Friday, May 10, 2013
Spring is here!
Here are a few photos from my new Fuji x100s camera. I am super excited that spring is officially here! Hopefully it is a great season filled with many hours of riding, running, hiking and climbing.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
A new chapter
I live close to the big city of Toronto and sometimes it is a real drag seeing the urban sprawl that is the GTA. With millions and millions of people focused solely on working, getting to work or resting from work. There is some much more to life then busting your butt all the time and never taking time to enjoy what we are so fortunate to have. Often, we focus on what we want next, thinking that by having that next thing, be it a new tv or fast car that our lives will be any better then if we did not have that or those items. I am not immune to that mentality, it is in our society and is ingrained in us from the minute we have any introduction to technology. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone, my computer and cameras, but in reality they offer not happiness but only communication to a technology/ industrial driven world. Because of this I am trying to make a effort to slow down and enjoy life, not things. Go for a walk, run or bike ride without your phone or ipod or whatever. Talk to people around you, go for a tractor ride with the local farmer who helps in the production of our taken for granted food. Lay down in that grassy field, take your shoes off in the pond/creek/lake and feel the mud and rocks between your toes. The point is that we are losing track of everything around us that was here before us and because of or silly selfish ways may not be here after us.
I am no better then the person next to me nor are they better then me. This summer and hopefully continuing after I will take a honest effort to be whole and grateful for everything we have around us. In the last month a few major changes have happened in my life. The cool thing is that they are all great "moving forward in life" type of changes. I was knocked over the head a few to many times with a billboard trying to direct me in a certain direction. It took a few good hits before I realized what was happening... I took a small leap and followed that left fork in the road of my life. I don't hope that I chose the correct option, I know that I did. Anyways I am going to keep this short and sweet as my dog is rolling around in the grass right now and from this computer it looks rather fun. I think I may go join him... Ha.
I am no better then the person next to me nor are they better then me. This summer and hopefully continuing after I will take a honest effort to be whole and grateful for everything we have around us. In the last month a few major changes have happened in my life. The cool thing is that they are all great "moving forward in life" type of changes. I was knocked over the head a few to many times with a billboard trying to direct me in a certain direction. It took a few good hits before I realized what was happening... I took a small leap and followed that left fork in the road of my life. I don't hope that I chose the correct option, I know that I did. Anyways I am going to keep this short and sweet as my dog is rolling around in the grass right now and from this computer it looks rather fun. I think I may go join him... Ha.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Great Range Traverse (winter version)
Saturday we hiked/ snowshoed/ climbed and glissaded the Great Range Traverse in the Adirondack's. Here are a few of the stats and some photos from the trip.
Team: Ryan Atkins, Matt Farquharson, Keith Iskiw and myself.
1) 38.89km
2) 10978ft elevation gain
3) 4200 calories consumed
4) 12hr 5 min 58 sec total time
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Snowshoe Raid 2013
The week leading up to this years Snowshoe Raid I was medium worried about the lack of snow and I figured that if there was no snow that we would probably just be racing with trail runners. I arrived in Collingwood Friday night and was all set for the 3ish hours of fun that was going to be had the next morning. There was roughly about 10cm of snow and with that it would not be wise to use snowshoes and a better choice to use my Salomon Snow Cross winter kicks with small grippy spikes in the bottom. They would in the end be a great choice for the conditions that day.
The morning started off as usual... Sort of. I was at the sign in point where we pick up our maps for 830am and started to plot my course. I was without my racing partner Ryan Atkins as he had ended up putting his car in a ditch 20min outside of Collingwood. Thankfully he and his passenger were left unscathed and after a hour of digging with the snowshoes they had in the car being used a shovels they finally emerged from the snow drifted in ditch. Ryan arrived at the sign in 10 min before we were to depart for the bus to head to the start of the event. With some last minute cramming and course plotting we caught a ride with Kelsey to the start of the race.
The race started just after 11am and over 100 teams set out on a course to find as many checkpoints as possible all within a 3hr time limit. Each checkpoint is worth a varying degree of points and for every minute that you go over the 3hr time limit you are deducted 10 points per minute. Our goal was to hit all the checkpoints and hopefully clear the course within the 3hr limit. Ryan and I were lucky to have Kelsey run along with us for the first 90min of the race as he was going to take some candid photos of us racing! We were set a quick pace from the gun and we both felt really good and were stoked to be out running through the forest on a uber fun course.
We were pushing hard and towards the end of the race heading into the matrix we could start to feel the punishment from checkpoint 160 which was placed as a out and back, except that the checkpoint was at the bottom of the escarpment. It was almost a 200m descent to punch the card and then to turn around and go straight back up the escarpment. It was a great leg and lung buster! We hit the matrix with 20min to tag all 5 of the points, punch out of the matrix at the top of the hill and then descend down to the finish. We knew time was going to be tight and that we we would probably miss the time cut by less then a minute...
We barrelled down the hill at full speed, finding the odd spot of snow that we could slide down. We punched our time card only 56sec over the time limit. We were greeted by a cheering crowd and treated to some great treats! After a cool down walk we headed back to the chalet were we would indulge with a burger and fries!
We managed to pull off the big win this year, finding all of the checkpoints and only penalized 10 points for arriving less then a minute over the limit!
It was a fantastic course and always exciting to see tons of people out enjoying the outdoors running through the forest!
The morning started off as usual... Sort of. I was at the sign in point where we pick up our maps for 830am and started to plot my course. I was without my racing partner Ryan Atkins as he had ended up putting his car in a ditch 20min outside of Collingwood. Thankfully he and his passenger were left unscathed and after a hour of digging with the snowshoes they had in the car being used a shovels they finally emerged from the snow drifted in ditch. Ryan arrived at the sign in 10 min before we were to depart for the bus to head to the start of the event. With some last minute cramming and course plotting we caught a ride with Kelsey to the start of the race.
The race started just after 11am and over 100 teams set out on a course to find as many checkpoints as possible all within a 3hr time limit. Each checkpoint is worth a varying degree of points and for every minute that you go over the 3hr time limit you are deducted 10 points per minute. Our goal was to hit all the checkpoints and hopefully clear the course within the 3hr limit. Ryan and I were lucky to have Kelsey run along with us for the first 90min of the race as he was going to take some candid photos of us racing! We were set a quick pace from the gun and we both felt really good and were stoked to be out running through the forest on a uber fun course.
We were pushing hard and towards the end of the race heading into the matrix we could start to feel the punishment from checkpoint 160 which was placed as a out and back, except that the checkpoint was at the bottom of the escarpment. It was almost a 200m descent to punch the card and then to turn around and go straight back up the escarpment. It was a great leg and lung buster! We hit the matrix with 20min to tag all 5 of the points, punch out of the matrix at the top of the hill and then descend down to the finish. We knew time was going to be tight and that we we would probably miss the time cut by less then a minute...
We barrelled down the hill at full speed, finding the odd spot of snow that we could slide down. We punched our time card only 56sec over the time limit. We were greeted by a cheering crowd and treated to some great treats! After a cool down walk we headed back to the chalet were we would indulge with a burger and fries!
We managed to pull off the big win this year, finding all of the checkpoints and only penalized 10 points for arriving less then a minute over the limit!
It was a fantastic course and always exciting to see tons of people out enjoying the outdoors running through the forest!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
4 days of fun (with photos)
The last 4 days we were lucky enough to get away to a beautiful snowy destination courtesy of some good friends. It was a extended weekend of nordic skiing, snowshoeing, hiking and of course some great socializing! I hope everyone had a safe and great Holiday!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
XC Skiing
We have been fortunate enough over the last week to be able to slide skis on snow. I just purchased my season's pass at Dagmar and hopefully the winter is kind to all nordic skiers. Happy Holidays!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Silver Peak Killarney Provincial Park
Last week Ryan Atkins and myself decided that we should make a quick trip up to Killarney before the Holiday season. We were unsure of the weather and the snow conditions so we kept our route options open until we arrived to the park.
We hit the road around 530am and hoped to be at the park around 10-1030am. We had a uneventful drive up there and were greeted to having the entire park to ourselves. We parked our car in the access parking lot that is the trailhead for hiking into "the crack". We loaded the packs and we were on the trail for 11am sharp and we were treated to 5-10cm's of wet snow with lots of wet puddles under the surface. We opted to wear our Salomon Speedcross shoes with a gaiter, as we knew that no matter what we did we would end up with wet feet. We made it the 4 km to the top of the crack in around 1hr and we had a spectacular view of the surrounding landscape. For some of you who know my relationship with Killarney and especially the La Cloche Trail, which is 78km long and circumnavigates the majority of the park, I have only ever run this route and never hiked it! Running it a total of 3 times over the last few years, I was always unable to really slow down and enjoy the beautiful park stacked with big ridge views so rare in Ontario. We had no intention of lolly gagging, but in any measure it was refreshing to see the park from a hikers perspective.
We were hoping for sunny blue skies that would really bring out the blue in the lakes that make the park so famous for. We only were fortunate over three days to have 10 to 15min of sunshine and for the majority we had to settle with thick clouds and fog. We hiked along the Killarney ridge section soaking in the gorgeous views along the way. We came up on the campsite on Heaven Lake and tossed around the idea of making camp here, it was only 245pm and we decided to keep hiking until dark. We made our way over to campsite H38 on Silver lake and arrived around 505pm. We set camp, made dinner and were in bed by 630pm. After the lights went out, Ryan was asleep in 6 seconds flat and I was not even done zipping up my sleeping bag and I was treated the pleasant sound of logs being milled, or snoring. I kept hearing the plastic ground sheet rustle and just put past the idea that it was the wind... That is until I turned my headlamp on! There was mice everywhere! I have never seen them this bad. I have spent many nights out under the stars and I have never ever seen this many little rodents so persistent to get either our warmth or our food. I had a rough nights sleep with a consistent waking up from the little critters crawling around me, or on me. At one point I looked over at Ryan and managed to see one little mouse crawl right out of his sleeping bag and over his head! What a night!
After assessing the conditions we decided on a plan for the remainder of our two days in the park. Tomorrow (or day two) we would leave our packs in camp and hike up to the top of Silver peak (4km from camp) and back to finish packing up and make our way roughly 10km back along Killarney ridge. until we either found a nice spot to camp or we ran out of daylight. The plan sounded good to me! Silver Peak in these conditions would be a fulfilling 3 days.
The next morning after breakfast we made our way from camp to the summit of Silver Peak at 539m. From camp H38 it took us just under 90min to get to the socked in rime ice covered summit. We were hoping for good views and there was none of that. Although it is only 539m above sea level, it is 362m above Georgian Bay, so it can make for some bad weather. We left the summit and made it back to camp in just over a hour. We loaded our packs and hit the snowy trail following our footsteps we had left the day before. We made it halfway along Killarney Ridge and at around 4pm we arrived at H49 on Little Superior Lake, we decided to call it camp for the night. We set up the tarp, laid out the sleeping bags and made our delicious dinners. Not log after the sun set we decided to climb into the soon to be warm sleeping bags and as usual Ryan was snoring before I was even in my sleeping bag! I brought along my little ipod nano incase I needed some distraction during the 15 hours without daylight. I listened to cbc radio one, all the while I could hear and feel what we had encountered the night before, mice. No way not again I thought, how could this be? Never have I encountered mice situations like this before! I kept turning the volume of the ipod up hoping to drown out the sound (and feel) of the little critters crawling around all over us. At around 730pm and after a solid 60min sleep Ryan awoke to the pleasant sound (or feel) of the little buggers in all of our gear. We tossed out a idea... We were only 8km from the car and it was only 730pm... Hmmm. We could potentially be to the car for 10-1015pm. We decided to break camp quickly and hike out to the car.
The Section of trail separating us from our car was one of the more technical sections on the La Cloche and we were going to try and hike it not only at night, but in winter with very slick conditions. We enjoyed the hike along the ridge, stopping to soak up some of the views of the big dark sky above us. We made it to the crack faster then anticipated and would soon be on easier terrain. We descended down off the ridge and through the crack unscathed and really enjoying the hike we just did. We marched the last 4km to the car and set up a rodent free camp in the confines of a metal car. We had a solid yet cool sleep in the motor vehicle and just after 6am awoke and made our way slowly back to civilization. It was very refreshing to get out in the wilderness for a few days and especially as we are approaching the holiday season. For me it makes me feel not only recharged but more appreciative of the friends and family close to me.
Here are a few pics from the trip. Enjoy.
We hit the road around 530am and hoped to be at the park around 10-1030am. We had a uneventful drive up there and were greeted to having the entire park to ourselves. We parked our car in the access parking lot that is the trailhead for hiking into "the crack". We loaded the packs and we were on the trail for 11am sharp and we were treated to 5-10cm's of wet snow with lots of wet puddles under the surface. We opted to wear our Salomon Speedcross shoes with a gaiter, as we knew that no matter what we did we would end up with wet feet. We made it the 4 km to the top of the crack in around 1hr and we had a spectacular view of the surrounding landscape. For some of you who know my relationship with Killarney and especially the La Cloche Trail, which is 78km long and circumnavigates the majority of the park, I have only ever run this route and never hiked it! Running it a total of 3 times over the last few years, I was always unable to really slow down and enjoy the beautiful park stacked with big ridge views so rare in Ontario. We had no intention of lolly gagging, but in any measure it was refreshing to see the park from a hikers perspective.
We were hoping for sunny blue skies that would really bring out the blue in the lakes that make the park so famous for. We only were fortunate over three days to have 10 to 15min of sunshine and for the majority we had to settle with thick clouds and fog. We hiked along the Killarney ridge section soaking in the gorgeous views along the way. We came up on the campsite on Heaven Lake and tossed around the idea of making camp here, it was only 245pm and we decided to keep hiking until dark. We made our way over to campsite H38 on Silver lake and arrived around 505pm. We set camp, made dinner and were in bed by 630pm. After the lights went out, Ryan was asleep in 6 seconds flat and I was not even done zipping up my sleeping bag and I was treated the pleasant sound of logs being milled, or snoring. I kept hearing the plastic ground sheet rustle and just put past the idea that it was the wind... That is until I turned my headlamp on! There was mice everywhere! I have never seen them this bad. I have spent many nights out under the stars and I have never ever seen this many little rodents so persistent to get either our warmth or our food. I had a rough nights sleep with a consistent waking up from the little critters crawling around me, or on me. At one point I looked over at Ryan and managed to see one little mouse crawl right out of his sleeping bag and over his head! What a night!
After assessing the conditions we decided on a plan for the remainder of our two days in the park. Tomorrow (or day two) we would leave our packs in camp and hike up to the top of Silver peak (4km from camp) and back to finish packing up and make our way roughly 10km back along Killarney ridge. until we either found a nice spot to camp or we ran out of daylight. The plan sounded good to me! Silver Peak in these conditions would be a fulfilling 3 days.
The next morning after breakfast we made our way from camp to the summit of Silver Peak at 539m. From camp H38 it took us just under 90min to get to the socked in rime ice covered summit. We were hoping for good views and there was none of that. Although it is only 539m above sea level, it is 362m above Georgian Bay, so it can make for some bad weather. We left the summit and made it back to camp in just over a hour. We loaded our packs and hit the snowy trail following our footsteps we had left the day before. We made it halfway along Killarney Ridge and at around 4pm we arrived at H49 on Little Superior Lake, we decided to call it camp for the night. We set up the tarp, laid out the sleeping bags and made our delicious dinners. Not log after the sun set we decided to climb into the soon to be warm sleeping bags and as usual Ryan was snoring before I was even in my sleeping bag! I brought along my little ipod nano incase I needed some distraction during the 15 hours without daylight. I listened to cbc radio one, all the while I could hear and feel what we had encountered the night before, mice. No way not again I thought, how could this be? Never have I encountered mice situations like this before! I kept turning the volume of the ipod up hoping to drown out the sound (and feel) of the little critters crawling around all over us. At around 730pm and after a solid 60min sleep Ryan awoke to the pleasant sound (or feel) of the little buggers in all of our gear. We tossed out a idea... We were only 8km from the car and it was only 730pm... Hmmm. We could potentially be to the car for 10-1015pm. We decided to break camp quickly and hike out to the car.
The Section of trail separating us from our car was one of the more technical sections on the La Cloche and we were going to try and hike it not only at night, but in winter with very slick conditions. We enjoyed the hike along the ridge, stopping to soak up some of the views of the big dark sky above us. We made it to the crack faster then anticipated and would soon be on easier terrain. We descended down off the ridge and through the crack unscathed and really enjoying the hike we just did. We marched the last 4km to the car and set up a rodent free camp in the confines of a metal car. We had a solid yet cool sleep in the motor vehicle and just after 6am awoke and made our way slowly back to civilization. It was very refreshing to get out in the wilderness for a few days and especially as we are approaching the holiday season. For me it makes me feel not only recharged but more appreciative of the friends and family close to me.
Here are a few pics from the trip. Enjoy.
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