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Alaska/Canada/US '24
  • Gustav Vermaas
  • Gustav Vermaas

Alaska/Canada/US '24

A 10-week journey exploring the wilds of Alaska, Vancouver Island, the Rockies, and South Dakota. Read more
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  • Gustav VermaasAlaska/Canada/US '24Traveler

    Fishing Cody day 2

    September 21, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Another great day on the water.
    +- 40 but on average much bigger.
    Started with a double - both of us caught a Browny within seconds.
    Then Johan got an Irish double - 2 brownies with one cast
    And then a bird flew in and confused Johan's fly for an insect. I assume you call that catch a birdie🫣Read more

  • Gustav VermaasAlaska/Canada/US '24Traveler

    Goodbye 🇺🇲

    September 25, 2024 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    And so our USA leg ends....
    As it started...
    with 3 bags on a trolley 😔

    Except we added a fishing rod, a stack of photos, and a bag filled with once in a lifetime experiences.🤩

    Our Jeep-mobile did its duty - 8 760km in 20 days. We say goodbye to the land of the cowboy with a heavy heart.

    The only thing that is lighter is my bank ballance😂    Read more

  • Gustav VermaasAlaska/Canada/US '24Traveler

    Life 2.0: "Spots of Time"

    September 25, 2024 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Day 57 marks the completion of our USA leg. The end mirrors the beginning—three bags loaded onto a hotel trolley.

    The only difference?

    We've added an Orvis fishing rod, a collage of photographs, and a heart full of memories.

    Alaska, the last frontier, offered a distinct adventure, but it was Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming that truly captured my soul. Never have I been in a place so deeply reminiscent of my childhood on a rural farm, surrounded by cattle, fields of maize, and the constant presence of wildlife. The people we encountered were always engaging, grounded in the rhythms of nature.

    This part of the journey was about hiking in Yellowstone National Park, casting flies in rivers pulled straight from A River Runs Through It, and returning to Sutton Bay for upland shooting and golf—a gentleman's journey.

    Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It, immortalized by the 1992 film starring Brad Pitt, tells the story of two brothers, Paul (Brad Pitt) and Norman (Craig Sheffer), growing up in rural Montana. They spend much of their youth fly fishing, under the guidance of their minister father. As time passes, Norman leaves for college, while his rebellious brother, Paul, stays behind, finding trouble. When Norman returns, they resume their fishing trips, reflecting on where life has taken them and where they are headed.

    In the book, Maclean refers to what the poet William Wordsworth calls “spots of time.” Maclean says “…it is really fishermen who experience eternity compressed into a moment. No one can tell what a spot of time is, until suddenly the whole world is a fish and the fish is gone.”

    Our own journey in the Big Sky Country was filled with its unique “spots of time”

    ... the rustle of the pheasant before the flying dragon fills the sky
    … the ripple in the water before the brown trout takes the fly
    … the golf ball, teetering on the edge of the cup, before it drops.

    Twenty days of early mornings, long days, and late nights. But as Robin S. Sharma writes in The Leader Who Had No Title, “There will be plenty of time to sleep once you are dead.”

    #journey #leadership    Read more

  • Gustav VermaasAlaska/Canada/US '24Traveler

    Life 2.0: “A River Runs Through It”

    October 16, 2024 in South Africa ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Life 2.0: “A River Runs Through It”

    Tonight, I find myself on the 16 hour long haul from Atlanta back to South Africa. Sue remains in Toronto, excitedly awaiting the arrival of the newest additions to our family.

    This journey began in Alaska and ended in Toronto. But as always, journeys aren’t defined by their start and finish — they are shaped by the experiences in between.

    Each of our adventures seems to centre around an unexpected theme. In 2020, our six-month journey was defined by the decision to bring Roga, our working gundog, to North America. Accommodating him—and navigating the society around us—became the glue of that wonderful adventure.

    On this journey, early on, we noticed that rivers kept surfacing in our conversations. The significance of rivers grew deeper with every passing day.

    But why this fascination with rivers?

    It all started with the Kenai in Alaska. Six months before the trip, my friend Jeff Lopes , a passionate saltwater fly fisherman, said, “There’s no way you can go to Alaska and not catch salmon.”

    What started as a small add-on to mostly a hiking and kayaking trip became an avalanche. Many a day, in the 10 weeks of our journey, was spent hiking and driving next to or physically drifting on the Kenai, Maddison, Yellowstone, Gallatin, Missouri and Henry’s Fork rivers - to mention a few. Six weeks into the trip we rewatched “A River Runs through It”. Norman Maclean’s words resonated deeply.

    “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

    I am haunted by waters.”

    Many a drift, a lunch break, or sunrise were spent gazing over these waters.

    “I sat there and forgot and forgot, until what remained was the river that went by and I who watched. On the river the heat mirages danced with each other and then they danced through each other and then they joined hands and danced around each other. Eventually the watcher joined the river, and there was only one of us. I believe it was the river.”

    In the end, it was the river that shaped our trip.

    A video with some highlights

    https://lnkd.in/dJBRXtih    Read more

    Trip end
    October 17, 2024
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