Adventures
We spent our mid-week Fourth of July holiday in Bonners Ferry this year. I got up insanely early (at our house the sun comes up at 4:15 a.m.) and ascended Fisher Peak, elevation 7480'. Fisher was the first mountain I ever hiked two years ago when we had just moved to the area. It's a great climb with some nice views of the Kootenai River Valley. You can clearly see Creston, BC across the border and also get glimpses of Bonners Ferry and areas to the south. The best view is into the Selkirk Mountains to the west, where you see several peaks very clearly across the valley. The weather was warm and a little hazy. When I climbed Fisher Peak two years ago I got to the top in 3 hours 15 minutes. This time I did it in 2 hours 30 minutes. Amazing what being in shape will do for your performance!
Click on the photo below to access my photo album from the trip.
July 7th, 2007
Three weeks ago snow covered the ground here in north Idaho, but somehow Spring has found its way north—you can feel it in the air. So on Saturday I decided to drag the kayak out of the shop and catch some runoff on nearby Deep Creek. I pulled my wetsuit out of the closet, threw the kayak in the truck, and smiled all the way to the put-in.
I ran this same route last year in March, and it remains an excellent course for my intermediate paddling skills. There are plenty of swift turns and obstacles to avoid, but the water is usually shallow enough to wade, presenting a slightly safer environment in the event of a capsize. The first hazard is a fence wire strung loosely across the water—you have about five seconds from the moment when the wire becomes visible to the point where you must grab it and throw it over your head to pass underneath. Lucky it’s not barbed wire! A short while later you hit the first logjam, a potentially dangerous situation that can be easily avoided by grounding to river right, scaling the largest tree truck, and pulling your boat over to the other side. There is a second portage at the railroad bridge. I sank knee-deep in silt but managed to pull the boat over a grassy bank without too much trouble.
This trip also marked the first time I have fallen out of my little kayak. A birch had dropped across the river but still had about two feet of clearance underneath. I thought I could make it… the next thing I knew I was dunked and pulling my kayak to the shore. The wetsuit worked great—only my feet felt cold afterward.
And so it begins!
March 19th, 2007
Our last day on the GR4 brought us to some unique scenery above Rougon and on the north face of the Verdon River. We left our house at Rougon at 9:30 and began a long, steep ascent out of the valley for about thirty minutes. When we crested the hill, we found ourselves on an empty, open plateau that reminded me strongly of the western United States (think Wyoming). A herd of sheep were grazing in the shade and we explored the ruins of a farm that sprawled along the middle of the plateau. The rest of the day was spent on the north side of the Verdon River valley, winding in and out of ravines and eventually making our way to Castellane, a tourist town on the banks of the river. Kayla convinced me to stay at this huge campground complete with twp heated pools and what seemed like about a thousand campers from all over Western Europe. We spent part of that evening climbing yet another impossible cliff on which the local medieval church was built....
Continue Reading August 17th, 2006
What a wonderful feeling: waking up on the edge of a panoramic gorge, watching the sun pouring slowly down the far side of the canyon as it rises above the rim. We packed up early and set off in great anticipation of a day spent in the bowels of the Gorges du Verdon. We weren’t disappointed. The trail quickly begins a steep descent through the trees, zigzagging down the cliff to the Verdon River flowing in azure curves below. We soon found ourselves walking a gently rolling trail just above the level of the water, getting glimpses of the sandy banks and the cavernous bowls carved into the side of the canyon by the meandering stream. It was simply amazing to stand at the bottom of the canyon and look up at the towering weight of all that rock, seemingly piled on top of you, up to the forested rim high above. In several places the entire vertical length of the canyon wall was covered in small scrub trees clinging impossibly to some miniscule crack in the cliff....
Continue Reading August 17th, 2006
Road to Chalet de la Maline
For the stretch of the GR4 from Moustiers Ste-Marie to Chalet de la Maline, we chickened out and hitchhiked. I guess we couldn’t face the prospect of an eight hour day on the trail. After putting out the thumb for only about five minutes, we were picked up by a twenty-something who lives in Moustiers but works in La Palud. His French was pretty difficult to follow—he rattled off at light speed while I tried to keep up with the slang and slur. As we drove we quickly ascended past some amazing scenery, as the Gorges du Verdon cut a crooked swath through the mountains. The canyon is quite deep, but very narrow—from a distance it looks as if someone took a knife and cut a slit in the mostly flat surrounding countryside....
Continue Reading August 17th, 2006
On Day Eight we finally arrived in the mountains. Most of the day was spent on the plateau, but about halfway between Riez and Moustiers we began to see views down into the canyon that separates the plateau from the mountains. We also glimpsed the bright-blue Lac de Ste-Croix far below to the south. Right before descending the plateau we met a couple in their 40's from the Netherlands who were hiking the same route as us. These were the first people we met who were hiking the GR4....
Continue Reading August 17th, 2006
Our second day on the GR4 was the toughest of the trip. We were tired from our first full day of hiking with fully loaded packs, and the distance we covered was quite a bit longer than the first day. We walked out of Camping Verdon Parc around nine a.m. and began the trek to Riez. Our first stop was the village of Saint-Martin de Bromes, a tiny hamlet perched on a hill that was largely empty on a Sunday morning. It was here that we witnessed preparation for that important French tradition, the Sunday afternoon family dinner. At several homes I saw the owners setting up large tables in their garages or downstairs rooms in anticipation of this weekly event....
Continue Reading August 16th, 2006
Our first day on the GR4 started out on the highway headed east from Manosque. This was frankly my least favorite part of the entire trip. The road was busy and there was little shoulder for walking. We walked out of town and across the Durance River, then began working our way into the hills toward Greoux-les-Bains. The trail left the highway and we found ourselves in the middle of a rally car race, with little European cars banging their way down the rough dirt track. There were also some telephone company employees out laying line or some such thing. As soon as we ascended into the hills things got better. An old chateau, beautiful poppy fields, the dusty, stony trail…. picture perfect Provence. The trail to Greoux was not too challenging and we arrived at this resort town sweaty but not exhausted....
Continue Reading August 16th, 2006
Camping Municipal - Manosque
Here's Kayla's journal for our fifth day of traveling in France:
Today we left Cassis at 8 a.m. and were lucky to catch a bus (€5,40 for both of us) to Marseille. We got off at Rond Point du Prado and took the metro to Gare St. Charles. We bought our train tickets to Manosque for €29 which left at 1:35, so by the time we finished our late breakfast we had three hours or so to explore Marseille. This time we actually saw some of the city instead of just the metro! We mailed a postcard, stopped at a bookstore to find our GR4 book (to no avail), then found an internet place for €2 per hour where we spent 30 minutes. We then walked down a dirty, noisy construction zone to the port and back. This city had so much garbage in the streets. I’ve seen women begging for money as well as older men. There were also a lot of North Africans in town. So many people out it’s crazy. A lot of people smoke—young beautiful women addicted to cigarettes—yuck! Even some smoke with their little kids around....
Continue Reading August 16th, 2006
It's been a few years since I've participated in a real road cycling event. My one and only claim to prowess at cycling is BAK (Bike Across Kansas) where for a week in 2002 I rode across Kansas state--the long way, from Colorado to Missouri. My faithful friend throughout the event was a purple Bianchi road bike that I bought in Utah for $200. The bike is still with me and I'm getting it tuned up and ready for another nice ride, though this time just for one day....
Continue Reading August 3rd, 2006
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