I used to think 20 years was a long time. My life has had enough twists and turns that the idea of doing the same thing for that long seems unlikely. Yet here I am, with so many years of road trip experiences. In fact, this period is a little more than half of my life so far! I must be getting old… Last year I wrote about 20 years of digital photography, so here’s the same thing from the perspective of the trip itself.
In a way, this parallels my previous post Origin Stories: Road Tripping. However, this one is less philosophical and more focused on the adventures themselves, along with more photos.
2005
The summer of 2005 I got my first car and two weeks later went on a day trip to Bruce Peninsula with some friends. I remember wanting to go to Algonquin, but my parents thought that was too far for a first trip. One of my friends suggested Bruce, and I reluctantly agreed…convinced that it couldn’t be a great as Algonquin. It’s crazy to think this was a time when the internet wasn’t full of photos of every location, so I didn’t always know what to expect on these early adventures.
The tradition of leaving super early in the morning, and going to Tim Hortons first thing was born on this trip and has been carried on since. My friends complained about the 5am start time, but they were the ones who insisted on Timmies. Five of us crammed into my 2 door Cavalier for the 3 hour drive. I’m pretty sure we used a paper map to navigate as this was before gps on smart phones…I didn’t even own a cell phone at the time.
The coast of Georgian Bay was amazing and we had a great time hiking…and some swimming, which was on the edge of what I was capable of.
(It is quite the exercise to only choose one or two photos to represent each trip. in the early days, many of the photos weren’t very good either, so there are less options)
I’m not sure day trips count as proper road trips, but this was definitely the beginning of my journeys. I’ve been on some sort of trip every year since.
2006
We went on the same trip to Bruce Peninsula again this year. The tradition of doing something with this group of friends would carry on for the next couple of years. I was the initiator as some of them weren’t really into this type of thing, but we always had a good time. Oh, and we saw several rattle snakes this year.
This summer my family went to a cottage that was an hour away from Algonquin, so of course I went on a day trip with one of my younger brothers. It was my first time visiting the park and I was hooked! We hiked a bunch of the shorter trails and then set out on the Mizzy Lake trail, only to turn around after realizing how long it was(12 km). We drove a backroad on the way home, knocked an exhaust pipe loose on a rock, put it together with vise grips and continued. If only all breakdowns were that easy to fix.
At the end of summer my brother and I went on a failed road trip. We had relatives that lived east of Parry Sound, and I arranged for us to drive up, spend the day hiking at French river, stay the night and drive back. As we started slowing down at the French river turn off, the car blew a brake line. I still didn’t own a cell phone, but had borrowed one from my parents. We ended up driving back toward Parry Sound, on the shoulder with just the hand brake for stopping. We stopped by several small mechanics along the way, who all said they couldn’t fix it right away. At Parry Sound, we left the car at Canadian Tire, and walked to the fire watch tower. When we got back they said it was too bad to fix…so we called my relative and he suggested another shop. We dropped the car there and it was fixed the next day. We did explore a bit of Parry Island before heading home. This was my first attempt at a multi-day trip, although I’m not sure it counts due to how it turned out.
Looking back, these early adventures seem kind of wild now…especially considering I was a quiet teenager who was not at all ambitious otherwise.
2007
On the way up to the cottage this year, my brother and I went to French river and completed the hike that we missed last year…and then proceeded to lock the keys in the car in Huntsville. We had to find a payphone to call CAA as I still didn’t own a cellphone.
Again this summer, my brother and I went on a day trip to Algonquin from the cottage. This time I managed to forget my camera. (insert jaw drop here!) That put a bit of a damper on things, but I ended up enjoying the day anyway. This was when I saw my first moose. I think we finished the Mizzy Lake trail, but without photos, my memory is very limited.
(so I don’t have any photos from this trip, or of the moose. I didn’t even have a phone to take photos)
The now yearly friends trip turned things up a notch, as this summer we went camping in Algonquin for a few days! This was the first camping trip I’d been on without any older adults.(to be fair, I was 20 at the time) We were a little unorganized, and had to make a run into Huntsville for more eggs, bacon…and coffee, but it was otherwise an amazing experience. We hiked some great trails, did some canoeing(using canoes that we brought with us), saw the milky way for the first time, and sat talking by the campfire late into the night until a friendly park ranger asked us to be just a little quieter.
Algonquin was everything I dreamed it would be, and became part of my adventures for a number of years.
(I’m not quite sure about posting identifiable photos of other people on a public blog, hence the general lack of people in the photos, despite these early trips being quite communal)
2008
Once again, there was a day trip to Algonquin from the cottage and I remembered to bring my camera! Also this time two of my younger brothers came along. We hiked and finished the Mizzy Lake trail, including seeing a moose.
I tried to find a new location for a day trip for the yearly friends group. We ended up going to Georgian Bay Islands. There’s a boat to the main island, and then we hiked for the day. It wasn’t quite as spectacular as the previous trips, but still a good time. These trips fizzled out after this as we were all doing different things at this point and it was harder to get everyone together.
The main highlight of the summer was a camping trip to Chutes Provincial Park, just me and my younger brother. I don’t remember why we went to Chutes, but at the time it was the farthest I had driven from home. Again, we brought a canoe on the roof and had some great times canoeing around the area. However, this was the last time bringing the canoe. I recall it was just a bit of a hassle and the places I went the next years weren’t as canoe friendly.
These early years are interesting to look back on. I was slowly learning what worked and what didn’t. It feels a little random to me now.
2009
I graduated from university in 2009, and the adventures got grander and started to become real road trips. I really wanted to drive across Canada to the mountains, but settled for going to Cape Breton with my brother instead. There were definitely some learning experiences. We hadn’t really planned where to stay in New Brunswick on the way out, and ended up in a super cheap roadside motel. We also got lost in Montreal both directions. By now I did own a cellphone, but it didn’t have gps, so we were navigating with paper maps that didn’t have details of the Montreal streets. Also, at this point in time, there wasn’t rogers cell service in Cape Breton, so we had no cell service for the whole week. On the way home, we couldn’t find the campground that was on the map, so we ended up setting up the tent in the dark in the picnic area at an Onroute(despite the no camping signs). This was my first trip out of province and I was completely blown away. The views, the ocean, jellyfish, seals, whales, bald eagles, and the picturesque villages were beyond anything I expected. We also drove some of the more remote roads up to Meat Cove, which is the beginning of my remote backroad experiences.
Cape Breton was the highlight, but there were plenty more experiences this year. I was living in Hamilton at the time and realized that Algonquin was totally within day tripping distance if you left early enough in the morning. So I went on 2 day trips, both times bringing a friend or two.
The second day trip was in late September, so there were some fall colors…my first time seeing them up north. Also, my first time hiking Booth’s Rock, which is my favorite trail in Algonquin.
And then in October we went to Killarney for a short, 1 night trip. It was a little late in the season, but fall must have been late because there were still some colors and it looked spectacular. It was also quite cold. That night at the campfire there were some racoons hanging around, maybe trying to stay warm by the fire with us. When we hiked The Crack, I remember getting warm hiking and leaving my coat by the side of the trail and picking it up again on the way down. Killarney is normally really hard to get reservations for, but on the shoulder seasons, it’s more accessible. I think there was one other person in the park, so we got one of the prime campsites by the lake. This would become another repeat park with multiple trips over the years.
2010
This was a bit of a different year, because in the background I had lost my Software Job, spent some time unemployed, and then worked in landscaping for the rest of the year.
With the change in my work situation, I had some free time very early in the season, and went on a mid April camping trip to Killarney with 2 of my brothers. It was quite cold and there was still some snow/ice on the trails. I’m not sure I recommend camping this early in the season, but it worked out and was enjoyable. The weather was sunny, which helped. I think we were the only ones in the park and got the best campsite right on the lake.
The brothers and I also went on a day trip to Bruce Peninsula in May. Looking back on these years, there was a lot of repeating things. There was a sense of finding a place that was amazing and wanting to go back.
The cottage was in a different area from this year onward, so there were no more trips to Algonquin from the cottage but I did go on a day trip to Frontenac Provincial park with some of the siblings.
Near the end of summer I did manage to get away on a 4 day trip with my other younger brother. I don’t remember the research process, but we ended up going to the Saguenay Fjord area in Quebec…I think because it was within a day’s drive, but still somewhat exotic. There were definitely some issues with the language barrier, but it was a great trip with lots of sights to see. I’m not sure if Quebec has changed in the past decade, or if we just were unlucky, but it seemed no one spoke English at all…unlike my recent experiences.
2011
This year felt like a return to form after 2010, even though there was a bunch of repetition. Although we did get things started with a day trip to Grundy Lake, which I guess was kind of switching things up a bit. On the way back the car’s alternator died. I got back to Hamilton and fixed it myself.
It had been several years since the old friend group went anywhere…I can’t remember who pushed for it, but we decided to do another camping trip in Algonquin. I invited along a couple of people from Hamilton as well, so it was a bit of a larger group. We again went canoeing, but rented canoes this time. It was a good time, although I was starting to have expectations of a good trip that were different from my friends…
Along with the earlier alternator issues, my car had broken down again and had to be towed the day before the Algonquin trip. So I rode up with a friend…one of two times this happened over the past 20 years. Both times resulted in me looking for a new vehicle. When vehicle reliability starts getting in the way of road trips, something must be done! That being said, I kind of rushed into buying my next car…the Acura RSX.
The rush was because a few weeks after Algonquin was a 1 week trip back to Cape Breton. This time with my other brother and a good friend. It’s always interesting going back to a place the second time. There are places to see that were missed the first time, and different perspectives to be had. It was a great trip. The weather worked out, we saw many moose and I enjoyed some great twisty road driving in the Acura. Although, I was also discovering that when travelling with other adults, we would often disagree on what to see and do…
Some of these early years had more trials than I usually remember. I guess it’s the good things that stood out and filled my mind.
2012
This year included day trips to Bruce Peninsula and Algonquin again, plus a day trip to Sandbanks Provincial Park from the cottage, but the real change was doing 2 longer trips. All the trips involved younger siblings who were still young enough to easily take time away.
The first bigger trip was to Lake Superior Provincial Park, on the eastern side of Superior. This was my first visit to the greatest of the great lakes, and it was amazing. There’s hints of an ocean coast feeling, with bigger waves and more dramatic shorelines. There were some cool backroads to explore, and I was wishing for something more capable than my sporty Acura. The weather became stormy at the end of the week and we returned home a day early.
The second trip was to PEI in mid September. It was too early for fall, but late enough that the island was really quiet. Up to this point, the longer trips had some basic pre-planned route. This trip had no plan aside from where to camp the first 2 nights. It worked well, as the island is small enough easily explore in a week. At this point I did have a smart phone but not very much data, so we still relied on paper maps and tourism booklets. The interesting thing is, with no set plan, I don’t remember specifically where all we went. Even looking through the photos, it’s not always obvious. This trip also ended with rainy weather and included staying in a small cabin for one night before heading back a day early.
Writing all this down is making me realize just how many adventures I’ve been blessed with. It already feels like a lot, but this isn’t even halfway. Although in general things were set to become bigger, more intentional, and more planned.
2013
This was a banner year, and a major shift. After four years of planning and scheming, I managed to go on a 4 week trip to western Canada. It was the longest and farthest trip I’d been on at the time. It was also my first solo adventure. It was hard to find someone else to take 4 weeks off, and in the end I really enjoyed travelling alone.
The original trip idea was to drive across and see the Rockies, but over the years the plan had grown, and I ended up also driving up the Cassiar Highway, through northern BC, to Yukon. I spent just a few days in Kluane, but it was completely different and so much more amazing than even the Rockies…igniting a desire to return someday.
While I had dabbled in off-the-beaten-path remote explorations, this trip went deeper: including side trips to the Salmon Glacier and the road to Telegraph Creek in northern BC. While in Yukon I also heard of some grand off-road adventures that sounded amazing. All of my travels up to this point had been to standard touristy places and now I was discovering a whole new type of place to explore. All this was less than ideal for my little Acura, and the prime reason for getting a Jeep later on.
This was the first year I started journaling my bigger trips, and it was later posted to his blog. Read more here
I’ve written my history from several viewpoints, and this moment is a pivot in every version. From this vantage, the trip changed my style of exploration, and left me with a deep ache to see more…even though it was originally designed as a once-in-a-lifetime thing. The echoes of this adventure carry on into the future. Everything else in the background give it even more meaning: this trip marked a move to a new city and then struggling financially and spiritually. Perhaps placing too much hope in my adventures and not enough in God. The initial aftermath of this trip brought me to a sort of rock bottom where I was brought back to God.
God works in us through the things we are passionate about, and so the adventures would continue and even expand beyond imagination in the coming years.
2014
It is somewhat traditional for my biggest trips to be followed by quieter years, although this particular year it was mostly because of financial struggles. Also, I had moved to London, and was no longer close enough to day trip Algonquin.
I did get away on a spring trip to the Achray Access point in Algonquin. This was a direct carryover of my newfound desire to explore more off the beaten path locations, as Achray is down a gravel road, separate from the usual highway 60 corridor. It was a delightful trip…enough that even though the bugs are horrendous in early June, this began a tradition of doing a spring trip to more remote parks in Ontario.
While I otherwise had begun shifting to solo travels, the main adventure this year included all 3 of my younger brothers. The only time we’ve managed to all be on the same trip. We went to Lake Superior and did a tour of Neys, Pukaskwa and Lake Superior Provincial Park.
That fall I went on a trip to Killarney by myself. It was a very grey and wet time. The weather got worse as the week went on, and one night I woke up in a puddle in the tent…and went home early. But, I had ended up spending a bunch of time reading Knowing God by J.I. Packer. I had been trying to get back into reading, and this rainy adventure cemented a new tradition of reading in the quiet times at the campsite.
This marks the 10th year of this chronicle. It feels like a lot…but we’re only halfway! In context, the first half very much feels like a learning period, and the second half is taking what was learned and being more intentional.
2015
After so many years of doing multiple things, this year seems to stand in contrast as there was just one trip. I went on a 3 week trip to Newfoundland with my youngest brother. Not quite the level of my 4 week trip, but it was a big adventure in its own way.
Getting to Newfoundland is its own grand adventure, with big ferries and a longer voyage. The trip was amazing as the island is less touristy than the ads would have you believe. So it felt like an authentic off-the-beaten-path adventure. Of course I did actually explore some lesser known places like Salvage, and we did have time to dip into Labrador.
It is definitely a place I want to return to; Labrador especially. I declared it as my new favorite place, next to Yukon…yet I haven’t had much luck with properly exploring it. More on that later.
I think one of the reasons the trip list feels bare is because there were no longer day trips to Algonquin. I do miss that from my time in Hamilton. Either way, I was being blessed with the ability to pull off bigger trips to amazing places!
This blog was born in 2014, so this trip was also chronicled. Read more here
2016
Looking back, this was a strange year, as I didn’t do as much in the summer. I think it was because there were plans to get a Jeep, and I was holding off on major trips until then. Either way, I didn’t get my Jeep until November, so it wasn’t around for most of 2016.
Things began with another spring trip, this time to the Brent Access point in Algonquin. Brent is in the northern part of the park, down a long gravel road, with no cell service. In spring it can be quite empty and has a number of lakeside campsites, one of which is one of my favorite spots in Ontario. I had an interesting experience on the way home: there was a tree down across the road and I had to cut some branches from the top to make some room so I could squeak by partially in the ditch. Practicing for getting a Jeep I guess..
Despite not going on any major trips in the summer months, I did get in one day trip to Algonquin, as the cottage my parents went to was kind of close by again.
By fall, I must have realized the Jeep wasn’t going to happen this year, so I did 2 separate trips. Or maybe I simply planned to do more autumn travels…I can no longer remember.
The first one was to Algonquin again, and I managed to be there for peak colors! The park is really busy in the fall, but the brilliance of the colors were worth it. The weather was delightful and I also remember having a nice time reading at the campsite, surrounded by the red and yellow hues. With the coming shift to the Jeep, this ended up being my last time in the highway 60 corridor. And so my enjoyment of Algonquin moved on to other things…
Then there was a trip to Killarney with one of my brothers. The weather was a bit moody and the colors weren’t as vivid as Algonquin, but it was still a good time. After this trip, almost all of my travels would be solo.
I did get my first Jeep in November and went on a sort of adventure, similar to the early days. In late December, I drove up around the southern part of Georgian Bay and explored some wintery backroads, stayed overnight with my brother, then drove home. It hardly qualifies as a trip, but back in the beginning it would have…and it kind of pointed to the change that was coming in my explorations now that I had a rough-road-capable vehicle.
2017
This was all set to be a big year, going adventuring with a Jeep! But it didn’t quite turn out as expected.
Of course things started off with another spring camping weekend at Achray. I was aware that there were some gravel/logging roads in the area, which would be perfect to test the new Jeep. And it was! I had a terrific time bouncing along backwoods gravel roads, with the top down and the doors off…and got the entire interior of my brand new Jeep coated in dust…it was worth it! I also enjoyed some quiet sunsets and star gazing at the campsite.
The main trip of the summer was Labrador, to go back and properly explore after my short but amazing intro 2 years prior. The roads in Labrador were rough(many still unpaved at this point), and the Jeep was more ideal than my old Acura.
And then everything came to a halt…literally. I was in a head on collision in Labrador and the new Jeep was totaled. It was quite the adventure getting home, and a monument to God’s care in my life…especially when I got a full insurance payout and 1.5 months later had another brand new Jeep that was more or less exactly the same.
So I set out on a fall camping trip with my second new Jeep, to Killarney. It was a very memorable trip for 2 reasons. First, I went searching for rough roads to drive, and managed to get stuck in the mud quite far from civilization…and no cell service. Providentially, a hunter came by on an atv, went and got his truck and pulled me out. Since that time, I always have a shovel and tow strap on hand…and haven’t been stuck since. But this was a humbling moment, as I had been advertising my Jeep’s capabilities, and still got stuck. Yet God saw fit to rescue me in short order, for what otherwise would have been a long walk back to civilization.
Second, I hiked The Crack in earliest parts of the morning to see the sunrise from the top. The Crack is a tougher uphill hike to an amazing viewpoint, made even better with the morning sun. So while the summer had been a bit of a bust, the year ended on a high point.
The Jeep definitely changed the style of my adventures. While I used to do more hiking, now I was looking for interesting rough roads to drive. The trips would be focused on that for the next while.
The Jeep is also interesting for another reason. In a way, this was a shift to purposefully devoting major resources to my adventures. Jeeps aren’t cheap, they use a lot of gas, and especially my original 2 door isn’t super useful as a vehicle otherwise. Getting a Jeep was a sort of choice to go all-in on road tripping for the foreseeable future. The story of the crash and new replacement are interesting as well, as the purchase of the original Jeep happened in a way that was providential as well…as though God was blessing this path, but also teaching me not to ultimately put my hope in it.
2018
In the early part of 2018, my big 2019 trip was already more or less scheduled. So this was supposed to be a lighter year again, but I had more vacation time than I used to, and managed to do a number of shorter trips. All of these continued to be off-road driving adventures to some degree.
First up was the now traditional spring weekend trip, this time going back to Brent in northern Algonquin. The area has a few great logging roads/trails and I continued to enjoy bumping along with the roof down in the Jeep.
Next up was a weeklong trip to Lake Superior provincial park, which was becoming my repeat park in place of Algonquin. It was an interesting mix of trail driving and hiking. There are a few great backroads around the area, a few even with views of the Lake. I was discovering that although logging roads are fun, they often don’t lead anywhere. The journey is the adventure. I also made a point of hiking a few of the harder trails that went to nice lookouts.
The main trip of the year was driving the Trans-Taiga road in northern Quebec(including seeing James Bay). It was a very Jeep trip, as I would never have considered it in a regular car. The Trans-Taiga is almost 700km of gravel road, with the end being more than 300km away from the last gas station and more than 700km from the closest village…and more like 1500km from the closest bigger town. It was an interesting exercise in trust after crashing in remote Labrador the year before. I had to carry extra gas, had 1 flat tire(thankful for the Jeep’s full size spare), and had a number of storied moments, including a crazy thunderstorm and getting in trouble for camping on First Nations land. But it was amazing, and the trials actually made it better. This really cemented my remote, off-road aspirations and was a good test run for next year. This trip was also blogged. Read more here
The year ended with a fall trip to Chutes Provincial Park. I was originally headed to Mississagi Provincial Park, but hadn’t made reservations as generally my far north trips didn’t need them. The park was slated to close the following week, but it closed early this year, probably because there were no active reservations. I showed up just as they were locking the main gate. It was a big disappointment as the road up from Elliot Lake had really amazing fall colors. So I ended up diverting to Chutes. It’s in an area that has more coniferous trees, so there were less colors, but there were interesting logging roads to drive…although I did get rained out again at the end. Fall is kind of hit and miss for that.
I’ve done the multi-short-trip years a few times now, and somehow it’s almost better than one bigger trip. It feels like I do more anyway. However, 1 week trips kind of limit how far I can get, so I continue to do bigger trips.
2019
This was another banner year. Three months of continuous travel in northern BC, Northwest Territories and Yukon…with an emphasis on Yukon. It had been in the plans for 6 years…this was the actual reason I bought a Jeep.
When writing these things, I get to this trip and just don’t know what to say. It was amazing. Spectacular scenery, thrilling backroads, and a real sense of exploration. The Jeep performed admirably on some challenging trails and steep hills. I took too many photos and spent the next 2.5 years editing them.
Yukon is a minimum 5 long days of driving from Southwestern Ontario. That really limits time spent, as 10 days would be used just getting there and back again. So the plan had grown until it was three months. That’s a long time. Long enough that by the end of the trip, memories of the beginning were no longer fresh. In fact, memories of home had taken on a strange dreamlike feeling. Yukon became my home away from home. The longest I have spent in one province/territory/state next to my home province of Ontario.
Meanwhile, there actually were far more dreary, rainy days than I would have liked. In some places, like the Arctic, there were only cloudy days. Yet, I learned to love the bad weather. Sometimes the clouds covered the mountains, but other times the mountains would peak through, making an amazing scene. It added to the epic feeling and made remote places feel more desolate. It did help that the tent bought specifically for the trip was pretty much completely weatherproof. Over the years I’ve been slowly learning to embrace the hardships. The trials are what make the best stories. Monuments of God’s guiding hand in my life.
This trip was also blogged. While previous trips were written journal style, and then posted after the trip, this one was written article style while on the trip. Read more here
2020
This was the year COVID hit. My workplace more or less shut down and I was put in a constant on-call position as several other tech people had left the company. That made travelling not really possible…although COVID restrictions also contributed.
In August, I got a new job, and took a few days in between to go camping in Mississagi Provincial Park. This trip has an interesting distinction: while I did bring my camera, I only took a few photos that weren’t that great and then at some point afterward I cleared the memory card and no longer have them. So I went on a multi-day trip, and have no photos to show. The big trip to Yukon had kind of changed my perspective on a lot of things…I took less photos in general for the next few years as I was still editing photos from the big trip. However, photos are a big part of my memory of an adventure…and so this trip feels like it didn’t really happen.
I did manage to get away for a week to Lake Superior in early October. Most of the leaves were off the trees by then, so it wasn’t overly spectacular, but I did get a lakeside campsite…although it was very windy, so that wasn’t as nice as it sounds. I was struggling a little with Ontario trips just not being on the same level as Yukon…I remember feeling like the photos from this trip weren’t great. But looking at them now, they are amazing.
There definitely was a shift after Yukon. It was as though I had peaked…and everything was downhill from there. It would take a few years to really get back into things.
2021
This year was something different. I stayed in Ontario, but did 5 shorter trips…almost all to lesser known provincial parks that I had never been to. The main driver of the locations was often trying to find great logging roads/trails to drive. Most of these parks wouldn’t have appealed to me before, as they don’t have much to do otherwise.
The year started off with a spring trip to Halfway Lake, which is between Sudbury and Timmins. It’s not the most amazing park, but it does have some lakeside campsites. It also happens to be in an area with some intriguing logging roads and 4×4 trails. The weather was great, the trails were fun and I enjoyed some quiet moments by the lake.
Next up was Rene Brunelle Provincial Park, which is quite far north for Ontario. The entrance to the winter road to Moosonee is nearby, and I enjoyed some good backroads. It was on the edge of being too far away for a 4 day trip. This area of Ontario is quite flat and not as interesting as some, but I’m glad I took the time to see it at least once.
This was followed by Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park. I recall going here because I couldn’t find any other openings, and this was in the middle of summer during the post-covid camping boom. The campground itself was a little too busy and not very private. I accidentally had a site that was right next to a footpath, and between two families that were camping together, so I had a constant stream of kids running through.
So I spent most of my time out driving. There was one nearby back road that was interesting. And then kind of randomly, I drove a large chunk of the Old Nipissing road, including some rougher 4×4 parts. If you were to look on a map, the road isn’t exactly close to Sturgeon Bay aside from passing through the same latitude. It was kind of too much driving for one day, but there wasn’t much else to do, and it was interesting even if it was long. It was made even longer because I turned around south of Commanda when the road became too rough for even me…and then the alternate route had a snowmobile bridge that the Jeep was too wide to cross. So I had to drive the long way around. That is actually a pretty typical experience driving logging roads/trails in Ontario. Google is aware of many of these lesser roads, but they aren’t always passable.
My favorite trip of the year was a September trip to Wakami Lake. It’s a bit more remote: down a gravel road and no cell service. Unlike the other parks, this one was decently empty and I got one of the best lake side spots. I had seen the Sultan industrial road earlier in the year when I was at Halfway Lake. Wakami is off of that road, so I spent some time exploring the huge logging area. It did rain a lot, and was generally dreary, so I enjoyed a bunch of reading in the tent. It was kind of a mixed bag, but I did really enjoy the campsite and the explorations were varied.
The final trip of the year was a fall trip to Killarney with 2 of my brothers. It was a typical Killarney trip, with some good hiking. I took very few photos and otherwise just enjoyed it. The biggest trial was that at my brother’s place, the Jeep wouldn’t start, and I ended up riding up in the other brother’s truck.
In general I took less photos than usual this summer…I was still editing photos from Yukon, and these trips were more about Jeep off-road ambiance than about seeing spectacular sights. This year had the most separate multi-day trips. It did feel like I was constantly going places, however, because they were all 3-4 day trips, it wasn’t always restful.
2022
This was to be a very different year. As mentioned, at the end of 2021, my Jeep had been developing starting issues. It went into the shop 3 times, and each time something was fixed, but the problem would just come up again weeks later. It was a weird electrical issue. Eventually I figured out a trick that worked 90% of the time, but I could no longer trust taking it on trips.
Ever since Yukon, I had been thinking about getting/building a proper camping vehicle. Originally the thought was to do a pickup truck with a slide in camper, but the previous year’s off-road exploring had convinced me that I really wanted the small size of a Jeep. I was aware of camping solutions for Jeeps, but they all required the 4-door version, and I had a 2-door. My “broken” Jeep became the catalyst that pushed me from thinking to doing. So I arranged to trade in and ordered a new 4-door Jeep. I couldn’t easily buy one off the lot, because I wanted a base model with very few options to keep it affordable.
Factory ordering a Jeep meant months of waiting. So there would be no trips in the spring or summer this year. It was a bit of a disappointment, as the initial plan had been to return to Labrador this summer…
Some friends were planning a trip in late August to Restoule Provincial Park. I think I was planning to go whether I had the new Jeep or not, but the new Jeep arrived and I picked it up the day before. We did suffer through some rain the first night, and then the next day, I managed to dislocate my shoulder when a canoe flipped right next to the dock. After a long wait at the hospital in North Bay, I ended up going home early.
(I also don’t have any photos from the Restoule trip)
I did manage to get away on a trip in October to Driftwood Provincial Park. The colors were in full swing, the weather was great, and there was some hiking as well as logging roads to test out the new Jeep on.
While it was a bit of an odd year, this was the start of the next major pivot: building a camper Jeep. I find it interesting that as we get further into this chronicle, it becomes harder to separate the where from the why. In the beginning it was a side thing I did in my spare time. Now the adventures are much more integral to my life as a whole.
2023
From the start, the plan was to get an Ursa Minor camper top, which is a full roof replacement with a popup camper. The company that makes them is in San Diego, California. They’re hard to find on this side of the continent, and getting one shipped was going to be quite expensive, so it made sense to drive down and buy one in person.
So my first major trip to the USA happened. All the way down to San Diego, then a meandering path on the way back with the camper top. I visited Big Sur, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Moab, Yellowstone and a few lesser known spots in between. It was the 3rd longest trip yet, at 25 days.
It was an interesting set of experiments. Unlike other big trips, this one was very loosely planned. The major destinations were decided, but I otherwise had no idea where I would be camping or stopping, or even what roads I would be driving. It was also a return to primarily visiting classic tourist places.
I’m not sure if it was echoes of Yukon: still not quite finding my travel groove back, but I wasn’t as enthused about this trip as I should have been. Even afterwards, it was good and I’m glad I did it…but it just wasn’t a top trip. There are multiple reasons for this: Over the years I’ve become practiced at putting in very long driving days and this trip included too much driving with not enough rest in between. Because I was visiting some of America’s top parks, they were very busy and although they were spectacular, they lacked in peacefulness. The American Southwest also isn’t really ideal in summer as it’s very hot…and I would much prefer to be too cold vs too hot.
The photos are spectacular, so it does seem odd that this trip doesn’t score higher.
The main thing was I didn’t get a proper chance to slow down and take it all in. This is a big part of what I’m realizing with the shift to the camper Jeep: quality time spent relaxing at camp is just as important as the exploring. As with other big trips, this was blogged. Read more here
I spent the time writing all that…and almost forgot that there was a shorter fall trip this year as well, to Mikisew Provincial Park. The colors were great, but the most memorable part was that it snowed. It was kind of cold and wet, and I ended up going home early…but after I enjoyed some delightful walks through the colorful campground with snow falling around me.
Another random realization: pre Yukon, I often repeated trips to familiar places that I knew were enjoyable. Post-Yukon, there was an effort to have more new experiences, so almost all my trips were to previously unknown places, with less emphasis on them necessarily being spectacular.
2024
The beginning of 2024 was a flurry of planning and ordering parts to complete the camper build. And then on the way back from watching the solar eclipse, I rear ended someone and the Jeep was in the shop for several weeks getting fixed right about the time that I needed to start putting everything together. So I got the Jeep back and only had a few weeks to assemble: the awning, rear drawers, fridge slider, and the custom battery setup. As result of all this, while I had made some plans for the summer, they really weren’t on my mind much. Read more about the Jeep build here.
I had already planned a spring trip to Ivanhoe Lake Provincial Park, which I went on before doing much of the camper build. The awning had been installed and it was a good test run as the weather was mostly rainy. Overall it wasn’t my favorite park, and the backroads driving wasn’t that interesting either. I probably had too much on my mind with needing to complete the build by the first week of July.
The first longer trip was another interesting experiment. There was no plan, aside from heading out to the Maritimes. I ended up driving through a bit of the New Brunswick coast and ultimately driving around a bunch of Nova Scotia. In a way it was a worthwhile trip because I visited a bunch of places that otherwise wouldn’t have ever made it into an official trip plan. In other senses it was similar to last year’s trip: too much driving with too few highlights in between. At least my time camping at the lighthouse on Brier Island was an awesome experience. This was also the first trip with the finished camper build and it was amazing.
Next up was the highlight of the year and in every way a true return to form. I drove the North Shore(Cote Nord) of the St Lawrence gulf in Quebec. It had everything: some touristy things, some remoteness, and better scenery than I was expecting! Unlike previous trips that were too rushed, this was much more relaxing, as I had 1.5 weeks to explore less than 1000km of shoreline. It was also a return to spending more time walking/hiking and less time backroad driving, and it was a return to taking many photos of the wonders I was seeing! At the time, I declared it the best trip I’d been on since Yukon in 2019! I don’t usually journal the shorter trips, but this one was amazing enough that I wrote about it afterward. Read more here
I did still take some time for remote back roads driving, as the final trip of the year was to the road north of Pickle Lake, which is the farthest north you can drive on all-season, public roads(in Ontario). In a way, this was another rushed trip with a lot of driving, and the road was less interesting than I thought it would be. However, I found some amazing remote places to camp, including an abandoned campground where I spent 2 nights…which stands as one of the best camp spots I’ve ever had. It was right by the water, quiet, had very few bugs…and I enjoyed the most awesome sunset and some northern lights later in the night.
All in all, it was a terrific year and the camper Jeep was a rousing success. This pivot has changed my trips a bit, as now I’m searching for great remote, non-campground, places to camp. Sites with a view, spots that don’t work well for tent camping, but are terrific on four wheels.
Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, or maybe it’s because I overshot and started putting too many items in my trip plans…but I definitely am moving towards there being more relaxation on the road: chances to slow down and breathe in the beauty of God’s creation for more than just a moment.
Coming Next
This summer, the plan is to finally return to Labrador and finish it up properly. I’m back to having a proper trip plan, and working to make sure it’s full of both exploration and quieter moments. This is probably the first time in a while that I’ve been properly excited about being on the road again.
There are also very big plans forming for next year. Stay tuned!
This has been a good exercise in remembering the incredible experiences that God has blessed me with. The sheer number of adventures I’ve been on is mind blowing. At various times along the way I did struggle with things not going as planned, or reaching what seemed like an end that was really just a beginning of the next thing. God has used the good and the bad, the joys and the letdowns to draw me closer to Him.
And it’s not like it’s over. If anything this is a monument to just a few of the many ways that God has shown His love and care in my life. The next 20 years are in His hands.
The Narrow Twisty Road 