Ruth: When I’m not working online in my office at home, I’m joining the new Covid craze for self-sufficiency. Once enough toilet paper and food stocks have been secured, I turn my attention to gardening, making masks, knitting and baking. Other than the making of masks, these are not new hobbies for me, but the daily routine of working to produce what our house needs ...
Our Garden Our beautiful cat Russell Street I have been working from home since Spring Break ended, and face to face classes were shut down for all, but the children of essential workers. I’ve been tuning in to listen to our Chief Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry for her daily updates. I am now hyper vigilante about following social distancing and hand washing rules. Non-essential ...
This morning we are packing up to leave paradise and return to a changed city. Living in the moment has always been easier on Valdes and yet even here I have been navigating intense emotions. I received an email from our friend Paolo in Northern Italy to let me know that he is safe. His only advice, echoed voices broadcasting from all over Italy: “follow the ...
March 17, 2020 The last rays of sun are illuminating the Straight of Georgia between Vancouver and Valdes Island. From my chair in our cabin, I watch a ferry gliding along in the pink light that bathes the coastal range. Mount Baker looks simultaneously solid and ethereal. We we’re supposed to be on route to Moncton to visit Gordon’s aunt and uncle who are 96 ...
Having crossed the Thorung La we are now in another drainage, that of the Kali Gandaki. It is much dryer than the Marsyangdi valley that we were in before the pass. It also seems much more prosperous. The Kali Gandaki is a broader valley so the road construction has been more successful in producing a reasonably good road. Fortunately, the Annapurna circuit trail often leaves ...
I finished my AT hike at Erwin, Tennessee, 343 trail miles (550 kms) from Springer Mountain. This is a little less than one-sixth of the entire trail. Was it a good experience? Would I do it again? The answer to both of these questions is yes.The AT is a very challenging walk. On the Gaspé last summer we met a 60ish woman who had hiked ...
Early in the day yesterday I encountered a herd of five whitetail deer. They were about 50 metres away. In the quiet of the open woodland four of them raised their enormous white tails and ran away. Because they were moving west the tails were illuminated by the morning sun like a collection of white flags. The only sound was the crunch of their hooves ...
Ruth: Gord is camped on the top of Bald Mountain tonight so here is a bed time story about the Hermit of Bald mountain, a man named David Grier. Now our best friend and house mate is a Don Grier who is the descendant of an unbroken line of David Griers. A man who after long stints alone at our cabin has been known to ...
I met Tim at Walnut Mountain Shelter the night before I arrived at Hot Springs, N.C. He was out on a lengthy day hike and paused for a smoke and a drink. Tim thru hiked the AT a few years ago and tries to get back on the trail whenever he can. He invited me to join him for a beer at the tavern in ...
It was forecast to rain last night for the first time in a week. I therefore ensured that I was in a shelter rather than the tent. What I had not anticipated, however, was the wind. It was blowing on the ridges all day yesterday, but the intensity increased toward nightfall.Unfortunately, unlike the Plumorchard Shelter, where we weathered the remnants of Hurricane Nate, Walnut Mountain ...