

After leaving Boise, we were bound and determined to get a little dust on our soles. The northern route we drove through the Boise National Forest took us into the swath of the recently burned forest (path of the Pioneer Fire) where we saw still smoldering trees lying along the road. The most remarkable was a tree trunk still standing, smoking like a chimney stack. Driving past closed forest roads and empty campgrounds, we were conserned the smoke from the still active fire would keep us from exploring the Sawtooth Mountains that neither Miren nor I have seen before. Mother Nature was good to us and by the time we reached Stanley, ID there was no longer the presence of smoke in the air.

Thompson Peak if right above Miren’s head, with a storm stirring, we opted not to summit.

Not knowing much about the area, we picked a hike to Thompson Peak. It’s a route actually with a class 3 scramble to reach the summit. Waking to a heavy fog and a chance of afternoon thunderstorms we decided to end our hike at the lake tucked beneath the peak instead of playing roulette with nature who was warning us with the gusts of wind that dropped quickly in temperature to about 40 degrees in the matter of minutes.

The Sawtooths did not disappoint, and we stumbled upon an amazing hike that not many know of. A little lake tucked below the towering peaks and we happily woke to a dusting of snow. We ran into an inspiring local couple from Ketchum who we chatted up sprinter vans and learned a bit about the area from. Hope to catch them again during ski season when we pass through to use our Mountain Collective passes. Passes I have to thank Miren’s dumpster diving to. 😉 ok, so that’s a bit round about, but Miren was dumping the trash and saw a Ski Magazine right on top. Saw the add for the ski pass (14 mountains, 2 days each for less than what 4 ski days would cost us!) And with the diesel heater keeping us toasty warm, now we can chase the powder this winter. (Mammoth is on the list my CA girls, so excited to see you!)

Boy Scout cave in Craters of The Moon National Monument

miles and miles of lava flow from activity 2000 years ago

If you are ever in Idaho, Craters of the Moon National Monument deserves a stop. The area is part of the same cauldron/hot spot system that covers Yellowstone NP. The diversity we have here with in the US blows my mind. We really do have access to it all, mountains, desert, slot canyons, rivers, lakes, hot, cold, wet and dry. As a little bonus, there is a roadside hot spring just 15 miles from the entrance of the park, and Miren and I had the 101 degree crystal clear 4′ deep pool to ourselves one evening as the sun set. Well, that is if you don’t count the tasty ribeyes, I mean cattle, milling about in the meadow nearby. 😁

Our next stop was Elko, NV, the birthplace of the wonderful Miren Begona. She showed Dizzy and I around the town that has exploded in size since she use to be the local gypsy in her one woman biker gang. My favorite part by far was our backpacking trip in the Ruby Mountains, Miren’s childhood backyard while her dad caught trout in the creek running through Lamoille Canyon. When you think of Nevada, I’m guessing bright lights, casinos, and desert come to mind, not 12,000 foot peaks with alpine lakes. Well Elko has both, and in our evening walk Miren took me past brothel row… So strange to me but I guess common in NV.

just popped over Liberty Pass catching a glimps of what lies beyond

we found a good horse camp tucked in the trees at 9800 feet

We hiked in over 2 passes, wanting to avoid the other 20 people out backpacking. After clearing the second pass, we only saw a few Cowboys out on horse. Our hidden little site was a half mile from a lake, but the lake had no inlet or outlet and after my lovely giardia experience 2 years ago I wasn’t about to filter from the lake. To our surprise there was a beautiful creek running just yards from our camp; we followed it upstream for a bit and found it was seeping straight from the mountain only a few football fields length away.

the lake we opted not to filter water from, but did clean the trail dust off our legs

We worked out a few kinks in our gear…Miren’s pad had a bad valve and wouldn’t hold air… Makes for a cold and restless night. So a little gear review. Big Agnes makes great gear, but for years they were using a twist valve that was very unreliable on their pads. They recently went to one way valves more like Sea to Summit. We both have the Q-core SL insulated pad and it is my favorite. My valve has been fine and BA is good about replacing them if it goes. Warning! Don’t try to save 2 ounces and get the mummy shape pad, I’ve had it as well and couldn’t stay on it. Unlike the rectangular that has slightly larger baffles on the edge, the mummy does not and it sleeps as if it is 12″ wide, not 20″.

We are getting excited to try out our bike packing gear for a short trip… But that means we need a dog sitter for a weekend… Mom?dad? 😁

Time to hit the road, Jackson Hole, here we come.

Just keep playing

Having lived in the van for 4 months now, we have an even better understanding of how little we really need to live comfortably. Items that have gone unused, like an extra big angus awning or disc golf discs, are getting the boot. And clothes! Both Miren and I are removing about 1/3rd of the clothing we have. Not because we don’t have room for it, but because why bother hallin’ it around when instead we can stick it in a box to be stored. I figure it will be the cheapest easiest shopping trip ever when I open up a box of clothes I like and haven’t seen in who knows how long.

We have been in Boise for a few days and will stay a few more, getting little things done like waxing the van… Okay, that is no little job! And after 7500 miles of driving we finally decided to put a working radio in the van. How did we make it this long without? Um, a lot of goofy conversations, singing to one another and reading books outloud to the driver. It has been an adventure in itself.

The past few weeks have been crammed with so much; hikes, hikes and more hikes, paddle boarding on emerald blue waters in Banff National Park, and bear spottings. The most memorable being the black bear walking 25′ behind the van thru the parking lot that Miren looked around for its owner thinking it was a Newfoundland dog and wondering why it wasn’t on leash. Yes that really happened but to her defense all in the matter of a 1/2 second. It felt so good to be out in wide open spaces again, trying to decide on which hike to do or area to explore. Our favorite hike came as a fluke. I had wanted to explore Glacier NP in British Columbia a bit but due to grizzly activity, all hiking parties had to be 4 or more adults…except for Abbott Ridge. So off we went, hiking up what the trail guide described as relentless switchbacks. The majestic views, the solitude, or the clean air of the 3400′ vertical climb to the ridge must have washed our memory of the switchback because they didn’t seem to slow either of us down. The 360 degree view was more than worth it; multiple glaciers showing their movement over time through dirt and crevasses, water cascading down the canyons, showing the inevitable progression of the glaciers demise. In the Lake Louise area, they say the glaciers are shrinking by 40-70% each year.

rockbound lake, a skoche to cold to swim aka bath 😳

We spent about 10 days exploring Banff, Yoho, and Jasper National Parks. Grand is not a big enough word to describe the magnitude of the mountains. For me, 10 days was all I could take due to the crowds. Luckily we both are willing and able to do long hikes that take us into remote areas away from the crowds, but having to deal with thousands of people all wanting to drive up to a waterfall, lake, glacier, whatever it may be, hop out of their car for 10 minutes to snap a million selfies and then race off to do it again at the next stop is a bit much. I think of John Muir and wonder what he would think of our modern day parks that have paved the way for millions to visit with out even needing to put on a pair of shoes to get a little dust or dirt on. I don’t see the appeal of shuffling through people, trying to get a view of whatever it may be, to then stand there in the presence of 1000’s of others trying to have a moment with nature and self. Lol, maybe I am a loner… Some of the things we saw others do just breaks my heart though. Here we are as humans, claiming to be the stewards of the world, destroying it. I was completely appalled when Miren and I went to a Provincal Park to fill our water, and a guy about 30 had his camper trailer parked at the dump spot. I noticed a stream of “stuff” flowing down past our vehicle and then realized he was dumping his waist tanks right on the ground, just 2 feet from the whole the hose should go in… Why you may ask, I think he didn’t want to get his hose dirty and have to clean it. He then proceeded to spray clean water all around the area trying to make his “stuff” go away. It smelled appalling. How can people be like this? I could go on but won’t. What I have learned about myself, the less I am around random people, the happier I am. I think in a normal, go to work, go to the grocery store, out to eat, wherever we tend to go in living in one place, wether we know it or not we are surrounding ourselves with the same people week after week. If you have a bad experience at one place, you try another until we have habits and rituals that make us happy. When you are moving from place to place, my experience has unfortunately been you have a lot more shit to sift through.

Ok, I feel this has been a bit negative and I don’t want to leave it that way. Overall, the trip through the National Parks of Canada was amazing. We could take Dizzy everywhere and met several nice interesting people. And some very off ones… Man rides up on his bike and says “do you guys know that girl from Colorado?” Blank stares then he says “she has a white van like your’s”, still we have blank stares wondering if he is for real and what he said next took all we had to not bust up laughing “you know, she rides a tricycle.” …wow…

Emerging from the trees

Montmorency Falls, a short bike ride from our residence in Quebec City

Many a kilometers we have covered the past two weeks. Our desire to be out of the trees and in the open has drove us on, quickly passing through many a Canadian Province. Hiking Katahdin, aka Baxter Peak, in Maine, gave us a little breath of fresh open air, climbing quickly above tree line and rising in all 4200 feet in elevation over 5.2 miles. If you have done any hiking, you know that is a steep trail! I must add that Baxter State park had a twist to throw at us, testing our Colorado forged lungs and legs. We arrived at the park on Saturday to check with the park rangers if our vehicle would be allowed in the following day. The park has VERY strict rules about almost EVERYTHING. Our concern was the 9 foot high height restriction. We were happy when the ranger at the Visitor Center looked at our Sprinter van and said, no problem, we had two of those go in today. The next morning we awoke early at 4 am, wore Dizzy out with a run as no dogs was one of Baxter’s rules and she would not be joining us on the hike. By 5:30 am we were nicely near the front of the line waiting to be let in at 6 am. Another rule, the park is gated 100 percent and if you have a permit to get in you must be through the gate by 7 am or they will sell your permit to someone else and you are out of luck. 6:05 rolls around and we roll up to the gate, the employee eyeballing us and denying us access to the park. A bit heart broken, as I for years have wanted to hike Katahdin, Miren and I agreed to park the van and ride our mountain bikes the 9.5 miles to the trailhead. So in all, not only did we hike Katahdin in 6 hours, we ended up biking 24 miles s well…there is more to that story I won’t get into

Let’s just leave it at we were both driven to leave Maine and put the experience behind us hoping to just remember the beautiful views from the top and the great rock scrambles it took to get there. (If we are ever having a beer sometime, maybe the full story will come out about our distaste and joy to not have to return to Maine in September…)

at times the scramble up seemed endless with many false summits, so much fun boldering, the way down was yhe butt kicker on the knees

The Maritime Provinces were a bit of a blur….tree after blessed tree! I think both Miren and I had expectations of what Nova Scotia and New Brunswick would look like and we were off, far off. One of their special traits is the Bay of Fundy which lies between the two provinces and brings with it the largest tide in the world. On most days the tide recedes and ebbs about 40-50 feet in height twice a day. Yes, 40-50 feet…this leaves the docks for boats and cargo ships alike pivoting on flotation devices and many areas can only be accessed twice a day when the tide is high. Part of the coast is strewn with rough sedimentary rock that stands like pedestals in areas such as Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park. Half the day the crumbling surface is lapped with water, the other half of the day tourist walk the ocean floor looking up at the rocks. Such an extreme tide must have been quite the hurdle to the fisheries that dominated the area many years ago.

miles of ocean floor exposed when the worlds largest tide goes out

Hoping a ferry, van and all to the province of Prince Edward Island, we experienced a little maritime Canadian culture in Charlottown where we caught a performance at the Confederation Arts Center. I was struck by the message and sense of pride in their country that the young preformers displayed leaving Miren and i questioning the differences in the USA and Canada. Many people compare the two countries; I think the biggest difference to remember is population, Canada having barely broken the 35 million where as the USA has now surpassed 325 million. I think its hard to hold comparisons when such a dramatic difference in population exists, I just wish we Americans had a common bond, a sense of pride, and something that made us all “American”. Most countries use their language to give them a commonality, Canada included with both French and English being their national languages.

Pressing on to Quebec City, we were searching for a way to park on a Saturday afternoon. With all the parking signs in nothing but French, I was using google translate to decipher the endless parking signs that lined the neighborhood while Miren took Dizzy for a quick walk to relieve herself. I looked up and noticed yet another woman was ogling over Dizzy (I swear, this dog gets all the attention). Luckily, she spoke much better English than we spoke French and before we knew it she was standing in a parking spot holding it for me to maneuver the van into. After chatting a bit and learning her husband was a General for the Canadian Army before he died, we parted ways with her shouting back, “you will be fine to park there until Monday morning at 9am”. What! how did we score a shaded residential parking spot one mile from the walls of Old Quebec, two blocks from streets lined with restaurants and coffee shops, and free to park for two nights. We spent the next two days exploring the beautiful city by foot and bike, trying to pick up a word or two of French as we soon discovered outside the tourist service areas, many of the locals did not speak English. I loved the narrow streets wafting with the smell of baked breads, towering basilicas, mazes of alleys and buildings that held so much character. Miren assured me that I had not been misled, Quebec did feel like Europe.

After leaving Quebec, we ventured to Montreal and quickly discover it has a completely different feel. We jumped the Metro into Old Montreal; it too had many old buildings, basilicas, and cobble stone streets but had a different vibe. Projectors cast images high in the sky on the side of buildings and modern world mingles amongst the old 19th century buildings. If you know me, you know I am usually blunt and to the point. Seeing I have been rambling on I will cut to the chase and say, Quebec by far was our favorite city, one I would visit again.

Now here we are in Manitoba, pushing hard to a small town of Brandon hoping to get a little exercise playing tennis before catching the opening ceremony of the Olympics at a neighborhood bar. The past few days has been filled with driving, broken up by swimming in both Lake Huron and Lake Superior in the same day…we were exceptionally smelly and needed two baths obviously :p The drive around the north side of Lake Superior was amazing; when rock meets water, beauty happens. The mountains are calling, as they say, so we will be pushing on to Banff/Lake Louise area. We both are craving a little touch of home and hope the mountain air will fill our tanks.

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