Nature – Road and Ocean

Thunder Bay

August 3, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Back on the road! Over the last week we’ve been based in Thunder Bay, staying with Gerry and Julie (and kids) friends of Oli and Kate, who came over from Ottawa with their two young ‘uns. Being in company with lots of people and 4 kids under 5 has been a big change from just the two of us, but it’s been a great time.

We drove up through Duluth in Minnesota, where we spent a night at a campground in town, and then caught up with the rest of the world for a short time at the library the next day. A few hours’ drive north east of Duluth brings us to the border with Canada, where (again!) we get searched, and have to abandon some firewood. I declared the mini pepper spray we got free with the big bear spray we bought a few weeks ago, which was confiscated as it could be a “concealed weapon” – the larger canister supposedly couldn’t be concealed so it’s OK…

In the ten days or so we’ve been in Canada (I’m writing from the road on our way back down to Duluth in the US), Oli and I managed to get an evening of kitesurfing, Kate gave me a long overdue hair cut, we did lots of playing with the kids, the lads went on a canoeing trip, and we all spent a couple of nights camping on the north shore of Lake Superior at Neys Provincial Park.

Our 3-day canoeing trip into Quetico park was a good bit of exercise, and a wilderness trip of a different sort from what I’m used to. Gerry and Oli took a regular canoe, which carried most of our kit, and I took one of the kayaks we bought last year. The 30 mile loop involved plenty of paddling and 9 portages – where we carry all the gear and boats overland between lakes, or around sections that are too shallow to float. The portages ranged from just lifting the boats past a small waterfall, to 1km+ hikes through the mud, forest and hordes of mosquitoes. Three days felt too short to really get into the lake country wilderness – we only just skimmed the north end of the park – someday I’d like to do a much longer trip. Gerry used to be a guide further north in Canada, taking groups into the middle of nowhere by float plane, and then spending a week or more paddling, camping, fishing and ending up on the coast at Hudson Bay.

We put in at Lerome lake, just off the Trans Canada Highway, early afternoon on Monday, having picked up fishing and park licences from Atikokan. Then paddled through Bewag, Lark and Cole, with a few small portages, to reach the longer Sue Falls portage. From the bottom of Sue Falls we paddled a short way across Cirrus Lake (not labelled on the map above), to a sweet camp spot – marked with the green star. The breeze kept the bugs away as we cooked up steaks and corn in the setting sun.

On day two we continued south over Cirrus Lake to the longest portage of the trip, over the hill to Kaskokwog Lake. Carrying boats and kit through the wet foliage sets the swarms of biting bugs in flight, and if you’ve got both hands full you just have to grit your teeth and watch them suck your blood out as you charge on as fast as possible to the other side. Once in Kaskokwog Lake, we drifted slowly downwind for a couple of hours, fishing and watching the world go by. We all caught pike, which went straight back in the water – not nice to eat.

Thunder clouds marched over the sky in the afternoon, and as they approached the wind strengthened and changed to dead ahead, so we pulled into the side of the lake while the storms passed over. Heavy rain fell in front and behind us, but we got away with just a light shower, while Oli read the history of the park to us from the back of a map we’d found on the side of the trail. I hope the previous owners of that map had a spare … this is not a place to get lost! We carried on down McAlpine Lake and squeezed in a couple more portages before the end of the day (marked as “33” on the map). Emerging onto the water at the other end, we could see that all the obvious camp spots were taken, so we paddled around in the dusk, and then decided on a small island with what looked like a clear spot on the summit. Turned out to be a great site, with lots of wild blueberries to enjoy with breakfast.

The third morning involved a paddle, a short portage onto Batchewaung Lake, and then a longer, but very well trodden, portage onto Nym Lake, and then a paddle into the wind across to the take-out (marked on the map above by the short black road at the very north east of the map). Gerry hitched to get the truck, we packed up and drove the 2 1/2 hours back to Thunder Bay to arrive in time to put the kids to bed.

Camping at Neys gave us a further couple of days all together, though it was chilly and overcast, and last night we had some rain which set off the biting bugs in full force. Fun times with kids and friends, but we gotta get moving again. Should be about five or six days to Denver, back across the prairies.

Grand Teton NP

July 16, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris Tanner1 Comment

Time for more mountains! We left the campground at about 9 this morning, not too shabby, and headed south to the Grand Teton National Park which butts up against the southern end of Yellowstone. We’re pretty much ready to start our mission east across the prairies to Thunder Bay, but can’t miss the Tetons as we’re right next door, and who knows when or if we’re going to be coming this way ever again. We decided to swing by and spend a day in the park. Yesterday I mentioned we’re feeling a little blasé about mountains and forests and beautiful views – but coming up to the Teton Range blew all that away, as every new mountain range appears to do. These peaks are stunning, rising more than 3,000 feet directly from the flat valley floor, with no foothills. They look amazing for climbing. I’ll definitely be coming back here with a climbing buddy someday.

Wanting some exercise but not an epic lung-buster up the side of a Teton, we walked a few miles around Jenny Lake, the scenic centre of the park. A passing ranger told us there was a grizzly bear just a quarter mile down the trail, so we kept our eyes peeled and ears pricked for any furry action, but didn’t end up seeing anything. Shame, it would have been awesome to see one up close in the wild.

As we were getting ready to walk around the lake, we had a quick chat with a lady that was touring America with a young lad in tow, maybe ten years old. We reckon it was probably her grandson. She, like us, didn’t have much of a plan. Each time they got to a junction she’d ask him “which way?” – he’d make a decision, and off they went. What an adventure!

Spent the rest of the afternoon sat in the sun, drawing mountains, and sewing up the umpteenth tear in my shorts. Gonna see if I can get another two months out of them. The fabric is so thin, I’m not sure I want to put them in the laundry in case they can’t handle the spin cycle. I don’t think Rose is going to let me wear the same shorts without washing them for 8 more weeks though. Watch this space.

Not having had a shower for three long, hot days, it was time to freshen up – we found some pay showers in Colter Bay village in the centre of the park, stocked up on a few cold treats at the general store next door, and then rustled up a feast of vegetable fajitas in a car park overlooking the mountains. I don’t think the Americans are used to seeing people cooking in car parks, squatting on the floor with a wok sizzling away. Doing the same in France I remember plenty of friendly “bon appetites”, but here everyone pretends not to notice us as they climb out of their cars, wander a few yards, take a snap with their iPhone, get back in the car and drive on to the next spot on the map.

I’m now sitting in the van at Togwotee pass, watching the sun go down behind the peaks of the Tetons in the distance. We’re on the Continental Divide, again. We’ve been back and forth over this line maybe twenty times over the last couple of weeks. On the west side all water flows down into the Pacific, and on the east side it has more of a journey ahead of it – flowing either into the Atlantic, into Hudson Bay or the Arctic. A ridge dividing two watersheds isn’t a strange concept, but for some reason I’m captivated by this line that traces a path all the way from the top of Canada down to Mexico, a single continuous line meandering over the peaks and crests of the Rocky Mountains. We don’t have anything like it in Europe – sure there are some huge rivers like the Rhine and the Rhone – but not like America which is such a clearly defined north-south continent, holding apart two oceans.

We’re sealed up against a plague of mosquitoes (again), but up here at over 9,000 feet it’s cool enough to have the van closed all night. It’s a clear sky, I think the weather pattern has changed. If it’s a clear dawn it’s going to be a stunning light show on the Tetons over on the other side of Jackson Hole, so I’m setting an alarm to see if I can catch it.

Yellowstone

July 15, 2014December 7, 2016 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Not wanting to hang around for a second day at the festival, we packed up on Sunday morning and made our way south towards Yellowstone. Leaving Butte, the mountains changed character yet again. Nestled among the trees on the hills around the highway were hundreds of squashed round boulders, sat on their narrow ends – just like a plague of huge, swollen ticks gorging themselves on the folds of the mountain.

Early afternoon we arrived in West Yellowstone, on the border of the national park. We poked our noses into the park to see what the story was with camping, but as we’d expected, it was busy busy and all campgrounds were full. There are a few that allow reservations – which I’m sure would book up months ahead of time – but all the others are first come first served, sometimes filling up early in the morning. So we turned around back into town, found a campground, got settled with some lunch and then set out to explore the place. Lots of tourist tat everywhere – but not too many tourists – I guess they must all be in the park filling up those camp sites. The heat of the last few days is generating plenty of thunderstorms, this evening we sat outside the Buffalo Grill drinking our beers in the rain, hoping optimistically that it was going to stop and dry out before our tacos arrived. It didn’t, so we ate inside.

Monday / Tuesday

The battle plan for Monday was to get up early and go straight into the park to find a camp site. We arrived at Norris campground, pretty much right in the middle of the park, at 9am, and found a few free spots, vacated by early risers. Wanting 3 days in the park, we booked in for a couple of nights, paying the usual $20 per night in a little cardboard self-registration envelope. After a quick coffee it was time to explore the park.

The next couple of days were a blur of geothermal sites; hot springs, geysers, steam vents, mud pots, boiling pools – all a bit overwhelming, but very impressive. The park does well to soak up the 3 million people that come here each year; most geyser areas are quite large with trails and walkways over the fragile earth that go on for at least a mile or so. But it still felt busier than any of the other parks we’ve been to. Most car parks had a queue of people waiting to get in. All very well organised, just like the other US National Parks.

The range of springs, vents, pots and pools was unbelievable; with different coloured bacteria living in different temperatures. The Morning Glory pool was stunning. These pictures are not enhanced. The colours really were like that. Amazing.

And the prismatic spring blew me away. From way up the road, as we approached, we could see steam just like with all the other geyser sites, but here there was so much colour in the spring below that the steam itself was coloured in vivid orange, turquoise and yellow.

We managed to dodge the thunderstorms and get enough sun to take a bunch of pictures. Too many pictures. I often wonder why I don’t just download professional photos of the tourist sights. They can do better than I can, and it would leave me to just soak it all in without having to think about getting my own shots. But no, just like the gazillions of other snap-happy tourists, there we were, going for the best angle, best lighting, click click click.

Waiting for geysers to erupt is a funny game. Some of them are predicable, to a point. Sometimes the expected eruption times are posted by the rangers. Some geysers erupt pretty often, perhaps every few minutes, so it’s easy to catch it in action. Others erupt once every few hours, plus or minus an hour or so, and if you want to catch these doing their thing you need to get there early and just wait. And some only erupt following earthquakes, or only once or twice a century. We didn’t get any of the predictions, and just followed our noses around the park, but still managed to see a fair few geysers spouting and hissing into the sky. Perhaps the most impressive was Riverside Geyser, where (following a tip-off from a well prepared German) we waited about half an hour for it to spew its insides out all over the river.

For us, the rest of the park – the wildlife, the scenery, the history – took second place to the geothermal sights. Sure, we saw bison, elk, a bunch of small rodenty things, some birds, impressive cliffs, waterfalls and canyons, but that’s “just more nature”. Having been amongst jaw-droppingly beautiful country for over a month now, I think we’re actually getting a little desensitised.

A ridiculous number of pictures …

The Lost Coast

April 14, 2014 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Just some pics for now

Joshua Tree

March 18, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris TannerLeave a comment

We left San Francisco late on Thursday afternoon, aiming to drive down the coast of Big Sur and find somewhere for the night before continuing on to Joshua tree the next day. Tight on time, it was dark not long after we left Monterey Bay, but we managed to get a fair way before losing the light. Rose found what looked like a nice camp site perched on the top of the cliffs overlooking the sea, and we figured that we could just turn up on a Thursday night and they’d have space. Turns out that this is a pretty popular spot, and all the pitches were officially booked – with paper tags attached to the posts, put there by the campground host. It was 10 pm and a few places were still empty so we took our chances and set up on one of them. Nobody disturbed us, and we woke to an amazing view over the sea. Our pitch was just metres from the edge of the cliff, and we could hear the waves crashing on the rocks below.

The sun started poking its head over the hills in the east as we prepared breakfast, and then once packed up we were off on the long drive across the hills to Joshua tree.

We turned off the coast and headed inland just south of Cambria, scooted down highway 101 for a short distance then continued eastwards on the 58 across miles and miles of hot, dusty, desert.

We were still a way off as we chased our shadow down the road, heading towards Yucca Valley, where a big American burger dinner was followed by a short hunt for a Motel and then some rest.

Next morning we were up early and straight into the park. The scenery changes so quickly as you gain altitude leaving the town of 29 palms, with the Joshua trees being pretty dominant amongst the scrub and smaller, similar looking yucca plants. The rangers at the gate said that all the campgrounds were full, but confident from our previous night’s stealth technique we thought it would be worth checking for ourselves. Yeah, it was pretty busy, but we did manage to find a spare spot, so we set up camp right away and then headed out exploring the park for the rest of the day.

I keep my longboard in the van all the time, and over the past few months we’ve driven along so many awesome skating roads, but I’ve not yet managed to stop. This time I couldn’t resist. “See you at the bottom!” … endless miles of perfect asphalt, hot sunshine, pretty much no traffic – an epic skate.

David had forgotten to bring a sun hat so we fashioned a head scarf that made him look like a real explorer.

I love the big, open, arid spaces of the desert.

The obligatory long-exposure night time shots of the desert, with some loon running around with a torch. It was full moon while we were there, which meant that as the sun went down the moon was rising, which was pretty awesome. And in the morning, the moon was just setting over the west as the new day was starting with the sun rising in the east.

Mum and David planning where their travels will take them next. We left early on the Monday morning and dropped them off in Bakersfield to pick up a rental car while we bombed back to San Francisco.

Tahoe weekend

February 24, 2014 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Rose and I made a last minute decision on Friday to head up to the mountains for the weekend. There were a bunch of folk going snowboarding, and the weather looked good. The original plan was to leave late on Friday night after Mark and Heather had left after dinner … but when it got to 10.30 the prospect of packing the van and driving for hours wasn’t so appealing.

We set our alarms for 0430 on Saturday morning instead, and hauled ourselves out of our bunk into the van, well before the sun was even thinking about peeking its head over the hills in the east. We were well across the causeway to Vallejo by the time the first signs of dawn were showing.

Our early start paid off and we were up at Northstar by 9am to meet Mike, Rachel, Brent and Michelle. I spent the day snowboarding while Rose hung out around the village, soaking up the sunshine and reading the papers. At first, I wasn’t sure about getting back into the whole snowboarding thing. I’d not forgotten how to snowboard, but it seems I just didn’t get the buzz from it that I used to. I wasn’t as excited about the day on the mountain as I thought I should be. The stinger of a $119 lift pass probably went some way to needing justification! How much is fun worth? Tough question.

I managed to ride quite a bit while I was in my early- and mid-twenties, then didn’t get out to the mountains in winter for many years until a trip (to Tahoe) in January last year. Since then I’ve been to the Alps once, and then again to Tahoe over Christmas just gone. None of those trips were blessed with good conditions, which meant not much fast riding, and not riding with a gang of close buddies. Hmmn. I wonder if I’ll ride again this winter. The snow looks good for next week, but for some reason I’m just not that amped for it.

Anyway, I ended up having a great day; classic spring-time snowboarding – in February! It was hot enough to spend the afternoon riding in just a T-shirt (yes, and pants/trousers). As the sun settled down over the mountains the temperature fell rapidly, Rose and I bundled back in the van and headed around the lake to see Amanda (Shane was away for the weekend). She had a load of buddies around for a “pot-luck” meal – good times hanging out with some real American folk, being educated in the culture of The History of Rap with Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon.

Sunday was a day off the hill, spent checking out the east shore, south shore and a short walk up to Fallen Leaf Lake where we had a wonderful, peaceful snooze in the sun. The only thing you could hear was the gentle lapping of the lake and the wind in the fir trees. It looked like this place would be pretty busy in the summer, with docks and boats and wealthy folk hanging out in their lake-side mansions … but the road was closed and all the houses were boarded up. The only person we saw was a lone kayaker way out on the lake, towing his fishing line.

Striking colours in the winter vegetation. My phone camera and photo skills don’t really do it justice:

After exploring Emerald Bay as the sun went down, we grabbed some grub in Truckee then headed back to San Francisco after the traffic, getting back to the boat at about 11pm. Mission accomplished! It took just 3 hours each way, much faster than last time when we had 5 crew aboard and all their baggage. We only managed to get 13 miles per gallon out of the beast, even driving in super-eco mode. Ouch.

Drying out

February 13, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris Tanner

The sun is back! The last few days have been pretty wet and windy – though nowhere near as bad as they are getting it back home in the UK. Every day I’m checking in to various news sites to hear more stories of flooding and chaos. Poor folks.

The docks here are busy with people coming to check on their boats after the weekend storm. We had 4 days of solid rain, with winds at the masthead well over 50 knots one night. Down here at deck level it was a whole lot less frisky – but that’s still some mean wind. Unsurprisingly, we found a few more leaks – the incessant water being lashed against all windward facing portholes found it’s way inside in a number of places. Rose’s wardrobe got in the way of one of the drip lines and a load of her dresses are more than a bit damp, so everything is hanging up around, drying out. We’ll need to pull those portholes out and re-seal them. More jobs for the job list! The one I re-sealed a couple of weeks ago didn’t let a drop in. Woohoo! All things considered, it’s pretty dry in here. The new spray hood was finished just in the nick of time! Having that really makes a difference to our exposure to the elements – even when down below. When the wind coming from the bow, we can have the hatch open in the pouring rain. Joe lives on his boat on the other side of the fairway, stern to this particular storm, and got a fair bit more water inside than we did.

To celebrate the arrival of the sunshine this morning I went for a short paddle in the kayak. There’s still a fine haze of mist hanging around which dampens the sound of the distant highway and gives the place a diffused light which is pretty cool. I can just hear the sound of the fog horn on the Golden Gate bridge when the wind brings it this way.

Found a sunken boat that clearly didn’t weather the storm too well. As the gentle swell rose and fell, the water level inside the boat pushed air in and out – the poor ship’s last dying wheezes. I wonder what’s going to happen with it next. It’s fairly big. Judging from the bit I could see, perhaps a 25 footer. I hope it wasn’t someone’s home.

We also discovered that we have a nasty leak in the van. The whole mattress was waterlogged. That’s something we’re going to need to fix soon – not least because I’m storing a whole load of spare plywood in there to keep it dry! So, off I go to the auto shop to pick up some filler.

Limantour

January 19, 2014 Chris Tanner

Busted up to Estelo de Limantour State Marine Reserve today, with the kayaks, and Becca + Dave. A good day in a quiet, wild, open space. It’s just along the beach from where we were anchored last weekend at Point Reyes … but instead of taking 9 hours to get here it’s only taken just over an hour. Spot the wee green boat in the photo!

Giant redwoods

December 2, 2013 Chris Tanner

Without a family to visit on Thanksgiving, Rose and I decided to make the most of the 4 day holiday and head up into northern California to go and hunt down some redwood trees. We were not disappointed.

We jumped onto highway 101 to get some ground covered, skipping the local sights of Tomales bay and Point Reyes – close enough for a weekend trip later. Turned left at Petaluma to head to the coast and the famous California highway 1, joining the sea at Bodega bay, which happens to be the furthest north our current boat insurance covers us for – and we’ll definitely be heading up here again by sea! The whole coast road is amazing. Stop at any pull-over and find your way down to a deserted, wild beach.

We spent a couple of days winding our way up the coast, through Mendocino and Fort Bragg, stopping briefly to see the vastly overrated “glass beach” – supposedly one of the sights to see along the highway where local glass factories used to dump used glass, washed by the waves and sand into millions of shining glass gems … not much more than a tired old beach with too many people and not much glass if you ask me. So, back on the road to get some more miles in.

Epic sunset just north of Trinidad State Park

Some way north of Westport, route 1 turns inland to avoid the King range of mountains – deemed too difficult and expensive to build a road through. The 50 mile stretch of coast from here north to where the road comes back to the sea at Eureka is called the “Lost Coast” – an evocative name for one of the wildest stretches of coast in the USA. I really want to come back and hike it over a few days some time. As soon as the road turns inland, the moisture levels rise, you start climbing into the hills and bigger trees start to line the road. No giants yet, though…

After an obligatory tourist stop at the drive-through tree (which we couldn’t, as the van is too tall), we got back onto the busier 101 to make our way up towards Eureka. There had been hardly any other cars on route 1, and it felt like we’d been in a different world, even if only for a few hours. Not far down the highway we saw a tempting sign for “Avenue of The Giants” which took us off on a quiet side road for 32 miles through Humboldt Redwoods State park … and here we found the most incredible trees I have ever seen. They are HUGE. Photos just don’t do them any justice.

Avenue Of The Giants - spot Rose! — Avenue Of The Giants – spot Rose!

We drove gently through here in the late afternoon light, and then motored on to find a camp site for the night just south of Orick. Next day was a 5-mile hike over the hills through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park to the coast and Fern Canyon. Being amongst the trees on foot for hours on end was truly mesmerising.

We found a sweet camp site on the coast, and headed back inland to pick up the van and drive around to a spot called Gold Bluffs campground just as the sun was going down and the evening chill was setting in. It’s definitely the middle of winter. Got a fire going, met a lass that had driven 7 hours down from Bend in Orgeon to meet her bloke who was driving 7 hours up from San Francisco for the weekend, had some beers, bread and crisps for supper, then to bed.

Gold Bluff Beach camp ground - where the Redwoods meet the Pacific — Gold Bluff Beach camp ground – where the Redwoods meet the Pacific

An early dawn start the next morning, through a magical clearing in the trees with Elk grazing peacefully in the morning mist … and then the long drive home to spend the afternoon working on the van to get all the plywood cut up and a bed put in.

Dawn at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Dawn soldier

November 22, 2013 Chris Tanner

The working day starts earlier here, with most of the rest of the world being east of us, we’ve only got a limited time during the day when the UK and US offices are both working. At the moment, the sun gets up around 7am so I get to catch the dawn each day as I head into work. It’s the best greeting you can get each morning.