CaptainOrange

City Walk 2022 - A Quest Like No Other Every year that I do this (since 1994!), I get asked many of the same questions. Why I am doing it, or why again. I get awed looks and eye-rolls. If I encounter a stranger, they very often wonder, what cause I am supporting? It's complicated. In the past, I might have directed you to a previous blog post where I wax eloquent about my reasons. This year, I realized that the reason has managed to change a little bit every year. So, the answer, you may ask? Connection. To nature, the city, myself, family, and friends. This walk has gone from an individual pursuit, to an exercise in team building. So, what happened this year? 03:34 I had an alarm set for 4am, but as is so often the case, when you are keyed up you don't really wind up needing the alarm. I got up, grabbed the clothes that I had laid out the night before, posted on the City Walk Discord channel, and made an espresso. 04:00 Leo and Wen were not able to sleep with me grinding...

Stats Completion Distance: 67 km Steps: 92,000 Walkers at Departure: Mike, David, Bri, Liz, Anthony, Shannon Support Team: Leora, Eric, Gary, Vin, Jodi, Dillon, James, Appa Walkers at Finish Line: Mike, Liz Departure was textbook this year. Everyone arrived at Bri and David’s and we were outside within a minute of our exit time. I have to give a huge shout out to their espresso machine (and whoever oversaw it’s machinations). There was a large and beautiful latte waiting for me as I stepped through the door. Not leaving from my house was a bit of a sacrifice, but the coffee made it an easy pill to swallow. As it so often is, 4:30-6 am is strikingly beautiful at this time of year. Spirits were high and we all enjoyed the joyous, silent, glow of the morning sun as it nudged aside night’s clouds to the east.* *Note to Wendy: I would say the clouds were most definitely NOT scudding. Much more of a lazy drift. Fate, it seemed, was waiting around every corner wit...

Here we are again. The universe is bigger than ever and that includes Saskatoon—both because of the expansion of space-time and due to the more pedestrian fact of population growth. We must make some plans. The Plan: Saturday, July 14th, 4:15 am at David and Bri’s house (if you don’t know, ask someone). 4:30 am departure. It is my plan to walk counter clockwise. This means no wet river crossing*. Leaving from a new location means that I don’t quite know where the lunch should happen, but I suspect somewhere out past the Shaw Center in the early afternoon. *Stay tuned for late breaking news about direction and/or river activity. I expect you fall into one of the categories below: Accidental Tourist : Google brought me here by mistake... <cough> Observer : You think the Hopefuls are idiots, but you love us anyway. In other circumstances you would consider being on the Support Team but it won’t work this year. You will observe from a safe distance in case our crazy is ...

Google Photos Album of City Walk 2017

Bri, David, Henry, and Me 11:59pm - Sleep I wanted to get to bed early, but if all of you who know me are aware that The Planning is not strong within me. I spent the early evening packing my gear: bandaids, granola bars, water, sports drinks. I spent the late evening changing my mind about which pack I was going to take, packed and unpacked each of my 3 cameras, charged batteries, etc... Finally, at 10:30, I was ready to go to sleep. That's when one of my daughters asked me to read them to sleep. What Daddy could say no to that? 3:45am - Breakfast Coffee, black & toasted bagel, dry 4:15-4:25am - Arrivals My friend, Jim, dropped his 13-year-old son, Henry, off. While we chatted and got ready to leave, David and Bri arrived. 4:30am - departure David Photobombs the Sunrise. Thanks, Dave, much improved! Even with the 4am wake time, the departure really is the best time of the whole day. I always feel like Frodo at the beginning of The Fellowship of t...

I announced on various social media that I would be engaging in my Saskatoon City Walk again this year. Canada Day is quite a bit earlier than usual. I've always wanted to go on the summer solstice to maximize my daylight hours. The Strawberry full moon would have been an awesome addition to the festivities, but the timing would not have been good for anyone still in school, or who works for a living. So, July 1st is the compromise. Participants will be able to enjoy almost the maximum amount of daylight possible at this latitude--16h 38m... about 7min less than max. Be Prepared** **you don't need to carry everything below with you. Wendy (and possibly Jim) will be available throughout the day to drop off extra clothes, food or supplies. Also to pick up people who can go no further or drop off people who don't plan to walk the entire route. So, select everything you think you might need and only take what you know you will need at the beginning. Everything else can be l...

Crew 4:30 I set an alarm for 4am and people began arriving at my place by 4:15. at 4:35, I began along with James, Bri, David, and for the first time, Leora. When we picked an initial day to circumnavigate the city, it had been very hot. I was expecting 30 degrees C, which would have been pretty unbearable. It always excites me when there is an added bit of adversity. I don't do this trip repeatedly because it's easy. In fact, it is quite the opposite. I want it to be hard and I expect sometimes to fail. When it rained so hard earlier this week, I knew that it was going to make the trip tough. The nature of this walk means that we spend a lot of time in the new construction areas of the city. That means clay and mud. Lots of mud. Mud became the defining characteristic that I will remember about this year. Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli... It seemed dry as we began to walk towards the south of the city. In 15 minutes we were at the rail lines and it was apparent that we were g...