And Just Like That...

...I've got travel plans!  Woohoo!

Just last week I was bemoaning my terrible lack of travel plans, but I shouldn't have been so worried.  This is me we're talking about; if I don't have concrete travel plans odds are I'll be bending all of my will towards fixing that issue.  I'm still not locked in for my West Coast adventure yet, largely because I've been having a heck of a time finding a good time to call my dear grandparents and work out the details.  However I do have a couple Killarney expeditions firmed up to keep me from going crazy.  I'll be joining my parents as well as my Uncle John and Aunt Sue for a few days at the Killarney Mountain Lodge in early August.  That should be really nice.  So far as I know there are no specific activities planned, just lots of hiking, kayaking, and lounging about.

The second trip will be of the camping variety.  Dad and I are going to brave the interior once again at the end of September.  This time we're going to put in on Johnnie Lake and then take a portage into Clearsilver Lake.  It should be an excellent place to camp; there's only one camp site on that lake, and the North end of the lake provides access to the Silverpeak trail.  The mission calls for a day of getting to Clearsilver and setting up camp, followed by a day to make the Silverpeak hike, and then a day to extract ourselves.  Of course any such mission is almost required to be bracketed on both sides by a stay at the Lodge.  However in this case we couldn't get a room at the lodge to begin our trip, so we'll be staying at the newly renovated Sportsman Inn.  I'm looking forward to seeing what that place is like.

When planning that particular camping excursion we ended up in the same debate that we keep having every time we go camping lately: do we take the kayaks or rent a canoe?  It's a tough choice, especially in this case because the pros are obvious, but the cons are severe.  The problem that we always run into with the kayaks is that they can be tricky on a portage because it's more difficult to get all of our gear into the boats without having it in about three dozen little dry bags.  We're looking at a portage that's just shy of 900m this time, so we really don't want to be hiking back and for three or four times just to get everything across the portage.  That makes the canoe ideal since we can get everything in backpack-style dry bags, throw the gear on our backs, grab the canoe, and do the portage all in one shot.  The downside to the canoe is that they aren't great in poor weather, and with it being the last weekend in September that's a downside that weighs heavily on the mind.  In the end though we decided to risk a gruelling paddle in favour of ensuring a smooth portage, so we'll be travelling by canoe on this venture.

Well, I'm afraid I don't have much else to report this week.  I'll be going home tomorrow night to enjoy Canada Day with my friends and family back home.  I'm heading out tonight to get some straps so that I can attempt to get my motorcycle in the back of my truck and bring it home for the long weekend.  It will be my first attempt at that, and hopefully it works out well.  This could be a trial-run of what eventually becomes the much-anticipated Salute to Fossil Fuels.

Ah yes, and speaking of our good friend and loyal foreign correspondent Corey: if you haven't gone back to read the comments from the post entitled "The Danger Zone?" please do.  Corey's been providing some really interesting insights into travel in Greece and there's some great reading to be found in the comment section there.  Let's all wish him luck on his continued adventures.