Just back from Bali and I’ve got little over a week to service the Jeep, put packing lists together, get groceries, put the gear into Zarges cases and head north. When my nomadic lifestyle was cut too short by a series of circumstances 2 years ago, I mourned the loss of the simplicity I found living out of my Land Rover, feeling close to the elements, and waking up in the wilderness. So once in a while I take some time off to go find that again. Last year it was 3 weeks on a trip north past the arctic circle, and I was so entranced by the fall colours and the northern lights that danced across the sky for the still short northern nights, that this year we’re gone for a month.
In a week we hop into Emily, my Jeep, and head to Jasper, Alberta, then north towards Whitehorse, and from there north on the infamous Dempster Highway to Tombstone Territorial Park and the arctic circle. We’ll chase the colours, look for adventure, and see if we can find the Porcupine Caribou herd and watch them thunder across the landscape. We’ll set alarms, waking up at 1am and 3am to see if the aurora have come to play. We’ll camp in the middle of nowhere, up river beds, and get as far from a cell signal and inbox as we can before we come crawling back “like a drunkard after gin,” as Bruce Cockburn would say. We’ll probably listen to some Bruce Cockburn too, because I can’t drive 9000+ kilometers through Canada without him, and on Monday I’ve got tickets to see him in concert here in Vancouver. I once drove 8 hours to Olympia, Washington to see Bruce in concert, then turned around and drove home. Speaking of heading home, we’ll be coming south again around September 18, taking the BC Ferries’ Northern Explorer through the fabulous Inside Passage, to Vancouver Island, then home. Can’t hardly wait! 🙂
As I did last year I’ll share the adventure with you as much as I can. While I’m gone we’ll be releasing something I wish I could be here to do myself. Earlier this summer I finished a book called *The Visual ToolBox, 50 Lessons for Stronger Photographs, and while I’m on the road my team here will release it. I love teaching photography, and since I don’t have a school, this book is my best shot at that. It’s a big book, released digitally as a PDF through Craft & Vision, and I wrote it as though it were year one in a weekly photography school for people who want to do more than make photographs that are sharp and well exposed, and make photographs, instead, that say something, and move people. Can’t wait to show it to you! Stay tuned; there will be a special discount for the first couple days of its release.
*UPDATE (SEPTEMBER 24, 2014): The Visual Toolbox has been acquired by Peachpit Press! This product has be pulled from the C&V store never to return. When Peachpit publishes it in early 2015, it’ll hit bookshelves with a new cover, and 10 new chapters.
Comments
And if you ever get out to Langley, although I can’t imagine why you’d want to, drop by…and bring beer.
Have a great trip, be safe and don’t get eaten by a grizzly! 😉
Plus get some great images….. I know you will.
safe adventures and look ing forward to the new book
When you see Cockburn request “Mango”…
Shall I tell him Jerry asked for it? Great song…
Have a great time and watch out for errant gunfire!
Point taken, sir. I will be driving with my head down and a big orange vest draped over the hood
If, by chance, you get to Fairbanks, give a holler. Be happy to show you around some. Good travels!
Thank you, Scott.
As always, if you ever need a pitstop, rest or free beer you are always welcome in Smithers. Enjoy the next month David, enjoy the beautiful north!
-Nathan
Thanks, Nathan. 🙂