The Many Ups and Downs of Backpacking La Cloche Silhouette Trail

February 4, 2024February 8, 2024 / Oleksandra Budna / 2 Comments

Eighteen years ago, during our first visit to Killarney, as I was chasing our eighteen-month-old son around the park, I stumbled upon the La Cloche Silhouette Trail sign. Looking at it, I wondered what it would take to walk 100 kilometres. What kind of gear do you need to bring? How much food? What about water? “Maybe one day…” was my last thought before my son pulled me in another direction.

It all started many years ago when I came across this sign during our very first trip to Killarney.

It took some time but that day finally arrived. Here we were – my husband and I – taking a selfie in front of that same sign a week after we’d taken one in front of an identical one at the other end of the trail. And while the signs looked the same, we certainly did not – a shade darker from all the sun, with an obvious stubble (my husband), greasy hair in a tight ponytail (me), noticeably smelly clothes (both of us). Our backpacks were lighter; our hearts filled to the brim with the incredible memories of the past week that included everything from extreme heat to an epic downpour, challenging climbs and descents, Killarney’s magnificent views, soul-nourishing tranquility of early mornings and seemingly endless evenings spent by the water with loons, sandhill cranes and beavers for company.

Here are some highlights from a backpacking trip that was years in the making.

Before and after: A week of backpacking, a lifetime of memories in between

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Hiking the Grand Canyon: Journey to the Bottom and Back in Time

November 20, 2023November 20, 2023 / Oleksandra Budna / Leave a comment

The Grand Canyon is the kind of place that cracks your heart open and stays with you long after you leave its craggy outlines behind. I remember the first time I saw it from the Bright Angel Point Lookout on the North Rim. It was right after the sunrise. We arrived the night before, set up our tent in the dark just as it was starting to rain so there was nothing to do but go to sleep after finishing our dinner in the car. Now that the dark and rain cleared up, I was in a hurry to see this famed natural wonder. After an uncomfortable shuffle along a 800-metre long trail, long enough to make me regret my choice of footwear – flip flops were considerably slowing down my progress, I finally got to the lookout and couldn’t help but inhale at the sight. A chasm gaped in front of me – the Earth cracked open, its innermost essence exposed.

My first ever view of the Grand Canyon from the Bright Angel Point Lookout on the North Rim back in 2016

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Road Trip 2023: Goblins, Canyons and Sands of Time

October 4, 2023October 4, 2023 / Oleksandra Budna / 1 Comment

Between visiting my brother in California, exploring new parks in Utah, trekking down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and hiking in Colorado – our 2023 road trip promised to be epic. Unfortunately, we had to cut it short so the mountains of Colorado remain untouched by our hiking boots. And even though my mountain soul was really looking forward to that part of our trip, the Rockies have been around for almost 80 million years so I figured they will still be there in a year or two when we make our way back to Colorado. Plus, our truncated trip already featured quite a few beautiful places and exciting adventures. We returned with thousands of pictures, even more great memories and loads of sand in different colours – from the red sands of Utah to the yellow ones of California – tucked away in our camping equipment and clothing. So here are a few highlights.

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Walking in the winter wonderland: Yurt camping at Bruce Peninsula National Park

January 31, 2022January 31, 2022 / Oleksandra Budna / 5 Comments

Winter often gets a bad rap and I can see why: cold, wind chill, snow storms, extra challenges of getting outside that come with slippery roads or impassable snow banks, short days and all-consuming darkness. We often talk about winter as something to get through, huddled at home waiting for the arrival of better days. What we fail to see as we binge through yet another Netflix show is winter’s magic at work: crisp, sparkling air that fills our bodies with vigour and joy, softness of a snowfall that erases the edges and transforms familiar scenes, a promise of newness that comes with a fresh snow cover, mesmerizing creations chiselled out of ice. This past weekend we headed in search of this magic to Bruce Peninsula, a place where Niagara Escarpment’s rugged limestone cliffs and turquoise waters of Georgian Bay work together to create a masterpiece of a landscape. With an extra touch of winter’s artistic genius, the scenes were truly spellbinding.

Bruce Peninsula National Park in the winter

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Starting 2022 on a cliffhanger: Celebrating New Year’s arrival at Les Refuges Perchés

January 9, 2022January 9, 2022 / Oleksandra Budna / 3 Comments

January 1^st started with grey skies and a drizzle. As I drank my first coffee of the year on the balcony of our cabin perched on top of a cliff, I watched the opposite shore of Lac du Cordon drift in and out of sight. There was a certain, almost soothing rhythm to this game of hide-and-seek as the fog moved in repainting the hills across the white expanse of the lake grey to match the sky, then slowly dissipated only to roll back in again. It wasn’t the most promising start of the year as if nature mirrored the uncertainty and sadness of our pandemic reality. But then a flock of white-winged crossbills swooped in, pops of red and yellow against the greyness of the morning, and provided a much-needed reminder that beauty and joy can be found in the gloomiest of times.

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The Poetry and Prose of Backpacking the Coastal Hiking Trail in Pukaskwa

September 19, 2021September 23, 2021 / Oleksandra Budna / 4 Comments

“This trail has been described as challenging,” says the park ranger flipping through her orientation binder. We stifle a nervous laugh, still trying to embrace the enormity of what we are about to undertake – backpacking the entire 60-kilometre Coastal Hiking Trail in Pukaskwa National Park on the north shore of Lake Superior. There and back, plus a detour to Picture Rock Harbour – totalling 130 kilometres over nine days. A significant distance even on the flattest of terrains, let alone what has been rated as one of the most challenging trails in Canada.

Map of Pukaskwa National Park and Garmin InReach — *The Coastal Hiking Trail in Pukakswa National Park is no walk in the park.*

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Celebrating my birthday in Killarney: a 45-year-long journey to Silver Peak

July 31, 2021 / Oleksandra Budna / 1 Comment

At 543 metres, Silver Peak isn’t the highest of mountains. Even the word “mountain” sounds like a bit of stretch. But it is the highest point in Killarney Provincial Park and offers breathtaking panoramic views of the La Cloche range, the closest we get to mountains here in Ontario.

*Silver Peak is the highest point in Killarney and offers breathtaking views of La Cloche Mountains in Killarney.*

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All the time in the world: Celebrating New Year among mountains and cows

January 24, 2021 / Oleksandra Budna / Leave a comment

Celebrating New Year in the woods is always an interesting experience. Marking the change of arbitrary numbers among trees, hills and lakes that are oblivious to what year it is always feels weird, if not downright silly. In the woods, emptied of everyday routines and obligations, time stops being an accounting exercise where hours, days, years march by in a quick succession and becomes more of a space that you inhabit, an extended present moment that contains both past memories and future dreams at the same time. Standing in the presence of trees, hills and lakes as we exchange “Happy New Year!” is always a reminder that time isn’t linear, that it doesn’t pass by us but rather through us, that we can’t just put a year, not matter how bad, behind us because it inevitably becomes a part of us, like another ring in a tree trunk or a deepening crevice on the side of a mountain.

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A look back: 2020 in pictures and words

January 12, 2021January 12, 2021 / Oleksandra Budna / 2 Comments

Early morning is my favourite time of the day. As I lie in bed, eyes still closed, I savour the silence, interrupted only by deep breathing and an occasional snore from my husband and kids. I finally open my eyes and look through the window – craggy silhouettes of Green Mountains slowly come into focus. It takes me a few minutes to remember it’s January 1^st. Which means 2021 is here. And even though in this tiny cabin in southern Quebec, in the presence of eons-old peaks, time units like years seem ridiculously arbitrary and inconsequential, even though I am fully aware that pandemics and other global crises don’t follow a calendar, I still can’t help that growing sense of relief. 2020 is finally over.

view of Green Mountains at AU Diable Vert in Quebec in the winter

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Backpacking in Pukaskwa: Superior Adventure or Why Leave the Comforts of Indoors

November 23, 2020 / Oleksandra Budna / 7 Comments

“Humans have spent centuries perfecting the indoors,” notes my older son as he moves closer to the campfire. “Only for you to drag us all the way here to battle the elements.”

I know he’s only half-joking. This is the first night of our backpacking trip at Pukaskwa. We’ve just spent half a day hiking in the pouring rain, at times through ankle deep water and a good portion of the trail over slippery rocks. So I can see why our kids are not particularly excited about the whole endeavour. And while our younger son simmers quietly by the fire waiting for food, the older one launches into one of his philosophical arguments.

Once we get some chili into them and dry clothes on them, the mood improves considerably. But I can still feel spoken and unspoken doubts floating around under our green tarp, getting trapped in the criss-cross of clothing lines that spot everything from t-shirts to socks to underwear, wrapped in a dense coat of smoke courtesy of wet firewood. Eventually, we pack our edible stuff into the food locker and retreat into our tents. Maybe not the type of indoors our older son had in mind, but the best shelter for this particular moment. As I fall asleep to the fading beat of raindrops against the nylon, I start wondering what we are searching for on the wildest of Lake Superior’s shores.