David James

Check out my newest addition to the outdoor photo kit list… The E-702 Element Cover. Clear plastic allows you to see the LCD screen, you access the controls through the side sleeves. Good times! :^)

DSLR Element Cover on my Nikon D300 with 200mm Lens

Woke up this morning to a very smoky city, turns out BC has some serious forest fires. I’m a little concerned, we will be hiking very close to BC in the Alberta Rockies. Surely there won’t be a fire on our trail, but the view at 2500 metres may be hazy. The positive side is that it may make very interesting sunset photos.

Photograph Courtesy: B.C. Forest Service

There are so many great food options for backpackers now! From gorp and jerky to dehydrated and homemade rations, you can bring anything you like. This year I’m packing dehydrated suppers, fresh lunches and oatmeal for breakfast. One addition to my menu this year is 810 mils of Merlot. I hope to stop along the trail for a lunch break and enjoy the scenery with a glass of red. ;^)

My theory is to drink plenty of water (as usual) in my camelback hydration system, plus some type of electrolyte in a bottle. A small glass of wine with lunch followed with more water during the afternoon stroll. I’ll let you know how it works out.

The trail can be hiked in three days, I’m planning on four days for photo-ops (check back for the photos) this means more food will be carried for that extra day. I’ll have a big load of food in the beginning of the hike, but fortunately, there will be plenty of water sources to filter from, so I’ll carry only a few litres of water at one time.

One point about the dehydrated food… most pre-packaged food is designed for a wide variety of people so you will notice it’s a little bland. Be sure to bring some seasoning.

As you may have noticed, I’m a little stoked about this trip. I’ve had a taste of this years trail and I think it will be amazing scenery to walk through. So with my cargo pockets full of munchies and some dry socks I should have four awesome days on the trail.

Cheers.

CASA 4 at Big Bend, Jasper

One of the down-sides of backpacking is the expense of the equipment. Unless you enjoy camping with only a tarp, you will be forced to buy a shelter. If you live in Canada and want to backpack more than two months out of the year, you will be forced to get a three season tent. To purchase a three season tent (or a four season tent) you will be making a substantial investment towards you comfort and survival while outdoors.

I’ve spent winter nights in a bivy-bag, I’ve been under tarps during rain storms, I’ve even made and slept in several improvised shelters. Knowing you can survive like that is great, but nothing is better than knowing you have a good tent that can handle the elements.

The good news is, once you have the tent, you can use it hundreds of times on hundreds of trips. The same can be said for most of the equipment that you need for backwoods hiking.

I had a tent that was a cheap little dome tent that I bought from a hardware store. It lasted for years. After a while I had to tarp it, in case it rained… it was time for a new tent. I shopped online, in stores and listened to the pros and cons from my friend’s purchases. Then I found it!… the CASA 4 from Mountain Hardware. It’s my home away from home.

CASA 4 flysheet in the rain

One note: I found out the hard way that you shouldn’t carry more than you need. A pack that is too heavy because you have items that you’ll never use, can ruin a good trip. Think about what you’re putting in your pack and how much you really need it.

Several years ago I hiked the first phase of a trail that I thought was amazing. So amazing that I took my boys to the first camp on that trail to have an over-night hike. This year I’m backpacking the whole distance.

Skyline Trail on Google Earth

The Skyline trail is one of the more popular trails in Jasper National Park. To book it, you need to be quick on the phone, two months prior to your start date, or you don’t get on. It starts/ends (depending on your preference) at Maligne Lake and ends/starts at Signal Mountain measuring 44 kilometers of trail on top of the Maligne Range. Over half of the trail is above the treeline. In the middle of the trail is The Notch, a pass that sits 2510 meters elevation. I have not seen the Notch yet, but I am so very much looking forward to it.

I try to make it to the mountains every year to relax and recharge. I’m fortunate to have a schedule that is flexible enough to enjoy the parks that are close to Edmonton. I could drive to Jasper for the day if that was all the time I had. The Skyline trail is usually a two to three day hike, some people run it in a day. I intend on enjoying it for four days and to take as many photos as possible.

Now its time to get the cardio-vascular up to par and pack some trail mix… less that two weeks to go.

I dusted the guitars and warmed up the amp today. I thought I would get some protest from the wife and kids upstairs, instead, I was allowed to rock the four walls with a heavy rendition of Over the Hills and Far Away, by Led Zeppelin. Lots of gain and spring re-verb pedal. By the time I started the next song, Woman, by Wolf Mother, I gained a groupie… Emma came down and started dancing like she was in a mosh-pit. Excellent!!

Somehow the volume made it to 5 and the tone was cranked on the Epiphone, Les Paul. I need to do that way more, what a great way to start the day.

:^)

My Epiphone, Les Paul, Studio.

Nice light shines through the south exposure

I must admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Art Gallery of Alberta’s architecture. I thought it was over exaggerated and didn’t fit with anything around it… Then they took down the tarps and scaffolding, removed the barricades and drove the heavy equipment away. Okay, it looked much better without all the construction clutter, but I was still a little skeptical… until now.

Foyer of the AGA

Julie and I took the kids to check it out and I was very impressed. The foyer keeps you looking up like in the Guggenheim, but with more light and space. Very modern materials with a classic industrial feel. I think this will be the most photographed building in Edmonton by the end of the year.

The exhibits were perfect for Julie and me. They built an interactive photo studio modeled after Yousuf Karsh’s method of making images. They showed the old cameras and lighting he would use. Cotton covered wires running out of a metal clad light with what looked like an armour plated snoot. You could get a hernia lugging around one of these lights. Amazing.

Bottom line… go check it out. :^)

I was asked to write a short essay on a winter survival course that I attended. Let me know what you think.

January 29th-31st, 2010.

Winter Survival Course with the Canadian Rangers.

D. James, J Fahy, D Vojacek and K Dixon on winter survival training.

“This is a dead tree, it will burn nicely for you… this is a green tree, you will get lots of smoke from it, build your fire on top of the snow with this”. “You can light a fire from a battery and some steel wool”. “Use your space blanket as a liner inside your lean-to”. I was trying to remember all the pointers that the Rangers gave us that morning. We were about to find ourselves building a shelter in the middle of the forest, and I didn’t want to be suffering from the first stages of hypothermia all night.

A small group of B Sqn. SALH, were in the middle of a winter survival exercise in northern Alberta. “Group three, this is your area.” Looking around we saw a frozen marsh surrounded by a few hills covered in forest. “You can choose your site anywhere between here and the top of that hill.” We immediately scouted a suitable site further up the hill to build the shelter on.

By dividing the work between the four of us we would try to complete our camp before nightfall. Cpl Dixon started the fire once we had gathered enough wood. We kept adding to the woodpile throughout the day, it was -15C and it would be very uncomfortable without a warm fire to light up our camp. Also, a rumour was going around that if it was only -10C we would have our sleeping bags taken from us.

Once the fire was going, the next item on the priority list was shelter. It was surprisingly difficult to find all the spruce bows needed to make our shelter as thick as the Rangers instructed us to make it. Once it started taking shape, I complemented Cpl Fahy on his meticulous method of weaving the roof together. Later that night, when we had some snow fall, I had no worries of how effective our shelter would be.

Usually in the Army, we aren’t allowed to build fires and chop down trees. We have tents and stoves to use instead. Having a fully equipped G-Wagon most of the time was a luxury we all took for granted. I must admit though, it was fun building a camp from scratch. Everyone in the group had a sense of accomplishment when after several hours of digging, chopping, dragging and assembling, we had a comfortable place to live for the night.

Between foraging for spruce bows and gathering wood, we made sure the billy cans had snow melting in them. Hanging from the tripod constructed from snare wire and sticks, they were collecting the water we needed to replace from working all day. “Conserve your energy” the Rangers would say, “If you were stranded here for several nights, you will need to work smarter to survive”. To regain some energy, we boiled up a squirrel that we were given after the skinning lecture. Once it was ready we passed it around and picked the meat off of the tiny animal. I was either not impressed with it or just wasn’t that hungry to have a second piece, but Tpr Vojacek seemed to love it and finished the rest. We teased him saying he will be setting up squirrel snares in his backyard when he gets home.

Night came quickly, and the temperature dropped a little. Because we were not moving as much we started feeling the cold. Fortunately, the pile of wood we collected was more than sufficient in keeping the fire burning all night. The fire we had was only a few feet from the shelter. We could reach out of our sleeping bags and roll more wood onto it and keep the heat up in the shelter. The space blanket trick worked like a charm, reflecting the heat back down. We had to let the fire burn down a little to prevent it from getting too warm.

The next morning we awoke and tore down the camp, we would be marching back to the base camp on snowshoes for a couple more lectures and a debriefing. Most of us wanted to stay out longer, the skills that we gained from listening to the Rangers, made the time out there more than bearable. It was good to see years of experience being passed down to other Reserve units. The Patrol that taught us were made up of men who take time from there personal lives to come out and show us how to survive in a climate that can show no mercy.

It was a good time to see how people react to different stressful situations. Fortunately for me, this group was relaxed and focussed. We joked around while working and didn’t need a lot of direction once the tasks were assigned. As the MCpl for the group, I reminded people to stay hydrated and to not overheat and sweat, making their clothes cold and not as effective. I wondered how we would react in a real situation, without any idea of how and when we would be rescued. I remember thinking it would be up to the leader of the group to keep them focussed and motivated, preventing panic and chaos. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be stranded by yourself. I can only hope I would remember the training given on this exercise and make it out alive.

MCpl James DW

SALH “B” Sqn.

Well, its going into the “off season” for weddings and what a great year we had… just a few more on the calendar, hopefully with some good weather. Its not going to be all off time after these weddings though… I have a huge list of tasks to keep me very busy this winter. Some home renos, sleep, photography R&D, some more sleep… oh! I can’t forget eating. Mmmm :^)

One of the biggest projects I have this winter is updating my illustration portfolio. I have been neglecting my favorite creative skill, the therapeutic art of drawing. Oh I love drawing. I use everything from HB pencils in my sketchbook to the WACOM stylus in Adobe Illustrator CS4. And when you combine illustrations with animation software… well, I tend to geek out a little. Visit me in the spring to see the results.

Cheers all,

D

I’m not much of a blogger, but I can rant with the best of them. This will be an interesting test.