So who needs GPS…
No we did not get lost and no we don’t have a G.P.S. I borrowed one once and it told me my house/road did not exist and I was turning into a field which was a bit bizarre as my Town House was built in 1973. I tried at work to order something on line and it was to be delivered by UPS apparently My place of work does not exist either on the G.P.S and it could not be delivered. Now I know I function in an alternate version of reality but my place of work does exist, if UPS had a local driver I am sure he could have got the package here, as it is I was so frustrated I cancelled my order. As G.P.S is a military platform I hope it’s a lot better at delivering missiles than it is at mail.
So what’s this all about? Those of you who have read my blog before will realize this miserable looking figure is #1 Son.
I am sad to announce we have completed our first Tribe adventure without #1 Sons presence, and he was missed but much as we don’t like to think of it our children are on a journey too and at some point, well I am not going to blather on here may be in the next blog. So “what we have here is a failure to communicate,” not true I just wanted to use that line, talking of lines I just can’t resist what I am about to do next. One of the few Blogs I follow is ” Jay Kristoff- Literary Giant ”
It’s a long story that I will not hesitate to tell of in many posts to come. I have to confess to lurking on his pages and following his blog since Nov 2012 never quite mustering up the courage to post a comment or two even though I am in awe. I just have to repeat this one line and dam the consequences ( Now I don’t want anyone to think this is a true reflection of his content but it was the final piece of evidence as to his greatness ( In my eyes anyway) I can feel the tension building…. and now for a disappointment I have just spent the last few days combing through Mr Kristoff’s blog and I can’t find it, maybe I hallucinated it or maybe in fear of its awesomeness it has been removed maybe I am blind who knows i guess you could crawl all over the blog and investigate for your selves. For those of you that grew up with me its the sort of thing I used to be able to get away with saying before I emigrated to Canada and had all my chops impounded at the border.However as I am about to travel back to blighty in a few days maybe I can smuggle a additional bit of my old self in on the return, only time will tell if this is possible or a good idea.
What we have here is the first of 2 blogs from last years end of season Jasper trip, this time #1 Son has been sent to guarantee my return and as you can probably tell he was not that happy but with good graces he came along. When push came to shove the conversation went a bit like this. “This is stupid ! I can’t see the point in walking up this mountain to have to walk down it again?” I am sure I said many similar things to my father when I stopped joining with him on adventures. The upside to this is now I am old enough to know it will all come around in fact I knew before I started this father lark as I had thought for a long time about all the things I needed to pass on and this is the important bit all the stuff I did not need to.
And thanks to Wes Sallenback got the opportunity to completely lose it and distill 30 years of frustration into a 10 Minuit mini rant that came out of the blue, about well the stuff well meaning educators and adults in general do and say that makes it very hard for those they teach to really get to grips with the world. I promised myself I would not partake of any of it. Did I get it right? I don’t know but I am bloody well pleased with my offspring, somewhere along the line they must have got switched because I am pretty sure I don’t deserve them, as some of the drive-by carnage I have left in my wake should surely have damned me. (and if any of you want to know what its all about then no doubt if you follow this blog long enough you will find out.)
In my defense it was an awesome adventure I had planned, early up a quick breakfast in Tim Horton’s with WI-FI hot spot and here we are bang on 11:00 am ready to head down the one way road open for 1 hours one way and then 1 hour the other way with a 30 Minuit safety gap, its pretty freaky gravel fire road cliffs and stuff and the photos don’t do it justice. On arrival off up the mountain to Celestine Lake lunch and back down for the return trip at 3:30pm. I guess # 1 Son wanted to know why I insisted hurtling up this mountain and back down again in such a tiny time window and the answer is because I can. Next time I plan to take the wife carry some gear, tent etc up to the backwoods camp ground at Celestine Lake and in the morning climb up to the Devona Lookout at 4500m and watch the sun rise. And I used a map, funny old fashioned skill learned in the Scouts. You know what people are getting lost in the mountains technology is making people too comfortable and they are taking risks out of proportion with their skill sets. On the wall of the information center a flyer for a basic map reading compass and backwoods navigation course . I am beginning to think being fearless without technology is the way to go maybe even do something silly, I shall dig out my fathers old steel-framed canvas backpack and Alpine walking tweeds and silly hat and do this thing properly. (Just you wait and see.)
A KInd Daughters Words.
