In any blog, the newest post is 'on top'. If you want to follow a trip from the start, that will be further down the page. In this case, this is the first post about heli-hiking Whether you're starting now or interested in seeing where else Tales has gone, I welcome you to Tales from the Trail and look forward to comments and feedback.
----------
Dear Blog Followers,
As you probably know, I have taken a hiatus (longer than expected). I'm back and I hope you will rejoin me on my travels. I write from the comfort of my home, based on journals I keep when I travel. I often do back up research to make sure my material is up-to-date. The adventures I describe are mine, and any new information is noted.
My original blog posts about heli-hiking appeared a while ago in Gatehouse Media online editions, but never appeared here in this blog. So before I go on to my second heli- hiking adventure, I'm going to repost a slightly abbreviated version of that first series. I hope you'll join me and stay for this and future trips.
Thanks for following Tales from the Trail.
Dawny
Re: auto-correct: I've tried to tmake sure that heli-hiking appears as you see it... a combination of helicopter and hiking. Autocorrect often changed it to hell-hiking, help-hiking, hello-hiking, and a few other things I didn't want. I apologize if I missed any.
----------
I began this blog some time ago saying that I grew up adventure-deprived. When I started traveling as an adult I was a wanna-be adventurer with a few little fears: heights, small enclosed spaces, spiders ... a wimpy wanna-be adventurer.
I admire people who like to plan their own trips--research, call, investigate options. I really do not enjoy that part of travel. I like others to do that for me. Fortunately, even the wimpy wanna-be-adventurer has some great opportunities. There are companies organizing every kind of tour at every level --from simple to luxurious. I met the Aborigine in the Outback, snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef, saw polar bears up close and personal, visited some astonishingly beautiful places in the west, went to the northernmost point of the continent--Barrow, Alaska--all on tours
That usually means I travel on coaches (aka 'buses'). It’s one thing to stroll in a new place, to be so engrossed with the view through my camera lens that I forget I‘m at the edge of the Grand Canyon (yup, I did that). But the wimpy wanna-be adventurer decided to try something new. Perhaps something involving my feet. Like, maybe, hiking?
Now where am I going to find a trip that combines the luxury of someone *else* doing the navigating, driving, carrying my luggage, planning the route, organizing the food, and yet still allows me to take a little stroll in the mountains and say, “Today, I am a hiker”?
How about heli-hiking?
Right. Perfect choice for a woman afraid of heights and small spaces---a helicopter that will take me into the mountains. Yup, brilliant. Add a web filled with spiders and it’ll be complete.
Time to face fears head on. Heli-hiking it is. I can do this.
The picture in the tour catalogue shows a group of smiling people in a meadow of wildflowers, mountains in the distance, gently rolling hills in the forefront. Yeah, I can do this.
The first hell-hiking trip I took started with several days of coach touring some beautiful Canadian Parks ...but this series is to introduce you to heli-hiking, so I'll start with the helicopter that took us into the mountains to the Cariboo Lodge. To the remote Cariboo Lodge*. In the mountains. For two days of helicoptering in mountains and hiking.
Yup, I'm pretty sure I can definitely maybe do this, I think.
# # #
* My helihiking trips were both organized with Canadian Mountain Holidays, cmh@e.canadianmountainholidays.com, an organization that also offers hell-skiing in season. They manage the lodges including all food, provide skilled and experienced guides, and manage to cater to individual needs of their guests.
