Usually there's not much travelling between my birthday and Christmas.

This year work brought me to the Maritimes in mid-December though, which meant yet another visit with my friend Christian in Charlottetown.

I'd been longing for some adventure of late. Reading blogs about highpointing, abandoned buildings, and travelogues like always; it was also the time of year where everything is closing in and I'd soon be sequestered on my lonely, rocky isle.

Therefore on the first night, I mentioned to Christian a lighthouse down by Summerside that's only reachable via a breakwall exposed at low tide - but how low tide was something silly like six in the morning.

Christian was totally about it. We almost immediately cut the night short, heading to our separate beds in order to get going early the next morning. Fast forward six hours, I happily sipped coffee as Christian pushed forward onto a tiny finger of a peninsula, jutting out to MacCallum's Point and defining the oceanic entrance to Prince Edward Island's second-biggest city: Summerside.

I should mention Christian's wheels here, as we were rolling in an immaculately maintained 1990s convertible Sebring that he recently acquired thanks to his Grandma giving up driving in her old age.

No finer vessel for navigating sloppy lighthouse access roads, haha.

I had another shot at this lighthouse back in July 2015 when Shelloo, Tasha, Christian and I were lighthousing around Summerside. This was obviously a much better time of year for walking breakwalls, but unfortunately we were passing through at high tide.

Today though, Christian and I managed to get out here and it appeared we had enough time before the breakwall would once again disappear.

The Indian Head breakwall loomed like a dangerous ice wall from the shore. It looked like we had enough time, but I also had to think about how long this was going to take with slipping everywhere, unable to grab rounded edges, while trying to glide across these giant rocks. Not to mention, the decent chance that one of us could turn an ankle or concuss ourselves on such a gripless and uneven surface.

Walking out on the beach and then finally up to the breakwall, I approached the rocks and went for it, finding that the ice was gritty with that classic PEI sand. With such a sediment load in the water here, any water rushing over this breakwall was thick with the coarse grains.

Reaching the lighthouse platform in good time, we stared up at the fine light, even as it's a bit oddly shaped and modern-looking. The Indian Head Lighthouse isn't modern though, as it was actually built in 1881. It originally housed a storage room, kitchen, living room, and bedroom in its base.

Also of note was that there was a dredging operation going on just past the lighthouse. I have to imagine they weren't expecting to see a couple of yahoos walking out here on a chilly Saturday morning in December.

Peering into the ground floor window, it didn't look like much was going on inside.

The Town of Summerside has applied to the federal government to take over ownership of this light, but it hasn't been transferred over yet.

With Indian Head going so smoothly, we still had a whole morning ahead of us now.

Christian asked if there was anything else I'd like to see or do, and I figured we should finally get the trio of lighthouses in Borden beside the Confederation Bridge.

The first lighthouse we encountered was the Port Borden Pier Lighthouse, built in 1976 to guide ships once closer to the shore here in Borden.

Giant cement cribs extended out into the Northumberland Strait, providing the best view I've ever had of the Confederation Bridge.

As Christian hopped a small gap in the cribs to head out to the furthest one, I was once again concerned with the ice, but PEI proved why it's the Gentle Island and not The Rock. The ice here was slushy and filled with more of that red clay, making for easy walking.

And I was happy with that easy walking, because the sea wasn't too gentle, no matter the isle.

As it turns out - and I didn't know this at the time - these giant cement cribs were part of the old ferry pier from the time before the Confederation Bridge - and now that I think about it, the cribs in Woods Island (where the ferry leaves for Nova Scotia), look similar to the cribs here in Borden.

Access to the Port Borden Pier Lighthouse was through a fish plant and it was one of those times where it feels like you shouldn't be there, but you also aren't going to go look for a supervisor to give you permission. They'll let you know if you really aren't supposed to be there.

So we walked beside a slanted, six-foot wall towards the back of the plant, where upon reaching the lighthouse I realized the wall was hallowed out and home to some pipes. Having always wanted to climb into a similar wall in Marquette Michigan, I briefly entertained taking the wall tunnel back before I saw all the garbage and felt all of the moisture.

Across the street from the fish plant is a park where the Port Borden Range Rear Lighthouse stands, after first being installed behind the community of Borden.

As I've crossed the Confederation Bridge around ten times by now, you can see how I'd be aware of these lighthouses but always in just too much of a hurry to stop and check them out.

The front range lighthouse of the Port Borden pair is threatened and a bit forgotten as it sits further east in Borden, along side streets and almost in people's back yards.

Prior to ferries and the Confederation Bridge, ice boats were used at two locations to connect Prince Edward Island with the outside world. One of those locations was at Woods Island/Pictou Nova Scotia, while the other was near here at Cape Traverse.

These ice boats were used from 1827 to 1917, when they were then replaced by a ferry that carried rail cars. The new rail car ferry didn't go to Cape Traverse anymore though, as it instead landed a few miles west at Carleton Point at the behest of Prime Minister Robert Borden.

The new port and accompanying buildings at Carleton Point would incorporate as the village of Borden in 1919. By the 1920s, the rail ferry was modified to also bring cars across.

The ferry to Borden continued until 1997 and the opening of the 12.9km/8mi-long Confederation Bridge. The new bridge meant the ferry was discontinued, along with these range lights that were constructed in 1917 during the opening of the port. The more impressive Port Borden Range Rear found itself relocated to a handsome park beside the mighty Confederation Bridge, while the Range Front light still sits rundown in its original location.

Following the lighthouses of Borden, I wondered if Christian also wanted to stop to grab the highpoint of PEI. An incredibly flat island, this isn't exactly a highpoint where you need to attack during certain warmer months.

I'd been here previously, but my car GPS wasn't good enough to find the actual point - leaving Shelloo and I to wander around the nearby woods, as well as along this farmer's field. Of all the fields in all the provinces, I laughed at this obscure spot where I'd never ever end up outside of the fact that it's a couple feet higher than numerous other spots on The Gentle Isle.

Wandering into the leafless woods, it wasn't long before I spotted some orange flagging tape about a hundred metres away. Picking our way over, someone had clearly been working on making the highpoint of Prince Edward Island more of a destination. There was now a logbook, as well as a marker for the actual point.

Christian and I had made it. Finally, my first provincial highpoint. Unassisted too, and that's quite the feat as you can see from my summit picture.

After we signed the guestbook, we each needed an oxygen canister because of the elevation. I then belayed Christian around a nasty bergschrund, allowing us to get off the glacier and switch back into hiking shoes, after we'd postholed to the summit in our mountaineering boots.

(Or we discovered a well-maintained trail that spit us out on a nearby county road, making this highpoint easily accessible.)

We celebrated all these new lighthouses and finally summitting a Canadian province by heading down to The Legion, where Christian absolutely loved the cribbage boards, basement setting, and the cast of characters. He wondered why he'd never been to such a great spot.

It's a good thing we finally stopped at the Legion too, as this was just about the end of Christian's time in Charlottetown. You remember the convertible Sebring I showed as our fine lighthouse exploration vehicle? Well the reason he got it was because he was about to move across the country to the Yukon.

From here on out there'd be no more post-work conference new PEI lighthouses, or backyard Canadian Thanksgivings, or Charlottetown Islanders QMJHL hockey. But at least for today, we were blessed with unseasonal 11°C/52°F temps and that meant cruising down Queen Street with the top down and the Griselda blaring.

God do I miss him living nearby.