Half the fun of truly intense trip is the planning and anticipation you dream about your escape from reality So I thought I’d share the experience as me and Dave plan our Newfoundland adventure.
Some of you may have read my my post on the Snowmobile trip that I refer to as Epic, but that trip received its status purely by coincidence, which leaves me with the question can you really plan an Epic? My opinion is no! You can almost guarantee a fun trip through careful planning, but for a trip to be truly Epic there either has to be a certain amount of adversity, challenges or unknown variables. As a result intentionally planning an Epic involves adding a risk of failure and then becomes a fine line of calculating reasonable risks that will provide the challenges and adversity needed that you’ll hopefully overcome. Understandably not everyone is willing to risk failure of a trip due to the cost and limited time most of us have in today’s society. As a result I find most of the experiences that people refer to as epic either happen unintentionally or are quite watered down. On the other hand for those of us who really want to push our limits and increase the odds of a trip being an Epic how do you plan for it? Hopefully I’ll succeed with the planning of this trip to Newfoundland and this can become a template of sorts.
Living in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area, in case you are from somewhere else) I have to live with planning 1 or 2 trips a year to really get my adventure bug out. This year Dave stepped up having just finished his undergrad and looking to plan something “epic” in his own words, before entering the real world (or going back to school for the seemingly endless journey to become an architect). So when he approached me to plan a trip my mind went wild.
Let’s kayak/hike Alaska.... or Greenland, bike the Inca trails in Peru or cross South Africa on bikes where our guides need to be armed to ensure our safety. Well….. I still hope to eventually do, all of those one day, however we where driven back to reality due to cost, time and ultimately contemplated two trips.
A) Spend a week Kayaking/Hiking/Cycling in Gros Morne national park in Nfld.
B) A road trip with the Mountain Bikes
The bike trip idea was to see how many IMBA certified Epic rides we could do in two weeks and had a schedule that would have seen us riding 8 IMBA Epics, probably about 500KM in North East States and Canada, living out of the car and tents, eating what we could grill up on the Colman stove (I’m sure a stop or two for a steak or rib dinner would have found it’s way in somewhere), ultimately avoiding as much of civilization as possible and ending with Paul’s Dirty Enduro, who’s 100KM bike race was certified as an IMBA Epic last
year. Definitely not a bad way to spend 2 weeks! However after some thought Kayaking Gros Morne National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) sounded like something a lot more out of ordinary and an experience we’d never forget.
My original thoughts where for an unsupported trip just me, Dave, 2 kayaks, and the bare necessities, but it seemed a little unrealistic due to our limited ocean kayaking experience (i.e. non
e) and neither of us even being expert fresh water Kayakers either. The trip would have had the potential of turning into a story the locals started with: Remember that crazy French kid from Ontario who though he could brave the Atlantic with no experience. The coast has taken in oil liners what chance would 165ish lbs of Dustin stand in a 12 to 15ft foot piece of plastic. So the first step was to find a guide that would tailor a trip to our likings. The original search didn’t provide us with many leads as the trips all seemed to tame for our likings Kayaking one or two days out of a bed & breakfast. So I started to E-mail a few of the companies looking for someone who could provide a custom trip and hit the nail on the head with Daine from the Newfoundland Travel Network formerly Long Range Adventures who was willing to do something a little different. After a couple E-mails telling hi
m about what we where looking for, i.e. a 5 to 7 day point to point Kayak tour. Daine offered a tour traveling through a lot of the areas we planned on combining some camping with stays in bed and breakfast’s that he is hopping to offer to clients in 2009 and wanted to do a dry run in the fall. What more could we ask for then a guided tour for me and Dave with the owner of one of Newfoundland leading Eco-tour companies, laying out the groundwork for a 6 day tour he’s never done before! Sounds like a good base for our 2 week journey.
Now that is settled, what can we do with the other 8 to 10 days to make sure this trip turns into a real adventure? We mulled over ideas and decided we could take our adventures and exploration to another level by flying into Saint John’s and cycling the 750KM’s across the province from Ocean to Ocean (i.e. coast of St. Johns to the Coast of Gro
s Morne). The plan is to rent bikes in St. Johns and to travel for 5 consecutive days across the provinces, with a tent and some dry food and we will see what faith throws our away. So the plans are starting to fall together for what has the potential of becoming an Epic Journey, as it should provide both physical and mental challenges, ensure uncertainty without planned accommodations, and stops, ultimately traveling through some of Canada’s most scenic terrain powered purely by ourselves
Some of you may have read my my post on the Snowmobile trip that I refer to as Epic, but that trip received its status purely by coincidence, which leaves me with the question can you really plan an Epic? My opinion is no! You can almost guarantee a fun trip through careful planning, but for a trip to be truly Epic there either has to be a certain amount of adversity, challenges or unknown variables. As a result intentionally planning an Epic involves adding a risk of failure and then becomes a fine line of calculating reasonable risks that will provide the challenges and adversity needed that you’ll hopefully overcome. Understandably not everyone is willing to risk failure of a trip due to the cost and limited time most of us have in today’s society. As a result I find most of the experiences that people refer to as epic either happen unintentionally or are quite watered down. On the other hand for those of us who really want to push our limits and increase the odds of a trip being an Epic how do you plan for it? Hopefully I’ll succeed with the planning of this trip to Newfoundland and this can become a template of sorts.
Living in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area, in case you are from somewhere else) I have to live with planning 1 or 2 trips a year to really get my adventure bug out. This year Dave stepped up having just finished his undergrad and looking to plan something “epic” in his own words, before entering the real world (or going back to school for the seemingly endless journey to become an architect). So when he approached me to plan a trip my mind went wild.
Let’s kayak/hike Alaska.... or Greenland, bike the Inca trails in Peru or cross South Africa on bikes where our guides need to be armed to ensure our safety. Well….. I still hope to eventually do, all of those one day, however we where driven back to reality due to cost, time and ultimately contemplated two trips.A) Spend a week Kayaking/Hiking/Cycling in Gros Morne national park in Nfld.
B) A road trip with the Mountain Bikes
The bike trip idea was to see how many IMBA certified Epic rides we could do in two weeks and had a schedule that would have seen us riding 8 IMBA Epics, probably about 500KM in North East States and Canada, living out of the car and tents, eating what we could grill up on the Colman stove (I’m sure a stop or two for a steak or rib dinner would have found it’s way in somewhere), ultimately avoiding as much of civilization as possible and ending with Paul’s Dirty Enduro, who’s 100KM bike race was certified as an IMBA Epic last
year. Definitely not a bad way to spend 2 weeks! However after some thought Kayaking Gros Morne National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) sounded like something a lot more out of ordinary and an experience we’d never forget.My original thoughts where for an unsupported trip just me, Dave, 2 kayaks, and the bare necessities, but it seemed a little unrealistic due to our limited ocean kayaking experience (i.e. non
e) and neither of us even being expert fresh water Kayakers either. The trip would have had the potential of turning into a story the locals started with: Remember that crazy French kid from Ontario who though he could brave the Atlantic with no experience. The coast has taken in oil liners what chance would 165ish lbs of Dustin stand in a 12 to 15ft foot piece of plastic. So the first step was to find a guide that would tailor a trip to our likings. The original search didn’t provide us with many leads as the trips all seemed to tame for our likings Kayaking one or two days out of a bed & breakfast. So I started to E-mail a few of the companies looking for someone who could provide a custom trip and hit the nail on the head with Daine from the Newfoundland Travel Network formerly Long Range Adventures who was willing to do something a little different. After a couple E-mails telling hi
m about what we where looking for, i.e. a 5 to 7 day point to point Kayak tour. Daine offered a tour traveling through a lot of the areas we planned on combining some camping with stays in bed and breakfast’s that he is hopping to offer to clients in 2009 and wanted to do a dry run in the fall. What more could we ask for then a guided tour for me and Dave with the owner of one of Newfoundland leading Eco-tour companies, laying out the groundwork for a 6 day tour he’s never done before! Sounds like a good base for our 2 week journey. Now that is settled, what can we do with the other 8 to 10 days to make sure this trip turns into a real adventure? We mulled over ideas and decided we could take our adventures and exploration to another level by flying into Saint John’s and cycling the 750KM’s across the province from Ocean to Ocean (i.e. coast of St. Johns to the Coast of Gro
s Morne). The plan is to rent bikes in St. Johns and to travel for 5 consecutive days across the provinces, with a tent and some dry food and we will see what faith throws our away. So the plans are starting to fall together for what has the potential of becoming an Epic Journey, as it should provide both physical and mental challenges, ensure uncertainty without planned accommodations, and stops, ultimately traveling through some of Canada’s most scenic terrain powered purely by ourselves Here's the draft of our itinerary
1. Friday, Aug. 22nd fly into to St. Johns in the evening
2. Saturday, 23rd spend a day in St. Johns before we start our journey (Also do all the leg work such as ship our gear and clothing needed for exploring Gros Morne to Deer Lake, pick up the road bikes, and visit St. Johns)
3. Sunday, 24th till the 28th head to coast to start our voyage across Nfld.
4. Saturday, 29th and 30th spend a couple days recovering and hiking in Gros Morne
5. Sunday, Aug 31st till Sept.5th start our Kayaking portion with Daine
6. Saturday, Sept 6th board a plane in Deer Lake to head home.
So what’s left to do.
1. Book flights – Easy enough just waiting for the seat sales
2.Find bike rentals – If you have any suggestions send them to me? (http://www.canary-cycles.com/ apparently rents bikes, I should get on that as it's a crucial part of the trip.)
3. Figure what gear to bring for Cycling portion (5 days on the bike with no planned accomodations, most likely a tent, some food, being prepared for the weather, etc.)
4.Making arrangements to get our gear for hiking and kayaking to Deer Lake from St. Johns – Daine’s kindly offered to hold our stuff if we send it by bus.
5.Finalize details with the Newfoundland Travel Network. – Things have going smooth so just a call or two make sure we bring all the right gear should probably cover it.
6.Brush up on our Kayak skills – Hopefully a couple weekends in the water will bring us back up to par.
Check back in a few weeks and I’ll hopefully have an update with all the big plans being laid out, and if our dreams of planning an Epic are rolling forward or being rolled over.
1. Friday, Aug. 22nd fly into to St. Johns in the evening
2. Saturday, 23rd spend a day in St. Johns before we start our journey (Also do all the leg work such as ship our gear and clothing needed for exploring Gros Morne to Deer Lake, pick up the road bikes, and visit St. Johns)
3. Sunday, 24th till the 28th head to coast to start our voyage across Nfld.
4. Saturday, 29th and 30th spend a couple days recovering and hiking in Gros Morne
5. Sunday, Aug 31st till Sept.5th start our Kayaking portion with Daine
6. Saturday, Sept 6th board a plane in Deer Lake to head home.
So what’s left to do.
1. Book flights – Easy enough just waiting for the seat sales
2.Find bike rentals – If you have any suggestions send them to me? (http://www.canary-cycles.com/ apparently rents bikes, I should get on that as it's a crucial part of the trip.)
3. Figure what gear to bring for Cycling portion (5 days on the bike with no planned accomodations, most likely a tent, some food, being prepared for the weather, etc.)
4.Making arrangements to get our gear for hiking and kayaking to Deer Lake from St. Johns – Daine’s kindly offered to hold our stuff if we send it by bus.
5.Finalize details with the Newfoundland Travel Network. – Things have going smooth so just a call or two make sure we bring all the right gear should probably cover it.
6.Brush up on our Kayak skills – Hopefully a couple weekends in the water will bring us back up to par.
Check back in a few weeks and I’ll hopefully have an update with all the big plans being laid out, and if our dreams of planning an Epic are rolling forward or being rolled over.
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