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- The High Passes of Everest Trek: Namche to Chhukung Days 4 – 7 2022-03-14
- A Winter’s Day Walk Along The Banks of Toronto’s Lower Don River 2022-02-21
- Robert Bell’s Lady Dufferin Lake: It’s Not Where The Map Says It Is! 2022-02-17
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- Bushwhacking the Ogoki Headwaters: Days 3, 4, and 5 2021-11-09
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A view of the Cordillera Real from Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia.The gps track of a 200-km trek down the length of Bolivia’s Cordillera Real (Royal Range). We came down the west side; the classic route on the east side of the range has seen a big increase in mining activity. https://wp.me/p25mXk-7MHLate evening at Yangon’s Shwe Dagon Pagoda- the crowds are gone and it is cool and quiet on a full- moon evening. https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYRevered monk with nuns and lay followers at Yangon’s Shwe Dagon Pagoda on an auspicious full moon evening - it was magical! https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYMonk meditating below statue of Siddhartha Gautama in the “touching the earth” mudra - the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Myanmar. https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYMonk in front of candle table at the Shwe Dagon in Rangoon, Burma - that is, Yangon. Myanmar. https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYBurmese Nuns arriving on the terrace of Yangon’s Shwe Dagon Pagoda for dusk service. https://wp.me/p25mXk-6qYMonk studying the Buddha’s teachings at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda - https://wp.me/p25mXk-6puBurmese monk outside of Rangoon’s Shwe Dagon Pagoda. See here for more- https://wp.me/p25mXk-6pu“Everybody is looking for something!” Photographer and monk at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Yangon ... https://wp.me/p25mXk-6puThe floor plan of Myanmar’s most sacred space, the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Yangon (formerly Rangoon). See here for more pix - https://wp.me/p25mXk-6puApproaching our Rodolphu campsite after a tough day on the Snowman trek in the Bhutanese Himalayas.Yaks coming our way. We were going to Lunana; they were heading to Garza...Bhutanese Himalayas October 2019A lake view from the trail to Rerethang after we crossed Tempe La, our last high pass.Donkeys from Thanza approaching Chozo to carry our gear down to Sephu on the Snowman Trek.A view of the Bhutanese-Tibet border on the way down to Tarina campsite in the Bhutanese Himalayas.A load-free yak caravan crossing the 5100-meter high Rinchen Zoe La ...heading from Thanza down to Sephu. See here for more pics - https://wp.me/p25mXk-8KTThe resident monk at the Dzong in Chozo in the Bhutanese Himalayas.The remnants of an old bridge used by loggers years ago. We dragged our canoe across and continued down the headwaters of the Lady Evelyn River in Ontario’s Temagami region - day 2 of our 11-day canoe trip in September of 2020. The ultimate in physical distancing! See here for more - https://wp.me/p25mXk-9JxLooking west across Sucker Gut Lake at Maple Mountain ridge and a just discernible fire tower. We were on our way to Mowat Landing. See this site for more info and maps - https://wp.me/p25mXk-9XVramblinboy
Kathmandu street scene - walking back to Thamel from Durbar Squarethe action on Toronto's premier sliding hill off Broadview Avenue. A Leonberger chillin' while his owner chats and keeps an eye on his kids trudging back up the hill after another awesome ride.Our campsite on the upper French River. Over the five days we paddled down to Georgian Bay, following the 100-km. section of water highway used by the Canadien voyageurs. https://wp.me/p25mXk-8BqThe Broadview Hill on a summer's evening - a popular spot to catch a cooling breeze and to take in views of downtown at sunset. Down on the flats, games of soccer, frisbee, cricket, baseball, and quidditch are being played.downtown T.O. from the Leslie Street Spit. For great views of the city, the Spit's perspective ranks right up there with the view from above the Brickworks, Broadview Avenue by the Rooster Coffee House, and the Toronto Islands.one of the final bends in Toronto's Don River on a winter morning- and a beautiful spot I've returned to with my dog Viggo 100's of times. It is just off the bike trail south of the Bloor viaduct; downriver all the way to Lake Ontario, major human intervention has turned the river into what looks like a canal!our Icelandic Sheepdog Viggo on a winter's day ... ready for the morning's outing!Moshi's Parkview Inn - after seven nights in a tent a very luxurious place to chill after our Kilimanjaro climb. The next day I would head to Arusha and arrange a last-minute two-day safari to Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire National Park. Just like the hike up Kili, that too would prove to be an awesome experience!The end of the Kilimanjaro trek at Mweka Gate. Our Popote bus was waiting for us and it was a one hour ride back to Moshi and the hotel used by Popote for its guests. It is known as the Parkview Inn, a decent place in the $75. range. with a restaurant, a swimming pool, and a stored luggage room and 24-hour security and watchman at the entry gates of the inn. There are cheaper - and much more expensive - options available but I found the Parkview to be a great spot before and after our climb.It takes a village to move five mzungu (Swahili for white people) up the mountain. We took a group shot a High camp after our mid-afternoon arrival from Barafu. Three guides, 15 porters, and two cooks made sure we were taken care of and in shape to fulfil the mission! I booked my trip with a company in Moshi, the base camp town for Kilimanjaro. I did it all over the internet and by email - and I must say I found one great small and not really expensive company. See TripAdvisor for other trekkers' opinions. Maybe in 20222 when we are travelling again, you'll be able to check off Kilimanjaro from your "to do" list!We've begun our descent. I turn around and look back to Stella Point up on top of the ridge. Other members of our crew are coming down. The dust that we kick up as we descent is bad. I decide that I am going to make sure I am at the front of the one and not at the end so that I have cleaner air to breathe! In any case, the walking is very easy. 5 1/2 hrs. to get up and maybe 2 1/2 to get down!Our lead guide Dixon, a veteran of more than 150 ascents, and our crew coming down from Uhuru Peak in the background. It is about 6:45 a.m. By 9:30 I will be crawling into my tent for a brief siesta before we head down the mountain to our Day 7 campsite at High (Millenium) Camp at 3827 meters. That is a drop of over 2000 meters after having climbed about 1300 in the pre-dawn hours. Definitely the biggest energy expenditure day of the trek!The Snows of Kilimanjaro is now just the name of a book. Up on top, the glacier that once covered the entire summit and then some is all but gone. Instead of the streams I imagined would be pouring down the slopes as the ice melts, the ice just vaporizes. Poof - and it's gone!Trekkers approaching Uhuru Peak from Stella Point at dawn. We were the second group to get to the top and got to watch as other groups made their way toward us. Even as we were going down below the crater rim there were still a few trekkers and guides heading up!Our five=person crew at Uhuru Peak at about 6:30 a.m. Three of us from Canada and two from the U.S. We established very early on that US politics would not be discussed in the dining tent! The two old guys in the front - a guy from Cali and I - were both 68, with me being the older by 3 months. The two other Canadians were in their mid-40s and the other American was in her 20s. It was our local trekking agency in Moshi - highly recommended Popote - that put us all together for the climb.the only photo I took from our midnight departure from Barafu to our dawn celebration on Uhuru Peak. It was about 3:30 a.m. and we still had about two hours to go. The wind was blowing hard and it was maybe -10ºC. For 3 1/2 hours we had been walking in the dark with only our headlights making visible the person ahead of us.Kilimanjaro is actually a massive mountain with three extinct volcanoes on the top plateau. We had walked across the crater of the lowest one - Shira - on Days 2 and 3. This satellite image shows the other two - Mawenza, a less high but more technical climb done by very few and Uhuru Peak, at 5895 meters the highest single point on the Kili massif and in all of Africa. Uhuru Peak is on the rim of the ancient crater and is approached via Stella Point, the spot where the trail from Barafu meets the crater rim.Barafu Camp on the slopes of Kilimanjaro is the last stop before the climb to the top. Behind the sign are the ranger's cabin and the sign-in book. I did a quick scan of the names, countries of origin, and age of this day's Barafu campers. I had to smile when I noticed that at 68 I was the oldest guy in camp - and would, for a day - be the oldest guy up on Uhuru Peak. However, still to come was a six-hour ascent starting at midnight up the final section to the trail to the top.Day 6 and we are approaching our final campsite before the summit - Barafu Camp. It is up there on the ridge. We'd set up camp on the left side of the image and get ready for our midnight departure for the final ascent to the rim of the ancient crater. Barafu is at 4662, about the same altitude as Lava Tower, where we stopped for lunch a couple of days before. It is 1300 meters of altitude gain from Barafu to Uhuru Peak.Our Day 5 campsite on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. In the background is Mount Meru. I had climbed it the week before as an acclimatization exercise. While it is only 4600 meters it turned out to be more difficult than Kilimanjaro! Whenever I looked back at Meru as we made our way up the slopes of Kili, I felt like I was looking at an old friend!
Category Archives: Sri Lanka
A Train Ride Across the Highlands of Sri Lanka
Previous Post: Sri Lanka’s Horton Plains & the Hike To World’s End Sri Lanka’s ultimate train trip runs 290 kilometers from the capital all the way east to Badulla. In his excellent blog The man in Seat 61, train aficionado Mark Smith says that … Continue reading
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Sri Lanka’s Horton Plains & The View From World’s End
Previous Post: Hiking Sri Lanka’s Knuckles – To Meemure and Corbett Gap We were out of our hotel in Nuwara Eliya and on the road by 7:00 a.m. the next morning. Our destination for the day: the hill station of … Continue reading
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The Manigala Hike In Sri Lanka’s Knuckles Range (Dumbara Hills)
Previous Post: Sri Lanka’s Dambulla Cave Temple – A Treasure Trove of Buddhist Art To the south of Dambulla – and to the north-east of Kandy – is one of Sri Lanka’s least-visited areas, the highlands area called the Dumbara Hills … Continue reading
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The Aukana Buddha: Sri Lanka’s Colossal Standing Rock Statue
Previous Post: A Visit To The Ruins Of Polonnaruwa – Part Two The previous day I had visited the ruins of Polonnaruwa, the capital of a short-lived Sinhalese kingdom which flourished for less than two hundred years until an invading army from India … Continue reading
A Visit To The Ruins of Sri Lanka’s Ancient Polonnaruwa – Part Two
Previous Post: A Visit To The Ruins of Sri Lanka’s Ancient Polonnaruwa – Part 1 Shiva Devale No. 2 I had spent the first two hours visiting The Citadel area and the Quadrangle. It was a bit past 11 and, given … Continue reading
A Visit To The Ruins Of Sri Lanka’s Ancient Polonnaruwa – Part 1
Previous Post: Sri Lanka’s Dambulla Cave Temple – A Buddhist Treasure Trove Along with Anuradhapura and Kandy, Polonnaruwa is one of the key points in Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle, an area that contains much of the impressive ruins of pre-modern … Continue reading
Colombo’s National Museum – Some of What You’ll See
Previous Post: The Buddhist Baroque of Colombo’s Gangaramaya Vihara Sri Lanka’s National Museum is located at the south end of Viharamahadevi Park not far from Galle Road and the Fort and Pettah districts. As the repository of many of the moveable … Continue reading
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Seema Malaka: Colombo’s Serene Buddhist Island Vihara
It began with a pleasant early morning walk from my guesthouse (The Wayfarers’ Inn) on Rosemead Place in Colombo’s Cinnamon Garden District. I walked along the path which traces the northern edge of a beautiful green space called Viharamahadevi Park. The previous afternoon I … Continue reading
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Buddhist Baroque: Colombo’s Gangaramaya Temple
Previous Post: Seema Malaka: Colombo’s serene Buddhist Island Vihara To say I was overwhelmed does not even come close to capturing the initial breathless moment of stepping inside the main temple at the Gangaramaya Vihara complex. I had just walked over after … Continue reading
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