Outdoors
Personal BlogsTrail guides, campground reviews, gear I actually use and the slow build of the truck that gets me to all of it. Mostly the Canadian Rockies and the back roads of Alberta, written the same way as everything else here – honestly, and with the bits that went wrong left in.
Roomy, well made, and it still ripped on the last night
Genuinely roomy for three, with storage details that earn their keep. Then the rain fly tore off at the poles on night thirteen. Four out of five, and buy the footprint.
13 days, 5 of us, and one very loaded truck
Edmonton to Waterton, west to Revelstoke, back through Yoho to Banff. The route we actually drove, what it really cost, and 61 km of Strava data.
The hardest day hike in Banff, and worth every metre
Thirteen kilometres, 915 metres of climbing, and a pass that opens onto Mount Louis like a stone cathedral. Go counter-clockwise and start early.
The campground people picture when they picture the Rockies
Turquoise water, Mount Rundle filling the horizon, and almost no privacy at all. Sites 36 to 38 are the money spots, and they go in minutes.
Four cheap LED pods, and no regrets going budget
Under $50 a pair, an afternoon of fiddling, and the ditch lights up on dark back roads. An LED is an LED, expensive or cheap.
The all-terrains that won on value, 10,000 km later
OEM tyres were done at 280,000 km. Eighty dollars a tyre cheaper than the KO2, three-peak snowflake rated, and quiet on the highway.