May 10-12, 2013
Achray to Squirrel Rapids Canoe - Barron Canyon - Algonquin Provincial Park
My first real multi-day canoe trip, across several lakes and down through the scenic Barron Canyon in eastern Algonquin Park, Ontario [More...]

May 5, 2013
Climb of the Great Gully Route, King Ravine (+ Mt Adams)
A climb of Mount Adams on a warm and beautiful spring day, via the winter Great Gulley Mountaineering route in King Ravine. A very nice combination of snow and warm weather [More...]

March 31, 2013
Mt Moosilauke via the Beaver Brook Trail
The best possible winter conditions you could imagine greet us on a climb of Mount Moosilauke, on the final day of our 3-peak Easter Weekend outing in the White and Adirondack Mountains of the northeast. [More...]

March 30, 2013
Surprising Snow Mountain
Our first visit to Snow Mountain - the little Adirondack peak with a very big view... [More...]

March 30, 2013
A Snowy, Springy Catamount
Another cold and bright spring day in the Adirondacks sees us climbing Catamount Mountain - the first mountain of a 3-peak Easter Weekend outing in the Adirondacks and White Mountains. [More...]

March 29, 2013
Ice Climbing at Heffalump
A fine and easy spring ice climbing day with Roland and Sara at Heffalump, a local Gatineau Park crag with decent icefall by the end of winter. [More...]

March 17, 2013
A Saint Patty's Hurricane - Hurricane Mtn via North Approach
A cold Saint Patrick's day climb of Hurricane Mountain via the rarely-used northern access trail. [More...]

March 3, 2013
Video clips from an aMAZEing Trip to Color Country
A revamp of the small and poorly encoded video clips from our 2007 trip to southern Utah. Video size and quality are now much better. The clips are scattered about the trip report in the appropriate places, but can be seen listed all together on the report's video clip index page.

February 25, 2013
Mt Jackson via the Webster Cliff Trail
What was supposed to be a light warmup hike in the White Mountains turns into the main event, as we experience a wintertime ascent through fresh snow to Mount Jackson, via the Webster Cliff Trail. [More...]

February 21, 2013
Video clips from Elemental Iceland
A release of several video clips from our great 2012 trip to Iceland. The clips are scattered about the trip report in the appropriate places, but can be seen listed all together on the report's video clip index page. Below is a three-and-a-half minute montage to get you started (and don't forget to turn on audio!):

(Don't forget that you can click on the full-screen icon on the lower right of the video to view it in a large format).

Proceed to the Elemental Iceland Trip Report.

February 9, 2013
Pilot for a Day
A birthday gift from Jenn sees me taking the control column during a short flight over the Ottawa Valley.... [More...]

January 26, 2013
Mount Marshall
A cold (but beautiful) winter day climbing Mount Marshall via the very nice Herbert Brook ascent route. [More...]

January 5, 2013
King Mountain Snowshoe
A beautiful sunny winter day marks our first hike of 2013: A return to a local quickie-but-goodie - King Mountain. We did it on snowshoes of course, and we did it from below (rather than from the summer trail on top). [More...]

October 11, 2012
Noonmark Mountain Team Hike
A late-fall team-hike up of one of the Adirondack's premiere short-n-easy peaks: the most-excellent Noonmark Mountain. [More...]

September 22 - October 2, 2012
Questione di Famiglia
A mostly family-oriented voyage to my Mom's home town of Avellino, Italy. Lots of pictures of aunts and babies in here... but for those of you so interested, we did get a chance to see, visit and hike a few beautiful nearby spots. [More...]

September 8, 2012
The Griffith Uplands Trail
I join the Ottawa time-out hiking group for an easy hike to a brand-new south-central Ontario trail: The Griffith Uplands Loop, 50km west of Renfrew. Very modest elevation gain, really not much more than hills, but a very quiet, gentle, and scenic route. [More...]

September 1, 2012
Whiteface-Esther Traverse
I join up with one of Julie's hikes - this time, a north-south traverse of Esther and Whiteface Mountains. And, if you like dog pictures, there's a lot of those in this report. [More...]

August 12, 2012
Hoffman Mountain
Join us on a fabulous quest, where Schroon Lake hikers Larry and Andrew toil to reach the culturally significant and rarely climbed summit of Hoffman Mountain, in the Southern Adirondacks. [More...]

July 5 - July 14, 2012
Elemental Iceland
A trip to the raw, hardbitten land of fire and ice, vikings and sagas. A trip to the land of tens of trees, hundreds of hot springs, thousands of waterfalls, and millions of sea-birds. A trip to the nation of Iceland! [More...]

July 1, 2012
Canada Day
Canada Day 2012, spent with friends Asmir and Miriam. A bit of paddling in one of Gatineau Park's pristine lakes, the ever-traditional Canadian backyard barbeque, and the flash and fireworks of the celebrations on Parliament hill. s. [More...]

June 16, 2012
Wright Peak
A super-straightfoward quick morning hike up Wright Peak - one of the Adirondacks premiere summits. [More...]

May 19-20, 2012
Pinnacle Ridge and Blake Peak (aka 'Where in the Heck is Ewart Tempest?')
A plan to climb beautiful Mt Haystack in the Adirondack Mountains turns into a search for our friend Ewart, and very large amount of walking! [More...]

March 17-18, 2012
An Adirondack Cabin Weekend
We are invited down for a pleasant weekend-in-a-cabin-in-the-Adirondacks. A bit of hiking, a bit of climbing, a bit of shopping, and a bit of bobsledding. [More...]

February 17 - March 3, 2012
A Hawaiian Kaleidoscope
A hop-scotching visit to the four main Hawaiian islands. Plenty of tropical landscapes, as you might imagine, but also plenty of interesting personalities, foods, flora, and fauna. And rainbows. Lots of rainbows. And yes, we did manage to find freezing temperatures and snow. [More...]

February 4, 2012
Winter Climb of Mt Marcy
A straightforward, scenic and speedy "ski-n-shoe" ascent of Mount Marcy. [More...]

January 22, 2012
Whiteface-Esther Loop
A mostly-fine day doing a rarely-done loop hike of Whiteface and Esther. Part of our sporadic ongoing "Helping Harold" series.... helping him achieve his winter 46R goals, that is. [More...]

November 22, 2011
Visiting the Flying Eye Hospital
Jody and I take time out over lunch to visit a unique and helpful tool in the fight against blindness - the Orbis International DC-10 Flying Eye Hospital [More...]

November 6, 2011
Roland and the Wolf Trail
Superfriend Roland joins us for a most pleasant and sunny November walk in the hills of Gatineau Park. [More...]

October 9, 2011
Number 115 : North Brother (and Fort) Mtns
Seventeen years after starting out, I finally complete my Northeast 111 on the top of North Brother Mountain in Maine. Also, we visit nearby Fort Mountain and it's very interesting 1944 airplane crash site. [More...]

September 22 - October 2, 2011
Southwest "Burnup" Trip
A rare second trip to the desert southwest in the same year - courtesy of use-it-or-lose-it vacation rules. Highlights include a second attempt on the longest slot canyon in the world -- Buckskin Gulch, some mountain biking, and bit of the High Sierra. [More...]

July 16, 2011
Number 114 : Mount Abraham
A beautiful summer day is the perfect way to summit my second-last NE 111er peak: Mount Abraham in Maine: [More...]

June 17-July 2, 2011
Overland to the Rock
My first ever trip to the Island of Newfoundland. We did it by a (so far) still fairly unique way of getting there - overland, via the Trans-Labrador highway... [More...]

July 21, 2011
[Mostly] Escalante 2011 Videos
After a very successful 'Utah 2011 video premiere' at a great BBQ at Pu's, the videos associated with the April 28-to-May 8 Utah 2011 trip are now available online. You can find them sprinkled about the narrative in the appropriate places, or you can find them on a dedicated video index page here...

June 4, 2011
Noonmark-Round Loop
Noonmark once again gets trotted out as an intro destination for a new Adirondack hiker: Denis! (and seeing as we're up there, might as well tack on the nice little gem of Round Mountain... no?) [More...]

May 22, 2011
Wright Peak and Wright's Nubble
A quick outing to a well-climbed peak, but with a few new twists for us that make it interesting... [More...]

April 28-May 8, 2011
[Mostly] Escalante 2011
An intensive return to the Escalante region of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (with a bit of other stuff on either side). Jenn's dad joins us, we re-visit the wonders of Coyote Gulch, and visit a few new special places... [More...]

March 9, 2011
Nut-less on Franconia Ridge
Chris and I take a mid-week vacation day to sample the winter delights of Franconia Ridge in New Hampshire. And what's with the nut reference? Well, read [More...]

February 20, 2011
Jay Peak in the Winter
Another hike, at long last. A beautiful day on Jay Peak and it's great ridge... [More...]

November 12 to 15, 2010
Aurele Lavigne's (My Dad's) 90th Birthday
Our entire family executes a covert mission to descend upon Bathurst and surprise my Dad for his 90th birthday! [More...]

November 11, 2010
Remembrance Day Ceremonies, Ottawa
Unusually beautiful late fall weather in Canada's Capital was the order of the day for this year's Remembrance Day Ceremonies [More...]

October 23, 2010
Dixes Minus One: Brian and Harold Climb their 46th!
After sixteen long years, my good friend Brian Connell finally tops his 46th Adirondack 4000-footer on the summit of Hough Peak. Friend Harold Piel also finishes today on nearby Macomb Mountain... [More...]

October 9, 2010
Another Great 3000-footer: Hopkins Mtn
We decided to expand our Adirondack horizons a bit more by climbing a superb little 3100-footer near Keene Valley: Hopkins Mountain... [More...]

September 20 and 21, 2010
A Traverse of the Rangeley-Stratton section of the Appalachian Trail
The continuing quest for the NE111 led to this somewhat strenuous traverse of a full 'section' of the famous Appalachian Trail - from Rangeley to Stratton in Maine [More...]

September 18, 2010
Luke's Cabana Destruction
Despite much wrangling, the City of Ottawa requires Luke to tear down his backyard shed, a sturdy little structure he affectionately calls the 'Cabana'. A sequence of images and a time-lapse video record the event: [More...]

September 11, 2010
A Bootspective on Rocky Peak Ridge
Jenn and I join Pu and his hiking group for another go at the most-excellent Rocky Peak Ridge traverse. In the interest of promoting new ways of looking at things, I introduce the bootspective -- a new way of documenting a hike... [More...]

September 9, 2010
Eid Dinner with Asmir's Mom
Asmir and his mom Vasvija once again graciously invite several friends to share in a feast of Vasvija's fantastic Bosnian cooking.... [More...]

Aug 22, 2010
Whitewater Rafting on the Red River
Jenn invites me on an easy day trip with some of her work colleagues on a guided whitewater rafting trip on the Riviere Rouge in Western Quebec [More...]

Aug 1, 2010
Mt Redington: Chipping away at the 111
After completing the NH48 on Monroe just the day before, we decide to make good use of our time in eastern NH / western Maine to climb a relatively nondescript member of the NE 111: Mount Redington [More...]

July 31, 2010
Mt Monroe, and completion of my NH48
A significant milestone today - the completion of my New Hampshire 4000-footers, also known as the NH48, on the beautiful summit of Mount Monroe in the Presidential Range.... [More...]

July 23 - 26, 2010
BHS Class of '85 25th Reunion
A short image gallery documenting the return home to Bathurst and attendance of my high school graduating class' 25-year reunion.... [More...]

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