Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
Subscription Form

Get notified of the best News

Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn
22K Followers
25K Likes
5K Followers
1K Followers
Mountain Life
Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
  • On The Trail

Travel Channel’s Latest Show Profiles Canadian Family’s Mega-Trek

  • June 2, 2015
  • Ned Morgan
Total
2
Shares
2
0
0
0
0
0
Total
2
Shares
Share 2
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0

Text & photos by Bruce Kirkby.

On May 7, 2014, we woke our boys (Bodi, 3 and Taj, 7) before dawn, leading them groggily downstairs in fuzzy pyjamas. A half carton of milk and a box of cereal were all that remained in a kitchen prepared for renters. After a hurried breakfast together, my wife Christine pressed their feet into tiny hiking boots. Then we stepped out the back door… and just kept going.

 

A 77,000 ton container ship carried across the Pacific, from Vancouver to Busan, South Korea. The seventeen day journey was surprisingly comfortable. Here, the ship lies at anchor outside Nahodka Russia, awaiting refuelling. BRUCE KIRKBY PHOTO.
A 77,000-ton container ship carried us across the Pacific, from Vancouver to Busan, South Korea. The 17-day journey was surprisingly comfortable. Here, the ship lies at anchor outside Nahodka, Russia, awaiting refuelling. BRUCE KIRKBY PHOTO.

 

Launching canoes in the nearby headwaters of the Columbia River, we paddled northwards for five days, until reaching the Trans-Canadian railway, where we left the boats behind and flagged a train to the coast. From there, a 77,000-ton container ship carried us across the Pacific. A swirl of bullet-trains, tuk-tuks, riverboats, taxis, and ferries bore us onwards – through Korea, into China, over Tibet, down to the jungles of Nepal – before spitting us out onto the baking plains of India.

 

TrekLamayuru-BCFA20141004-881
Christine, Taj, and Bodi crest a ridge on the 10-day trek over the Himalaya Range, leading in to the forgotten Kingdom of Zanskar in northern India, near the borders with Pakistan, China and Tibet. BRUCE KIRKBY PHOTO.

 

Upon reaching the Himalayan foothills, we loaded our duffel bags onto donkeys and set out to cross the great range by foot. Ninety-six days after leaving home, we arrived at a Buddhist monastery: a warren of whitewashed buildings plastered across rocky cliffs. The four of us would live here, sharing an 8’ x 8’ earthen room with a senior lama, until the winter snows flew.

 

 

A crew from Travel Channel followed us halfway around the world – producers, camera operators, sound technicians – and the nine-episode series they created, Big Crazy Family Adventure, premieres later this month on Travel Channel (US) and DTour (Canada).

 

Ladakh is a sere, desiccated lands, lying the rainshadow of the Himalaya, yet a co-operative agrarian society has thrived here in isolation for millennia, growing barely and raising livestock using glacial meltwater. Here, our small party sets off across the spine Zanskar range. BRUCE KIRKBY PHOTO.
Ladakh is a sere, desiccated land, lying the rainshadow of the Himalaya, yet a co-operative agrarian society has thrived here in isolation for millennia, growing barley and raising livestock using glacial meltwater. Here, our small party sets off across the spine Zanskar range. BRUCE KIRKBY PHOTO.

 

Bodi holds a baby gharial (as the world's largest crocodile, adults can grow to more than 7m in length) raised in a breeding center in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. BRUCE KIRKBY PHOTO.
Bodi holds a baby gharial (as the world’s largest crocodile, adults can grow to more than 7m in length) raised in a breeding center in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. BRUCE KIRKBY PHOTO.

Bruce Kirkby is a MEC Ambassador.

Total
2
Shares
Share 2
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • Big Crazy Family Adventure tv show
  • Bruce Kirkby
  • India
  • MEC
  • MEC ambassador
  • MEC envoy
  • travel
  • travel channel
  • world travel
Ned Morgan

Previous Article
  • On The Trail

Rolling the Rock: A MTB Tour of Newfoundland’s Colossal Terrain

  • May 28, 2015
  • Ned Morgan
View Post
Next Article
  • The Great Outdoors

Your Gaper Day Checklist

  • June 4, 2015
  • Ben Osborne
View Post
You May Also Like
Hiking-with-children-mountains-kid-and-parent-Todd-Lawson
View Post
  • On The Trail

Hiking with Children: Suffering Builds Character

  • Mountain Life Media
  • June 28, 2022
Mountain-Life-Blue-Mountains-Summer-2022-spreads-cover
View Post
  • Mountain Biking
  • On The Trail
  • Ontario
  • Paddling
  • Photography

ML Blue Mountains Summer 2022 Issue Out Now

  • Mountain Life Media
  • June 22, 2022
Explore-the-Bruce-Boating-Paddling
View Post
  • Mountain Biking
  • On The Trail
  • Ontario
  • Paddling
  • Stay & Play
  • Travel

The Artistic River Village: Discovering Paisley

  • Mountain Life Media
  • June 15, 2022
MLRMSummerCover
View Post
  • In This Issue
  • Mountain Biking
  • On The Trail
  • Photography
  • Rockies
  • Trips & Expeditions

New Issue Drop: ML Rocky Mountains Summer ’22

  • Mountain Life Media
  • June 9, 2022
alpine-to-ocean-SUP-lake-splash-JIMMY-MARTINELLO-PHOTO
View Post
  • On The Trail
  • Paddling
  • Trips & Expeditions

Getting Schooled: An Alpine-to-Ocean Epic

  • Mountain Life Media
  • June 7, 2022
View Post
  • On The Trail
  • The Great Outdoors

Helly Hansen Presents: Adventure Planning 101 with Squamish SAR

  • Sarah Bulford
  • May 16, 2022
Cam-Lawrence-sketching-Bruce-Trail-Escarpment-Kristin-Schnelten crop3
View Post
  • Mountain Lifer
  • On The Trail

Recording Landscape

  • Mountain Life Media
  • April 7, 2022
ML-CM-cover-graphic
View Post
  • Features
  • Mountain Lifer
  • On The Trail
  • Photography
  • Skiing
  • Snowboarding
  • Stay & Play
  • The ML Interview
  • Travel
  • Trips & Expeditions

ML Coast Mountains: The Optimism Issue – Out Now

  • Mountain Life Media
  • February 11, 2022
Featured Posts
  • Hiking-with-children-mountains-kid-and-parent-Todd-Lawson 1
    Hiking with Children: Suffering Builds Character
    • June 28, 2022
  • Diana-Lee-Sunrise-SUP 2
    What SUP: Hardboard or Inflatable?
    • June 27, 2022
  • Nic-Groulx-Sam-Dickie-on-the-Great-Divide-Trail crop 3
    The Legend of Sam Dickie & the Cougar
    • June 23, 2022
  • Mason Mashon Photo - Xaays Canoe Journey ML 4
    The Great Canoe
    • June 21, 2022
  • Mountain-Life-Blue-Mountains-Summer-2022-spreads-cover 5
    ML Blue Mountains Summer 2022 Issue Out Now
    • June 22, 2022
RECENT POSTS
  • The-North-Face_SS21_Vectiv_Trail-Run_Saunders-
    Gear Shed: Summer Trail Shoes
    • June 20, 2022
  • The-Yin-and-Yang-of-Gerry-Lopez-still-2
    Friday Flick: The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez
    • June 17, 2022
  • Property-Valet-HQ-group-Kristin-Schnelten
    Property Valet: Creating (and Managing) Beautiful Memories
    • June 16, 2022
Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn
INSTAGRAM
mountainlifemedia
22K Followers
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
In the 10 years I’ve been paddleboarding, one of the most frequently asked questions I hear is, “Hardboard or inflatable: Which is better?” - @only1phoenixx
Morning rip with @jessemunden_ 🫡 #mountainlifer
Who’s having a multi-sport day?! 😆 @timemmett probably is.
Bruce County is much more than the Bruce Peninsula. We’re here to let you in on a secret: a thriving community nestled in Bruce County’s interior region, just waiting to be discovered. The village of Paisley offers something for everyone, and isn’t overrun by summer crowds.
The mere thought of a cougar or any other apex predator in our midst can turn a backcountry adventure into a psychological test of mind over matter. Luckily, our fears are mostly in our heads and few have experienced a negative wildlife encounter. But, for ultramarathoner @samuel.dickie, it got real. #Linkinbio to read more!
MAG DROP! 🤩
Happy National Indigenous Peoples Day (today and every day)!
Together with our partners we’ve picked our favourite summer trail shoes, in alpha order, for your crush-it summer. #linkinbio
Happy Father’s Day to all the RAD DADS out there!! 🙌
Follow

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
In the 10 years I’ve been paddleboarding, one of the most frequently asked questions I hear is, “Hardboard or inflatable: Which is better?” - @only1phoenixx
Morning rip with @jessemunden_ 🫡 #mountainlifer
Who’s having a multi-sport day?! 😆 @timemmett probably is.
Bruce County is much more than the Bruce Peninsula. We’re here to let you in on a secret: a thriving community nestled in Bruce County’s interior region, just waiting to be discovered. The village of Paisley offers something for everyone, and isn’t overrun by summer crowds.
The mere thought of a cougar or any other apex predator in our midst can turn a backcountry adventure into a psychological test of mind over matter. Luckily, our fears are mostly in our heads and few have experienced a negative wildlife encounter. But, for ultramarathoner @samuel.dickie, it got real. #Linkinbio to read more!
Mountain Life
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising

Input your search keywords and press Enter.