The road chose me

Just north of Liard Hot Springs is a little town of Coal River - not too many people know, but it is also home to a a Hot Spring. A few days earlier I got directions from a local so I set out bushwacking to see what I could find. The general directions were to walk along the sandy bank of the river for a few kays, then follow and old trail to the springs - that works great when the river isn’t stupidly high. After 45mins of bushwacking I’d only gone maybe 500m and knew it was time to turn around. It was a defeat, but I have a funny feeling I’ll come south through here and try again when the river is lower.

Just a day ahead of me, a massive forest fire ripped through the area, causing people to be evacuated and massive amounts of forest to be destroyed. It made me think a lot of the forest fires in Oz… scary scary.

Burnt Hiking Sign

Burnt Mountain

Earlier on today I crossed the border into the Yukon:

Yukon Baby!

-Dan

No drive up the Alaska Highway would be complete without a stop at Liard Hot Springs, so I had to oblige. The area is super popular with hundreds of people roaming around taking photos and generally being tourists.

Massive boardwalks have been built to take you right out to the main soaking area, “Alpha Pool”, the pool we have all seen photos of. It was a great pool, really big, deep and clear. At one end the hot water flowed in too hot too touch, and right next to it was a cold waterfall. Further down the pool the water had all mixed making for a great soak. The water continued to flow, forming a river that could be explored - the further you went the colder and muddier it got, with overhanging vines and submerged logs. The Alpha Pool was always busy, but it’s obvious why - it really was fantastic.
I didn’t get a very good photo of this one because I was too busy soaking.

Alpha Pool

Another 5 minutes down the boardwalk was “Beta Pool”, an entirely different thing. Here, hot water was bubbling up from the bottom of a 3 meter deep, 5 meter across hole in the mud. The water was not very clear thus the pool was almost always empty. It was also slightly cooler, which meant you could soak for a lot longer without overheating. This pool was good in it’s own way, but I do prefer a nice gravel bottom.

Liard Hot Springs Beta Pool

I camped a night at Liard and soaked in the springs 5 times
I highly recommend it to anyone passing through.

-Dan

Driving the Alaska Highway was actually getting a little mundane - wide, flat & straight as far as the eye could see. I’d also started thinking of it as “The Retirees Highway” due to the average person frequenting the highway….And then BAM - all of a sudden it was narrow, windy, up and down mountain passes and the surface went from fantastic to terrible in about 10 meters - perfect!

Of course, I hiked to the top of the first mountain I could find, which happened to be at the highest point of the Highway at 1295 meters (4,248 feet). The highway here was cutting through the northern-most ranges in the Canadian Rockies - I have no idea what lies further north.

Love those mountains

I’d also been wondering if I was going to see any wildlife on this highway, when again out of nowhere it all fell into my lap. I saw a cow moose and her two calves trying to cross the road, two young black bears playing together, tons of deer and caribou, lots of buffalo (damn they are big) and finally the little guy in the photo below.

Little guy on the side of the road

Knowing that a bunch of hot springs are coming up, I’ve been gathering information as best I can. Some are very well known about and I’ll go to for sure, others - “good luck”. I passed through Toad Creek today which has a hot spring about 10km hike away. After talking to the locals I ended up giving it a miss for two main reasons - it’s a smelly lukewarm mud pit at best and the logging road is on the wrong side of the river which is way to high to cross.

Don’t worry though, I’m pretty sure my next update will have more hot water than… umm… well lots of it anyway.

-Dan

Dan and Jeep

Driving into Dawson Creek was a very unexpected experience for me. In the five and a half years since I lived in California, I have dreamed of the Alaska Highway and everything beyond. More than that - I’ve wanted it down to my very core. And now, a leisurely two day drive from Calgary, here I am standing at the Mile 0 post in the middle of Dawson Creek. All that time of wanting, and it was right here all along. The drive wasn’t long or difficult, the logistics were simple and I didn’t even have to sacrifice any goats - to be honest, it was dead easy. I jumped in the Jeep and drove here.
Easy.

Original Mile 0 marker

I had planned and dreamed and planned for so long, leaving Calgary turned out to be quite anticlimactic. I had originally thought I would be so overcome with emotions I’d have to pull over and take some deep breaths, you know, like in the movies when the hero rides out of town. But there was none of that. It really felt like a regular old road trip, gone for the weekend type of thing.
I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that this is now my life - this is what I do. A few months should take care of that

Sitting by the Mile 0 marker I saw a motorbike roll by with Columbian license plates which spurred a whole train of thought for me. At first I was excited - “Man”, I thought “This guy is doing it!”. Then I was a little disappointed that I’m not the first to try this - not blazing a new path all frontier like. Of course I knew that all along, but this was the first in-my-face example. And then a little later, I started to get really, really excited, thinking “This really can be done”. “All those kilometers and border crossings and drug dealing, gun wielding exclusive membership golf clubs really can be navigated.” Hell yeah.

More than anything else though, it really is clear to me the best time to turn off the TV, get off the couch and live your dreams is now. Not next summer, not when the car is paid off and definitely, 100% not when this season of Lost is finished. NOW.

It’s not nearly as hard as you think it is, and it’s scientifically proven to be about 1000 times more enjoyable.

I’ve been playing around with HDR photography lately, so I’ll leave you with a shot I just took of the great highway winding north. The mountains just came into view this afternoon and it was a really familiar feeling to see them again, little patches of white visible even at this distance.

Loving that view

It’s 9pm and I’m happily working on my tan, the sun still about 30 degrees above the horizon. I think it will go down for an hour or two tonight, but after another couple of days driving north I’ll have my endless summer!

-Dan

So I’ve talked a lot about the actual tree planting side of tree planting, but there is a lot more to it than that. Because you are in iso camp, you live and breathe tree planting 24/7. You sleep in a tent every single night with the mosquitos, black flies and bears. You eat every single meal as a group and most importantly, you hang our with your fellow planters all day every day.

There is no doubt in my mind that your fellow planters have the ability to make or break the experience. Everyone knows it’s insanely hard work. Everyone knows the bugs are unbearable. Everyone knows it’s stupidly hot. If you ever actually talked about it, any sane person would curl up in the dirt and cry. And that’s the whole thing - every single person was happy to be there. Everyone smiled, everyone joked and everyone was positive. Even at the end of a stupidly hard day, people found the energy to juggle, or play volleyball, or throw a frisbee. Maybe we were all insane, maybe we all had heat stroke, or maybe it was a camp full of positive, can-do people who just couldn’t be beat down.

Only 2,700 to go today...

At times it was taken to a level beyond anything I’ve seen before. Tim had more blisters than feet - he would hobble around camp in obvious pain at night, but each morning, he was the first one out to the block loading up with trees, a smile on his face. Eric kept planting with “a sore back” - it turned out that most of his lower back was shades of purple and black. When I asked how much it hurt he shrugged and said “it’s sore”. Aja took a tumble and cut her hand on stick, when I asked how it was she showed me inside-hand stuff poking to the outside - her only concern was how many days she would be unable to plant while injured.
(Tim later had some days off and went to a doctor, Aja got two stitches and as far as I know, Eric kept planting).

The particular company that I was with has been doing this for a really long time, and it showed. The had figured out the right balance needed to make sure everyone could earn lots of money, but also keep themselves healthy and happy. All meals were carefully prepared with maximum nutrition and were very much all you can eat. Each night when we arrived back from planting appetizers were immediately available - to fill the void before dinner came and hour later. The camp had hot showers and worked a 4 day on, 1 day off schedule.

And what a day off it was. “Party night” was basically an excuse to see how much alcohol we could each consume - and given what we’d been doing for the previous 4 days, that was not surprisingly very little. A much loved game, “boozeby” was played with great enthusiasm and intensity. It involved a frisbee, beer and beer bottles balanced on poles. Mike and I were the obvious favorites but were knocked out by the head of camp and his ring-in partner after some great throwing on their behalf.
The night was a great chance for everyone to let their hair down and then do precisely nothing the next day.

On my last day I got to take a ride to work in a Hagland - think of a small tank and you’re pretty much there. To get around the horrible roads a vehicle with tracks is essential and these things are so tough that Canada has 15 or so on active duty in Afghanistan.

Where's the guys with guns?

I thought I would be able to help Mike earn tons of money while I was there, but unfortunately there is so much practice and skill involved in actual planting and I was waaaay to slow to be any use. Mike was aiming to plant 2000 - 2,700 trees in a day and I would have been luckt to add a couple of hundred to that. In the end, I carred the backpack of trees and handed them to Mike and he needed them. This worked out really well because it meant we were right next to each other all day and had tons of time to chat about everything and nothing.

Tree planting - could I do it? I think so. Would I be very good at it? I really don’t know. It’s a lot harder than I ever thought and the mental struggle of doing the same thing every day would wear me down for sure. I had a great time and I wish everyone in camp the best of luck for the season.
Thanks for having me guys,

-Dan

Mike’s directions were perfect. The first email said turn right, left, right. The second email said left, right, left. I knew exactly what to do - make it up - and drove directly to “R Storage” without getting turned around once.
It was time for my first side adventure of the trip. Mike had been tree planting out of Slave Lake, Alberta for about a month and he had found a way to get me out there with him for a few days. I’d always wanted to give planting a go, so I jumped at the chance.

I had to meet up with some guys from the planting company because getting out to iso (isolation) camp was not a straight forward thing to do. After 150km of highway and another 30km of unsealed logging roads we had to abandon the truck and move everything into a mule. When the logging companies are done in the winter they remove all of their bridges to make it harder for joe hunter to travel around in the middle of nowhere. The first thing the planters had done was re-build two bridges, but they were small and the road from here turned to glue when it rained, so regular trucks could go no further. Past here we would only use a mule, ATV or Hagland (more on those later) for transportation.

It was 11pm when I arrived in main camp and the sun was still very much up. Mike had been waiting up for me and after chatting for 10 minutes while I put up my tent he was pretty excited to goto sleep. Breakfast was at 6am he said cheerily - “Don’t worry, I won’t let you sleep in”.

Dan and Mike in the field

Breakfast and a whole bunch of introductions were over all too soon and Mike and I were talking out to our “piece” of land to plant on for the day. A tree planter wears a pack not unlike a hiking backpack with two huge containers on each side for trees. 270 trees per load weighing around 35 lbs. They use a very small, very short shovel to make a hole just big enough for the tree, stomp it in and move onto the next tree. But that’s kind of the obvious easy part - the next bit is spacing.

The trees need to be planted to a certain density based on the current contract - we were aiming for 1600 trees per hectare which meant the average distance between trees needed to be 2.7 meters. Once you’ve laid down one nice straight row it seems like you should be able to turn around, and plant another row 2.7 meters from your last. That would work really well except that the trees you just planted do their very best to hide; they hide behind stumps, under sticks and logs and best of all they are the exact same shade of green as the five hundred and fifty six million pieces of old tree lying around. For the life of me I couldn’t see a freshly planted tree even if I was standing directly on top of it.

How many trees can you spot?

To measure if you were plating at the correct density you could lay down a “plot” - stick your shovel in the ground a tie a piece of string to it. Walk around in a full circle and count the trees that lie within a 3.99 meter radius. The contract and some maths meant we needed to find eight freshly planted trees within that circle. The contact allowed some leeway, 7, 8 or 9 was OK. We were checked on our work and would have to re-do anything that was not up to scratch.

Another thing that I was completely unprepared for was the state of the ground we were planting in. Sometimes it was “cream” - there were no logs, sticks, twigs, sawdust mounds or anything else to get in the way. One good hit with the shovel and you had nice black soil to shove the tree into. More often than not the ground was covered with 5 inches of debris from the previous generations of trees, so in order to get down to the soil you need to use your feet to scratch away the junk, called “screefing”. Sometimes you would be standing on 3 or 4 layers of logs putting you at least a foot or two off the dirt. Again, you have to find a way to clear whatever was in the way to get down to the soil. Of course
there is the constant fun of swamps to deal with - five steps in a row are high and dry then the next one you are mid-shin in mucky water, affectionately called “booting”.

While thinking about everything above, remember that tree planters are paid by the tree, not the hour. So even after you’ve climbed over logs, walked through swaps and finished your 270 tree run, you really get no relaxation from sitting down in the shade for 2 minutes to cram as much food in your face as you possibly can. Your mind immediately wanders to the fact that you are currently making $0/hr and that is bringing down your average and to make today profitable you’ll have to work even harder.

If you can do everything mentioned above in around 10 seconds per tree and you don’t ever stop for more than a few minutes and you work from 8am to 6pm you can hope to make something like $300 in a day. Before tax and camp costs, that is.

Do not be fooled - tree planting is extremely hard work. If you are up for it, you can make good money.

I’ll talk more next time about the people and community spirt at camp.

-Dan

Getting ready to plant....

Mum and Dad scanned in the article for me… I can’t stop grinning from ear to ear!

On the front page

The Sunraysia Daily Article

-Dan

In five minutes, I’m heading out the door on my adventure - I’ve never been more excited in my life.
Thanks to everyone for the comments and suggestions - they are greatly appreciated and I will take them on board.

Lots of people have been asking about my preparations for the trip and what I’m taking with me. Below are the lists that have been on my bedroom wall for the last 7 months detailing all the things that needed to be done before today.
Also checkout the hood of my Jeep, a blank slate ready to be filled in.

Blank slate ready to be filled in

Jeep Spares:
I wanted to carry enough spares so I could fix something enough to limp to the next town. If i drop a valve or drive shaft, I’m walking.

• Oil filter X 2 (I’ll probably get more before I leave North America)
• Air filter X 2
• Serpentine belt
• Top & bottom radiator hoses & hose clamps
• Top & bottom heater hoses
• Front swaybar link (It was free and I’ve already broken one)
• Oils for engine, transmission, transfer case and diffs
• Wiper blades X 2
• Radiator coolant
• Lots of fuses & wire

Tools:

• A Canadian Tire 160 piece tool kit (metric & imperial sockets, ratchets, ring spanners, allen keys, torx bits, etc, etc)
• Hammer, Pliers, Hacksaw, C-Clamp, File, Letherman multi-tool
• Multi-meter & wire strippers
• 12v air compressor & puncture repair kit (the cheap, crappy kind)
• WD 40 & duct tape

Work I’ve done to the Jeep lately:
I wanted to do a ton of work to the Jeep - partly because it had to be done and partly so I would be familiar with it on the road.

• New plugs, leads, distributor cap & rotor
• New serpentine belt
• New raditor & heater hoses
• Flush raditor and new coolant
• New rear brake shoes & handbrake adjustment
• New Front brake calipers & pads
• Brake bleed and fluid flush
• Diff overhaul front and rear (pinion seals & new synthetic oil)
• Transfer case oil (synthetic)
• Transmission oil (synthetic)
• New tires including full size spare
• Engine oil, filter & air filter

Immunizations:
Only Yellow Fever was a must have for a couple of countries.

• Yellow Fever
• Hepatitis A & B (Twinrix)
• Typhoid
• Tetanus & Diphtheria
• Rabies

First Aid Kit:

• Fox 40 whistle
• Saliene eye wash
• Compass
• Sterile spliter (Sliver) removers
• Healing gel (burns, etc)
• Lighter
• Scissors
• Sterlie bandage pads X 10
• Band Aids
• Medical tape
• Paracetamol tablets
• Alcohol wipes X 2
• Emergency poncho
• Compression bandage
• Emergency space blanket
• Needles as follows
  • 5-0 nylon suture w/needle
  • 1cc syringe w/needle
  • 3cc syringe
  • 25ga. x 5/8″ needle
  • 21g. x 1.5″ needle
  • 18g. x 1.5″ needle
  • 18g. intravenous catheter
  • Sterile gloves X 2
• Mini flashlight (key chain type)
• Big sewing needle
• Ice pack X 2 (the chemical kind)
• Heat pack X 4 (the chemical kind)
• Thermometer
• 90 Malarone tablets
• Altitude sickness tablets
• General “upset stomach” prescription antibiotic tablets.

Camping gear:

• 2 man, 4 season tent
• -7 deg C mummy sleeping bag & liner
• Thermarest & pillow (yeah, it’s car camping)
• Trangia lightweight hiking stove & fuel
• Headlamp, camping chair
• Clothes & thermals (I have too many clothes right now, I’ll have to cull it soon)

Electronics:

• Dell mini 9 netbook & 12v charger
• Fuju FD6000FD camera
• AA battery charger modified to run off 12v
• iPod loaded with “learn Spanish” audio books

Misc:

• Guitar
• Hot springs books
• Other reading books
• Maps
• Tripod
• Disc golf discs X 3
• Ultimate Frisbee

-Dan

The newspaper from my hometown, The Sunraysia Daily is printing the following article on Monday the 15th June:

DAN Grec has lived on the edge for years but is about to embark on an epic journey, even by his standards.
After road-tripping the entire east and west coast of the USA and spending the past years in the snowfields and mountains of Lake Tahoe, California, and Calgary in Alberta, Canada, the adventurer from Buronga is planning a transcontinental drive.
This weekend Dan, 27, will begin his road trip from the Arctic Ocean in Northern Alaska, the tip of North America, to Tierra Del Fuego, the southern-most point of South America.
He does not have sponsors, years of training or a lot of money - he admits to being just an average guy who isn’t afraid to try the road less travelled.
“I’m driving 50,000km on the world’s longest highway and will pass through more than 15 countries,” Dan said.
“The route is very tentative - if I was to meet someone who swore I had to see South Dakota, I’d probably go there.”
At 18 Dan moved from Buronga to Melbourne to study Computer Software Engineering at Swinburne University.
After university he got a taste for adventure and said goodbye to his parents in Buronga three years ago.
He hasn’t looked back since.

“When I was at university I thought I would graduate, get a career and do that for the rest of my life.

“When I finished uni all of my friends were furiously applying for jobs and looking at a career - I was just too burnt out.

“The only application I filled out was to work in the snowfields in Lake Tahoe, California.

“The friends I made there were amazing and their outlook on life was one I had never encountered before - ‘live as completely as you can’. Everything else will take care of itself.

“I have been doing that ever since, and I still catch up with those friends regularly.

“Anyone could do what I am doing if they wanted to.

“It really is a valid option to do something totally different to everybody else, all you have to do is try.”
Dan said there were challenges along the way and a downside to being away from Australian friends and family.
“There is lots of saving beforehand and picking up jobs as I go along.
“I also live a very simple lifestyle so my expenses are low.
“I’ve got no mobile, no phone, no TV, no flashy toys. Less is more.

“Lately, I’ve been missing the little things from Australia - the smell of the dirt or a gum tree.
“I miss the Southern Cross and feel turned around when I look at the night sky with all the stars upside down.”

Despite the distance he said he had found people all over the world to have unifying qualities.

“They want their families to be happy and to give their children every opportunity they can.

“The people I connect the most with are always those who are living every single day and are not afraid to get off the beaten path.
“They are very positive, encouraging people who believe the next best thing to adventuring is to talk to someone else about their adventure.”

Dan said he had enjoyed his time in Canada but he still called Australia home.

“When I left on this trip I said I would continue to travel until I found somewhere better than Australia to live.

“If I can’t find such a place, or I get sick of travelling, I’ll come back.

“Often when I meet someone from small-town Canada I’m reminded of friends from Mildura.
“I really like Canada, the people are very much like home - very relaxed, easy going and friendly.
“Substitute ice hockey for beach cricket and a hot tub for a swimming pool and you’re good to go.

“The country itself is by far the biggest difference - the mountains in the west are amazingly beautiful and like nothing we have in
Australia.
“Having four complete seasons is also really fun - each season is completely different from the others and makes it feel like
a different place than it was a few months earlier.

“Winter is amazing and -48 degrees Celsius is so completely alien I really do feel like I’m on another planet.
“Walking to work in two feet of fresh snow puts a smile on my face every time.”
You can follow Dan’s adventures at his website and blog, www.dangrec.com.

by Jono Pech

Thanks Jono! - I’m grinning from ear to ear and now I’m excited for me!

-Dan

Have you ever wanted to do something to find out if you could - to see what kind of person you are?
Have you ever wanted to actually live your dreams instead of watching them hover just out of reach?
Have you ever wanted to do something so crazy you were almost afraid to say it out loud?

Next week, I’m setting out to drive my Jeep 50,000kms on The Pan American Highway from The Arctic Ocean in Northern Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego, the southernmost point of South America.

I’m going to record my whole trip here with stories and photos, but more than that, I want you guys to join in too. Remember those “choose your own adventure” books where you got to make up your own story? I’m going to make my trip the same for you. Whenever I get to a fork in the road, or I can’t decide if I should detour to see some ruins, or stick around another week, I’m going to ask you guys. The choices will be put to a vote - the choice with the most votes wins and I’ll do it.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to hike to Macha Pichu or to drive Bolivia’s “Road of Death”. Here’s your chance. If it gets voted up I’ll do it. You’ll be able to read all about it here with trip reports, adventure stories and photos.

I think the whole trip will take twelve months, but that’s just a guess - let’s say plus or minus six months to that.
Updates will come shortly on my Jeep, gear, medical requirements and more. In the mean time, checkout my completely made-up route north/south and the Jeep looking pretty excited

-Dan

Dan and Jeep ready to go.

Completely made up.