Cross Canada Trip 2004
This page contains the blog entries I made while on the road during the summer of 2004.
My Cross Canada Trip - May 5, 2004 (4:00 pm)
Hello Everyone,
I leave tomorrow on my trip around Canada and this website will be the primary means to keeping my family and friends up to date. I intend on making an entry here every few days, so check back often.
My goal is to experience some of Canada’s wilderness, history and people while at the same time take a break from life and relax a bit.
For those of you who haven’t had me talk your ear off about this yet, here is a rough itinerary of the trip:
- Leave Winnipeg on a bus on May 31 with my sister, Jen.
- Arrive in Banff, spend a couple days getting used to being on our own.
- Already our plans get fuzzy, we may head into the BC interior or maybe up to Jasper.
- In total we will spend 3 weeks camping, hiking, biking, rafting around BC until Jen comes back to Winnipeg to run in the Manitoba Marathon.
- I will likely come back with Jen, then head out east without her or my camping gear.
- With a lighter pack I want to see Atlantic Canada. I hope to make it to St. John’s but we’ll see.
- I will then meet Alicia in Ottawa on July 18 for about two weeks together in Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.
- We will fly back together on July 30 to make it home for a wedding on August long weekend.
I should be fairly easy to get a hold of. You may call and leave a message on my cell phone: (xxx)xxx-xxx or email to xxx @ xxxxxx.ca.
If for some reason that email address does not work, you can try xxxx @ xxxxxxxx.com. I will be checking all three of these every few days.
About to Leave - May 31, 2004 (8:14 am)
Well, the trip is about to start. At 10am this morning we will get on a bus and in 24 (no doubt, very long) hours we will be in Banff.
I will check in when we get settled there.
24 hours of busing it - June 1, 2004 (4:45 pm)
We arrived in Banff this morning after a not as bad as I expected bus trip. I was able to get some sleep and was fresh in the morning, however we had to talk a little nap around noon to catch up.
I went through a book during the ride. Lost In Mongolia was great.
We are not to sure what is next. If the weather is nice we will stay a few days and do some day hikes. If the weather is cold and/or rainy then we are off to greener (errr.. drier) pastures.
Tunnel Mountain - June 2, 2004 (4:17 pm)
We just got back from hiking the Tunnel Mountain trail. It is a short 2 hour hike to the top of a small mountain overlooking Banff and the surrounding area. The view was incredible. It is hard to imagine what it would feel like to stand on top of one of the “real” mountains in the area.
But it was quite hard. I realized my lungs have a hard time keeping up with the constant climbing and this was without a 45lb pack.
This afternoon we will hike (down the road) to the Two Jack Lake Campground about 10kms away. We will spend the night there and then hike into a backcountry campsite along Lake Minnewanka. Then back out in the morning. We will then hike back to Banff and hop on a bus, likely to Kamloops.
Next update: Saturday.
Lake Minnewanka - June 4, 2004 (7:10 pm)
(I guess I lied about the next update being on Saturday….)
Two Jack Lake Image
We made it to Two Jack Lake after a hike down the road from Banff on Wednesday night. We stayed there for the night (it is a great campsite by the way, highly recommended over the Banff campground. It is just a little far away.)
In the morning we packed up and hiked down the road to the Lake Minnewanka trailhead/picnic area. On the way we had to avoid a pack(?) of big-horned sheep that claimed the road as their home.
The Lake Minnewanka trail is very nice and well maintained. It was finally a nice day and the sun beat down on us. We arrived in the afternoon exhausted and sore. But it was worth it. The campsite was just off the beach with a view looking across the lake at a mountain (whose name I can’t pronounce, let alone remember how to spell). There were deer everywhere, you would often look over from the campsite and see one nibbling at something 15 ft away.
The hike out in the morning was much better than the day before. I guess we were just tired yesterday. About 1/3 the way in we had to wait 15 minutes for a pair of big-horned sheep that decided to stand in the middle of the trail and not move. The one side of the trail was straight up the other was straight down, so we could not go around. Eventually they took off up the mountain (ok it wasn’t straight up, but we couldn’t climb it) and we passed.
We finished the trail and got a ride back to the Banff campsite (and to the grocery store) from a nice couple from New Hampshire up here on vacation.
Tomorrow morning we are going to bus to Kamloops and recover. That is, do laundry, sleep in a real bed, and figure out what next.
Whistler - June 7, 2004 (9:21 pm)
We arrived last night here in Whistler after spending a night in the Kamloops hostel.
The hostel used to be a court house and they converted the court room into an area to relax. They left most of it intact. The judges bench, witness chair and jury area were still there. Other than that Kamloops was quite uninteresting as a town and we just hung out.
The bus to Whistler from Vancouver was interesting. There are doing a lot of roadwork getting ready for the Olympics. Great views but not exactly a smooth ride.
Whistler is really nice. The village area is made to feel like a european alpine village, but comes off feeling like Disney World. Everything is just too perfect.
Today we rented mountain bikes and spent most of the day on them. I would have liked to try the real mountain biking on the ski hill (the lift will take you and your bike to the top) but since I haven’t even been on a bike this year I thought I shouldn’t careen(sp?) down a mountain on one. I can say that if that is what you wanted to do, this is the place to do it.
I think we will stay here for a couple more days. Bye for now.
Tofino - June 10, 2004 (5:31 pm)
Tuesday we got up and took the bus to from Whistler to Squamish for the day. We went there because Jen had wanted to finish a trail that she didn’t finish on previous trip out here. I didn’t know anything about the trail and neither did she. We were both suprised to find that the trail climbed to the top of the large mountain prominently overlooking town. It is called “The Chief".
View from the Top Image
We decided to try it. It ended up being a difficult but very rewarding hike. The view from the top was the nicest I have seen. It overlooked all of Squamish, the surrounding mountains and the ocean inlet. Anyone that is passing by Squamish and is fit enough to hike for a couple hours *must* do this.
We made it back to Whistler that evening and got up at 4:30 in the morning to catch the first bus out. We rode the bus for the day and arrived in Tofino (on Vancouver Island) in the afternoon. It feels good to be back out here, I missed it. But I was really tired (and in fact still am) so today is a recover day.
We will spend a few days here then make our way to Jasper and hopefully meet up with Randy and Pat (my uncle and aunt) in that area.
Jasper - June 16, 2004 (7:07 pm)
The last week or so have been great.
Since the last entry here we spent a couple more days in Tofino. The highlight of which was a boat trip to some remote hot springs. We went up the coast for about an hour, watching for whales (and seeing them) and lots of other wildlife. The hot spring were pretty cool, it was very rugged (no cement, just rocks) and we had to walk for 30 minutes to get there.
Randy, Pat and Sean Image
From there we spent about 24 hours travelling on a few different buses and a ferry to get to Jasper. It is nice here, pretty quiet. We met Randy and Pat (my aunt and uncle) here and stayed with them and their RV. It was great to visit with them around the campfire. We went down to the Columbia Icefields together and ran into a blizzard!! The glacier was pretty darn interesting.
Yesterday Randy and Pat took off and we decided to do a little overnight hike. We started out on the 20mile loop just out of town but we were lazy and stopped at an early campsite. It wasn’t the most amazing trail but it was nice to get out.
Today we hiked out and we are now waiting to get on the bus to take us home (26 hours later!).
Home for a Rest - June 19, 2004 (2:49 pm)
We left Jasper a couple days ago and we are now in Winnipeg. The idea is to rest, visit and plan the next leg of my trip.
Jen is still off until the end of the month, so she may join me in whatever I decide to do next. I think we will go to Otter Lake (north of Minnedosa, near Clear Lake) and spend some time with the grandparents next week. Maybe do some mountain biking in Riding Mountain National Park.
After that I will hop on a bus destined for someplace well east of here.
Go East Young Man - June 25, 2004 (7:24 pm)
Well, it is time to continue on (alone) across the country. I spent this last week at home with a fews days at the cabin. Nothing too interesting to say about that, but it was nice to check in and see everyone.
In a few hours I will be eastbound and in a day and a half I will be in Montreal. I will stay there for a day (I will come back with Alicia later) then I think I will go to Fredericton (or maybe Saint John, NB).
Montreal (briefly) - June 27, 2004 (10:48 am)
Just a quick note to say that I have made it to Montreal. I will stay here for the night then to New Brunswick.
Saint John - June 30, 2004 (2:28 pm)
Even though I only intended on staying in Montreal overnight I was able to spend to two whole days checking things out. My bus in from Winnipeg arrived early in the morning and then my bus leaving for Saint John left late at night. The result: two full waking days of wandering the streets on Montreal.
In the evening I went out for beers with a couple hostel-mates. One was an Australian bond trader and the other was a dutch naval architect. After an evening on discussing yachts, economics and travelling we went back to the hostel and sat around on the front steps with a Mexican mechanical engineer (who builds Avalanches for GM) and a retired Canadian army officer. Wow, it is amazing what kind of people choose to travel to Canada. I think it is rarely the first choice for anyone, so we get the experienced travellers (who for some reason are highly educated.)
Saint John is nice, not too exciting but I like it. Since there is no hostel in town I am staying at a B&B. Last night, exhaustion caught up with me; I lied down at 6pm for a quick nap and woke up at 7am this morning. Oh well, I needed it.
Today I walked all the way across town to the Moosehead brewery only to find out that there is not public tour today because there is a cruise ship in town (actually two.) I guess they can’t handle the volume of people from the cruise ship so you must pre-register, but you can only do that on the ship. I was able to see lots of the town along the way so it wasn’t too bad.
Tomorrow morning I will be taking the ferry across the Bay of Fundy to Digby, NS.
Halifax - July 2, 2004 (4:59 pm)
I arrived in Halifax this afternoon after a day in Digby, NS.
From Saint John I was able to bum a ride from a young couple and their charming little daughter, Molly to the ferry terminal (which they were also taking). I ended up basically spending the whole morning with them. They were more than happy to give me the initial ride, to leave my bag in their car and drive me into Digby after we got across. I was very happy to have avoided all that hassle (especially the walk to and from the ferry terminals.) We had lunch on the at a seafood restaurant on the water and they went on their way.
Digby is a cool little town. They claim to be the scallop capital of the world, or maybe just Canada. It tried some that evening and they were definitely good.
After staying the night at a B&B I was on a bus to Halifax. It was fairly uneventful, I just alternately took in the scenery and read.
I haven’t seen much of Halifax yet but I like it so far. There should be lots to fill my few days here.
Newfoundland - July 6, 2004 (12:29 pm)
I arrived in Newfoundland this morning after a few days in Halifax.
Halifax is a great city. Very lively yet still small enough to be friendly.
With a guy(Patrick) I met at the hostel from Quebec City I seen some of the more notable tourist sites. Patrick is a great guy who is travelling the east practising his English.
I left yesterday afternoon via bus to North Sydney on Cape Breton Is. and took the ferry from there to Port Aux Basques, NF. From there I bussed to Corner Brook and rented a car. My plan it to slowly make it to St. John’s and back in a week. Checking out the parks and towns along the way.
More of Newfoundland - July 12, 2004 (6:06 am)
After renting the car in Corner Brook I drove to Deer Lake. I slept in the car while it poured rain after buying some blankets and a pillow at the local bargain store. That wasn’t too much fun but it saved a lot of cash since there are no hostels in the area.
In the morning I drove to Gros Morne National Park and was relieved to find a hostel (no sleeping in the car tonight!) Gros Morne is a very cool place, the landscape is very impressive. It has everything: beaches, mountains, fishing villages, a desert, and amazing fjords.
I spent a couple nights here doing some hiking and lots of driving around to see things. There were a few people at the hostel and no one else had a car so I always had company.
From there I drove across the island to St. John’s. Wow, what a great city. So much history and everyone is so friendly. And there are more bars per capita then anywhere else in North America (or is it just Canada?). You get the point.
At one point a group of us from the hostel were in a pub that was full of Irish sailors whose ship was in port. When I first seen them I just assumed they were gay men out on the town. Good thing I didn’t say that very loud. They seemed very much at home as Newfoundland is very very Irish.
Yesterday I drove to the north central town of Twillingate, the iceberg capital of the world. I slept in the car last night, which wasn’t bad this time. I guess I am getting better at it. So now I am sitting in a cafe drinking coffee waiting for the iceberg boat tour to start. Hopefully the fog lifts…
Leaving Newfoundland - July 13, 2004 (11:36 am)
Well, it turned out that the iceberg capital of the world doesn’t have any icebergs right now! Not to be turned down that easy I asked around and was told that there is some near Change Islands, so I hopped in the car and got to the ferry terminal just in time to see the ferry pull out. I basically gave up and started to drive westward toward Corner Brook (where I need to drop the car off.)
As I was stopped at a gas station I read in the guidebook that are good iceberg watching grounds near Fleur de Lys and La Scie. I decided to give it one more try even though it meant I would go over my mileage limit on the car. At Baie Vert I stopped at a tourist office and they informed me that there was an iceberg sighted near Fleur de Lys and another near Wild Cove. Alright! Things were looking up.
When I arrived in Fleur de Lys I found the tour operators office closed and after gathering lots of strange looks from the locals for driving slowly around I found a nice little trail that lead to what was promised to be an ocean view. I hiked to the point and discovered a tiny silhouette of what may have been an iceberg. Who knows if it was or not, but it was certainly not very impressive. A little anticlimactic, I would say.
I left and drove out to Wild Cove as well just in case, but I could not get a view of the open ocean just the tiny harbour.
So I drove around most of the day, costing me 60 bucks in extra mileage and an extra tank of gas to see a tiny thing on the horizon. Oh well, looking on the bright side I did get to see a bunch of tiny fishing villages and 500km of wilderness highway that I would have missed.
I am in Corner Brook right now, waiting for a bus to Port Aux Basques to catch the ferry off of the island tonight. Next stop PEI.
PEI - July 17, 2004 (8:27 am)
After leaving Newfoundland I was able to make it as far as Moncton, NB but the bus connections did not work to PEI so I had to spend the night there.
I arrived in the early afternoon and spend two nights in a dorm room at the university. There was a hostel here but it was closed recently. The rumour past among travellers is that it was forced to close for health reasons, there was also mention of a flood. So I am glad I didn’t get a chance to stay there.
I have to say that PEI is nice but pretty dull. I can see how people like to come here to get away from their life and relax but that is not really what I am looking for. I took a shuttle bus across the island to Cavendish yesterday and spent some time on the beach. The beach was very nice, but I could not bring myself to swim in the 11 degree water.
In a few hours I will be on the way to Ottawa to meet up with Alicia. I am pretty excited to see her again.
Ottawa - July 22, 2004 (10:10 am)
From Charlottetown I travelled to Ottawa. I arrived in the morning and walked downtown from the bus station. As I approached Parliament Hill I could here music and as I got closer I realized that the changing of the guard ceremony was taking place. It was a good introduction to Ottawa.
I met up with Alicia in the early evening. It is great to be with her again but I had to change my travelling habits. I can no longer see and do anything I would like, I have to see what she wants to do! What a concept.
The hostel here is very interesting. It is in an old jail. Lots of the beds are in the original cells, although we are in the guard’s part of the building. There is even the old gallows in the back. It is quite warm and humid here, so we are cooking in the extremely poorly ventilated hostel.
We have been checking out the parliament buildings, the PM’s and the Governor General’s
homes. Today we are going to the National Gallery and tomorrow off to Montreal.
Montreal - July 27, 2004 (10:43 am)
We arrived in Montreal a few days ago. I was here a few weeks ago so I knew exactly where the hostel was, how to use the subway, etc. So it the arrival was without all of the usual stress associated with finding your bed in a big city.
We went down to the waterfront (Vieux Port) to see the firework competition a few nights ago. Fireworks are almost always good but this set wasn’t amazing.
The next day we went to Mont Royal Park to experience the Tam Tam. This is an unofficial weekly gathering of drummers in the park. Imagine hundreds of people bashing bongos and other types of drums in unison. It was very cool.
Yesterday we went to the amusement park on one of the man-made islands in the river. We spent the day on the world-class (in my unexperienced opinion) rollercoasters or in line for them. The coasters were crazy! Almost excessive.
Today we are just going to hang out, look at the shops, walk around, etc. Tomorrow we are going to Quebec City.
Quebec City - July 29, 2004 (6:07 pm)
Well this is the last stop. We have been in Quebec City for a couple nights and tomorrow we are going back to Montreal to fly home.
In Montreal we went to an Expos ball game the night before we left. It was great. I liked it more than I thought I would.
Quebec City is very cool. We both like it quite a lot. It is quite romantic, once you look past all the tourists.
So I guess this is almost it. I am looking forward to coming home.
Home! - Aug 1, 2004 (11:02 am)
Well, here I am, home at last. To tell you the truth though it doesn’t seem like I have been gone very long. Everything is basically the same as it was two months ago. There is comfort in that.
I just want to thank everyone for supporting my unproductive desire to be a bum for a couple months. I appreciated the emails letting me know about what’s going on at home. Thanks.
This will be the last entry here about the trip. When I get around to it I will be moving the entries from here to a more permanent place on my website http://www.gustaf.ca/ and I may use this blog to record more general entries about whatever I happen to be doing at the time. Come back to this website whenever you would like (but there is no guarantee there will anything interesting.)
Thanks everyone for reading my ramblings. I’ll wrap this up now so I can get back to work planning for the next trip. :-)