Category Archives: Regional

Happy Holidays, Mark Atkinson!

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‘Tis the season to be giving, gracious and humble.

A few months ago, my former friend and current nemesis, Mark Atkinson, and I exchanged hilarious and insightful and competetive commentary during the Stanley Cup Finals of 2011. Kurt Heinrich still refers to this series as “your [my] best work” – honestly, I’m not too sure how to take this, as I had to remind Kurt that I did recently crowd/love-source a four-part, difference-making discussion of 99 ways that we can leverage our humanity to make our communities more vibrant, engaging and sustainable. But, hey, Onion-like sport-humour that ironically draws on regional differences and stereotypes for the purpose of gladiatorial-esque entertainment is meaningful too.

Anyway, Mark’s Boston Bruins defeated my Vancouver Canucks in seven games and, well, it was an epic experience that stole a piece of my soul and hasn’t allowed me to fully open my heart to hockey in the same way this season.

But enough of that. I’m moving through it…

Anyway, Mark and I made a friendly wager on the 2011 Finals. The winner earned the right to laud over the loser as said loser donned the opposing team’s jersey, snapped a picture of it, and then posted said picture on the Interweb for all to see. Why did it take so long for this loser (me, see below) to post a picture? Well, the Vancouver community ruined everything with it’s post-loss behaviour, and fun-spirited bets about hockey just didn’t seem appropriate, timely or fun. This being said, I’m a man of my word.

Because I love Mark and because I am a person of honour, here is my photo:

Happy holidays, Mark. I love-hate you so much right now.

–

Masthead photo of “Downtown Bridgewater, Nova Scotia” courtesy of The Stakhanovite Twins

Emergency Prepared Community

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My partner and I recently put together an emergency kit for our home. Getting organized was fun and we both learned lots through the process. The most important lesson is this: by being prepared, we’ll be better positioned to help.

Shortly after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year, I attended a Vancouver Coastal Health public information session about preparing for natural disasters.  The session was eye-opening and I had been meaning to get on it since then. One Sunday night last month, I was going through my neglected in-tray at home and found the emergency preparedness literature. I finally had a proper look through it and started pulling together what we needed to be self-sufficient for 72 hours.

Being prepared for a minimum of three full days without public assistance and without access to utilities, fresh water and communication channels is recommended by our municipal government and provincial health authorities.  It’s a good idea to prepare three-day emergency kits for your home and for your car.  A step further is to build a second kit for your home that includes supplies for an additional four days so you’re covered for a week.

We started with getting a three-day kit together for our home.  We already had most of the stuff we needed, scattered through camping storage bins, first aid kits, and in the garage. That first night, our three-day home kit was assembled into a backpack containing medical basics, flashlights and batteries, duct tape, matches, scissors, rope, plastic bags and a few other odds and ends. We had also created a to-do list of missing items, like work gloves, energy bars, and spare keys.

The best part was talking about our emergency plan.  We assumed that we would not be together, that we would not have cell phone coverage, and that we would be on foot.  Our meeting point is our home and if it’s unsafe to be there, it’s our local community centre.  We’ve stashed a Sharpie, paper and tape in a baggie on our porch so we can leave a note if we do make it home but decide to leave.  Our plan is specific: meet at the NE corner of Ontario and East 33rd Ave.

The second part of our plan is getting to our young daughter.  We assumed that she would be with my parents, who care for her while we’re both at work, and that they will be at their home in North Van.  We plan to ride our bikes over the Second Narrows to gather with the rest of my family.  We also agreed who we would call outside of the city to check-in.  My aunt in Edmonton will be my family’s communication hub so if we can’t get to one another, at least we can let someone know we’re ok.   Deciding upon our emergency plan started our whole family talking about emergency what-ifs.  We all feel better for it.

Before considering emergency preparedness, I guess I just assumed that we would be ok/taken care of when shit goes down.  We often hear of communities pulling together during crisis.  I now realize that being prepared positions us to help our neighbours because our chances of staying healthy are increased.  That sounds like a good plan to me.

–

Masthead photo courtesy of Earthworm

Steve Nash’s Energy Efficient Community

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During the month of October, youth in BC have an opportunity to Save Like Steve.

Once again, my main man Steve Nash shows what it takes to build community.

As discussed many, many, many times by the contributors to this blog, Steve Nash is the greatest. His resume already boasts job titles such as NBA superstar, entrepreneur,  philanthropist, film director, professional sports team owner, and now he’s adding to the list the role of badass Energy Waste Detective.

Steve’s collaboration surrounding BC Hydro’s Pocket Waste Buster App sees him playing the role of a mustachioed, 1970s-style detective who solves crimes against energy efficiency. Here are a couple of teaser trailers from the project:

Once again, Steve Nash reveals himself to be a spokesperson for noble environmental causes. In addition to wearing the world’s first basketball shoe made out of recycled materials, he’s championing one of our community’s most important causes in a downright edutaining way. Oh, and people can win fabulous prizes by participating in the contest.

Thanks, Steve, for helping us save energy and have fun at the same time.

Masthead photo courtesy of Steve Punter.

Vote for Community, Provincial Edition

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Ontario is on the cusp of a provincial election.  It is one of a number of provincial and territorial elections that will be happening before the end of 2011, including Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Yukon, and Northwest Territories.  In Ontario the Liberal party has had a majority in the province for the last 8 years.  Before that the Conservative Party was in charge for just over 8 years and before that the NDP for just under 5.  Polling for this election indicates a close race between the Liberals and Conservatives, with the possibility of a minority government.

Similar to my previous post on the federal election I feel that these elections will have an impact on your community.  Provincial governments provide, support or influence a number of services including health care, education, welfare and intra-provincial transportation.  The government will make important decisions about things like how electricity is generated, how our cities grow, how much university costs, and how our healthcare system works.  They also have a lot of influence on municipal governments, deciding their areas of jurisdictions and which services or powers will be “uploaded” (responsibility shifted from municipal to provincial jurisdiction) or “downloaded” (responsibility shifted from provincial to municipal jurisdiction).

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario has been lobbying all parties to consider the current division of service delivery and seeking a funding model to make it easier for municipal governments to deliver front-line community services.  In particular AMO determined a top 12 list of priorities and provides assessments of each of the mainstream parties’ platforms against these 12 priorities.  This allows voters to assess where the parties stand on the services and investments that are made into their local government. 

But municipalities are not the only part of our community that will be impacted by the election.  A number of organizations aiming to improve the sustainability of our communities have launched campaigns to inform voters and garner the support of politicians.  My two favourites are Sustain Ontario’s “Vote ON Food & Farming” and the Heart & Stoke Foundation’s “Healthy Candidates”.  The Sustain Ontario campaign is to raise awareness around food and farming among both candidates and voters.  It is focused on the positive impacts that a sustainable food system can have on the economic, health, environment, education and community well-being of Ontario.  As well, it offers questions to ask candidates to find out more on where they stand on food and farming issues.  The Heart & Stroke Foundation’s Health Candidate Campaign is focused on getting every candidate in Ontario to pledge to invest in health promotion.  It makes it really easy to see which of your candidates has made the pledge (as seen below for my riding).  As well as offers a tool on their website to encourage your candidates to sign up.

The point of this post is not to promote a particular party, but to encourage everyone heading to a provincial election this year to consider how that election will impact what is important to them in their community.

 

Community on the Juan de Fuca Trail

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47 kilometers of West Coast awesomeness!

Last week, John and I went on an adventure in the wilderness. After weeks of accumulating supplies, preparing menus, going on test hikes, and becoming far too acquainted with the staff at MEC, we set out on the Juan De Fuca Trail on Vancouver Island’s West Coast. Mentally – and somewhat physically – prepared for the 47 km, 5 day hike, what follows is a daily synopsis of the ups and downs (literally and metaphorically), our observations about community we found on the trail, and some stories and anecdotes that are just, well, funny.

Bear Beach looks good early in the morning.

Day 1: China Beach to Bear Beach

Filled with excitement and anxious to get started, we threw on our packs and headed towards the trail from the China Beach parking lot … only to be stopped in our tracks by a number of minor, let’s say, incidents. Incident #1: John realizing his water bladder, attached to his backpack, is empty … which subsequently made sense when we noticed that the back seat of the car was soaked. Incident #2: Michelle checking her pocket for the map to give it one last look, only to realize it’s nowhere to be found. Good thing it turned up … in her father-in-law’s pocket! Incident #3: Backcountry camping fees? Strictly enforced and payable at the start of the trail? Needless to say, we knew nothing of backcountry camping fees. To add to the confusion, we received five different answers from five different people about how we could pay and how much it was – luckily, the parents-in-law come to the rescue, making up for the near-fiasco with the map. Despite the multiple incidents, we head out on the trail (half an hour later than expected), arriving safe and sound about 4 hours later at beautiful Bear Beach.

This was one of the 15 or so times that Michelle walked up during the Day 2 experience. Also, love the pink!

Day 2: Bear Beach to Chin Beach

By 10am we had packed up our wicked awesome camp site – complete with giant table – and were striking out on the trail behind a group of Japanese tourists, Team Texas and a hardcore young man who was, apparently, doing the entire trail in three days. The kid was moving fast.

For seven hours – over about 12 kilometers – John and I hiked up and over about 15 different headlands. This basically meant walking up for about 150-200 meters, looking around at the gorgeous, lush and spectacular scenery, and then walking down for about 150-200 meters. And then we crossed a creek. And then we did it all over again. Other than expelling a combined 30 liters of sweat and starting to feel our packs weighing on our shoulders in achey new ways, this part of the trail was an achievement of epic proportions with very little collatoral damage to our bodies, minds and/or souls. By 7pm we settled into a delicious meal of quinoa next to a modest little fire and watched seagulls feast on shellfish under a misty sunset.

The 16 kilometer marker was a long, long, long time coming. Mostly because we either missed marker 15 or it's missing along the trail. Needless to say, we stopped for lunch here.

Day 3: Chin Beach to Sombrio Beach

MICE! That’s right. Focusing a lot – perhaps too much – on nefarious bears and cougars, we underestimated the chewy vigour of some other four-legged creatures who live on Vancouver Island’s West Coast. During the night, a gang of wild mice gnawed through our packs in search of delicious treats. Luckily, no trail mix or my candies were harmed.

This hike was similar to – but not the same as – day two. We went up, up, up a lot right away, but there wasn’t as much repetition. Also, a kilometer of the hike took place along about a flat and groomed old logging road. Quite a nice respite!

Arriving at Sombrio Beach, John and I learned a lesson about “maps” and “distances” at Sombrio. The 20.7 kilometers listed on the map got us to Sombrio Point, not the beach itself. No, to get to the beach we hiked with our tired legs (in utter silence, which says a lot) along a sheer cliff, through some slippery, smelly muck and up, over and around two coves. Though the trail wasn’t actually all that technical, this is the place where – because of sheer fatigue – we could’ve died quite easily because of one little misstep (or perhaps because we let our guard down against the roaming packs of radioactive ninja mice that the Juan de Fuca Trail might possibly yield).

Oh, and Sombrio is the place where we started having deeper conversations with our new friends, the Texans, who were particularly impressed by the awesomeness of our campsite and my very pink hiking attire.

John relaxes by our very awesome campsite and even more awesome fire at Sombrio Beach.

Day 4: Sombrio Beach to Payzant Creek

Before leaving Sombrio we stumbled across a family of sea otters.

Waking up to the sound of crashing waves might be the best sound. Ever. Follow that with a delicious Spanish Frittata breakfast (thanks, MEC!), coffee, and a flawless pack-up, and we found ourselves setting out happily for an apparently “moderate” (according to aforementioned “map”), albeit long (13 km), day. The day was, actually, quite moderate – if one were to compare it to the gruelling terrain of the previous two days. Compared to day one, it was definitely harder and almost twice as long.

The hike itself was gorgeous. We left the comfort of the coastline for the more mysterious woods, finding ourselves surrounded by old growth trees and cooler temperatures. Setting up camp in the middle of a rainforest, mist and sunshine streaming through the myriad of trees, was one of the memorable moments of the trip. Team Texas wandered in a few hours after us – we felt a bit better about how incredibly sore we were after seeing them limp and drag themselves into the campsite. As we weren’t allowed fires in the woods, Day 4 was an early night – we were asleep no later than 9:30pm (which was probably a good thing, as it allowed our bodies to recuperate from the pain we had inflicted upon them).

The towering trees around Payzant Creek!

Day 5: Payzant Creek to Botanical Beach

A bittersweet day – a mere 7 km and we would be back in the real world! While we were looking forward to a homecooked meal and mostly, well, not smelling, it was sad leaving the calm, relaxing and awe-inspiring wilderness. This short four hour hike out, with lots of boardwalks and more and more hikers as we got closer to Botanical Beach, included a permit-check by a BC Parks Ranger/Warden/Guide/Hero as well as many fun chats with our Texan friends as well as Jonathan, a lone hiker from Winnipeg who was just downright delightful.

 Final Reflections

Since monkeys jumped down from trees, crossed the svannah, killed all the dinosaurs, and turned into people we’ve had a very interesting relationship with nature. We’ve worshipped, groomed, destroyed, restored, protected, developed, and celebrated the Earth during our time here. And that might be the coolest thing about getting out into nature and away from so much urbanity – a simple and fun five days in the woods is enough to remind any city dweller that people are a part of the natural environment and it’s a part of us. Taking time to appreciate this relationship is as important as it is enjoyable.

Thanks, Juan de Fuca Trail for being so darn enjoyably natural!

 

Month Long Heatwave (and counting)

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July was the hottest month on record for Ontario. While many parts of Canada have had to deal with lacklustre summer-weather, we’ve had the opposite. We’re just coming off the 6th heat alert of the season and on July 21st Toronto’s temperatures peaked at 37 C with a humidex making it feel like 51. This kind of heat isn’t always easy to deal with; it can be uncomfortable and sometimes even dangerous. But it is possible to coexist with it and I don’t mean just moving between air-conditioned spaces. There are lots of little things that Jim and I have started doing this summer that has made the heat easier to tolerate.

  • Windows and Fans: We’ve adopted an old fashioned approach to keeping our apartment cooler. Despite the heat during the days there have been very few nights where the temperate didn’t drop to at least the mid-20s. During the days we keep our windows and blinds closed. And at night we open them up and use a fan to blow the cooler air in. Using this approach means we’ve only had to turn our AC on a handful of times when the nightly temperature didn’t drop.
  • Summer Kitchen: We’ve pretty much stopped cooking inside. But that doesn’t mean that we’ve stopped cooking. Instead, cooking has moved to our back deck by using a barbeque and propane burner. Most of our canning will likely also take place outside this year, which seems like a much better place to have a large pot of boiling water.
  • Early Mornings: The coolest hour of the day is usually 5am and it isn’t a coincidence that it also happens to be around the same time that I run. Since I dislike indoors exercise more that waking up really early, I’ve made the adjustment. Outdoor activity is still possible later in the day, it is just a lot slower and sweatier.
  • Yogurt Pops: Cool and hydrating is a necessity for snacks. My favourite recipe is yogurt pops: 1 cup of in season fruit (berries or peaches usually), 1 cup of yogurt, and a tablespoon of honey mixed in a blender and frozen in pop moulds.

And in the spirit of John Horn’s positivity, here are a few reasons to love the steamy summer days in Ontario:

  1. Smog-less heat – it seams that despite all the heat there really haven’t been that many days where air quality has been an issue (not like a few years ago). I suggest it likely has something to do with the Provincial government’s Green Energy Act and closing coal fired power plants. Regardless, the heat and humidity are a lot easier to take when it isn’t also asthma inducing.
  2. Greenhouse growing conditions – there is very little diversity in my container garden (unless 12 different varieties of tomato plants count as diversity). But the tomatoes, jalapeno peppers and basil that I do grow are thriving in the heat and humidity, which is basically a replication of the conditions found in greenhouses elsewhere.
  3. Siestas – who doesn’t like a good excuse to nap, even if it is heat induced? While my working days are powered by Markham District Energy’s distributed cooling system (basically a community sharing AC), my weekends aren’t and as a result I’ve started to enjoy the occasional nap to get through the worst of the heat.

 

Experimental Car Commuting Community

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Thanks to epSos.de for the photo (From Flickr's Creative Commons)

It was bound to happen. When you have a superawesome Father-in-Law who lives in Maple Ridge and you on Main Street in Vancouver, well, sooner or later you’re going to have to live the life of a commuter.


View Larger Map

During our 97 kilometer, three-and-a-half hour round-trip, Michelle and I experienced a different kind of community than we usually do – the car commuter community (let’s go with carmmunity or commutermunity). Made up mostly of single-occupancy-vehicles, this community can be simultaneously fast and slow moving.  And sometimes, it doesn’t move at all. We definitely experienced a fairly speedy trip out to Maple Ridge, but were stuck in a Port-Mann-Bridge-twinning/Coquitlam-super-sprawl sort of construction-inspired gridlock during which we gazed up and around at the partially built overpasses and expanding lanes of concrete and asphalt.

First question: so, once the six or eight lanes of traffic cross the bridge – and then go into four or five lanes of traffic on the freeway – how will this traffic fit into the two or three lanes of traffic that choke Highway One about three kilometers into/past Coquitlam?

I know a few colleagues who commute each day from Pitt Meadows and Surrey (each from a different place, not from one to the other and then to UBC). And, on Wednesday, Michelle and I got a bit of a window into their worlds. Now. Not only am I on the more social side of the humans are social creatures continuum, but I’m definitely a hypertechnological, superconnected dude, too. I found it hard not to think about sending emails, text messages, and having The Daily Show or a podcast on in the background while I write a blog post and instant message Shipping Correspondent, Godfrey Tait while I read the latest selection of our book club.  On a more consistent basis, commutermunities would be a dangerous place for my socially wired, multi-tasking style.

Second question: what the heck does one do alone in a car for three hours (or more) per day?!

Finally, before leaving for Maple Ridge we filled up our 2001 Honda Civic with delicious gasoline. The cost of doing so typically ranges from about $55-$60. Upon returning home and parking our car, Michelle and I noted that the trip used up just under a quarter tank of delicious gasoline – logical extrapolation concludes that, if we lived in Maple Ridge we’d be using about a tank of delicious gasoline per week getting to and from our jobs in Vancity.

Third and final question: in a region where the collective earning potential is about 10-15K less than the Greater Toronto Area and 5-10K less than Calgary and that is also a community that is carbon taxed, property-taxed-to-pay-for-slow-to-expand-public-transit, and is in possession of the highest housing prices in the English-speaking world, how the heck does one keep up with and/or ahead of this rather perplexing mathematical equation?

Positivity in the Bummer Summer

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It goes without saying that I’m no fan of Mr. Sun. Wait. It really doesn’t. If you’re not a frequenter of this blog, you probably don’t know that – when I choose my enemies – I don’t mess around with supervillains, nation states or Fox News as suitable nemeses. Mine is The Sun. And while I don’t really hate things – as life is too short to be consumed by this negative feeling – I will say that I strongly dislike Apollo and the way He burns me.

So, you can imagine my elation on account of the “bummer summer” that we’re having here on the West Coast, arguably one of the most beautiful and radiant summer spots on the planet. Unfortunately, the Summer of 2011 has yielded more rain and gray than is the norm, even in the rainforesty Pacific Northwest. And some people are getting pretty sad (others are being downright revolutionary) about it.

Friends. Readers. Community. You need not be sad. Here are three things that you can love about our less-than-sunny Summer of 2011:

1. At least we’re not Eastern Canada! To quote one of our Toronto Correspondents, “it’s as hot as Hades here!” With an average June/July temperature of 45 degrees and an average humidity index of 6,000%, well, it’s easy to see that we’ve got it much better here on the West Coast. As is the case with hipsters, the West Coast is cooler than any of us would like it to be, but, hey, at least we’re not Eastern Canada!

2. Higher-than-Average UV Index will get you Tanned! The Sun will still melt our community if we’re not careful. Thanks to a thinning ozone above the Arctic Circle, the UV index is, on average, 4% higher than normal this summer. So, even if the average West Coast temperature is a few degrees cooler than normal, don’t be afraid to get outside sans-chemise-et-pantalons and soak up those burnable UV rays. In the business we call this a “used car salesman ninja tan” because you get burned without knowing what’s happening.

3. Your Spring Veggies will go Forever! I don’t know about you, but my kale, spinach and lettuce is coming in nicely because none of the aforementioned plants know that it’s technically July and not May. This will offer my lovely wife Michelle and I some nice salad and sandwich greens at a time when, well, our tomatoes and strawberries should be turning red.

So, cheer up, West Coast of Canada! Just because the irreversible damages of climate change are graying and sweltering our landscape doesn’t mean that we can’t have a great, community-oriented summer. After all, we got to where we are today by being adaptable, creative and by making the best of totally bummer situations.

The Cost of Poverty

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Poverty accounts for huge costs on our society. And not just the ones incurred by the massive losses suffered by our human capital because of all our wasted talent. There are financial costs, too. Big ones. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives just released a study called The Cost of Poverty in BC assesses the total annual cost of poverty on the people of British Columbia at somewhere between $8-$9 billion.

If you remember 15 things from this blog post, make it these words from the CCPA’s report: it costs more to keep people in poverty than it does to fix the problem.

Hey, it’s just simple math.

And this great infographically-charged video goes into even more detail:

“No one should have to suffer hunger or homelessness in a wealthy province like BC,” says economist Iglika Ivanova, author of the study. “On this basis alone we must do better in addressing poverty. But there is also a clear economic case here: in light of the high costs of inaction, investing in poverty reduction is the fiscally responsible thing to do.”

And if this isn’t a convincing enough case for you, check out the fairly staggaring numbers from the study:

Poverty in BC represents a direct cost to government alone of $2.2 to $2.3 billion annually, or close to 6% of the provincial budget.

  • The cost to society overall is considerably higher ‹ conservatively estimated at $8.1 to $9.2 billion per year, or between 4.1% and 4.7% of BC’s GDP.
  • That is as much as $2,100 for every man, woman and child in BC, or $8,400 for a family of four, every year.
  • BC’s poorest families are sicker and use a greater share of health care resources than any other group. If poverty reduction initiatives reduced health care use for the poorest 20% of families, we could save $1.2 billion in annual provincial health care spending.

And, according to The Cost of Poverty in BC study, this crippling – and downright embarrassing – problem could be addressed by a meaningful poverty-reduction plan that costs between $4-$5 billion. About half the cost of staying the course and bolstering our broken status quo.

I’m a believer that a community is measured by how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable citizens. How are we doing, British Columbia?

Hiking is Awesome

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This past weekend, John and I went on an awesome hike in Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park. After parking our car at the trailhead, we hiked 5.5 kilometers and about 250 vertical meters to Greendrop Lake. We encountered many different types of terrain and many different kinds of hikers. Here are our observations about what we recommend as a pretty darn fantastic overnight camping experience:

John & Michelle’s Favourite Things About the Hike

1. Diverse Terrain. The trail literally had it all. From typical Pacific Northwest muddy rainforest to rockslides that we had to scamper across to raging creeks that washed out the trail to a harrowing rocky pathway to Mordor or wherever the Gunslinger is headed, the trail really ran the gamut of sensation. It was listed as an intermediate hike, and you never knew what to expect.

2. Path-Plotting Creativity. As mentioned above, much of the trail – especially the half-hour before arriving at Greendrop Lake – was washed out by an overflowing and raging Post Creek. This inspired some pretty creative trail navigation, which invariably involved scurrying across logs acting as makeshift bridges, leaping across rapids and, one time, going about 300 meters in the wrong direction before serendipitously finding the path back to the lake.

3. The Destination (See Photos). Clearly, John and I had a really, really awesome campsite. It was secluded (until a really nice couple and their dogs arrived nextdoor), was a meter away from the icy blue lake, and had a gorgeous view of a cascading waterfall that fed the lake from the top of the mountain. In spite of our tent being pitched on an angle – which made sleeping fairly hilarious – it was the perfect campsite.

John and Michelle’s Observations of the Hiking Community

Garbarge-Throwing Partyers. John and I picked up our fair-share of litter along the trail. Shame on you, “hikers” – and we use the term loosely because camping and hiking should involve an instinctual love for and appreciation of nature, which you just don’t seem to have. Judging by the cans and wrappers that we saw along the way, what you do have is a love of beer and candy.

Danger Family Nature Awesome! Should an eight-year-old boy be balancing three feet above raging water on a wobbly and slippery log? According to some families (and, for the record, John’s dad would’ve been on this list back in the day), absolutely! For this is a fantastic way to build character and an appreciative respect for Mother Nature (or absolute fear)…either way, no one in this group is littering!

Team Hardcore. Maybe you walk across boulders in barefoot running shoes. Or perhaps you bushwhack your way past the end of the trail with hopes of finding “Hicks Service Road.” Or perhaps you get a bit lost, but intuitively know that a creek comes from a lake, so you just walk in waist-deep water up the creek until you arrive at your destination. And maybe you arrive at your destination, only to realize that all the camping spots are taken, so you eat your dinner and then hike all the way back to the first lake, Lindeman, only to return the next day so that you can find some fish in Greendrop. #hardcoreawesome

Friendly Folk. Most people we met fit into this category quite nicely. Nearly everyone said “hello” as we past, sure. But it’s the Friendly Folk who stopped to chat a bit. During the big incline at the beginning of the trail, a young lad encouraged us with a nice “you’re almost there!” Very friendly.

Jeans in the Wilderness. You read on the Internets that the first leg of the hike – to Lindeman Lake – is a “day hike” with a few camping spots. This informs your wardrobe choice as well as your decision to hike sans-eau. Also, when juxtaposed to people hiking in gear to Greendrop Lake (The Bornks!), it makes the latter folk seem so much more hardcore.

What John and Michelle Learned About Each Other

John: Michelle Bornk! is a good camper with a ton of spirit and mettle. What I learned about her is that she cannot yet read my mind during camping experiences. There were a few times when, for example, I would be holding the tarp or tent fly and then would look at her. She would smile and say, “Hi!” What I was thinking about and hoping for, though, was for a silent acknowledgement that it was time to shake out and fold up our campsite. These little nuances will take care of themselves following future forays into the wilderness. Exciting!

Michelle: John is an experienced camper, whom I can learn a lot from. He also has a lot of hilarious stories from childhood camping expeditions, which give me a hilarious glimpse into his past, his family, and who he is today. I also learned that John Horn is a man on a mission. There would be numerous times when I would have to ‘remind’ John that I was not directly behind him (usually by yelling or throwing things), as he would be so focused on making it to our destination. Perhaps, at the end of the day, I have learned that I should bring a whistle!