Category : News

FYI: this band will not be able to respond to emails (or anything pretty much) because Rogers doesn’t provide service ANYWHERE past Fort St. John. Awesome. We apologize for any inconvenience, but please, be patient.

 

 

Wow. So here’s the story…

 

After driving close to 11 hours from Peace River, AB to middle-of-nowhere Muncho Lake, BC (google map it people) through snow and barely there roads that wind every which way that it literally feels like a roller-coaster ride (the Coquihalla has NOTHING on the Alaska Highway!) through ever-changing landscapes. Our country is amazing!! We can go from green Vancouver, to endless prairie, to snowy buffalo land in a matter of a couple days. After an exhausting drive, we deicide to treat ourselves to a pricey yet very cozy night in a hotel called the Northern Rockies Lodge where some of us played video games, some of us played guitar, some of us bathed, and then some of us passed out before 9pm watching a terrible barbarian series or a bad Ben Stiller movie. Alarm was set for 6:30am and we were out and on the road again today by 7:15am.

 

Everyone and their dog was raving to us about the Liard Hotsprings; “it’s another wonder of the world!”, “Oh my God you are going to love those hot springs!”, or “it’s the most magical place on earth!”. So, as you can imagine, us being the explorers and pioneers that we are, we had to see for ourselves what all the fuss was about!

 

On the way, Blackie was making excuses about why they likely wouldn’t be as great as everyone purported – this is a man of the highest expectations when it comes to wonders of the world! I reckon he was overjoyed upon 1st foot dip into the most magical pools of neapolitan hotness ever experienced by this troupe. We tore off our clothes and ran shrieking through the snow and sank sweetly and oh so relieved into the soothing liquid warmth of a womb only Mother Nature could have created. Incredible. Winter time land of enchantment. The over-hanging blades of grass over 3 times their usual width due to the thick blanket of snow flakes – you can actually see each individual flake! Steam rising up all around, wading through the river being slapped by shots of boiling water followed by shots of cool. We left the general wading area and sought the natural path, under logs, through brush, laughing like children in a magical make-belief world unknown to the world of adults and logic.

 

Getting out was not exactly as enchanting. It’s -20C here people. My feet were sticking to the ice while I was drying and dressing.

 

We ran/jogged/power walked back to the van, but we were warm and certainly consumed by not only appreciation of the wonder we’d just experienced together, but by the knowledge that we are so lucky to be doing what we do.

 

Then, not 10 mins up the road, a heard of about 48 wild wood buffalo crowded either side of the highway. HUGE. MASSIVE. This herd makes up about 1/5 of BCs entire wild buffalo population. 20 mins later, another 16. Another 20 mins, 4 more. This highway is covered with these wild beasts. We’re still counting by the time you read this blog.

 

Talk about a euphoric feeling.

 

More later as we ascend further and further north on this already incredible tour.

 

~JB

It’s official. Picture the Ocean is on the road once again, and this time we’re going to that most desolate corner of the continent, the Yukon & Alaska.

The tour is already underway. We had a wonderful show in Peace River, AB last night (big thanks to Toni and everyone else for bringing original tunes to P-River!), and today the road is all we’ll do. 948km to Liard Hot Springs, a place that many folks have highly endorsed, not to mention the only place for 100 miles to crash for the night.

We owe a major thanks to Gordie Tentrees for setting this whole tour up. You’re the man Gordie!

We will be constantly providing updates here on picturetheocean.com, so feel free to stop by anytime or even subscribe to the news feed. The next I write I’ll be way north and with any luck, all agape under the northern lights.

Later.