 
Posts tagged with ‘gold rush’ (8)
After paddling solo 1,300 kilometres and reaching the Arctic Circle, I finished my wilderness trek retracing the Klondike gold rush. What a trip!
It began at the Pacific Ocean near the foot of the Chilkoot and White Passes, and ended at Fort Yukon, Alaska, a major Arctic resupply point for 19th century Klondike miners. In total I travelled 1,500 kilometres by canoe, historic train and hiking boots.
During almost five weeks of paddling the Yukon River mostly in flood conditions, I took roughly ...
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| Tags : adventure, arctic, arctic circle, camping, canoe, exercise, expedition, expeditionrcgs, fitness, gold rush, klondike, nature, north, northwest passage, royal canadian geographical society, yukon
You know, I’m thinking that glamping would be awfully nice right now. I’ve been living outside now for well over a month paddling north on the Yukon River, and the Arctic Circle is drawing near.
What? You’ve never heard of “glamping”?
Glamping, short for glamour camping, is the tourist industry’s hottest niche market. And right now it’s looking pretty good to my blood-shot eyes.
Wealthy English aristocrats thought up the original concept 150 years ago for their Africa safaris. Then sultans from ...
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| Tags : adventure, arctic, camping, canoe, expedition, expeditionrcgs, food, glamping, gold rush, klondike, nature, north, yukon
As a kid I loved Simon and Garfunkel’s classic song, “The Sound of Silence.”
Somewhere in the decades between the 1970s and today we’ve forgotten what silence sounds like. Although we might think we “tune out” the jarring din and chaotic noises that assault our senses on all sides today, scientists tell us a different story. They attribute much of our stress levels to mindless haste and noise. They warn that some birds and other wild urban creatures avoid downtown areas of mega cities. And some ...
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| Tags : canoe, conservation, environment, expedition, expeditionrcgs, gold rush, klondike, music, nature, pollution, royal canadian geographical society, yukon
 A high pressure water hose known as a monitor is fired at the gravel banks to loosen up the gold and wash it down into the creek. The water pressure is so powerful that when the water hits the gravel 100 metres away it send rocks flying! It literally blasts the side of the hill away, revealing the gold. The year was 1962. The sickness struck shortly after my mother bought me a book on the Klondike gold rush. I was 10 years old. The symptoms were subtle, but persistent and long-lasting. At first, my mother thought it comical, then refused to call a doctor and finally said, “You’ll get over it.”
She was wrong.
My disease? “Klondicitis.”
In 1897-8 it swept the world, infecting up to a million people. The effects proved immediate. People started digging holes everywhere, even in city streets. ...
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Sometimes I find it hard to believe in God and spiritual things. The bustles and rush of life seem to squeeze any sense of wonder, of majesty, of "something else" from my life leaving a sense of loss. Being an optimist, this is hard to take.
Living outside in nature for many weeks connects me to God. But nature isn't the end goal. No, it's a means (like a bus or subway ride) to get me to a destination. In a way nature transforms me out of the chaotic schedules, ringing cell phones and incessant ...
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