Check it out!
Ian
Thursday, November 26, 2009
End of Trip!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
New River Gorge
After climbing at Seneca Rocks for a week or so, we headed a couple hours south, to Summersville Lake and the New River Gorge climbing areas near Fayetteville, West Virginia. The rock is a very hard type of sandstone, making for good friction and a wide variety of face climbs and crack climbs. There was one particular crack climb called New Yosemite that we had both tried on previous trips to "The New", but neither of us had been able to complete the route without resting on the rope partway. This time we were stronger and more experienced, and both redpointed the route. Check it out in the video below!
Throughout the rest of our two weeks we climbed at several of the different crags, and took very few pictures! Here are a few:
home for two weeks
The old bridge across the New River
The new bridge - the largest steel arch span in the Western hemisphere
Big news coming in the next blog post!! :)
Friday, October 23, 2009
Seneca Rocks
Seneca Rocks, West Virginia
The climbing here is different from a lot of other places we've been to, in that instead of several cliffs 40-100 feet tall, this is one big cliff broken up by several big ledges. Most of the climbing is multi-pitch, meaning that the climb is longer than one ropelength (a "pitch"), so instead of climbing the entire route then lowering back to the ground, one must stop partway, build an anchor in the wall, and bring up your climbing partner before continuing up the climb. This process is repeated until you get to the ledge or summit where the climb finishes. This makes the climbing here more committing, and requires taking more equipment up with you, as well as water and snacks, and in many cases, and bags, shoes, and additional clothes you brought with you, as you won't be coming back down to the same spot you started from. All this extra stuff encumbers you and adds extra weight to haul up the rock, so generally you climb easier stuff. This is fun climbing though - maybe less demanding of muscle strength, but much more adventurous. The climbing is less physical, but much more mentally challenging, as you run into situations where what you need to do isn't hard, but it's a bit scary.
Meghan and I standing on the South Summit of Seneca Rocks
The easiest way to explain this is probably to just show you, so we strapped a camera to my helmet and took a video while we climbed. We linked together 3 climbs to get from the trail to the south summit - Banana (1 pitch, 5.7), Debbie (1 pitch, 5.7), and Gunsight to South Peak (3 pitches, 5.4) (the other dude in the video is a guy named Parin that we climbed with that day). Check it out - and tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Ghetto-style Helmet-Cam
Video - Climbing at Seneca Rocks!
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio...
After arriving back at mainland Nova Scotia, we made our way south, to Halifax. Here we were happy to meet up with Roscoe, an old university classmate and roommate of mine. He gave us the grand tour of the city (during which we completely forgot to take any photos), and then we went out for a couple of drinks at a pub downtown. It was great catching up on what we'd each been up to since seeing each other in person last, about 5 years ago.
Roscoe and I in Halifax
The next morning, we headed out to Peggy's Cove to catch the sunrise. It was quite spectacular. I'm glad we got out there early in the morning though - as we were leaving they were setting up the parking lot for coach busses full of cruise ship passengers, about 8 or 10 of which we passed on the highway headed there.
Sunrise at Peggy's Cove
Early morning light at Peggy's Cove
More early morning light at Peggy's Cove
From Peggy's Cove, we headed across Nova Scotia to the Bay of Fundy, and into New Brunswick. At the head of the bay is Hopewell Rocks, where the world's highest tides are very apparent. When we first got there, it was just a couple of hours after high tide. Since the tides run about 12 hours between high and low, the water level was pretty high. We hiked around in the rain for a bit, then went back to the van and cooked up some dinner. We returned to the same spot just over 2 hours after our original visit, and the tide had gone way down. We were able to walk out on the mud flats where just a couple of hours earlier there had been 6-8 feet of water. It's really something neat to see, even in the rain.
Hopewell Rocks a few hours after high tide
The same spot 2 hours and 9 minutes later
Meghan and the flower-pot rocks
More flower-pot rocks
At this point it the sun was setting on a Wednesday night, and Meghan's two sisters were both planning on being at home in Ohio for the weekend, so we decided to make a push on the driving so we could be there too. We drove as far as the New Brunswick/Maine border, and stopped for the night just after crossing. Thursday we drove through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and into Pennsylvania (it sounds like a lot, but they're mostly little states). Friday we got up and drove through Pennsylvania and Ohio, and arrived at Meghan's parents' place mid-afternoon, much to her mom's surprise.
Family photo with the whole gang
We planed to spend just the weekend in Ohio, but the weather at our next destination was poor, and Meghan came down with a cold, so we opted to just hang out in Ohio for a few extra days. Finally the weather cleared, as did Meghan's symptoms, so off we went, to West Virginia…
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Rock
(Sorry for the long time between posts - we're way behind but will try to get caught up soon)
After visiting PEI, we headed east and north, to North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to the ferry terminal for the boats headed for Newfoundland. In the past we haven't needed reservations for ferries, so we haven't bothered, but apparently getting there on Saturday night and planning to be on the Sunday morning ferry was something that was definitely not going to happen. No worries - we just made our reservation for Monday morning instead, and took a day and a half to explore the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We did a few hikes there taking in the waterfalls, old growth forests, and beautiful seashores.
Seashore at Cape Breton Highlands National Park
Maple Leaf at the base of a waterfall in Cape Breton Highlands
Monday morning came, and we were parked in line, ready to board the ferry. Our departure wasn't until 11:30 a.m., but they loaded us on at 9:30. The boat was big and pretty nice, but Piton had to stay in the van down on one of the vehicle decks, and we weren't allowed down there once the ship was at sea. The crossing is scheduled to be 4-6 hours, depending on the boat and how rough the seas were, and on this trip it took us about 6 hours to cross the Cabot Strait. Unfortunately, the winds were really strong, and the seas rough, so we weren't able to make it into the harbour under those condition. This meant that we got to cruise up and down the coast, in total darkness, in rough seas, for an extra 6 hours or so. Oh that was fun. We did eventually get to Port-Aux-Basque though, docking around midnight and actually getting the van off the ship around 1 a.m. It was a long day. We'd been told by some truckers that the only road north, just outside of town, would likely be closed due to the high winds. Trains have literally been blown off the tracks in that area, the winds get so strong. That was ok, we were ready for bed anyways. Maybe it would have been better to have had reservations for that Sunday crossing…
Tuesday morning we travelled north, passing through Corner Brook on our way up to Gros Morne National Park. This is where we spent most of our time on Newfoundland. The park is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the geology. Several hundred million years ago, the European Tectonic Plate collided with the North American Plate, and the compression of the plates formed the Appalachian Mountains. Most often when two plates collide, there is a subduction zone, where one plate dives down under the other melting in with the earth's mantle, but in this part of Newfoundland, one plate was pushed up on top of the other, bringing some of the mantle rock with it. When the plates then moved back apart, creating the Atlantic Ocean, some of the rock from the mantle was scraped off the bottom of the plate and left on the earth's surface. This rock is called Peridotite, and occurs in the tablelands of Gros Morne National Park. It was here that scientists were able to help prove the Theory of Plate Tectonics.
Parks Canada guide on our tour of the Tablelands
The Tablelands
Serpentine - a mineral reaction on the Peridotite
Gros Morne isn't just the tablelands though, the Long Range Mountains run through the park, in which some deep fjords were carved many years ago. Western Brook Pond was once one of these fjords, but has since then been cut off from the ocean, making it a freshwater body, and therefore a "pond" instead of a "fjord"; it's an inland lake with massive sheer cliffs flanking it's sides. Gros Morne is also situated on the Straight of Belle Isle, the ocean straight separating Newfoundland from mainland Canada. The seashores here are also a spectacular sight to behold, with volcanic rock formations, cliffs overlooking the water, caves along the shoreline, and sea stacks rising up out of the water. The coastal bogs are also home to a lot of wildlife.
The Seashore in Gros Morne National Park
Seascape at Gros Morne
Boardwalk leading to Western Brook Pond
After a few days of hiking, we decided to continue our drive north, and went all the way up to L'Anse Aux Meadows, a National Historic Site. It was here, contrary to popular belief, that the first Europeans came to North America and established a settlement. The Vikings came here, led by the someLief Eriksson, son of Eric the Red. They built houses, even an iron forge, and lived there for a while, 450 years before Christopher Columbus was even born. We didn't get to see any of that though. The visitor centre, contrary to their published literature stating they would be open for another two weeks, had closed its doors for the season the day before we got there. It was freezing cold and pouring rain, and we didn't know which trails would take us to see what we wanted, so we wandered around for a while, but didn't find anything before giving up and heading back to the warm, dry van. Sorry, we didn't take any photos of all that excitement.
We headed back south to Gros Morne again, and driving along the coastal bog early one morning spotted a small herd of Caribou. They spend their summer up in the high country, escaping the heat and the bugs, then come down to the coastal lowlands in the winter where it's a little warmer and the food is more plentiful. This group had come down a bit early, but we were happy to see them. We slowly made our way out through the bog, inching closer and closer over a period of about two hours. It's a wide open bog, so they certainly saw us coming, but we took our time, and showed that we weren't any threat, and didn't get too close. They didn't seem to mind. Watching them feed, play, and rest out in their natural habitual was really special.
Caribou grazing in the coastal bog
Bull Caribou
Cow Moose in Gros Morne
We had plans of heading over to the east side of Newfoundland as well, and heading up to Fogo Island (which contrary to the theory of plate tectonics, the Flat Earth Society believes is one of the five corners of the Earth), but were finding from our tourism literature that almost everything was closed for the season, with very few visitors like us still left on the island. We instead headed back south to the ferry, crossing again back to the mainland. The ferry crossing back was pretty rough, I think more rough than usual, because 3 or 4 times we definitely heard a huge crash as dishes in the ship's cafeteria apparently went flying and smashed on the floor. We made it across in about 6 hours though, without any extra delays.
Getting to see the caribou, not having to put up with any of the bugs, and seeing "The Rock" in its fall colours was amazing, but we think we may have to go back again another day, to see some more of the stuff we missed. I would definitely recommend visiting Newfoundland for anyone looking to plan a vacation in Canada.
Fall Colours in Newfoundland
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Gaspésie
Last Sunday, we were the last vehicle on our ferry to cross the St. Lawrence and enjoyed our 2 1/4 hour crossing, but unfortunately did not spot any more whales. We spent much of the week on the Gaspé (sounds like gas bay) Peninsula - it was wonderful. Our good luck with the language continued, and we were able to get by with our basic understanding of French. Our first day on the peninsula we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset, though it was behind us as we were driving.
Piton loved the view out the back window. She is pretty good at noticing stuff - like the wolf we saw our first morning in the Gaspé region. For the record, Piton doesn't like wolves, horses, squirrels, or chipmunks.
Gaspé Sunset
We did stop several times to photograph the sunset (and of course by "we" I mean Ian).
There are a ton of lighthouses along the coast - apparently there were lots of shipwrecks back in the day. We did a tour of the tallest one in Canada, which is still operating.
Also on the Gaspé Peninsula, we spent a bit of time in Forillion National Park. Again we were able to explore the beauty of yet another of Canada's National Parks. Highlights from our time here include...
Pretty waterfalls
and lots of wildlife.
We saw a bunch of porcupines, and Piton apparently likes them. She found one on the trail out to the Cap-Gaspé (the point of the peninsula) that both Ian and I had apparently walked by. We also saw a huge bull moose one morning on our way out to watch the sunrise at Cap-Bon-Ami. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of it, but I've never seen such a moose with such a big rack!
We also headed over to Percé, which is known for its "pierced" rock and northern gannets (a type of bird). We did a boat tour out to Bonaventure Island (provinical park) to see the gannets, and the boat goes in close to the rock for a better view. You can walk out to the rock during low tide, but it's not safe because of frequent rock fall. I have a feeling you get a better photo when you are a little further back anyways - although it would have been fun to get your picture taken in the middle of the hole!
Perce Rock
The gannets on Bonaventure Island were a little overwhelming. They are beautiful birds with a wingspan of about 6 feet.
Gannet
The neat part about Bonaventure Island is that this is the largest gannet nesting colony in North America - there are over 150,000 birds here. This clip really only shows maybe a third of the birds on top of the cliff, there a bunch more living on the wall of the cliff - all on the east facing side so they get the morning sun to warm the egg and babies.
They are incredibly beautiful (assuming you can get past the overwhelming stench). It was definitely a worthwhile afternoon to hike across this little island and see the birds.
We stopped in the village of Gaspé to see the Jacques Cartier Monument National Historic Site. Reading his notes from the monument with my bias / morals, it's pretty shocking and racist, but as the 475th anniversary of his arrival in North America there was a bit of a to-do in town.
There are six of these large metal plates, with pictures on one side and different quotes on the other.
Our last major stop in Quebec was in the town of Bonaventure (complete different location from the island). We went to the BioParc, which although it's not normally my thing it was kind of cool. They had lynx, mountain lions, wolves and sea otters, among other animals. Although the lynx have a reputation for being solitary, they were quite social with us. We sat beside the fence and he came right over to check us out.
The other animal highlights...
A wolf that looked just like the one Piton found us only a few days earlier.
A mountain lion who actually seemed like it would like to eat us.
A moose who was a little distracted, he seemed more interested in chasing the two cows (female moose) around the habitat.
Caribou! Apparently we may see more of these in Gros Morne National Park over in Newfoundland!
We spent a day or so on Prince Edward Island, and didn't end up really getting that into it. We went to watch the sunset on the northwest corner of the island, missed it by a few minutes, but did enjoy this view:
We headed from PEI to North Sydney, Nova Scotia to catch the ferry to Newfoundland. When they say "book ahead" they mean more than 15 hours, so we ended up booking our passage on the 11:30am ferry Monday morning. We went over to the park on Saturday evening and spent the day on Sunday exploring the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We'll get those photos downloaded later another time and share those in the next post. In the meanwhile we are really amped about Newfoundland and planning on spending a week and a half or so out there.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
La Côte Nord
La Côte Nord is the name for this region of Quebec, translated to "The North Coast", in reference to the St. Lawrence River. After leaving the Ottawa area, we travelled northeast to Quebec City. There's so much history there. For a brief synopsis (very brief I promise), way back in the day (in the 1500's) the French came to North America and set up a colony to be administered from Quebec City. Then in the mid-1700's the British war with the French spilled over into North America, culminating with the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (now a city park) just outside the fortified Quebec City, where the British claimed victory, but both their commander General Wolfe and the French commander General Montcalm were mortally wounded on the battlefield. A few years later, the war in Europe ended and in the treaty, the French ceded their North American colony to the British. Since some of the French had lived here for several generations and made homes in the region that is now Quebec, they stayed, while most of the new settlers were British. There's a lot more to it, and lots of cool interesting stuff to see, like the old walls around the fortified city, and the archeological dig (open to the public) where the original fort was built. You can also see the Governor General's residence, where the actual head of state lives, and has lived since the 1600's. Overall a pretty cool place, with a lot of interesting history behind it.
The Parliament of the Province of Quebec
Quebec City Skyline
Downtown in the old city (within the walls)
Touring the archeological dig at the site of the original fort
Poutine - french fries with cheese curds and gravy - a Quebecois treat! We figured, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, right? We thought about kidnapping a British diplomat and demanding safe passage to Cuba too, but that it was too 70's
After leaving Quebec City, we drove up the north coast to the town of Tadoussac, where the Saguenay River joins with the St. Lawrence. This is the heart of the St. Lawrence Estuary, where the river's fresh water mixes with the Atlantic Ocean's salt water. The result is an abundance of plant and animal life, from krill to whales. You can watch the whales from land, which we did, but to get a really great view you need to go out in a boat. We went on a 3-hour tour in a zodiac, and saw tons of whales from pretty close. By the time we continued north, we'd seen beluga whales, tons of minke whales, and even a blue whale (from a distance).
Minke Whale as seen from shore at Tadoussac
Another zodiac just like the one we were in
Minke whale
Harbour Seal
Minke whale feeding
Beluga whale - Meghan loves beluga whales
I'm telling you, she loves beluga whales
From Tadoussac, we travelled the highway north along the coast. It seemed as though every little town up there is very quant - the biggest building is always the church, and colourful little houses are surrounded by picturesque farmland. It's a very pretty part of the country. After only a few hours of actual driving time, we made it to Godbout, where we were to catch the ferry. The river is so wide at this point that the ferry crossing takes 2 hours and 15 minutes! We hit some unexpected construction on the way to Godbout, a couple of times actually, and ended up not getting there quite as early as we had planned. I'd say we got there at just the right time though - we were the last vehicle to get onto the ferry! Time to cross the river and continue the adventure - on to the Gaspé Peninsula.
Typical Quebec town - very beautiful!
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