Status Update

Hello Everyone!

So first off, if anyone's noticed out YoutTube channel hasn't been getting posted on Wednesdays, we have been busier than usual and its hitting the video editing time the hardest. We are still going to post a video a week, it just might not be on Wednesdays for the next while.

Also, we have out passes for the West Coast Trail! We're going to have posts and videos about the actual trail next fall, but we are going to be showing off some of our planning here to help everyone try and get started on their own hikes.

As for what else is coming up, I will be doing some gear reviews of our boots, trekking poles, sleeping bags, etc in the next few months once a week and a hiking post once a week. That's the plan anyway. We haven't been able to get out to try snow shoeing or do any winter hiking this month because of the cold (its been -30C or worse for about a week now). Hopefully February will let us get out of the house and back onto a trail or two to get some winter stories to share.

Other than that, thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out our YouTube Videos and Instagram posts!

Germany 2018 - Munich Day 2

Our second day in Munich started earlier in the morning than Day 1 because Roslyn and I were heading off alone to explore while Candace and Jamie went elsewhere. Omi planned to stay in the apartment because she was feeling ill and didn't want to travel. Roslyn and I ate at the apartment and then headed out to the Munich Residence, the former Bavarian Royalty apartments in Munich.

We spent about two hours walking around the Residence. One of the first rooms is a fountain area, where the entire area has shells mortared into the wall, which would have shone iridescent when they were new.There was also a large variety of rooms filled with musical instruments, bedrooms, and extra parlor rooms.

There were five rooms that stood out to us the most, three of which we have pictures for. The first was a statue/bust room that was further converted into a giant dining area with a few hundred busts of prominent people. The second was the King's throne room, which had walls of red with gold inlays every where. The third room was the Queen's throne room, which was covered in gold everywhere. The fourth was a set of dining room displays, which one in blue and white, and one was entirely jade coloured. The fifth room was a portrait hallway that had well over a hundred portraits of the royal family.

After the Munich Residence, we also toured the Munich Treasury. It was quite interesting to see all of the priceless jewelry, furniture, and art work inside. I would recommend going to both if you are visiting Munich for any length of time.

After the Treasury, we took a quick trip back to the apartment to change into something better suited for a lot of walking and went back to the English Gardens. This time we started at the south end and walked north. There were dozens of ducks, geese, and other birds walking around and the streams were full of fish. One of the streams gets large enough to swim in and there were easily a thousand people hanging around in the park lounging near the water. At the mid point of the park we rented a pedal boat and hit the water to cruise around one of the lakes.

With evening setting in, Roslyn and I went back to Marienplatz and found a small sushi restaurant tucked away on a side street for supper. After we walked through the streets for a bit after nightfall before going back to the apartment. A wonderful last night to our vacation.

Germany 2018 - Munich, Day 1

Our first full day in Munich! We slept in for a bit before eating breakfast and heading out to explore the city. Unlike Berlin, we didn't have anything planned to we looked up some cool land marks, jumped on the transit system and headed out.

The first thing we did was go to to the English Garden's north end and then start walking south. We spent about two hours doing that, much to mine and Roslyn's enjoyment. Part way during the walk we ran into one of the two Hofbrauhaus run beer gardens in the park where we stopped for lunch. It was pretty cool sitting down for a snack and a beer and watching a few hundred other people pour into the garden to do the same thing on their lunch break. Walking through the gardens was wonderful, full of trees, small streams and small animals. We enjoyed ourselves so much we forgot take any pictures unfortunately.

After getting to the half way point in the English Garden, we jumped on a bus and a subway train and went to Marienplatz. We wandered around the market in the area and eventually climbed to the top of St. Peter's church to get a good view out over the city.

After the church climb, we headed across the square to go to the top of the tower in the town center. We ended up wandering around the halls for a it as well and saw some amazing stained glass windows.

After spending some time at the top of the town center and walking around again, we stayed in Marienplatz to watch the life sized Cuckoo clock that is in the main tower of the town center. It was pretty cool to watch but was about 15 minutes long, which started to drag after a while. There was a huge crowd there for it though, which quite a few different buskers playing instruments giving the entire square a light-hearted party atmosphere. After the show we went back to the apartment for a bit before going out for supper.

Going out to supper meant heading back to the north end of Marienplatz and wandering the streets until we could find the Hofbrauhaus, a massive beer house form the 16th century. We had been told we needed to visit by pretty much everyone that new we were going to Munich. On the way we saw a completely ivy covered building, which is more common than we were expecting in Germany. The ivy covered building ended up being about a block away from the Hofbrauhaus, so it was a good land mark for getting around.

Once in the Hofbrauhaus we settle in with some of their mugs of ale and figure out what supper was going to be. All of us had a pretty good day in Munich roaming around and were looking forward to another entire day of it tomorrow!

Mantario Trail - September Long Thru Hike, Day 4

Date: September 3, 2018

Length: 10.5 km

Elevation: 378 m

Time: 4 hours 10 minutes

Day number 4 of our Mantario trail hike. We were up pretty early, early enough that going out side was really, really cold. We woke up early enough to get some pictures of the sunrise over Hemenway Lake and manage to take some pictures of it and the surrounding area as the sun rose.

Interestingly, getting up early has been one of my favorite parts of the hike. The early morning air, the stillness, and the smell all combine to make it a very peaceful time of day. It's also really nice to get up and moving well before the temperature starts to rise, and getting 10 to 12 km in before lunch makes you feel pretty accomplished.

The trail out from Hemenway quickly made it to Big Whiteshell Lake, and flirted with the shore line on and off for the last 7 km until a small climb up to the parking lot. There were a couple of nice beach walks and the morning sun coming over the lake was pleasant. Around the 7 km mark we ran into cool landmark and the trail started following a quad trail.

While walking on the quad trail we saw a lot of animal tracks, including some decent sided black bear prints. We were going in the opposite direction so we weren't too worried about it. What we did end up needing to worry about was wasps again though! After a beach walk we were jumping back on the trail and Roslyn stepped over a long and stepped on another nest. Another sprint and we were well along the trail and away from the nest, but Roslyn was stung 5-6 times on her legs, which made the last kilometer of the trail a bit less enjoyable.

We arrived at the parking lot a bit before noon and Roslyn started soaking the wasp stings to make the swelling go down while we packed everything into Tyler's truck. Then it was back to the south parking lot to get our car and into Winnipeg to shower and go eat a victory supper!

All in all the hike was one of the best experiences we've ever had and we are looking forward to doing many more in the years to come.

Where We Roam

Hey Everyone!

Just a quick heads up, Roslyn and I have been talking it over for a few weeks now and decided to change the name of the blog/youtube channel/instagram page. We weren't feeling the last name after using for over half a year and this one has a better ring to it we think.

Thanks for following us!

Mantario Trail - September Long Thru Hike, Day 3

Date: September 2, 2018

Length: 15.2 km

Elevation: 450 m

Time: 7 hours 36 minutes

The second last day of hour hike was easily the longest, mentally if not actually. Since our travel plans had been to push hard on days one and two and then take it easy on days 3 and 4 we got off to a late start. It was a bit before 10 am when we hit the trail, breakfast already eaten and muscles pretty sore from the previous two days. We took some time before we got going to limber up a bit but it didn't matter, we were in for a long day of leg and foot soreness.

As we started out from the Mantario lake camp site, we were treated to a nice view form the ridge line down on the north west end of the lake. Much of the distance between Moosehead lake (from day 2) and Ritchie lake (still ahead) is on a ridge line looking out over the surrounding area. We were also treated to  some leaves turned orange, yellow, and brown, a solid reminder that it gets cold at night and fall was appraoching.

We stopped at Ritchie lake around 1 pm roughly for lunch, a foot soak, and to filter more water for the rest of the trip to Hemenway lake. The side trip added about 800m of distance to the day, but the toilet and picnic table were more than worth it. We spent about an hour stretching, soaking our feet and eating lunch. Roslyn had decided that we were going to have soy nut butter with wraps for lunch. As you can see from the face she's making below it wasn't the greatest of choices (she actually didn't finish lunch!).

After lunch, it probably took us another hour for our legs to loosen up again, and our feet were getting progressively more sore. It was part of the hike that was a bit more of a grind than an enjoyment at the time, but looking back on it it was still pretty great. We even managed to shake our funk off for a bit to score some great pictures.

By the time we arrive at the camp site a bit after 5 pm, we had already moved past grumpy and back into a 'well everything hurts so lets try to be happy' kind of mood. There were probably 20-30 people at Hemenway already, many of whom had come out for a weekend trip from the north trail head. We had a few short conversations as we looked around for a campsite and privy, and it was nice to hear everyone telling us that the 10 km from Hemenway to the trail head was flat and easy going.

After a bit of searching, we managed to find a pretty awesome campsite set back from where everyone else was in a little glade. All the other flat spots were solid bed rock so it was nice to find a soft spot to sleep on.

West Coast Trail Sign Up

In previous post, Where to Start, Where to Start, I went over some stuff on how to narrow down start dates for a hike. We looked at the effect of how long the hike would take, will the weather allow it, required travel arrangements, what happens if you need to extend time on trail, and what happens if you don't get your ideal day. Now that we have gotten our permits here's how it went.

Sign up for permits opened up at 10 am out time. We were hoping to jump onto the portal right at 10 am, but Roslyn had a meeting. So at about 10:20 am Roslyn went online and tried to get our preferred start date. And then tried to get our secondary dates. And then tried to get our tertiary dates. Then Roslyn and I texted back and forth for a bit on dates.

We ended up selecting a start date about 1 month after our preferred date.

Here's some follow up tips we've learned:

1 - Be on time for permit sign ups

We had heard the trail was popular, but were kind of surprised that all the dates between April 1 and the end of August were taken by 10:20ish am on opening day. If the date is really really important to you, make sure to book on a time slot so you can get in to get a permit.

2 - Be flexible

For us, sliding the hike back a month wasn't too big of a deal. We preferred our August start date due to temperature and rainfall, but the September start date we ended up with will still suit our needs. There is traditionally more rainfall so we may have a wetter and muddier experience, but it gives us an extra month to prepare and condition.

3 - Buy as a group

If you are going to go as a group make sure you buy your permits together and then reimburse people. There is pretty much to way two separate people will be able to get in, pick a date, and confirm the other people also registered for the same date. On that note, everyone may want to be together to do the registration so that its easier to get opinions on what dates are acceptable if your in a group of 4+.

With all that in mind, remember that preparing for the trip is supposed to remain part of the fun. Try to have a flexible plan, know what your limits on dates are, and accept the possibility that you may have to wait until the next year if you need a very specific set of dates. Also, make sure you prepare for all types of weather that could show up during your hike. The best way to do this is to plan out your hikes for the summer and then do them regardless of conditions. 

With all that said, have fun planning for the up coming hiking season!

Germany 2018 - Zugspitze

After Neuschwanstein, we spent the night in a hotel and then headed out to Zugspitze. Zugspitze is the tallest mountain in Germany at a little over 10,000 feet tall. After finding some parking we headed over and picked up our gondola ride tickets. The gondola goes pretty much to the top of the mountain, and since we were planning on exploring with Roslyn's Omi we couldn't hike to the top.

After the gondola ride we walked around the top look out area, just enjoying the view. At the base of Zugspitze it was about 30C, but it was only about 12C at the top. It was great. After the walk around the platform we were drawn to the mountains peak in the image below.

We probably looked at it for about five minutes before we got going towards it. Roslyn's Omi and her sister Candace stayed behind, but Roslyn, Jamie, and I climbed down the access stairs and up the spur to the peak.

It was pretty crowded, with the path being only about as wide as a person, but people trying to go both directions. It took us about 20 minutes to make our way to the peak and we stayed up there for a bit taking pictures and just looking around. One of the coolest parts was that there is a pretty well traveled hiking path that goes up the north face of Zugspitze to the peak and then down the south face. We hope to go back and complete it someday.

After coming down from the peak, we headed down from the viewing platform to the mountain bowl in a different gondola to walk around and explore some. There were some cool views, plants and artfully stacked rocks to look at. We probably walked around for about an hour before rejoining Omi and heading down. The last picture is on one of the paths down from the peak to the bottom of the bowl. We didn't have proper hiking boots so we couldn't do it.

All in all it was another awesome day. We ended it by driving from Zugspitze into Munich, which was a fun drive and my last time out on the auto-bahn in the mountains!

Mantario Trail - September Long Thru Hike, Day 2

The holidays are over and were back! I realized I forgot to continue the Mantario Thru Hike series, so here's the next one!

Date: September 1, 2018

Length: 22.8 km

Elevation: 349 m

Time: 10 hours 50 minutes

Day 2 saw us up bright and early, before most of the others at the Marion Lake camping site. We seemed to hike slow so we were getting up early to make up for it. There was a nice mist on Marion Lake and dew covering pretty much everything. With that in mind we actually bundled up in our rain gear and headed out at about 7 am.

After about 45 minutes into the hike we stopped at an overhead powerline right of way for breakfast. It was just granola bars and a water, but it tasted pretty good and was definitely faster than spending the time back at camp to cook food for a meal. The early morning air and the cool temperatures woke us up and had us full of energy so we were making good time.

After another couple kilometers we came across a low marshy area. We had to wind down the slope on one side then cross an old beaver dam (the dam is in the picture below on the right hand side.. Using beaver dams in a pretty common part of hiking in the white shell. About half way across the beaver dam I looked up and saw a bear running through the marsh parallel to us, near the far end of the hill. It didn't seem interested in us so we kept going, but started making a lot of noise to keep it away. At the top of the hill on the far side of the dam we found a high spot to take a quick 10 minute break and get out of our rain gear. We were also hoping it would give the bear plenty of time to move on away from us.

By lunch time, we have hiked to Moosehead lake, where we stopped for about an hour. Between the bear siting and Moosehead, we say a really tall cairn and stopped at Peggy Lake for a break, where Roslyn took a bunch of pictures of lily pads on the water. The whole day (up till noon at this point) had been pretty wonderful. 

When we arrived at Moosehead, there was a south bound "hiker" just leaving. I put hiker in quotes because he was jogging/running the Mantario. He had started at the north end earlier in the morning and had made it to Moosehead, which is about the halfway mark, by noon. His plan was to finish the south bound trip in one day, then take 2 days to go north again. Roslyn, Tyler and I were just happy with the idea of completing the trip one way in 4 days.

After about an hour at lunch, we packed up and headed onward again to Mantario lake. The section between Mossehead Lake and Mantario Lake is pretty hilly, with some of the highest points of the Mantario Trail on it. We finished out the day by 6 pm, but didn't take too many more pictures, we were just lost in the hike! Below is our last picture of the day, its just before the last 50 m into the Mantario lake campsite.

The second day of the hike was pretty awesome, we weren't too sore or tired at the end of the day, and the plan was to do two smaller days next to keep us from becoming too fatigued. Before we went to sleep around 9 there were probably about 40 to 50 people setup around the camping area. It was pretty crowded but everyone fit. There was even a pair of people doing a canoe route that stay on the island out in the lake. We didn't talk to too many people, but everyone was friendly and the atmosphere was great!