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We were home at the end of August and did a road trip around half of Nova Scotia in four days.
I was home to shoot a wedding at the end of August in Nova Scotia, so I tacked on some extra days and concocted up this ambitious road trip at the end of August. In hindsight, it probably would have been more wise to cover less area and do more, but we had fun nonetheless. Our friend Lauren joined us, as well as another friend I brought home with me. I thought it was a good introduction to the beauty of Nova Scotia, even though you could spend a whole week in Halifax alone in my opinion. I might be completely biased on this one since it is my hometown.
We did a pit stop in Halifax to fuel up at Ace Burger before heading to a crappy campground near Peggy’s Cove to be close by to wake up early to catch the sunrise the following day. Turns out the only people who wake up early enough to catch the sunrise at Peggy’s Cove are photographers.
We spent four days driving around Nova Scotia, with pit stops all over the the half of the province, via the Lighthouse route. We stopped in Mahone Bag, Lunenburg, Digby, Lahave, Carter’s Beach, Wolfville, Burntcoat Head, Five Islands, among many other places. We camped at Islands, Blomidon, and Five Islands Provincial Park. I’ll let the photos do the rest of the story telling.
My friend came to visit Ontario for the first time, so we did a whirlwind tour of St. Catherine’s, Port Dalhousie, Niagara Falls, and Niagara On The Lake in 24 hours. We also took a quick helicopter tour over the falls.
This is the American Niagara Falls. Not as impressive as the Canadian side.
The landscaping in Niagara On The Lake was on point. Super cute tourist town that was a nice break from the tourist trap of Niagara Falls. Port Dalhousie & Niagara On The Lake were the nicest stops on this little day trip, however I don’t seem to have many pictures of either places. I guess I was too busy enjoying it.
Puffins, horses, sheep, churches, fjords, and of course more waterfalls.
After Jökulsárlón, we drove longer stretches and stopped less frequently than we did in the south. At one point on day two, we realized that we had stopped so frequently during the first two days we were still only a two hour drive away from Reykjavik. We figured we needed to stop less if we wanted to complete the Ring Road in time. The scenery remained beautiful and mountainous.
We saw a few abandoned farms along the way.
I was really hoping to see some reindeer and we almost missed these guys. They were far away in the distance and as we were driving by them on the highway, I thought that they were really funny looking cows. Then we realized that they were actually reindeer with small antlers and quickly pulled over and hopped out of the van.
“Reindeers were introduced from Norway late in the 18th century originally for farming, but reindeer husbandry the Scandinavian style did not tempt the Icelanders, and the animals were never domesticated. Today the wild reindeer live only in East Iceland, mostly at higher elevations in summer but seek lower grassland, closer to the coast in winter. While their primary habitat is in the deserted expanses by Snæfell, reindeer are seen every year in the territory extending from Vopnafjördur in the north to the Glacier Lagoon in the south. The best places to view reindeer herds during the summer are the areas around mount Snæfell, in Vesturöræfi and Brúaröræfi.”
We drove along the east fjords for a while. Route 1 continues between steep mountain sides and ocean cliffs along this area.
We then took a detour north, off the ring road towards Borgarfjörður Eystri in search of puffins. We also picked up some Russian hitchhikers along the way.
Lindarbakki Turf house in Borgarfjörður Eystri
Borgarfjörður Eystri is home to a large puffin colony. When we arrived around 8pm, there were already a few birders standing on the viewing platform. A friendly Canadian told us that all the male puffins flew back to their nests around 9pm the previous night. So we hung out for a while waiting for the puffins to fly back, freezing and starving, because the long days always threw us off schedule and we were never able to eat dinner at an appropriate time.
Borgarfjörður Eystri was very scenic.
A female puffin waiting for her partner to fly back. According to our fellow Canadian birder, the male puffins build nests for the females to hang out in all day. The males then go and hunt all day and bring back food at night. Something like the nests take three years to build. I’m not sure how accurate these facts are, but that’s true love. There’s a neat article about them here. Occasionally a female puffin would emerge from her nest to wiggle around, wonder where her food was, have a poop and then waddle back into her nest.
After a [slow] suspenseful two hours, the male puffins started to fly black to the nests around 10pm.
A wall of puffins and their nests.
There were also a bunch of other sea birds hanging out on the coastal cliffs, but the puffins were the most photogenic.
After puffin watching, we went back to the van to make some hot dog fried rice and drove back to Route 1 to find a place to sleep for the night. We settled for a super windy spot next to side of the road. Little did we know, this wind was a foreshadow of the next couple of days.
The north was much more cold and barren than the south and east. We drove a long stretch at a higher altitude with little stops along the way. There was a risk of being blown away every time we got out of the van.
Dettifoss
Dettifoss is situated on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river, which flows from the Vatnajökullglacier and collects water from a large area in Northeast Iceland. The falls are 100m wide and have a drop of 45m down to the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon. It is the largest waterfall in Iceland in terms of volume. Dettifoss is the most powerful waterfall in Europe.
After a cold, windy, rainy walk around Dettifoss and we headed towards Mývatn. We stopped by Hverarönd, another geothermal area. All of a sudden the barren grey icy landscape changed to a sunny almost desert-like area.
We made a pit stop at the Mývatn Nature Baths for a soak and headed onwards to Góðafoss waterfall.
Along the way to Akureyri.
A view of Akureyri, Iceland’s second largest city after Reykjavik.
We decided to stop by the Botanical Garden in Akureyri. It is the most northern botanical garden in the world [apparently “northest” is not a word]. They had really nice clean public bathrooms here.
Some fine nordic architecture.
We made dinner outside of the gardens in our van in the parking lot. Since we were in a city, we got a lot of stares and laughs because Kurt was draining pasta water into a sewer. We left the big city to find a more quiet place to sleep for the night.
Day 6 was a lot of driving along the northwestern region of Iceland. We saw a lot of horses, sheep, and churches.
Víðimýrarkirkja
Blönduóskirkja in Blönduós. Believe it or not, the construction of this church began in 1982 even though it looks very modern.
One of the many red roofed churches along the way.
We decided we wanted to see a bit of the west fjords so we detoured off Route 1, north on 68, west on 61, south on the 60, and then east on the 54 towards Stykkishólmur.
There were a bunch of unnamed waterfalls off Route 1 in this area.
We decided to call this one ‘Vanifoss’.
Stykkishólmur, a little fishing town
Stykkishólmskirkja church
Day 7 was very windy and rainy. This balanced out the very nice weather we had at the beginning of the trip. At this point, we were all very exhausted from a week of exploring for 12-16 hours of the day (those endless days though). Lauren and I took a few naps in the back of the van as Mitch & Kurt sat up front driving and navigating on this day.
Ólafsvíkurkirkja
We headed towards Snaefellsjoekull peninsula, which was pretty neat but it was storming pretty badly even though it is hard to tell in these pictures. Lauren and I ended up wrapping our cameras in plastic toilet paper packaging we found in the van because we both neglected to bring rain covers.
A rainbow to cheer us up after a very rainy day. This was after a detour towards Glymur waterfall, but it was too rainy and windy to start a three hour hike. We also saw Kirkjufell Mountain (the most photographed mountain in Iceland), but it was too foggy to snap a picture. We had planned to spend more time on the Snaefellsjoekull peninsula but the weather didn’t want to cooperate, so we headed towards Reykjavik.
Harpa
Can someone translate this poster for me?
We walked around Reykjavik that evening, but decided it was not a good place park the van and sleep for the night, so we drove 20 mins outside of the city and found a lava field to sleep in. The next day, we drove back to Reykjavik to check out Hallgrímskirkja church, where you can get a nice panoramic view of the city.
One last Icelandic hot dog at the Saturday flea market before heading back to the airport.
By the time we dropped off the van, we drove about 2700km around Iceland. Here’s a map of where we stopped along the way. We also saw a lot of things that aren’t pinned here. I’d still like to go back and rent a 4x4 and go to the highlands to camp and hike it. You can also access the map on Google Maps here.
We spent a week in Iceland driving the Ring Road and living in a van with our friends.
It was a long travel day from Italy to Iceland, but we eventually arrived at Keflavik airport in the late afternoon. Our lovely friends Lauren & Mitch picked us up in our camper van, which was our home for the next seven days.
We didn’t have a game plan, except to see cool stuff. That was easily achievable because Iceland is a country full of mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, craters, geothermal areas, etc. We drove around haphazardly for the first couple of hours stopping every couple of minutes to observe everything because the scenery was so mind-blowingly beautiful and photogenic. Our first long stop was at Seltún, a geothermal area full of steaming mud pots.
A shot of Lauren doing her thing. Lauren is also a photographer, you can check out her photos here. She and her partner Mitch were prime candidates to bring along on this trip because they are both easy going adventure-seeking types who didn’t mind living out of a van with us. I also really enjoyed having another photographer on the trip because she understood the importance getting the shot and provided an extra set of photos to look back on afterwards.
This was our camper van, rented from KuKu Campers. I was previously in Iceland in 2011 but limited to day tours from Reykjavik and I always wanted to come back and see more of the country on my own terms. There is no better way to do that than to rent a vehicle you can also live in. You can pull over anywhere off the side of the road to rest as long as you’re off the highway. The van came with a sink, mini fridge, seating area with a table and benches that converted into a bed. Above the main bed is an area that converts into another bed that sleeps two, which was where Kurt and I would rest our heads at night. The van gave us an introduction into the world of van-dwelling, something Kurt and I often dream of doing.
Seltún was so neat. I love geothermal areas! It reminded me so much of Yellowstone, but was also quite different because of the barren Icelandic landscape in the background.
Our next stop was Þingvellir National Park. “Þingvellir is notable for its unusual tectonic and volcanic environment in a rift valley. The continental drift between the North American and Eurasian Plates can be clearly seen in the cracks or faults which traverse the region. This also causes the often measurable earthquakes in the area.”
Öxarárfoss in Þingvellir
Stokkur geyser at Haukadalur
A beautiful sunset sky around 11:30pm
We headed towards Gullfoss and slept in the parking lot for the night, which concluded day one in Iceland. We woke up the next morning to check out the powerful Gullfoss in the morning light. Eventually a rainbow appeared as well.
Gullfoss is a popular tourist stop along the Golden Circle and we managed to evade the crowds by sleeping next to it and waking up early to have it all to ourselves before the tourists started rolling in. A perk of living out of a van!
We stopped next to these horses to make some camp style breakfast on day two. We petted the horses while waiting for the bacon to cook.
The next stop was the Kerið volcano crater. It’s approximately 3000 years old and was formed from a volcanic explosion.
Although Iceland seems barren from a glance, there’s all kinds of plant life popping up through the rocks.
Hjalparfoss
Stöng, is a reconstructed viking-era farmstead located in the Þjórsárdalur valley
We went for a little hike from Stöng to Gjáin, an area with waterfalls and ponds. Apparently this is a Game of Thrones filming location.
We ran into some Nordic tourists who asked if we saw Háifoss yet (if you haven’t figured it out by now, anything ending in ‘foss’ is a waterfall), because it was a waterfall not to be missed. They told us it was “five minutes down the road”, so a 45 minute drive later, we finally see a sign for the waterfall. Words and pictures cannot accurately portray how beautiful this waterfall was in real life. It was probably one of my favourite waterfalls that we saw the entire trip because next to it was this amazing view of a vast and seemingly never-ending canyon.
Note: this picture does not do this waterfall any justice. There is also a four hour hike at the bottom of the canyon from Stöng to the base of the waterfall that would have been amazing if we had time.
Passing by Hekla, one of the more active volcanoes in Iceland. Hekla was surrounded by a giant lava field.
A bit of a drive later, we arrived at Seljalandsfoss around sunset. Seljalandsfoss was unique because you could walk behind the waterfall, but be prepared to get very wet.
Kurt trying to run away from the spray.
We spent a while taking pictures here. There were a lot of cool birds living in the rocks that you can’t see here. It was a rather majestic end to day two. There was a large no camping sign at Seljalandsfoss, so we drove further down the road and slept in the parking lot of Skogafoss for the night.
Kurt at the bottom right corner for scale.
We went for a little hike above Skogafoss and then drove towards Sólheimajökull glacier. There were all these people geared up to go glacier walking. As we wandered around, we noticed an elderly woman siting on a rock with a cane on our way towards the glacier to snap some pictures. It was cold and drizzly so I was was wondering why she was sitting all by herself on a rock. On the way back, she reached out for our help because she needed assistance to get up. It turns out she’s a 95 year old Canadian on a world tour. We chatted with her for a bit as we walked her back to her tour bus. It goes to show you’re never too old to go on an adventure.
After the glacier, we drove towards Dyrhólaey, known for its black beaches with lava columns. Also a bird sanctuary.
The basalt columns at Reynishverfi
We had lunch in the parking lot of Vik i Myrdal Church, instant noodles in the van.
Pit stop at Fjaðrárgljúfur, a canyon 100m deep and about 2km long, with the Fjaðrá river flowing through it.
Vatnajökull National Park, home of Svartifoss.
Vatnajökull National Park probably had the highest concentration of trees we saw in Iceland (there aren’t many trees in Iceland).
Svartifoss
After our little hike, we drove to Jökulsárlón, a glacier lagoon. This coincided with sunset and made for neat lighting in the pictures.
Pieces of glacier on the beach. Kurt took a piece, melted it and drank it.
Seals all over the place hunting.
Jökulsárlón was one of the highlights of the trip. Although at this point, everything I just posted felt like a highlight of the trip, because Iceland is just that cool. Jökulsárlón was an awesome end to day three. We drove a bit further along the Ring Road that night to find a place to sleep that was less cold. We settled next to some large mossy rocks that provided a bit of shelter from the wind. It turns out four other cars also thought of the same thing.
After departing Nice, we took a train to coastal Italy and explored the Cinque Terre region.
I’m going to be honest, the first couple of times I went to France and Italy, I thought they were just ok. I didn’t understand why people always rave about these places. To be fair, my first impressions of these two countries were based on visiting Paris and Rome on a whirlwind backpacking trip. When I say whirlwind, Kurt and I backpacked 17 countries in two months during the summer of 2010 after graduating from our undergrad degrees. The longest we stayed in once place during that trip was three days. It wasn’t fair to dismiss France and Italy. I’ve been back to France several times since that trip and although Paris still isn’t my favourite city, Southern France and rural France are just absolutely lovely. I can now say that about Italy too. The Cinque Terre region of Italy is so beautiful (and delicious)! I think it also helps that we didn’t have a food budget of 20 EUR a day like we did back in 2010, which limited us to eating really cheap food (lots of doner & McDonalds). This time around, we were able to enjoy quality food, which really added to the experience.
If you google Cinque Terre, you get this quick blurb: “The Cinque Terre is a string of centuries-old seaside villages on the rugged Italian Riviera coastline. In each of the 5 towns, colorful houses and ancient vineyards cling to steep terraces, fishing boats bob in harbors and trattorias turn out seafood specialties along with the Liguria region’s famous sauce, pesto.” It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Apparently there’s a website where you can check to see how many UNESCO World Heritage sites you’ve been to, and I’ve been to 49 so far. Anyway, I digress, let’s get to the pictures.
Similar to the last post, we also did a lot of eating and walking. We rented a room in Vernazza, which was our home base for four days. Vernazza was my favourite town, but I might be biased because it was where we spent the most time.
Gelato was essential part of our diet on this trip
Inside the Santa Margherita di Antiochia Church
The nice thing about the warm weather was that you could always dine outdoors. Enjoying some lasagna next to the ocean.
Post dinner relaxation
Succulents growing out of the crevices, everywhere!
On our second day, we hiked from Vernazza to Corniglia, then to Manarola, and lastly Riomaggiore. We took the popular coastal trail from Vernazza to Corniglia. There were lemon trees all along the way.
Fresh squeezed orange juice and lemonade along the trail
Overlooking Cornaglia and Manarola
A photo of Manarola captured in Cornaglia
We had lunch in Cornaglia. This was favourite pasta dish during the trip. Being next to the coast meant a lot of fresh seafood ready for consumption.
Inside the Chiesa Di San Pietro
The coastal trail from Corniglia to Manarola was washed out in a flood in 2011 and is still under repair so we took an alternate route, which involved going up into the mountains. There is an extensive hiking network in Cinque Terre because it’s also a national park. This route was a bit more strenuous, but had lovely views. Because it was harder, there were way less people on the trail, which was nice. You can also take a train from town to town, by the way. It’s a less sweaty option.
The picturesque Manarola
Dinner in Manarola, tuna steaks
Trying some panna cotta
We were super tired when we arrived in Manarola. We were thinking of saving Riomaggiore for the next day, but the weather was supposed to be bad. We rallied after dinner and found the energy to hike straight up and down the mountain to Riomaggiore.
We hung out in Riomaggiore for a while, ate some gelato and caught a train back to Vernazza.
A well deserved pizza in bed after a long day of hiking.
Breakfast the next day: vegetable stuffed tortellini in a walnut cream sauce
It was a dark and stormy day, but the rain held off until the very end of our hike to Monterosso. It was neat watching the big waves crash on the rocks.
Vernazza from a distance
The lovely trail which is usually very crowded, but was almost empty on this stormy day.
Overlooking Monterosso al Mare on the hike
One of the last shots on the trail before the thunder, lightning, and hail started.
Eating some stuffed mussels at an oceanside cafe in Riomaggiore, listening to the thunder and watching the lighting strike the ocean, while trying to dry off.
We caught a train back to Vernazza after Riomaggiore and grabbed some dinner at this amazing restaurant, Il Pirate Delle Cinque Terre. It’s a little cafe behind the train station in a very unsuspecting place next to a laundromat. The owner of the restaurant was very entertaining. He told us a bunch of stories. He also told us that they baked fresh goods every day for breakfast and to come back for breakfast. There were all these signs on the street leading to the restaurant stating that the cafe serves breakfast, but next to the pastry counter, there’s a sign stating, “We do not serve eggs, please don't ask!!! This is Italy. Eat our food”. He also complained to us about people asking for eggs for breakfast. This was definitely the best food we had during our four days in Cinque Terre.
Beef, duck, and deer carpaccio
Seafood risotto
And cannoli for dessert
On our last day in Vernazza, we came back here for breakfast, sipped on our lattes and coffee for a couple hours, read on the rocks, and ate some more food in town before catching several trains back to Paris to catch our flight to Iceland.
We spent a couple of days in Southern France doing a lot of walking and eating.
We caught a flight to Paris and had a few hours to wander near the Gare du Nord before catching a train to Nice. We arrived early in the morning so nothing was really open yet. Google said there was a botanical garden nearby, so we headed there for a stroll.
Several hours later, we arrived in Nice. Last time we were here was 2010, and I can't recall much of the town because only had two days here during our whirlwind backpacking trip through Europe. It was much more enjoyable this time around. We actually had time to wander the alleyways and enjoy the local cuisine.
Europe is just full of beautiful old churches. A look inside the Cathedral Sainte-Reparate.
We walked up to the Point de vue de la Colline du Château (Castle Hill). Saw old ruins and had a panoramic view of the city.
Monument aux Morts
Gelato all day, every day
On Day 2, we got some brunch at La Femme du Boulanger. It was a two course brunch, first with an assortment of fresh baked breads, jams, and spreads. The second course was a plate of smoked salmon, eggs, fine cheeses, cured meats, and bacon. It was SO good.
Post food coma, we took a train to Èze to hike the Neitzsche footpath to a medieval fort and exotic garden.
Inside the Jardin botanique d’Eze (botanical garden at the top of the hill).
I recently purchased the Canon 70-200 F/4 IS lens so this was a good opportunity to test it out.
According to Wikipedia, “The garden was created after World War II on a chateau's ruins by town mayor André Gianton and Jean Gastaud of the Jardin Exotique de Monaco. It is sited on steep terrain falling over 400 meters to the sea with panoramic views of the coast, and known for its impressive collection of cactus and succulents from the Mediterranean region, Africa, and the Americas.”
Inside the Church of Èze
Vintage postcards written in 1934. Sounds like this person did the same thing we did.
After walking lots, we took a train back to our home base in Nice and ate some classic french foods like steak tartare & moules frites.
On our last day in the French Riviera, we took a train to Monaco and Menton. We arrived in Monaco the day after the Formula 1 World Championship races took place so the city was still set up for that. It was a busy week in the French Riviera because the Cannes Film Festival was also going on next door to Nice.
Wandering through the old area of Monaco. The rest of Monaco was pretty swanky. Monaco is a microstate, where 30% of its population are millionaires. It’s governed under Prince Albert II.
Palaces and guards and changing of the guards.
We skipped going in the palace for gelato instead and then caught a train to the next town over, Menton. Menton was a bit quieter than the other towns. We strolled along the boardwalk and through the town.
Trained back to have dinner in Nice for the night at Tote et Mamie Charlotte. Again another night of fine French dining. This charcuterie spread was divine.
My friend sent me a message at the end of February saying that she was interested in hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT) in April. The next thing you know, April comes around and I was on flight to Washington, DC.
I’ve always wanted to hike the AT, but didn’t know at what point in my life this would happen, so when the opportunity arose, I took it. The entire trail takes around 6 months to hike and is approximately 2200 miles long. It spans from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, however I have a full-time job, so I could only managed to swing off 11 days in April. Kurt wasn’t able to take the time off to join me, so it was just me and Evigna, and the wonderful people we met along the way. My friend, Evigna, who I met last summer during our travels, has three months to hike from Harpers Ferry, VA to Katahdin, ME. We started hiking on April 19 together, and last I spoke to her, she was making great strides and somewhere in New Jersey.
I flew into Washington, DC and had several hours to wander the city before meeting up with Evigna who was still getting some last minute provisions at an REI. Washington was such a neat city and I only had time to wander around the National Mall. I’d love to go back and explore the city some more. I didn’t have time to make it to the National Geographic Museum!
We caught a quick train ride to Harpers Ferry, which is a beautifully pleasant historic town. I recently finished reading Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods and he does such a perfect job of describing this town along with the all feelings one encounters on the trail. We also hitchhiked for the first time in Harpers Ferry (because they have next to no public transport). We met some characters, that’s for sure. Everyone I encountered in that area of America was super friendly.
Before we departed Harpers Ferry, we stopped by the AT Conservancy, officially signed in and purchased an AT passport. There are many different types of hikers that check in at the ATC. There’s thru-hikers, people that do the entire trail in one go. There’s flip floppers, people who start the trail in Harpers Ferry and head towards Katahdin, and then head back to Harpers Ferry and head south to Springer. Then there’s section hikers, which is self-explanatory. I was a section hiker. I also chose to hike possibly the most boring section on the AT since there were no significant elevation changes, relatively speaking. I think it was probably a good intro to the AT since I ended up hurt after the first week. Everything I read about this section described it as “gentle”, which was a bit misleading because I left my hiking poles at home to drop pack weight, a decision I ended up regretting. Although the section I hiked (from Harpers Ferry to Furnace Grove State Park) was “gentle”, there were days when we’d go up and down 3 or 4 hills consecutively, which is several hundred feet of elevation change. Also the rocks in Pennsylvania were the pits. Usually this wouldn’t be a problem, but I was carrying an extra 35lbs of pack weight on my back, which became a problem for my left knee. The first five days were great, but on the 6th day, I was limping along.
The trail departing Harpers Ferry
Our first lunch spot on the Weaverton Cliffs in Maryland
Evigna brought along a Jet Boil, which is an amazing piece of gear. Boils water instantaneously.
Our food supply for five days. I thought the dehydrated food would suck, but it was actually pretty tasty and kinda gourmet compared to what some of the other serious hikers were eating. We met people who would only eat cold foods, like tortilla wraps with peanut butter and energy bars on the trail!
Day two breakfast spot, the White Rocks in Maryland
Signs of spring on the trail
Day three foot care. Nasty blisters all over.
Somewhere near Annapolis Rocks on Day 3
Pogo Campground, equipped with rock furniture, a privy, and water source.
Our daily breakfast: instant oatmeal with swiss chocolate. Evigna brought over 800g of Swiss chocolate (which weighed quite a bit, considering its necessity). She thought it would last her three weeks on the trail, but we devoured it all in four days.
On day four, we met a trail friend who hiked the next three days with us. He was known on the trail as Romani. At this point, we were known on the trail as Swiss Miss (Evigna) and Sniffles. Everyone who hikes the AT has a trail name. You either choose it yourself, or eventually people just start calling you something and it becomes your trail name. Evigna was having a hard time deciding on her trail name, but it was too late because by day four, hikers were already referring to her as Swiss Miss. She might have been the only Swiss on the trail.
Romani found us outside of Waynesboro after we failed at hitching a ride into town when we realized we were very behind schedule and running out of supply. He graciously gave us toilet paper and we swapped food and camped together just outside of the Antietam Shelter next to two lovely streams with butterflies flying all around us. It was ridiculously majestic.
On day five, we had some trail magic courtesy of Romani and got picked up in Fayetteville and had our entire resupply paid for by our “trail angel”. He also dropped us off at a hostel in Fayetteville. The hostel after five days of living in the woods was luxury (an overstatement if you could see the hostel). Again, Bill Bryson does a great job of describing what it’s like to emerge into civilization after living in the woods for a while. I had never been more excited to go to a Wal-Mart in rural America... Yup.
On the 6th day, we departed Fayetteville. Immediately after setting foot on the trail, my left knee was paining some hard. My pace slowed greatly and Evigna ended up lending me her hiking poles. I went too hard the first few days on the uphill climbs and did myself in. I had texted Kurt to inform him of my knee pain, and he became concerned and wanted to drive down (7+ hours) to pick me up because he wanted me to be in decent shape for our upcoming hikes in Europe in two weeks time, but I was stubborn and hobbled another 16km to the Yetiman camp site in the Michaux State Forest. I told Kurt I would only ask him to bail me out in an emergency situation and I wasn’t ready to leave the trail yet.
We were informed of the Yetiman camp site by a hiker named Downhill Trucker. It’s hidden in the woods, just slightly off of the AT. He says every year, some guys with chainsaws have a bit of fun making these campsites. I later chatted to an official AT volunteer about this, and he was not too pleased about the unofficial cutting of trees and tampering with the AT. It made for a lovely campsite though. Nothing like having log furniture to sit and prepare your food on! That night we had a bonfire with some lovely hikers. We got to know “The Dixie Chicks” (Lewis, Red, and Bunny), as well as Chillax, Keebler, and Downhill Trucker.
On day 7, I decided that I would bail out a day earlier in the interest of saving my knee. At this point, it was feeling very messed up. We stopped at Pine Grove Furnace State Park that afternoon and visited the AT Museum, where I got another stamp for my AT Passport. I hope to fill the passport one day, when I hike the entire AT.
There’s a lovely hostel in the park called the Iron Masters Hostel, where we stayed the night in a dorm with the Dixie Chicks and Orange Crush. We hadn’t intended on hosteling so soon after Day 5, but again, who can refuse such luxury! There was also a little restaurant next to the hostel that sold burgers and fries, which was amazing after eating dehydrated foods for almost a week. It’s funny how you always crave junk food when you have no access to it. The hostel also fed us pulled pork sandwiches and chips that night :)
This is Orange Crush. When we met her, she was undecided about her trail name. She said the young ones on the trail suggested “Bright Side” because she was always saying “On the bright side...” and putting things in perspective for them. Orange Crush is 60 years old and had ten times the energy that my 27 year old body had. She was buzzing! That day, she had hiked 17 miles or something ridiculous and wasn’t even remotely tired. She said she had wanted to hike the AT her whole life and this was her chance, so she was doing it (and doing it well). She had such an interesting life path, where she had a high powered job (aerospace engineer), found it too stressful and time consuming so she changed careers and went into education, a much more rewarding field in her eyes. Her husband had also quit his CEO job to do the same thing because they felt their jobs took time away from each other. They also used to have a small business where they raised cows as pets! She has five children, two biological and three adopted.
I found her so inspirational and we had some real talk about the important things in life. When you look back on your life, what do you want it to look like? She commended me on all the traveling I’ve done at my age, because she was afraid of old age getting the best of her. I told her that I’ve seen people her age who are half as fit as she is and that I believe she will live for many, many more years because she makes great lifestyle choices. After hiking 17 miles that day, she was eating a salad while we were all stuffing our faces with grease. I think our chats were reaffirming for each other, at the very least, it was reaffirming for me.
My time on the AT exceeded my expectations. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming and it sort of blew me away. I was in this bubble of wilderness and camaraderie, such a drastic change from the big city life bustling with hoards of people in a concrete jungle. I did not want to leave. It was a very bittersweet feeling seeing my trail buds continue on when I had to pack it in get shuttled back to Harrisburg, a city I spent my last two days in, killing time until my flight back home.
My original plan was hiking from Harpers Ferry to Duncannon (200 km) in eight days, but I only made it to Pine Grove Furnace State (132 km) in seven days. I walked through four different states during my week. I hope to be back on the AT soon. I would do it all again in a heart beat.
While in Harrisburg, I took a tour of the Capitol Building with a bunch of school children. Amazing architecture and interior! I spent the rest of my time eating a lot of pizza and watching Netflix to restore equilibrium.
Impromptu winter camping trip over Easter Weekend to this beauty of a national park.
Drove through the aftermath of an ice storm in Caledon, ON. Interesting scene.
Lake Cyprus
Honestly, the main reason I wanted to go camping was to test out my new gear for an upcoming hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail. I got this Sawyer filter system that’s pretty snazzy. It can filter up to 100,000 gallons of water.
Star gazing on a frozen Lake Cyprus on a clear night.
We went on a 5 hour hike that included stopping by the famous grotto. On first glance, it was pretty breathtaking. We were all amazed by the crystal clear blue water. The bonus of going in the winter is that there were a lot less people around. Apparently this place is happening in the summer months.
Post ice storm scenery.
Kurt decided it was a good idea to climb along an ice wall.
I guess it was a good idea after all because we found this cave.
The trails in this park were pretty dynamic, lots of woods, lots of coastline. It reminded me a lot of home (Nova Scotia), except instead of the Atlantic ocean, it was Lake Huron. The great lakes are that, great (in size).
Along the Bruce trail.
Stopped by in town to grab some provisions, ended up staying at a local brew pub because the thought of cooking dinner in the freezing cold wasn’t the most appealing after sleeping in -7 deg the first night.
Stopped by the Cheltenham badlands on the way home. This land formation is due to poor farming practices.
An impromptu road trip across the border during a long weekend.
I’ve always been fascinated by Detroit because it has such a rich cultural history and some of my favourite music (The White Stripes, The Stooges, & Motown) has come out of Detroit and surrounding areas. I saw the Hotel Yorba from a distance as we were on our way back to Canada.
We decided we were going to Detroit last minute and figured that lots of things would be open on Sundays & Mondays but turns out the Monday we were there was President’s Day (national holiday) and most things are closed on Sundays, but we had an awesome weekend anyway. I’d love to go back during the summer and see and do more things.
At one time, Detroit was the 4th largest city in America. Unfortunately, due to the foreclosure crisis, the city has seen better days. When we drove through the city, we saw some beautiful architecture boarded up and abandoned. We talked to some local residents and they said it was worse several years ago. The city seems to be entering a period of revitalization, evident in the next photo.
Detroit has great architecture. Lots of Art Deco, lots of intricate details.
The Motown Museum
Breakfast at Gold Cash Gold
Corktown, an area full of great bars and restaurants. We ate some amazing ribs at Slow’s BBQ and stopped by LJ’s Sweetheart Bar for a drink.
Michigan Central Station, abandoned in the 80′s because driving became the preferred method of transport. A must see if you’re passing by and like architecture or ruins photography.
The Heidelberg Project
“It’s an open-air art environment in the heart of an urban community on Detroit’s East Side. Tyree Guyton, founder and artistic director, uses everyday, discarded objects to create a two block area full of color, symbolism, and intrigue. Now in its 30th year, the Heidelberg Project is recognized around the world as a demonstration of the power of creativity to transform lives.”
The Detroit Institute of Art is world class art gallery.
Unfortunately we only had an hour and a half there and quickly breezed through the first two floors. It’s a massive gallery and I still need to see the third floor. Here are some of my favourite pieces:
Another cool spot in the city is the Eastern Market area (the actual market was closed when we were there) but we stopped by a couple spots that were open, including People’s Records, where I picked up a few $2 Motown records, Trinosophes, a open concept cafe and music venue, and The Detroit Mercantile Co., which sells cool American made goods.
Rose’s Fine Foods, an unsuspecting diner from the outside, but full of amazing food on the inside. The front of their menu reads: “The team at Rose’s Fine Food believes that workers should be fairly compensated beyond simply working for tips. While we heavily accept gratuities for great service and food, please note that all of our employees are paid a living wage, and all tips are split evenly throughout the staff, front and back of the house. A portion of our tips are donated to various staff selected, Detroit-based charities”. Amazing. The current charity was the Bernie Sanders campaign (speaking of the American election, I find this Twitter account so amusing).
Chickpea Hash, the only source of vegetables I ate all weekend.
The Belle Isle Conservatory & Aquarium - both free! The Aquarium was closed for renos though. Belle Isle park is massive (larger than Central Park) and would be worthy of a bicycle ride & picnic in the summertime (Rose’s Fine Foods caters picnic baskets FYI).
The last stop was another free resource, the Detroit Historical Museum. It felt like a field trip, but entertaining and informative nonetheless.
Notable things not featured: The Woodbridge Pub. We showed up late on a Sunday night and the kitchen was closed, but they were cool enough to let us order a [Detroit style] pizza to the bar. Great staff, cheap drinks. They have bottomless mimosas for brunch on Sundays.
Other things we wanted to do but timing wasn’t right:
Take a tour with Oneita. Our friend had her info in his notes and we gave her a call on the way to Detroit, but she didn’t have her cab that weekend. It was an funny exchange, “How’d you get this number?” “The internet”. She gave us the scoop on some events that were happening in the city that weekend and said she knew some other people that were able to show us around, but they “weren’t her, obviously”. She did offer to hop into our car and show us Detroit, but the car was already feeling tight at the max. capacity with 5 people. The drive around would have cost $126 + her lunch. If we had a bigger car, I think it would have been worth it because she seems like a wealth of knowledge. She told me to call her back if we had any questions, but she was tired and going to take a nap. Next time, Oneita.
Mexicantown. Apparently there’s really good cheap Mexican food there.
Catch a show at the UFO Factory & The Fillmore.
Visit John K. King Used & Rare books when it’s actually open.
Actually go inside the Motown museum for a tour before closing.
Here’s a neat photo essay showing the abandoned buildings in Detroit.
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In the summer of 2012, we spent a couple of weeks in Norway.
Norway was the first trip I shot fully digital with a DSLR. I had been fighting the switch to digital but this was the year that film became too expensive for my student budget at the time. Norway was also the first time I hiked a mountain. It was all around a solid trip. Note: Norway was very expensive, but there was no evident income divide when roaming the streets (and the country sales tax was 25%). We started off the trip in Oslo, and then took a train and a ferry to Balestrand, where we lived in a cabin for a couple days, hiked, and biked around the area. We explored some viking churches from a long time ago, and eventually ended up in Bergen, land of amazing seafood, before heading home.
It’s been a couple months and we’re finally settled into our new home and city, which means we’ve been discussing where to travel next. I’ve enjoyed chronicling our travels this past summer and would like to continue travel blogging. We’ve been to many other places so I’ve decided to do some retrospective posts in anticipation for our next trip. This one will focus on our trip to Cuba in January 2015.
We spent 9 days in Cuba last winter to escape the cold Canadian winter.
Cuba is one of those southern winter getaway destinations often known for their resorts, but we’re not really resort people so we spent the 9 days wandering Havana, Vinales, and Veradaro.
Havana
Havana was a very walkable city full of interesting architecture and very well maintained cars from the 50′s. We checked out the museums and food scene. Instead of staying at hotels, we rented rooms from the locals, “casa particulares”. It’s the equivalent of a bed and breakfast, but you can also pay the host to cook you dinner, which is a great way to try authentic local foods. The food at the government restaurants weren’t always the most flavourful, so it was either dinner at the casa particulares or food from a street stand that were the best (if you’re on a budget- because you can pay American prices for a nice dinner out).
Vinales
We caught a bus from Havana to Vinales. Vinales was my favourite part of the trip. It was full of beautiful countryside views and bicycle adventures that took us to caves, swimming holes, and coffee plantations. We also did a walking tour one day and saw how those famous Cuban cigars were made.
Veradero
Veradero is where you go to beach, snorkel, and swim in that wonderful warm blue water.
By way of Edmonton, Airdrie, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, and Ontario
After Banff & Jasper, we stopped by in Edmonton to visit some family and friends for a night then headed to Airdrie to visit some more friends for a day. We then drove to my old elementary school and house in Calgary, because I wanted to see if my memory matched what both places looked like currently. It did not, but then again, I don’t remember much of my childhood in Calgary.
Our friends that had driven from Ontario to Alberta recommended driving across Canada instead of the U.S. which is what we had initially intended to do to get back to Toronto. At this point, the Canadian dollar had dropped quite a bit since we left America and we were in no hurry to return to real life, so across Canada it was.
Saskatchewan was very flat. We stopped in Winnipeg to visit an old friend from university which was nice and did a quick tour of Winnipeg in an hour. There was some nice architecture there. Then we headed for Ontario, which took us three eight-hour days to drive through. Ontario is so big. There were lots of woods and trees. We got pretty sick of driving by the time we got to Toronto. And that concludes our three and a half month journey to Toronto!
Our pug friend Stella in Airdrie
This photo sums up Saskatchewan
Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg
Winnipeg’s Union Station, we were told it was like a mini Central Station by our local friends
A great lake somewhere in Ontario
Terry Fox monument. Did you know there’s a new Heritage Minute about Terry Fox? Check it out here.
We drove a couple hours from Banff to Jasper National Park and glamped there for two nights.
The drive there was also gorgeous. Lots of blue lakes and mountains surrounding you. We ended up renting a fabric cabin instead of camping because it the temperatures overnight were around 1 degree and the cabins were heated. On our last night, it actually snowed up on the mountains.
It was neat to see the all glaciers in the Jasper. Again, two nights was just not enough time. There’s still so much more to see.
We drove nine hours to get from Vancouver to Banff National Park.
Originally when we were planning our trip, we didn’t know if we’d have time to stop in the Canadian rockies, but we decided to cram in Banff & Jasper in four days. The Canadian rockies were more beautiful than the American rockies we saw in Colorado.
The drive was so beautiful, mountains on both sides and a lovely sunset as we drove to our campsite that day. We shared the campsite with our new friend we met in Vancouver. Turns out she was a friend of our other friend back in Halifax and she quit her job to travel for the next year! The world is small. We spent the next the night by the campfire chatting and the next day hiking the Plain of Six Glaciers. We only had one full day in Banff and we spent seven hours doing this hike. I would love to spend a lot more time here one day. All these pictures are just from one day! Imagine the possibilities of an extended period here.
The Drive In
Plain of Six Glaciers Hike
Night Photography
When I go camping with friends, I always take them out for some night photography. Our new friend was an eager learner and I think we both came out with some pretty great shots. When were were reviewing our photos, we noticed some green light in our frames. Turns out our cameras were able to catch some of the northern lights! We drove around trying to escape the clouds, but no luck.
A fifteen hour flight and fifteen hour time difference later, we were back in Canada.
We spent that weekend in Vancouver, except we were too jet lagged to understand our surroundings or really explore much. We spent our time with a bunch of friends, funny enough, the majority of them were from the east coast, now residing in the west coast. One day, we drove to lunch and filled our car entirely of Maritimers.
On a Sunday, we wanted to get back into the wilderness so we drove 45 minutes to Squamish to hike the Chief. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike. The west coast is so nice because it has both the mountains and ocean.
We went to Malaysia with the sole intention of hiking Mount Kinabalu, which didn’t happen so here’s what we did instead.
So when we booked our accommodations for Malaysia, we had booked three days in the jungle to stay with “Jungle Jack”, a man who hosted hikers and equipped them with food and supplies to hike Mt. Kinabalu. When we left for our trip in May, there had been an earthquake and the trails on Kinabalu were flooded. The park website kept stating that the mountain would be ready to hike in mid July, then August, etc. We figured if we waited, perhaps the park would be open by the time we arrived. Nope. So we contacted Jungle Jack and he told us to show up anyway and that he would ensure that we had a good time. His exact words were “Uncle Jack make sure you have a good time!”
So we spent four days in Kota Kinabalu before heading to the jungle near Ranau. Kota Kinabalu was a small city with not much going on. Most tourists stay here, but spend their days on the islands. We didn’t have much planned so we did a walking tour one one day and the recommended sights included an observatory which gave us a panoramic view of the city, seen here.
The other stop on walking tour was this clock tower.
And Jesselton Point
The following day we went to the city museum which had a mixture of everything. There was history, nature, and art. It was a good way to kill two hours or so. There was an exhibit behind the museum that showcased traditional Malaysian huts.
On another day, we took a river cruise in search for the Proboscis monkey, which is native to Malaysia. We spotted a lot of different monkeys and a horse in a costume.
There were a couple monkeys in this tree, but I never did find that telephoto lens in a garbage can during my journey.
We also did a night cruise down another river known for fireflies. The fireflies lit up the trees like Christmas lights. It was such a neat sight, but it was so difficult to capture fireflies in the dark on a moving boat.
On our last day, we took a boat out to an island off Kota Kinabalu to this tourist attraction called Borneo Reef World, which is “the largest pontoon in Southeast Asia”. They had this activity called sea-walking, which is where you wear a positive pressure helmet and walk on the ocean floor (the pontoon’s underwater platform) to see the sea life. They claimed it was an alternative to scuba diving. It was a bit gimmicky but cool nonetheless. It was neat being able to breathe underneath the ocean and see things, but being restricted to the small platform was a bummer. We later spent a couple hours snorkelling which was more relaxing. I just love swimming around in that warm water checking out all the reef and fish.
We had to figure out how to get to jungle, which meant finding the transport hub. It was just a parking lot full of vans and drivers waiting for people to fill them going to different destinations around the province. After waiting almost two hours for the van to fill up, it was a three hour ride to Jungle Jack’s. When we arrived, Jungle Jack welcomed us, immediately drove us to his friend’s for lunch and then said we were going paragliding!
We spent the next two days with Uncle Jack and his other three guests from France & Italy. He took us all around Ranau and then spontaneously decided to take us to the other side of the province to Sandakan to see orangutans. Since we had no other plans and the mountain was closed, we were game for anything. It was an eventful two days of meeting new people, eating really good Chinese food, and being entertained by Jack. He knew all the good eats and bars, and even took us to his friend’s house that distills alcohol and makes rice wine. The rice wine here was a lot tastier than the rice wine in Vietnam. It actually tasted like wine, a really sweet wine, but better than drinking what tasted like pure alcohol in Vietnam.
When Mt. Kinabalu is open, Jungle Jack is always filled with hikers. It’s definitely a hostel environment. It has all your basic needs and no frills, unless you count durian as a frill. Yes, Jack loved his durian and will make you try it. Jungle Jack’s premise holds a bunch of shipping containers containing bunk beds in them and can accommodate around 15 hikers. The containers have all been painted and are so colorful. The accommodations to hike Mt. Kinabalu was either Jungle Jack’s or a fancy resort almost three times the price. However I doubt you get the same level of entertainment you get from Jack at the resort though. Jack was definitely the highlight of Malaysia trip.
One night Jack took us to a “cowboy bar” in the middle of nowhere. The reason he called it a cowboy bar is because “it’s the kind of place you go in with your guns ready”. That was a joke though. It was just a shack in the middle of nowhere that had karoke and beer. Karoke was the national past-time in every Asian country it seemed.
Mt. Kinabalu hiding in the background behind the clouds. Also, the view in Jungle Jack’s backyard.
A local durian stand along the highway
The view of Sandakan behind some trees
Breathing in the fresh ocean air with our fellow travellers
Jack knew all the hole in the wall Chinese eats. He’s of Chinese descent so he was definitely preferential to his Chinese food and thought Malaysian food was terrible. We never did try much Malay food. We ended up eating a lot of great Chinese food those three days.
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