Did you miss me? What do you mean you didn’t notice I was gone?!

Well, I was, and now I’m back. The Adventure in Roman Shades was exchanged for an Adventure in Kluane (say “kloo-AH-nee”) National Park, Yukon, Canada: camping, canoeing, route-scouting for future trips.

It was a little gray and rainy, but we had some sun, too, and the fall colors were be-oo-tiful! One day we went to Mush Lake. Mike has done variations of this trip in the past, but not for about 20 years. He wanted to show me the lake and plan a route for a longer backpacking trip in 2009.

WAIT! Cars on water, canoes on roads. Is that right?

Just kidding. There were a few creeks to cross on the 4-wheel-drive road to the lake.

And lots and lots of puddles. We checked each one (and by “we” I mean “Mike”) before driving through, and that turned out to be a good thing. This one was fine.

We learned more from the puddles than how deep they were and how solid their bottoms. A bear was here. A little one.

Calm, quiet, and not a single drop of rain despite the clouds. The lighting in the wide-angle shots doesn’t do the scenery justice. It neither felt nor looked as gray as this picture suggests.

It looked more like this.

This is not a mistake or an upside-down picture. It’s the reflection in the water.

Six hours to drive 30 miles + four hours of paddling + two hours of breakfast, lunch, dinner, exploring a portage between lakes, and sighing with contentment = two happy campers.