The blog
Getting back to nature
It had barely been half a week since I was last out on this trail. I had expected many of the trees now had their leaves on the forest floor. In the days which had passed, we had a lot of wind, and sometimes even just a few still days this far north can create a dramatic change in how nature is looking during the fall.
But I just wanted to get back into the heart of nature like this so badly.
My night before had been a very, very late one out with the aurora, and I could have slept all day. But I awoke on just a couple hours of sleep feeling so much energy to go back out into nature… to feel the cool air, smell the sweet forest, hear the rushing water and find a certain stillness. Perhaps a lot of this will look very familar for you, but I couldn’t help but to go back so soon. It felt like the perfect place for the day. There are many snowy, darker days for sleeping coming soon.
“I would just want to hang out there all day and cleanse my soul.”
These beautiful words came from a close friend after I described my previous day out here, and right in the moment of reading them, I just knew I had to come back and soak up every moment that I could.
Tunnel vision
I had become, you could say obsessed, with wishing I could watch every leaf fall from it’s branch, or feel every cool breeze on my face, find every angle where the sun came through the trees to cast long, warm shadows. Truly I didn’t want to leave.
Running into the night
Just grab a hold of my hand
I will lead you through this wonderland
I dare you to close your eyes
And see all the colours in disguise
"Everybody knows that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. What few people realise, it is only through the parts that the whole gets delivered."
I know these nights of leaving the car off, of feeling such high humidity on my skin, of smelling such overwhelming sweetness from nature and hearing only the fish jumping, and loons and owls singing, will be over so soon. I can already hear in my mind the dry crunch of the snow under my boots and the ice singing in the countryside alongside the idle of my car, but right now I’m obsessed with every last drop of moisture in the air and these rare, but beautiful clear nights.
A forest full of berries & feeling grateful
It seems so cheesy to say, but I wish you can feel how peaceful it is to sit back against some of these boulders which have been here for billions of years, and be feeling the reindeer moss in your fingers. I think it’s impossible to know how amazing that can be until you are there, and when you really find this slow and conscious space.
"I think that eating berries every day during the winter can help to stay strong and healthy"
Sure it is great to have some wild berries for the winter, I am really excited for that. But to take these hours in the crisp autumn air, seeking out quiet marshes for these crowberries and cranberries.. I just love that too. I wish these days could continue forever.
From a forgetful moment
Some kilometres out from town, I had only then realized I forgot my berry picker. I had a momentary thought of if I should go back for it, but decided that no, it was alright and better just to continue on for the further out countryside and breathtaking colours as far as you could see.
I am sure I have never seen the countryside look so beautiful with colour before, ever. Not only was all the yellow still hanging from the birches, but reds and oranges like I haven’t seen here before also. After every corner, I couldn’t believe how it became more beautiful. Just kilometre after kilometre for all 46 of them.
Through the midafternoon, even sunshine broke this typical October cloud which we are experiencing in abundance these days. The air, while crisp, was completely devoid of any wind. Something so perfect for a slow coffee and snack out on a rock surrounded by flowing water.
What a great day in nature from just forgetting something so small right at the front door. The timing was unquestionably perfect.
The long drive
If you could erase the few kilometres through Jasper, unsuccessfully trying to find a Tim Hortons drive-thru, the feeling over two full days and 2,000 kilometres was an overwhelming one of loneliness, but perfect cosiness.
I love to drive, so much, which definitely hasn’t always been the case, but that’s a long story for another time.
Every single drive south and back north over all of the years I’ve lived here, I’ve enjoyed immensely, but there was something so different about this drive home. It felt especially lonely and isolated, in a really good and comforting way. Many drive-thru coffees brought me such warmth and enjoyment, and random snacks of licorice, apples, hashbrowns and McDonald’s apple pies (I’m not ashamed) were all part of this comfort.
It’s difficult to describe pulling into a gas station and stepping outside instantly shivering after hours of being nestled into a heated seat. But that crispness and fresh air, that’s a deep breath and awkward stretch moment truly to savour before getting right back in my favourite ever car, fully fuelled up and ready to continue on. There’s something really beautiful in those brief moments.
It becomes like a home for those days of driving, perhaps that’s just it, and for this complete homebody, that is so, so important and perfect.
At the end of 14 hours on my first day, I pulled into a quiet hotel for the night after chasing a magnificent sunset right into the deepest twilight before total darkness. I unloaded, quickly, two boxes of tropical plants, a couple very full IKEA blue bags, my suitcase, and a few other random things before making one last trip out for the night.
This whole day was with a light-hearted but meaningful-to-me time crunch, because KFC closed at 10pm.
Part of being happy is knowing what you love, what feels good, and for me at the end of all this in a state of total exhaustion, the spicy plant-based KFC chicken sandwich meal in front of the fireplace in my dimly lit room, watching HGTV, as frivolous as that seems, made me really happy.
I know that I don’t have any photos to give even faint justice to just how beautiful the fall colours were all the way up to Yellowknife, or any words to convey that magic of feeling gentle sunrise and sunset light hitting my face in the moments between mountains or forests, but it was all unforgettable, and all of this was just another tip of the roadtrip iceberg for me.
