The Dream of an Unattainable Future

I've been lucky during my life to travel more than anyone I have ever met. And yet, I wish to travel more. I am addicted now. 

My love for travel is rooted deeply, way back in kindergarten. We travelled to the destroyed Glacier House, part of the original Rogers Pass route of the railway. This is the earliest point that I can recall that I was obsessed with seeing something bizarre and beautiful. This was where nature was reclaiming the area that humans messed up for it, and I couldn't pry myself away from it. I spent quite a while exploring the ruins of the old hotel.

Over the years, I travelled to dozens of locations, some of which are gone or closed (cue that Beatles song). I've been to all sorts of places too, not just one type. I've lived in a Parisian Art-Deco mansion, rode the elephants at Disneyland (and World), been at the top of the world's tallest mountain (Mauna Kea, in height, not altitude), navigated the highest swamp in the world, seen the midnight sun, walked the great wall, flown a plane, witnessed a waterspout in Oregon, driven through a sandstorm, been irradiated at the oldest nuclear power plant in the world, timed Old Faithful, driven the world's longest continuous highway, and I'm just now beginning University. I've done a lot in my life. A lot more than a lot of people. 

What does the future hold? I don't want to know. Exploration to me is the key to happiness, not even knowing what you don't know, to the point where what you learn is completely unexpected. 

Unfortunately, I haven't had this option as I have pretty boring parents (despite that list of things I've done). They don't believe in taking any risks. If the trail doesn't look like it's maintained, they don't hike it. Had I been with a friend while hiking the Awini Trail through the Pololu, I would have carried on to Honopue valley, a secluded and difficult to access valley seldom seen by anyone. We stopped after Honokane Nui, because my mum didn't want to come along. This was a turning point for me, I decided that adventure is my sort of thing. Very few people hike beyond the next valley, Honokane Iki. I plane on doing so once I have the money to fly to Kona (which I already do, I simply need enough to survive after buying a plane ticket). My parents will disapprove. Highly. I don't care. I love the outdoors, I want to experience things.

At this point, I'd like to make it clear that, no, I don't believe I am invincible as do many young adult males of my breed. I want to stay alive long enough to see where this out-of-control world is going. 

So what is truly my greatest goal in life? Hamakua coast. That's about all I can say. If things go the way I want, it will be all the way from Waipio to Pololu or the other way around. What does this entail? 

Ten to twenty days in hell, to put it mildly. There is only one account of anyone else ever doing this hike, and it took them twice the estimated time of seven days. There is no trail (although many have been built, most are destroyed by nature). What else?

A partner: be it a girlfriend who actually appreciates hiking as much as me or a friend who is nearly as insane as I am. I just need a partner, or multiple partners. Hiking alone isn't safe. Nothing is safe when you're alone. 

To conclude this, I'd like to say that it is a dream. Not a terminus in sight. A dream. Hiking a route that no one else ever writes about will be difficult, to say the least. This is the only unexplored tropical rainforest in the fifty states, and it is dangerous. I will need a good troop. One day, this will happen. Not today, or any time in the next five years. 

My First Job

No, I do not have a job, as the title implies. However, I am starting my search for one. Seeing as I'm not part of the co-op program at Thompson Rivers University this year, I am ineligible to get co-op work term job. However, I'm fine with that. Basically, it means I won't have homework, I'll just have a good old job... if I get a job. So far, the chances are slim. I have two options: Manning Park Resort (and work for the summer in the campgrounds of the visitor centre), the Government of Canada or Parks Canada. That's it so far, however, those are the ones that interest me the most. 

I do not want a job while in university, simply because I want to be able to focus on studying and doing my work, and not having to dodge curve balls thrown by retail employment. It is my dream never to work in retail. Ever. In my entire life. Unless it is the gift shop in a National Park Visitor Centre. 

Let's talk about today for a bit instead of next year. Today, I went for a hike, like most weekends. What was different was that today I went somewhere I hadn't gone before, which I haven't done in about two weeks (that's a long time in Colin hiking time). Sage trail in Kenna Cartwright Park (which is now marked out clearly by me in Google Maps, your welcome) is a beautiful little trail that is very much a workout with a few good views. With an average slope of 7.4%, a maximum slope of 37.0%, elevation change tallying up somewhere near 1,020 feet, and a nice short distance of just under four miles, I think it was a nice hike. Maybe I'll try running it some time to kill myself. 

Elevation profile of Sage trail in Kenna Cartwright Park.

All in all, if you're in Kamloops, stop in at Kenna Cartwright Park and see what it has to offer. Views, exercise, natural beauty, history, anything really.

A Bad Case of Nostalgia

Today I went for a hike up Mt. Dufferin in Kenna Cartwright Park, just beside the university. I’ve never hiked the trail I hiked today. The friend who I hoped would join me ditched and went home to Chase for the weekend, but that was her family’s choice. Can’t hold that against her. 

In the end, I’m glad I went alone. The entire way I was engulfed in aromas, sounds and senses that threw me back, sometimes more than ten years. Walking along the trails, I crushed up some Big Sage and Partridge Foot to remind myself of the first days helping my dad build out cabin in Eastgate, and crushed up Pine Needles to remind myself of travelling to Fort Steel and Christina Lake. 

The biggest one, though, was the frost on the ground. Kamloops is starting to get cold, I’m expecting snow early next month if not sooner. This morning was the first morning of frost on campus. Hiking at four o’clock, I came around a bend to see the ground caked in ice and frost. I just stopped and thought a minute. What did it remind me of?

Kamloops, being in a different climate than Langley (my hometown), feels colder earlier. I was having a sort of “flashback” of something but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was some time around January I think - late january. Myself and my girlfriend, who lived outside of Fort Langley, would walk the four-kilometres into town every time I visited. That time, we chose to walk to the old ferry terminal across the island that was replaced by a giant toll bridge only a few years before. The terminal is (and was already at that time) in great disrepair. 

The sun was setting when we were out there and the sky became a brilliant pink. The photo still has a special meaning to me, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the brisk air, the smell of trees and the quiet putter of the city in the background. Today I experienced that again and realized that I will never have that feeling in that situation, no matter how much I want to, ever again. That hit me hard. I realized that being in university, now being in charge of most of my own life, a door has closed on that part of my life, I can only look back on it now, not relive it as it was.