A part of the series: chilkoot trail | north coast

One of the unique things about being on an expedition, is that food becomes an entirely simplistic experience. Meals are stripped bare of elegance and presentation. No longer is food served on a pristinely clean white plate. Food is eaten straight out of the package and you know what? Nobody cares. After a day of hiking, I’d eat almost anything if it meant that it was fast and filling.

Meal time in the Arctic was no luxury, but then again it’s the Arctic . . . what was I expecting? Never the less, it took some getting used to. What I used to think were the basics back home became luxuries in the Arctic. Running water was nowhere to be found. Okay that’s a lie, there was running water. We camped near a glacial stream hoping to collect fresh drinking water. Unfortunately, after traveling the length of a mountain the water was full of mud and silt. No worries, nothing like a good boil to kill off any nasties. I still drank the mud.

Although boiling water was by far the hardest part of meal time, it didn’t end there. Finding dinner was also a tricky task. Hiking from beach to glacier, back to beach, then off to the goose hide, and then back to the beach, involves a lot of packing and unpacking. Each trip meant carrying our rucksacks, tent, food, and any other additional equipment. The constant back and forth often resulted in lost or mixed up items. At least three times a day I heard my tent mate shout from within our tent, “Damn. I can’t find my sock.” Only to be followed minutes later by, “Never mind I found it. Aww it smells vile.” So let’s just say trying to find a ration for dinner was no easy task.

Preparing for dinner was always difficult, but who wouldn’t put a little hard work in for a hot meal on a frigid Arctic day. But, hot food or not, 18 days of the same thing is just . . . well . . . difficult. The constant repetition had me fantasizing about food long before I left.

The second I landed back in Longyearbyen I had only two things on my mind. A shower and food. She shower one. A quick jaunt into town and I found myself scarfing down a bag of chips with my mate Ashley. I don’t even like chips, but anything different than flapjacks and ration packs was good with me. Later that night we enjoyed elk burgers to truly cement our Arctic experience. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a meal so fast, or enjoyed it quite so thoroughly.

Right now, I’m sure you’re dying to know what it is I ate in the Arctic that drove me to eat two bags of chips upon my return. Oops, did I just say two. Don’t judge me. Well here it is, a typical day in the Arctic and the food that almost drove me crazy.

• 6:00 a.m. Wake up. Throw on waterproof gear, shove my feet into boots. Leave boots untied and run out of tent. Grab gun. Hope over trip wire. Run to washroom which was either the beach or a poop bag.(If you want to know more about the poop bag, then come to my Talk’s with Travelers talk at Novack’s this Fall).
• 6:30 a.m. Collect snow or water. Crawl back into tent and begin to boil water for breakfast. Meanwhile pour oats into a plastic mug. Add one packet of sugar and one pack of raisins. Enviously stare at tent mates as all they have to do is open up a pre-prepared packet of porridge for breakfast. Pour boiling water into mug. Stir. Devour.
• 8:00 a.m. Eat crackers and jam before hike.
• 9:00 a.m. Begin hiking up Wimandfjellet.
• 10:00 a.m. Admire views. Devour a flapjack. (Hopefully banana, the other flavours aren’t the best).
• 12:00 p.m. Hopefully reach top of mountain or glacier. Have a pack of raisins. Do glacier work or bird counting.
• 1:30 p.m. Eat a pepperami and more crackers for lunch.
• 3:30 p.m. Head back to base camp. Eat more raisins.
• 5:30 p.m. Return to base camp and start boiling water for dinner and for drinking tomorrow.
• 6:30 p.m. Enjoy one of 3 ration packs: Vegetable Casserole, Vegetable Bolognaise, and Lamb Pilaf (my favourite).
• 7:00 p.m. Stare at my dessert. Raspberry jelly and contemplate eating it. Hell no, those things are vile.

I’ve shared some of the hardest moments of meal times, but it all pales in comparison to my dairy debacle. I’d mention it here, but that experience must be shared when I talk about my toilet situation. Uhhh yes . . . it was bad. Until then.

Celina

*Celina will be sharing her story in person Wednesday Oct. 5, 2011 @ 7pm kicking off our fall Talks With Travellers series. Click here for more details about her talk.

A part of the series: Celina's Arctic Adventure

All good things have to come to an end, and this is pretty much the last installment of this blog. We had a tough decision to make at this point in the trip; push hard for a couple days and hit Los Angeles, CA and then bust hump to get bikes packed up and shipped, or setup shop in Monterey and relax on the beach with friends. Not much of a decision really. We stayed in Monterey.

A couple days in Monterey meant time at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, time on the beach, and you guessed it…more eating. It really was bitter sweet knowing that we weren’t going to be biking anymore, but at the same time kind of refreshing knowing we were going back to real life. The past month had really been a dream world. Days consisted of decisions you don’t normally ever make, and more physical work than the daily grind can come close to. There is somehow comfort in knowing you are going to push yourself every morning; you have no choice when you have 100KM’s of cars and climbs to fight on the highway ahead of you.

It is this attitude that I really want to keep with me while I am home. The excuse of being lazy doesn’t cut it when biking across the country for a month, sleeping in a cold tent on a 1″ mattress, living out of 3 bags full of dirty clothes; why should it all of a sudden be valid excuse when you have a warm dry bed to sleep in every night, clean clothes to wear, and a warm shower whenever you want? Perhaps biking across the country is a great way to get a glimpse of what someone experiencing homelessness goes through every day. Either way, it makes the “real world” seem easy, and puts being lazy into a whole different context.

I suppose what I am going to miss the most is hanging out with friends every minute of every day. Relying on others to help sustain you with food, navigation, or just a friendly face when things aren’t going well. Knowing that every nasty climb in front of you is being done by everyone else in the group. In life, we often assume that what we are going through is more difficult than others, but on a bike trip, it is equal hardships around the horn; furthermore, if the other 4 can do it without complaining, what gives me the right.

Don’t get me wrong, we did our share of group and individual complaining on this trip…but we did it together, and that is what made it okay. So if there is anything you can take home from our trip, it is that no matter how good or bad you think things are, just try to do it with someone and that alone should keep things in perspective. This past spring I did a talk at Ignite London about people, that talk rings even more true in my ears than it did a month ago. People are the key to being better, doing things with and for people is more important than anything else. This bike trip was about people, and it was people that made it one of the best months of my life. The people in our group, the people we met on the road, and the people that followed from home.

Thank-you…you know who you are.

A part of the series: Jody's Bike Trip

We took a much needed rest day in San Francisco, and the camera got a break as well. Instead of walking around trying to photograph San Francisco, I spent the time hanging out with the group. It was a nice change of pace just being with my friends instead of trying to photograph and document them. Obviously that means no photos for the blog. We honestly didn’t see much. We went down to Fisherman’s Warf, and then spent the rest of day—big surprise—eating.

As per usual, I also had a fix to make on the bike. My support for my pannier rack broke at some point going into San Francisco as it fell apart when I pulled my bags off in the hotel. The morning that we left San Francisco, we fixed it Red Green styles in the hotel lobby. My MSR tent pegs once again proved to be valuable tools…that, and a lot of duct tape. Sometimes you have just the tools you need in your tent bag.

With all bikes tuned up a bit and ready for the road, we took the scenic tour around San Francisco heading for Golden Gate Park as we knew we could get out of town easily that way. Of course, we also happened to be leaving the day of the San Francisco Escape From Alcatraz triathlon, so it was up in the air how that would work out. We were a bit concerned with not being able to make the gap on the trails from the bridge to the highway, but it was unanimously decided by the group to do this instead of climb up and over the middle of San Francisco…not a fun prospect.

As it turned out, we were able to pretty much take the route we wanted aside from one little detour. Instead of being able to stay at sea level and go under the Golden Gate Bridge, we had to climb over it. In hindsight, it wasn’t that bad, but we did end up on a golf course, doing some single track on a gravel trail, and I do believe there may have been a tumble or two.

Regardless, we had our own mini escape from San Francisco and we all won. When we got to the highway, we were greeted with the open road as all the bikes were done in the triathlon, but the highway was still closed for it. Happily, we stretched our legs, got 5 or 6 wide, and cruised along the beach with a local as he gave us a guided tour of south San Francisco.

The photo to the right was kind of a big deal for me. I saw a piece of art once—which of course I can’t find a link to—that really struck a cord with me because it visualized what it would be like if bikes were the “norm” and cars were lower down the road hierarchy. This view as I biked behind the group on the open highway almost brought a tear to my eye as I saw what the possibilities are when bikes are giving equal status on the road. Needless to say, the open highway ended far too soon, and it was back to the reality of riding in 8 inches of shoulder as cars buzzed passed.

We wound our way from San Francisco, CA down the coast to the Pidgeon Point Hostel where Allie made her famous “wife saver” for dinner. What started out as a hectic day in the city, ended in a peaceful sunset on the coast in the middle of no where.

A part of the series: Jody's Bike Trip

After a somewhat entertaining evening of trying to outwit racoons that ganged up on us, and then themselves, we headed from the rather expensive campground in Gualala, CA to Doran Beach Campground in Bodega Bay, CA. It wasn’t but a few miles into the day that we spotted this stunning house. As it turns out, it wasn’t a house at all, but rather a non-denominational place of prayer open to the public. Like the bad blogger that I am, I forgot to get a photo of the information plaque located inside, and I can’t find any details on the internet. It was designed by an architect and is maintained through donations.

The wood work inside and out is fabulous as the photos below in the gallery will attest, but you really have to sit inside on the hand crafted seats to get a sense of how calming the little temple is. We took some photos, had an early rest, and headed back to the highway with a nice calm feeling as the sun started to come out and play.

As with the previous day or two, we were kind of in the middle of no where. There were no major centers and the small towns we passed through were few and far in-between. The one staple was the beautiful ocean and coastline to our right hand side at all times.

With the coastline comes climbing and descending. It had become a bit of a running joke at this part of the trip “turn left and go downhill, then turn right and go uphill…then turn left and go downhill, and turn right and go uphill”. This is how the coastal highway works. You descend around left hand turns, have a hard right switchback turn and climb back up. At times it is fun, but after a while with a lot of weight it can get a little tiresome. The group all did really well through the tougher climbs and I was happy to get some photos of the hardworking and smiling faces coming over crests after a climb.

We had a nice lunch in Jenner and cut our day short as Point Reyes appeared to be the next possible camp spot on the map, and we were only about 60 miles from San Francisco which we would hammer out the next day. My personal desire to camp on the beach was fulfilled and I had a huge smile on my face when we pulled into the Doran Beach campground on the peninsula.

It was a short but rather satisfying day of climbing knowing we were only 1 day away from San Francisco and a rest day!

A part of the series: Jody's Bike Trip