Thanks for the great photos
I just love that sight of some "icing" on the peaks and on the higher elevation trees.

Canoedogs - I haven't been in that area, but my experience is that in this kind of terrain it is relatively easy to keep track of your position. The steep mountains confine you to the flat valley areas unless you deliberately struggle uphill. The abundance of big terrain features gives you plenty of land marks that are easy to spot on the map. Unless you mess it up on a ridgeline and enter down into the wrong valley it would take a profound lack of geographical common sense to become lost. Even in foul weather (no sight of the peaks) you will be confined between the river and the steep slope at the side of the valley. Anyone can find themselves in a state of geographical confusion anywhere, but it is pretty hard to find a terrain where it is so easy to recover. (Walk to the river and you've narrowed down the "where-am-I" problem quite a bit).

Put me in a flat area or worse - in an area where all the canyons and hills are just too small to stand out distinctly on a topo map.... now THAT is hard to navigate. For me, at least.

Jeans are very close to the top of my "worst outdoor clothing" - list. Walk through wet bush and you're soaked after 50 meters, and then they're both clammy and cold.


I must say that I find it pretty absurd that you can have "closed trails" out in the wilderness. A cultural difference, I guess. (Of course I would respect it, coming as a guest to the area and all).