a walk in the 'skeg, DFP 4

Danielle and I went on a full-gear walk around the town's Muskeg Creek Trails. It's a closed loop of about 10 or kms of trail and it's good to walk on because it has ups and downs and is in the forest.

Our packs are about 20 lbs each so it was a work out.

As an added bonus, it rained. That may not seem like a bonus but it was because we tried out the rain resistance of our camera bags, our clothes, our packs and most importantly, ourselves. And we did it, thought it was a lot harder with our packs.

But that's ok, we may have to at some point have to run through the rain uphill to catch a train... or something like that.

Anyway, here are some photos of the adventure.

The trails go near, and may even be maintained by Athabasca University. So there's some nicer parts before it goes into the forest more.

Danielle near the bridge before the path. D40, 10-24 mm. Automatic chose 1/15, f3.5.

Before we got to the trails, the sky was already pretty gnarly, looking like it was ready to rain. But we were more concerned with the looming darkness. Danielle was, I was all like "don't worry." It was dark when we were done. Almost pitch black.

Danielle checking out the cool sky. D40, 10-22mm. Auto chose 1/50, f/3.5

Detail of the cool sky. isn't it cool? D40, 10-22mm. Auto chose1/100, f/5

The path takes you across the University's Aurora Borealis and general near earth magnetism observatory, which is just a little building surrounded by a barbedwire fense. It has some of the standard dome things you'd expect an observatory to have, though not very big.

Cool barbed wire. D40 10-22mm, auto chose 1/50, f/3.5

This was the coolest shot. I purposely left out the observatory because it didn't look as cool with it in it.

Anyway, the coolest part of the walk was that when we first got into the forest, a hawk, or other bird of prey swooped near us and screached. It kind of scared us and we tried to take photos of it, but it just kept flying away.

As we walked through the forest, we'd keep seeing the bird flitter in front of us from tree to tree, just far enough away that we never knew where it was landing. Keep in mind we walked the 5 km trail and it makes that fact pretty cool.

So as it gets darker and darker, it gets to the point where it's almost impossible to see and see the hawk for the last time. As we walk to where we last saw it, we see a white beacon just falling perfectly from the sky. No wind, no spinning, just falling perfectly. We get closer and it's the hawk's feather.

I'm not one to believe in signs, but that's as close to one as I'll ever believe. I'll take it to mean the bird, or Hawkey as Danielle named him, thinks our trip idea is awesome and fully supports it.

I don't have a pic of the feather, which I have, or the bird, but here's another oddity I saw on the trek.

albino berries. D40, 10-22mm. Auto chose 1/6, f/3.5.

Lastly, I'm sure you've noticed, or maybe you haven't, but all these photos we're shot on my wideangle lens, allowing for cool effects. But does that matter? Not really, as long as the pics are awesome.

Anyway, enjoy

the results so far

Well I wore everything for a day, and then tried to wash them. I used a random, clothes-pin-not-required clothesline that I bought from Canadian Tire and some easy to use laundry soap I bought from Camper's Village. It comes in little leaves that you dissolve in the water.

Anyway, here are the results from my attemps.

Underwear
brand: Icebreaker Beast relaxed boxers with 3-button fly
colour: black (Jet)
weight: almost nothing
material: 100% Merino Wool (sheep in New Zealand)
price: $32.99 on sale at Camper's Village
marketed as: natural, sexy, wicking, odour/moisture resistant, climate contorlled

Day 1 notes:
-Initially very comfortable. More supportive and hugging on the legs than regular boxers. Soft against skin. Feel "cool" as if air is flowing through them. Waistband not noticable. I "feel" that I'm wearing them because they're tighter than my usual underwear.
cleaning attempt:
-They seemed to clean very well, though I've never cleaned things by hand before. They were dry by the morning.
Day 1 tests:
comfort: 10
cleaning: 10
drying: 10


Socks
brand: Smartwool Adrenaline Multi-Sport light cushion
color: white with designs
weight: heavier than regular socks
material: 72 % wool, 26 % nylon, 2 % Elastic
marketed as: sporty, odour resistant, wetness wicking
price: $21.99

Day 1 notes:
-intially very comfy. Cusion is quite noticable compared to regular socks. Feels like my feet are slightly sweaty, not to the touch, but to my feet themselves.

cleaning attempt: These aparently got the dirtiest in that they, well, made the water dirty after washing them. But they seemed to wash well. However, they weren't dry after more than... 8.5 hours of hanging. So that's pretty weak. That being said they were hanging in my bathroom. Maybe they just need to be blowing in the wind. I tried putting them on for a bit to see if that would help them to dry but to no avail. I gave up and wore regular socks today.

Day 1 tests:
comfort: 10
cleaning: 8
drying: 0 (this time anyway)

Shirt
brand: Exofficio Eco
colour: blue
weight: regular shirt
material: 40 % soy fibre, 60 % cotton
marketed as: wicking, odour resistant, natural, eco-friendly
price: $19.99 on sale

Day 1 notes:
- feels like a regular shirt. It's a medium, and it fits my body as such but it's longer than regular medium shirts. Seems to stay dry when the suns beating down on me.

Cleaning:
-effort to clean because it's a shirt, but cleaned well. Hard to hang up to dry because it's much bigger than underwear. It fell during the night so in the morning it was still a wet heap on the floor. Tried putting it on for the morning routine to see if that would help it dry but it didn't, just made me cold. I put on a nother shirt.

Day 1 Tests:
Comfort: 6.7
cleaning: 6
drying: 2

In conslusion, the underwear was the best. The socks and shirt were wet after a whole night of drying. That could be a deal breaker for them. The underwear lives on (me) for another day.

wide angle awesomeness, testing the products,

Danielle and i bought a wide angle lens – at heart-stopping expense when it comes to trip savings. but it'll pay for itself because lenses potentially last for forever... right?

here's a few shots from it. (the first one's an HDR photo)
To make REALLY good photos you with a wideangle, you have to try to distort perspective, not squeeze everything in. That's why the last one looks cool. That's just a regular lens, but Danielle was so close that it made it look huge!

Anyway, I'll walk around town experimenting with the lens and hopefully it'll prove itself worth it or i'll try to sell it!

And here's another random photo I took in Edmonton. The sun was setting and casting a deep red light on this already red random chimney.

That's it for photos for now

TESTING THE PRODUCTS

I sort of ran out of things to write about so I've decided the most logical thing is to test and review my adventure clothes.

I've decided on a few factors based on what I know/learned to expect from travel. They have to be comfortable. They have to be cool (temperature) in the long run. They have to be hand washable. They have to be worn for extended periods of time without becoming smelly and gross, and a few other things.

So to test them, I'm going to wear them for extended periods of time (gross, eh?), try to hand wash them, and wear them continuously to test the above and then give a report. That way, you guys can laugh at me wearing the same underwear for a few days in a row, and I get to see if they'll be good come clutch time, when I can't just change them.

Haha. The be honest. I'm not going to wear the same underwear over and over. I'm going to wear it, attempt to clean it using what I've got in my pack and wear it again. That way I'll know if it's a good idea to do so or if I should change to different brands.

I'll set up a basic test against which everything will be graded, 1-10, ten being the best.

1. How comfortable are they after all day
2. How well do they clean by hand
3. How fast do they dry
4. How comfortable are they after two days
5. Do they ever smell (this one is for underwear and socks)

With this, and some other basic factors, like weight, colour and whatnot I'll post and let you know.

Currently, I'll triple team a bunch of stuff, since I'm already wearing them.

Those are my ICEBREAKER BEAST JET relaxed boxers with fly, my SMARTWOOL MULTISPORT light cushion grey socks, and my EXOFFICIO soy fibre/cotton blend blue shirt.

let's see how they stack up and god, hopefully they don't stink!

I'll hide out under there...

First of all, sorry about that redirect business, I was trying to set up a website.

Moving on.

I will first say today is the 40th Anniversary of...
That's right Lloyd, we landed on the moon.

And by we, I mean Americans. Good for them.

And by the 40th anniversary, I should clarify that today is the anniversary of the LAUNCH. the landing is in a few days.

On that, this is coolest website. It's a "live" real-time travel to the moon. It basically is a second for second recreation of the entire mission that you can watch in real time like you were there! insane, but it'll be a few days before they get to the moon and I missed the launch so it's a little boring at the time of writing this.

But! it is the coolest thing ever to hear them like its happening right now. Check it out!

Anyway, I wanted to write about my trip planning, so here it goes.

I went to Edmonton and bought some stuff for my trip, which included the most expensive pair of underwear I've ever bought.

They are ICEBREAKER BEAST underwear. The websites a little over the top... but I bought them because on my world trip I'm going to need solid, breathable comfortable underwear and this is the current experiment. I figure if they suck, they'll still be darn good underwear, and if they're awesome, well, they're coming with me to far off places.

Anyway, they were $35. Not TOO much, but for pete's sake it's underwear!

I did the same for socks, bought $20 Smartwool socks, for the same reasons as above. Let me just say, I'm rockin in both right now, and I have never been more comfortable in all the right places.

I also found an adventure shirt that was on sale. It's apparently made of soy and it's quick drying, anti-odour, easy clean and it wicks away moisture. It was $20.

Anyway, all this stuff is expensive, but if it works and it lasts, I'm more than happy to INVEST in good stuff than suffer on the road for having saved a few bucks.

But, that being said, I'll give them a few days.

As it stands, that means I've got almost everything I need for my trip except: adventure pants, a little computer, and a few odds and ends and I'll be done!

Some of the websites I've been using are PRACTICAL TRAVEL GEAR review, BACKING AROUND THE WORLD, and CHEAPEST PLACES ON EARTH, all SOLID websites.

I'll end with a rumination.

The reason why I'm deciding to travel is multi-layered.

I'll start by saying I have nothing against this part of the world, or this time in humanity or anything of that nature, nor am I running away from any particular problem.

I mean, as it stands, I've got a great job, an awesome girlfriend, a steady money plan, loving family and kick-ass friends (though they're far the heck away).

But what it's about is wanting to do more than all that. It's not that those things aren't enough, it's just that there's so much more.

It's not unlike when I decided to move to Alberta. It wasn't that I wanted to leave things behind, it was that deep down, I knew I wasn't leaving forever. It's not like I was dying or everyone else was, it was just that I was going on a mission and I'd be back to report on it. Everyone's lives would go on and it be a life-experience.

So that's one reason: it's something new, awesome and interesting to do. People probably thought along the same lines of going to the moon.

Secondly, I can afford it. It's not like I'm raking in the dough here, it's just that since being here, I've had to pay for just about everything myself, and thus have developed a saving mentality. Thankfully I've got no home, family (well family would be alright to have :p) or debts, so I'm free to do it. I might never be in this position again, so I have to take it.

Further, I simply want to see awesome things, talk to new people, enjoy beautiful scenery, eat exotic food, swim in oceans, jump off mountains, climb hills, whatever!

Basically, I ruminate with the hopes that somebody catches the bug and decides they want to go to.

So go! and tell me about it.

I'll show you some of gear later this week.

-Drew

... I went rocky mountain climbing...

As part of our efforts to become better suited to walk the wide world, Danielle and I opted to go to things that require effort on our part. This time, we decided wed do some hiking a la Jasper National Park.

If Alberta's got one amazing thing, aside from endless wilderness, billions of barrels of oil and cowgirls, it's got Jasper and Banff (as well as another one) National Parks. If you've never been, go. It's arguably the best part of all of Canada, though I haven't been to more than Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia once.

Anyway, for Danielle's birthday and Canada we decided we'd go for a little camping and some hiking.

It was originally supposed to be a surprise for Danielle's birthday but I figured it would be impossible to lie about why we're driving five hours in a direction that only goes to Jasper to say "Surprise! we're walking eight kilometres!"

So I eventually ruined the surprise. But to determine what would be the best hike, I found the awesome website HIKE JASPER. It's a great site, with basically a synopsis of every trail in the park. It's good because it tells you what you're in for both as effort and reward for those efforts view wise.

We chose the SULPHUR SKYLINE trail. To get there we drove about 500 kms to Jasper, paid the 19 odd bucks to ensure that grizzly bears have a place to live and drove to Pocahontas campsite. It cost about $33 for the night and the fire permit, which included unlimited wood, as I'm sure most of you campers would know out there.

We stayed there the night, cooked smokies and played some Texas Hold'em, then camped in Danielle's Ford Edge, which has a huge trunk (big enough to sleep in with the seats pulled down) and sunroof that makes it in some ways better to sleep in than a tent. (I'm not a big fan of tents personally)

In the morning we left the campsite and drove the next fifteen kilometres to the Miette Hot Springs, where the Suplfur Skyline trail begins.

The trail paved for the first for the first kilometre or so, then becomes rocky for the rest of way. It goes in a relatively straight line, at a semi-steep incline for about 2 more kilometres, then it winds back and forth up the final mountain for about another kilometer as it elevates to like 700 meteres.

It was beast.

When you get to the top of the penultimate peak, it's a mossy, nice plateau where you can eat your lunch, and then make for the summit, which is a barren hump of a mountain.

Once you get there, it's hang out time. Danielle and I stayed up there for the better part of an hour, snapping photos, talking with some people and playing with the chipmunks (I kicked this one.) Also we made an Inukshuk, so if you're ever there, look for it.

Ironically, the walk down was ten times worse on the body. It wasn't the sheer workout like the climb, but it KILLED the ankles and had us begging for non-inclined ground just so we could stand still for a few seconds.

Afterwards, we sat in the Hot Springs, which are the hottest springs in the rockies to relax, then drove the 500 kms home.

all in a two-days non-work. :) Try it! also, all these pics, except for the first one were taken by Danielle! she's gettin good eh?

peace and love

Backpacks and boots!

photo by danielle. hence it being out of focus :p Notice to world map in the background and the thumbs up as if to say "I'm awesome."

Danielle and I went down to the city to Camper's Village and bought some stuff for our trip on Wednesday.

Off the list:
Backpacks
Boots

First off, it's pretty much the best store I've ever been to if you're into the sort of adventure/travel/camping kind of thing. Not to advertise for them, but they don't get commission and yet are extremely helpful. I think it's because they're all adventure junkies and like helping people out.

Anyway, we purchased backpacks and boots for our adventure of epic awesomeness.

We went with Eagle Creek backpacks, which are from my understanding the top of the line in terms of technology, but thankfully not price point. We were going to go for Asolo bags but were talked out of it by the clerks.

I went with the Thrive 65L (right), and Danielle went with some kind of Tubular 55L for women, which I think has the model name Thuist (the straps are slightly different).

Mine is more in the shape of a rectangular suitcase with a backpack attached to it, and Danielle's is pretty much a tube with a little detachable fanny pack.

They are sweet, they were the best purchases I ever bought. Anyway, once again not to advertise, but they feature detachable day pack thing, rain covers, fully adjustable straps and supports, random material, and mine includes a cover for the straps so it's easier to carry around before you get into the airport.

They were both about $250.

As well we also bought boots. I don't have the box in front of me, but I believe they are Keen brand Targhee II's. Danielly got the girly couloured ones.

They have a breathable, waterproof membrane, leather on the outside, and what the sales guy called "sink heel principle," which is a fancy way of saying arch support.

What's potentially the most important thing is that they could be considered "trail runners" meaning that they're somewhere between boots and running shoes. It makes them comfortable and versatile, and will probably help reduce the type of shoes I'll bring with me on the trip by one pair.

Maybe it's because I've been wearing flat-bottomed skater shoes for the best... 10 or so years, but my god, these are the BEST shoes I've ever warn. Not only are they structuarlly designed for the whole backpacking/travel thing, they're simply the best shoes I've ever felt on my feet. Once again not advertising, just saying.

They ran at about $150, making them the most expensive shoes I've ever bought, but then again I'm cheap. The second most expensive pair was probably... a $39.99 pair of pro skater shoes by some guy I can't remember that was on sale, and after that, it's been Wal-Mart since like Grade 9.

But Seriously, they are the best, most comfortable, and I assume the most durable shoes I've ever had. I say assume because I've owned them for 2 days, but I've been wearing them in the spirit of breaking them in, but really just like wearing them.

Lastly, we bought cool socks for travelling. I've never owned fancy, expensive socks, so I'm just seeing if they're worth the hype. They're some random company's wool from some place I don't remember. But they're supposed to have the wick effect, pulling moisture away from your feet and all. So I'm testing both the shoe and the sock out.

Anyway, it's all part of gathering supplies for the world trip. The reason I can afford these stupidly expensive (for me) things is that I've cut almost all of my other stupid expenses. Note that cutting expenses doesn't mean giving up cool things, it means giving up stupid things, like say, pop, chips, smokes and drugs for ultimately more actually awesome things like skydiving and world travel.

And finally, for those who don't know who Danielle is, here she is fake packing her pack so we could wear them and feel cool!