Marian and I celebrated the New Year by hiking down to one of our favourite East Coast Trail destinations: Freshwater Bay. The photo above was taken from the new bridge that crosses Leamy’s Brook and enables hikers to avoid the barachois or make a lovely lollipop shaped hike if they don’t want to continue onto Black Head. The afternoon light was gorgeous and the sky to the Northeast gave some hints that a storm was on the way. It’s been a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of outdoor time on walks, snowshoes, and skis. As I’m set to teach my winter outdoor activities course on Monday, I’m cheering (silently) for this influx of the white stuff though I know many are cursing it. The mission of my winter course is to equip students with skills and knowledge to help them spread “winter love” or at least less winter hate. With some skills and a good clothing system, winter becomes a time of fun and exciting outdoor adventure. If you need any winter inspiration, please see this intro to our newish book: Get-Outside Guide to Winter Activities.

Marian and I spent an evening watching all of the video I shot while on our Paddling North adventure last summer, canoeing 3080 km between Jasper, Alberta and Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories. It was fun to relive part of the adventure and some of the clips had us bent over in laughter. We recently put up a few canvas prints on the wall opposite where we do dishes so we could be flooded with memories and be inspired towards new expeditionary goals. As usual, spending 90 days on that expedition has transformed my relationship to that part of the world and to every Canadian map I look at. It does seem a bit like a dream that this time last year we were still working on the plan to make that trip possible.

Several expedition thoughts and potentialities are in the mix right now and we’ll let folks know our adventure plans as soon as we nail them down enough to buy tickets. Looking at some time back in the Himalayas and Labrador as serious possibilities. I hope you have some adventures planned for 2019, whether they be near or far! Wishing you all the best for an adventurous and active New Year.