A Tale of Two Trips: Crossing Algonquin West to East, and ... pdf...A Tale of Two Trips: Crossing Algonquin West to East, and North to South Story and photos by Jamie Dietrich riorofthepark,theareasinfrequentlyvisited,andtestingour

A Tale of Two Trips:Crossing Algonquin West to East,

and North to SouthStory and photos by Jamie Dietrich

rior of the park, the areas infrequently visited, and testing ourluck at summer trout fishing in the fabled Lavielle-Dicksonarea. I was also interested in photographing other canoe trip-pers who ventured deep into the park. It turned out that wewere alone, for the most part, for the majority of the trip.Fishermen visit the interior in the spring, and summer campsspend weeks criss-crossing the interior, but other paddlers arefew and far between in early July.We single tripped all portages by keeping our gear to a min-

imum, and by drying all of our meals. Our planned rationsended up being too lean given the difficulty of the trip and weboth lost eight pounds en route. We used a reflector oven daily,making bannock to supplement our dehydrated meals. We cov-ered approximately 210 km in total.

Fall 2017 Vol. 44 No. 3 Quarterly Journal of the Wilderness Canoe Association

2009 Crossing of the Algonquin Park from West to East

CrossingAlgonquin:West to EastIn 2009, for a variety of reasons, Rob Coulas and I were theonly two Summer School Brotherhood members able to paddlefor any length of time. The Summer School Brotherhood is acollection of Midland, Ontario teachers who have been pad-dling as a group every summer since 2000. Rob proposed wepaddle across Algonquin Park, a journey made by his UncleDowdall “Doc” Coulas in the late 1970s. The idea of the jour-ney had been on Rob’s mind for a long time. It would takelonger to complete than a normal Summer School trip, but wewere both game.Most canoe trips in Algonquin Park today are two to four

days in length and as a result, don’t extend very far from anyof the access points. We were interested in exploring the inte-

2 NASTAWGAN FALL 2017

Day Three - July 3, 2009We were up early after a rough night inthe tundra tarp because we hadn’t per-fected our bug proofing methods yet.The tundra tarp has no floor, but sidesthat extend to the ground and a cuffaround the inside perimeter. We laid asimple tarp as a floor, over the cuff, andpiled gear and packs along the screenfront to keep the bugs out. We were fineonce we fine-tuned our method. On ourtrip into Longer Lake, we met a summer-camp group at the north end who wasseven days into a 12-day trip. With a littleconfusion finding the 40 m portage, wehopped into the next set of rapids and ranthem without a bump. The long 750 mportage into Lake LaMuir had mosqui-toes, deerflies, and horseflies, but wasmanageable. We arrived at Lake LaMuir,our destination for the night, but decided

We carried a tent and a CookeCustom Sewing Tundra Tarp. In hind-sight, we could have left the tent at home.Algonquin campsites are consistentlymaintained and suitable for the TundraTarp. It proved comfortable, weatherproof, and conducive to early rising, es-pecially when pitched facing the sunrise.I adapted the following text from

Rob’s trip journal, written on his set oflaminated maps with a Sharpie marker.

Day One - July 1, 2009We put in at Tim Lake in rain. Good timewas made on the water and we passedour first intended stop, Rosebary Lake,by 2:30 pm.We stopped at the Pine RiverFarm portage and campsite when the rainfinally stopped. The site was in goodshape but there were a tonne of mosqui-toes. We quickly made some barley soup

and took shelter for the first and onlytime in the tent.

Day Two - July 2, 2009We left the mosquito-infested Tim Rivercampsite early. Lots of wildlife wassighted including six moose, one whitetaildeer, and lots of herons. We reached BigTrout Lake by 1:00 pm and were thankfulto be off the buggy, rainy river. I madesome bannock with the reflector oven toeat later with supper.We set up the tundratarp and spent most of the evening theredue to rain. Rob won the first game ofGrandma Lily’s Rummy of the trip.Grandma Lily’s Rummy, named after myScottish grandmother, is the game that hasreplaced Euchre on Summer SchoolBrotherhood trips because any number ofplayers can join in.We decided to sleep inthe tundra tarp as well.

Our route on the map, done!

NASTAWGAN FALL 2017 3

to keep moving since the weather was ominous. We trolledwith steel line unsuccessfully for almost the entire lengthof the lake. The sun shone and the wind kept the bugs atbay while portaging to the next lake. We traveled throughthe cattail marsh on the west side of Hogan Lake and had tofight waves as it opened to the lake proper. We made ourway to the first campsite we saw. Luckily, the breezy, openhemlock-island site had minimal bugs, and lots of room forthe tundra tarp. It also had plenty of deadfalls that we usedfor baking. We dried everything, made a stir-fry, and men-tally prepared for the 3750m portage that started the nextday.

Day Four - July 4, 2009A light mist and rain greeted us on the water early the nextday. At least the rain and cool weather kept us from over-heating on the long portage to Big Crow Lake. The planwas to walk in 15 minute shifts, switching between one car-rying the heavy pack, and the other carrying the light packalong with the canoe. We switched loads six times over thelength of the portage and found some sunglasses and a rainjacket. The whole portage took us an hour and a half. Whenwe arrived at Big Crow we had the wind at our backs anddecided to look for the crew who may have lost their equip-ment. I spotted four canoes on the southwest side of thelake who looked like they were leaving so we paddled furi-ously for about 15 minutes before we could get their atten-tion. Unfortunately, the equipment was not theirs, but theysaid that they would drop it off at the Ranger’s depot ontheir way out. Rob and I paddled to the west side of the lakefor lunch and quickly decided to move on since Big Crowwas very open and windy. It would have meant setting upcamp before noon without being able to fish or relax dueto poor weather conditions. After a quick lunch, we starteddown the Crow River. The river had seven portages, dis-played good brook trout potential, and surprised us withtwo bull moose, but we just wanted to get through the riverportion. We decided to paddle to Lake Lavielle, whereCrow Bay empties into the main basin, and found a pictur-esque campsite. So, after approximately 25 km (6 km ofportages), we set up camp and decided that we would restfor a while, and hopefully catch some fish.

Day Five - July 5, 2009We were tired. We didn’t get to sleep until 11:00 pm but wewoke at 5:00 am to a glorious sunrise. I spent 30 minutesgetting eaten by mosquitoes capturing the sight. It was aleisurely day with us trolling along the north side ofLavielle without one single bite. By the time we had pad-dled to the east side to find another campsite, the wind hadpicked up and the lake was rocking. We trolled once aroundthe largest island on the east side of the lake and settled ona campsite on the northwest side which was sheltered in abay, but still received the northwest winds to keep the mos- 2013 Crossing of the Algonquin Park from North to South

our way to Dickson Lake. The portage toDickson was effortless, but buggy. Wehad a difficult time finding the portageentrance to Little Crooked Lake, but fi-nally managed to decipher an unmain-tained trail that lead through a muddymarsh. The bugs were crazy on LittleCrooked and the campsites poor. Thetemperature became noticeably colder.We decided to fish and see what the lakewas like and within a half hour, we hadour first brook trout. Rob caught the firstfish and I caught two more on steel line.We decided to fish until noon and after aquick lunch on the water, we driftedaround and managed to catch two moretrout, one weighing three pounds. Wekept the first three fish for dinner andportaged back to Dickson to find acampsite. Amazingly the rain, hail andwindy weather that was so good for fish-ing on Little Crooked dissipated intocloudy, partly sunny weather on Dickson.By 3:30 pm we found a spacious, wellmaintained campsite on one of the north-ern islands, and enjoyed our trout with


Moose and calf on Big Trout Lake

quitoes away. Since we were awake soearly that morning we started setting upthis camp by noon. Both Rob and I wereexhausted. After a three-hour nap Robmade a dinner. Still windbound and un-

able to fish, we relaxed and read.

Day Six - July 6, 2009We woke to a windy morning on Lavielleand battled waves that lasted for 7 km on

4:25am on Lake Lavielle


some lentil soup. We baked some ban-nock and poppy seed cake for the nextday’s lunch and breakfast. Rob and Ispent some time looking at our optionsfor the next few days. We were consider-ing whether to stay on the big lakes orsmaller ones. In the end, we decided thatwe would play and make our choices onthe fly.

Day Seven - July 7, 2009This was a busy day. We were up early,ate lemon poppy seed loaf for breakfast,and then fished for about an hour with-out any luck. We broke camp and set outto see how far we could get. The lake wascalm and the sky overcast. We crossedfrom Dickson to Little Dickson Lake,and had an early, buggy lunch on thewater. The bugs motivated us to tacklethe 2750m portage to Sundessa Lake. Wemet a solo canoeist on the Little Dicksonportage who said that the big portagewas not bad for the first half, but that thelast bit into Sundessa was rough. Wethought we could shave 1 km off theportage by putting into the unnamed lakehalfway through, but we were wrong. Wepaddled across the unnamed lake butcould not find an exit. After an hour ofrunning up and down the portage routetrying to find the exit, we gave up andcarried our gear the entire distance. Wewere drained and exhausted. AfterSundessa we did a 905 m portage intoWhite Partridge Lake. The lake wascalm, allowing us to cross to the east sidewith little effort. Shortly after setting upcamp, the rain and wind picked up andRob and I decided to nap and recoup ourenergy. We cooked hamburger and blackbean enchiladas with salsa. We also hadsome chocolate pudding which was sup-posed to be chocolate brownies. Findingit too rich, I left it to Rob to finish.

Day Eight - July 8, 2009We were on the water by 9:20 am andstarted a hard day of portaging. Overall,we covered approximately 14 km in dis-tance, 7.4 km of which were portages.The first was a light 485 m uphill, thesecond, a 1135 m into North BranchLake which looked to be a beautiful

brookie lake. Next, we faced the biggie,a 4775 m into Loonskin Lake. We had agood system of trading between thecanoe and our packs and it took justover two hours to complete. The lastportage into Barron Lake was a light150 m, and by the time we got to campwe were exhausted. The day continuedto warm up allowing us to attempt todry out our clothes from the previousday. After a dinner of barley soup andcheese bannock, the rain started again,

and our clothes never did dry out. Theevening was beautiful and calm withmist rising on the west side of the lake.Songbirds provided a soundtrack.Tranquil, peaceful, perfection.

Day Nine - July 9, 2009We left Barron Lake feeling fairly wellrested after the last few hard days. Therewas a beautiful mist on the water, and thesun shone. The first portage of the daystarted right next to our campsite. The

Trout for lunch on Little Crooked Lake

Camp on Dickson Lake


terrain was quite a bit rougher and thetrails had not been cleared for some time.There were lots of crotch grabbers, orticklers, along the way. At one point Iwas pinned on the ground after losing mybalance wearing a pack, a canoe, and afallen jack pine – too low to go underand too high to climb. We ate lunch at anold Ranger cabin on Wenda Lake, andrecharged for the hot and sultry after-noon. We planned to camp on UpperSpectacle Lake, but discovered the camp-sites to be poor and buggy. We kept mov-ing and camped on a beautiful site justoutside of Carcajou Bay on Grand Lake.After a quick late afternoon nap andswim, I made black bean soup.Afterwards, we paddled over to Achrayoutpost where we met the staff memberresponsible for the poorly maintainedtrails. There was no pay phone at their of-fice to check-in with Rob’s family, so wehad to beg to use their satellite phone.Rob managed to have a brief talk withhis mom to give her our revised itinerary

– one more full day, and then out.

Day Ten - July 10, 2009We awoke to a beautiful, sunny, clearmorning, with the birds singing. Most ofthe campers with their motor boats werenot awake yet on Grand Lake. We spentmost of the day paddling for a change,and we enjoyed the leisurely tour downthrough Stratton Lake, St. AndrewsLake, and then through High Falls Lake,with only a few short portages. We ar-rived at Opalescent Lake, our planneddestination, by noon, and enjoyed lunchon the water. Most of the sites were al-ready taken so we decided to move on.After an easy 750 m portage intoBingham Lake we realized that we wouldbe in a major traffic zone if we decidedto stay, so once again, we moved furtheron down to the Barron River. After a fewshort portages, we cruised on downthrough the Barron Canyon, which left usin awe of the grand cliffs. The BarronRiver represents an old geological fault

zone with cliffs that are close to 400-500m high. Halfway down the river westopped and scrambled up to the BarronCanyon Trail that follows along the topedge. We took some photos and managedto get a cell phone signal so I could leavea birthday message for my wife, Kelly.We found a site and enjoyed our lastevening in the park with the last of ourrations, some soup and rice for dinner.Amazingly, all of our garbage fit into oneziploc bag.

Day Eleven - July 11, 2009The storybook finish to the trip was notbe, as we heard the rumblings of thun-derstorms at around 5:30 am.We decidedthat we would push up our pickup timefrom noon and, instead of waitingthrough the rain, we would quickly fin-ish the last 4 km of the Barron River andwalk 2 km to the gate to phone Rob’swife, Lori-Ann, to arrange an early pickup. By 10:00 am Lori-Ann and Rob’s dadwere at the gate and we were on the road

Rob Coulas at 4,775 m portage on Day 8

before the rain really started again. Wedrove to Barry’s Bay to recoup, eat, cleanup, and visit Rob’s family for a day and ahalf. We then were back on the road totravel across the park on Highway 60 toget my vehicle, and make our way home.

CrossingAlgonquin: North to SouthIn the final days of the West to East trip,Rob and I light-heartedly spoke of cross-ing the park from north to south. In 2013,Rob Coulas, Ryan Dalziel, George Luck,and I set out to see how difficult a northto south crossing would be.We knew the route would pass

through some of the busiest areas in thepark so the search for solitude was not apriority. We also knew we would passthrough the least travelled section of thepark, the southern panhandle, with fewoptions for travel, unmaintained blackportages, and warnings of impassablewater levels. The pace of the trip wouldallow little time for fishing so only onetrolling rod was brought along. We wereinterested in comparing the geographyand flora of the north with the south, anddetermining why the south is so seldomvisited.We rented two light-weight Souris

River Quetico canoes from AlgonquinBasecamp Outfitters in Kearney to easeour portaging burden. Most of theportages, 40 km in total, were completedby leapfrogging in pairs. The pair furtherahead would come back for another loadwhile the pair behind would carry a loadahead. We used the Cooke CustomSewing Tundra Tarp for sleeping andonly were limited on Sproule Lake’ssmall sites.Rob and George planned breakfasts,

Ryan and I planned lunches, and each ofus prepared two suppers. I broughtenough ingredients for ten bannocks, butonly baked five with the reflector ovendue to windy conditions. Unlike our first,we were not short of food.We began most days paddling by 7:30

am, and chose campsites by 4:30 pm.Weather and temperatures were con-ducive to paddling. Our rain jackets andfleeces rarely saw use. We covered ap-proximately 160 km in total, and were

Spider web on Barron Lake


Rob Coluas paddling on Barron River

Rob and Jamie at the Park map


wind was mild and the campsite selec-tion poor, so we paddled on to LittleCrow Lake where we found a nice west-facing site. We covered 19 km, 7.5 km ofportages. Rob made gnocchi, the lastheavy meal, and we played GrandmaLily’s Rummy. I won this round.

Day Four: July 8, 2013Eager to tackle Opeongo Lake withoutwind and to escape a mosquito infestedsite, we set out early. We soon lookeddown a glassy Opeongo Lake. Threehours and four breaks later, we rested atthe south end of the lake and contem-plated the 3415 m portage ahead of us.Happy to get even further ahead of ourschedule, we portaged to Sproule Lake.The trail started in a dense spruce low-land and climbed to a deciduous high-land. We covered 28.5 km this day, 4810m of portages. George and I selected asite while Rob and Ryan fished. Ryan

exhausted most evenings. The followingaccount is based on Rob’s and my jour-nal entries.

Day One: July 5, 2013Wanting an early start, we camped atKiosk, the access closest to the northernborder of the park. Our route ran east toBrent paralleling the old rail bed, andthen south. After an anxious and lightsleep, we set out on a glassy KioshkokwiLake at 7:30 am. We drifted and atelunch on Little Cauchon Lake. On LittleCedar Lake, a cow and calf moosegreeted us in the middle of the narrows.We reached Cedar Lake, our destination,after 31 km and were exhausted. Robprepared supper, and after a well-neededclean-up swim, all were ready to sleep by8:30 pm.

Day Two: July 6, 2013Not being used to the exertion of paddling,

we slept late. We crossed Cedar Lake andbegan our first portage on the PetawawaRiver. 3600 m of portages this day helpedus find our leap-frog portage system. Wecovered 11 km in total. We camped on anisland at the south end of Catfish Lake.The lake name refers to an 1829 descrip-tion of the fish caught here. Still tired, wediscussed our progress and plan for thenext day. We realized at this point that theweather and our fatigue levels could im-pact our completion of the route.

Day Three: July 7, 2013Motivated to cover some distance, wewere on the water by 7:30 am. Our day’sset destination, Hogan Lake, was reachedby 10:30 am, so we had a restful lunchon a campsite and made the decision tocarry on to Big Crow Lake. The 3745 mportage began with a grueling 200 mlong climb. Two hours later and plentytired, we reached Big Crow Lake. The

Entering Petawawa river


caught a splake which George added tohis jambalaya. I baked a giant blueberrybran muffin. We spent the evening re-viewing our progress and planning ournext move.

Day Five: July 9, 2013Now almost two days ahead of our origi-nal plan, we felt energized, but antici-pated poor portages, low water levels,and fewer choice campsites in the southend of the park. We came up with threescenarios: complete the park crossing;make it to Cauliflower Lake and take outat Hay Lake; or back track and take outon Mud Lake. The last two scenarioswould involve having Rob’s father meetus to shuttle Rob back to our vehicleparked at Kingscote Lake. We were onthe water early after a breakfast of HolyCrap, which tastes marginally better thanit sounds. Five portages took us from aremote highland lake down to KearneyLake Campground and busy Highway60. From Kearney Lake, we crossed thehighway and put in facing a headwind onWhitefish Lake. We stopped on aWhitefish Lake site for lunch. Anotherold rail bed, now a busy bike trail, ran be-hind the site. This busy portion ofAlgonquin Park was certainly a contrastto the solitude we found a few days ear-lier. We paddled south, through a nar-rows dotted with old cottages, into RockLake, past Algonquin’s only pictographs,and continued south to Pen andClydegale Lakes. On Pen Lake, we met acamp group who needed to borrowGeorge’s satellite messenger to makearrangements to evacuate a camper. Wewished them luck and raced to a site onClydegale Lake to beat oncoming rain.Fortunately, the storm missed us and wewere able to clean up and enjoyShepherd’s Pie for supper. This day, wecovered 24 km, 4.5 km of portages. Werelaxed on our site looking south downthe Madawaska River valley. This wasgoing to be the first section of the tripwith very little information available tous. The pressure was off as we had builtup enough time to face any unknownchallenges. We were in the tundra tarpearly and heard wolves howling down the

river valley.

Day Six: July 10, 2013We woke up to high winds and threaten-ing rain. Excited and on the water by 8am, we took two attempts to find themouth of the river. Once travelling upthe river, we relaxed and enjoyed thenew scenery. The portages were markedand had been travelled recently, at leastby moose and wolves. The 1300 mCauliflower Creek portage eventuallyturned into an ATV trail. The creek,however, was too narrow and low foreasy navigation, so we took the adviceof Jeff ’s Map (found online) andportaged around it on the logging road.The extra 2200 m saved us some time.We sat for lunch by the road, and contin-ued down the creek to Cauliflower Lake.After a rest on Cauliflower Lake, weportaged to Hay Creek where we mettwo fishermen who shared some knowl-edge of the area. By 5 pm, after portag-ing 8300 m, we reached our campsite onHay Lake. The site had been recentlyburned, probably by a campfire on awindy day like this one. Due to thewinds, we didn’t bake, but did play around of Grandma Lily’s Rummy.George put together a wipeout withjacks to steal the win from Ryan.

Day Seven: July 11, 2013We were on the water early to start themost anticipated portion of the trip. Fourportages totaling 4150 m in the morningbrought us to Billings Lake. The trailswere seldom used, but long ago, manysections may have been busy winter log-ging roads. We floated and ate lunch onBillings Lake. Billings Lake was namedfor Game Warden Jack Billings ofBarry’s Bay. In January 1926, he andWarden Joseph Stringer patrolled whatwas then known as Sand Lake in searchof reported poachers. The Warden’s re-mains were found in the burned outcabin at the north end of the lake. Thecause of their deaths remains a mystery.The much-anticipated York River beganat a massive beaver dam. Hesitantly, weslid the boats down the most open areaand were pleased to have more thanenough water to float. Before we knew it,the river widened into Branch Lake,which flowed into Byers Lake, our finalnight’s destination. The total of 18.5 kmwere covered; 6600 m portaged. We atefour freeze-dried meals, played frisbeegolf, skipped stones, and even fired off ajubilant bear banger. The last game ofrummy went to Ryan.

Ryan Dalziel in hammock on Catfish Lake


Day Eight: July 12, 2013We awoke to a beautiful morning andpacked one final time. Our paddlestrokes were strong and true as we madeshort work of the last two portages andlakes. By 10 am, we climbed out of ourboats at the Kingscote Lake Access, allpretty darn proud of our accomplish-ment. We assembled the canoe racks,loaded Rob’s van, took one final photo,and were on the road. A quick stop at thepermit office was followed by a HungryMan’s Breakfast at a Wilberforce diner.Muted news televisions on each table letus know what we had or had not missedwhile away.We wove through Haliburtonand up to Dorset, catching Hwy 60. Anhour later, we dropped off our rentals andRyan in Kearney. George, Rob, and Icontinued on to the starting point, Kiosk,to retrieve my truck. We stopped for sup-per at Legends in North Bay and set acourse for home.

Approximately 5 km from Waubashene,

Setting out from Catfish Lake

Crossing Hwy 60

my canoe trailer blew a tire. Spurred onby the desire to get home, we had the tirechanged in 15 minutes, and continued on.We parted ways at Waubashene and allwent home to rest. In retrospect, on thelonger west to east trip, we encountered


fewer people, more wildlife, and facedfewer but longer portages. The routecould be paddled in all but the worst ofdrought seasons. On the shorter north tosouth trip, we encountered people almostevery day, lots of evidence of the rich

human history in the park, and manymore portages. Low water levels in thesouthern section would certainly impedethe trip. The Algonquin Park founders of1893 would be pleased to know such ex-peditions are still possible and done.

Grandma Lily's rummy in the tundra tarp

North end of Billings Lake


Published by theWilderness CanoeAssociationNastawgan is an Anishinabi word meaning “the way or route”

CPM #40015547ISSN 1828-1327

The WILDERNESS CANOE ASSOCIATION is a non-profit organization made up of individuals interested inwilderness travel, mainly by canoe and kayak, but also in-cluding backpacking and winter trips on both skis andsnowshoes. The club publishes a quarterly journal,

Nastawgan, to facilitate the exchange of information andideas of interest to wilderness travellers, organizes an ex-tensive program of trips for members, runs a few basicworkshops, and is involved in environmental issues rele-vant to wilderness canoeing.

More ArticlesWanted

Consider submitting your story – theyare all worth sharing, no matter how“big” or “small” your trip was. Glad tohelp, if help is needed. Reach out toAleks Gusev, Editor, for encouragement,tips & tricks!

Events CalendarWilderness and Canoe Symposiumwill take place on 23-24 February 2018.Location remains the same – MonarchPark Collegiate at 1 Hanson Street.Details at www.wcsymposium.comWCAAGM is planned for Saturday, 3rdMarch, 2018. Visit WCA website formore details.

WCA ActivitiesWant to view all club activities, learnmore about our extensive outings pro-gram for members, or organize and posta trip? It’s easy! Visit the Outings sectionof the WCA website:www.wildernesscanoe.ca

TheWCA greatly appreciates the contri-bution that our outings organizers maketo the success of our club.In recognition of the personal contri-

bution of these members who organizeoutings for the club on a regular basisover extended periods of time, the WCAwill reimburse these organizers for feesto complete outdoors and paddling re-lated courses that improve their outdoorstechnical and leadership skills, and con-tribute to the enhancement, enjoyment,and safety of our outings program ingeneral.Examples of courses that would be el-

igible for reimbursement are:1. Basic First Aid2. Wilderness First Aid3. River Rescue CoursesOutings organizers would be eligible

for reimbursement on the followingbasis:• An organizer who has organized a

minimum of three listedWCA outings inthe previous calendar year can qualify fora single flat payment of $50.00 as reim-bursement towards fees paid for any ap-proved course passed.• For a minimum of three outings per

year in each of the past two years, thepayment is increased to $100.00• For a minimum of three outings per

year in each of the past three years, theorganizer can qualify for the plan maxi-mum of a $200.00 fee repayment.The program is for reimbursement of

course fees only and the payment amountcannot exceed the cost of fees paid.Should the applicant choose a course

with fees exceeding the reimbursementamount for which the organizer qualifies,then the payment is a partial fee reim-bursement.There is a limit of one course per

member per year, with the exception ofre-certifications. For example, one couldqualify for reimbursement for a first aidre-certification, plus a first-time riverrescue course.Currently there is an annual budget

of $1,500 allocated for payments underthe WCA Outings OrganizerRecognition Program, and paymentsare on a first-come, first-served calen-dar year basis. However, organizerswho complete courses after the year’sannual budget has been used up canapply for payment in the following cal-endar year.Applicants should apply to the

Outings Committee to confirm course re-imbursement eligibility. After coursecompletion, they must provide a copy ofthe receipt for fee payment, along with acopy of the certificate showing success-ful course completion.

Recognition Program forOutings Organizers

us. We set up the tent, secured thecanoe. I found a protected spot tobuild our fire. While I sorted throughour bags, getting out our f irst meal,Claire went to collect kindling. I saidstay near camp. Don’t wander off.In Yellowknife, we talked about

what to do if a bear appeared. Clairewore bear spray strapped on a belt out-side her parka. I said, stand yourground. I said you have to wait untilthe bear is very close to spray him inthe face. Otherwise, the spray carriesoff on the wind. The bear can outrunyou, no matter how fast you move.Make yourself look as big as possible.Blow the whistle you carry tied aroundyour neck. Blow it in a threateningmanner. We reviewed all this after theplane left us.When I heard the high-pitched fran-

tic whistle blowing, I was bent over thewannigan and looked up and saw thebear with its head in the air, sniffing,inland from Claire. She was runningtoward camp, blowing the whistle andwaving her arms. The bear lowered it-self on all fours, and then, more curi-ous than fast, began loping after her.I jumped over the wannigan. As I

ran toward Claire, fumbling with thesafety on my bear spray, I yelled andyelled again. As I approached her,Claire slowed to a walk waiting for meto reach her. When I flew right by, hereyes widened and her look was disbe-lief and then horror. Yelling and flap-ping my arms, I ran straight at thebear, madly hoping to change its mind.Bears in the tundra are not used to

people. They’re not sure what we are,but they’re curious. Running away andacting frantic tips the scale toward youbeing something to eat. It’s an auto-matic response. However, somethingrunning right at you? Something wav-ing its arms and making threateningnoises? The bear stopped and sat


Claire and I ventured North for our hon-eymoon in 2008. We drove from ourhome in southern Utah to Yellowknife.Being English, she had not seen much oftheWest. We took two weeks to drive the2,700 miles, and finally arrived to stay inYellowknife with friends Pat and RayWeber. It felt good to stretch our legs.Along with other friends, they were ascurious to meet Claire as she was to meetthem. They asked what rivers she had ca-noed? They asked how many years shehad been paddling? They asked a lot ofquestions and were surprised by her an-

swers. She said, I’ve never canoed a river.I have never paddled before. Rob askedme to spend four days with LaurieGullion, a canoe instructor in NewHampshire. Other than that, I’ve had lit-tle experience in a canoe. My friends be-came concerned for her and said, “Whynot stay in Yellowknife? Let Rob go onhis own. That’s his thing. You stay withus, where you’ll be safe.”Our plan was to canoe the Baillie

River, a sweet one-hundred-and-tenmiles of tributary to the Great Fish, orBack River. The Baillie doesn’t havemany dangerous rapids or portages.Mostly single lines, the rapids are easyto pick your way through. The river issandy and good denning for wolvesand bears, and the bird life is phenom-enal. We planned to travel three weeks.I was confident Claire would be fine.The first evening of our honeymoon

on the Baillie River, Claire and Istayed where the floatplane dropped

down. I kept coming. This was the mo-ment. The bear had to decide betweenattacking or running away. The bearchose to run. Twenty yards fromClaire, I watched the bear bound off.Hands on my knees, breathing hard, Ikeeled over. I was so afraid, I began toshake and laugh, rolling side to side onthe ground. Claire walked up andlooked down at her newly-minted hus-band lying on the ground, maniacallylaughing. In her mind, a bear had al-most eaten her. She fell to her kneesand gave me one long, hard kiss.Later in our trip, she surprised me.

She came from London and caredabout what she wore. She hated canoe-ing gear. She felt it was demeaning tothe feminine form, and not attractive:the loose pants, the layers of bulkygear, the boots. On a day without bugs,she put on what she thought was animprovement; right there at the side ofthe Baillie River.She was right.

Northern StyleBy Robert Perkins

On a day without bugs,she put on what she thought

was an improvementright there at the side of the

Baillie River.

a month of the symposium I had signedup for three trips. The last of these wasan August trip in Quetico ProvincialPark. On this trip, I found myself reflect-ing on ‘why we as humans love to jour-ney into the wild’, and ‘why does themere mention of the word wildernesscause me to pause.’ I’d like to share someof these reflections here.In 2016 Ontario Parks posed a chal-

lenge for Canadians to visit 3 specificparks in three summers. One member ofthe WCA read of this and answered thechallenge. He posted on the WCA web-site his desire to form a group to begin


There is magic in how things somehowfall into place. In January of 2017 Ifound, online, a reference to aWildernessCanoe Symposium soon to be held inToronto. At that time, I was inGuatemala and had to ask for help sign-ing up because I am a little bit luddite.When at the symposium I listened tomany speakers sharing their adventuresand thought, “Hey why not get back intocanoe tripping?” I retired from teaching afew years ago, bought some waterfrontacreage north of Bancroft on the YorkRiver, given up the shackles and grindthat go with having a career, and was

spending a lot of time in the bush on mynew ‘wilderness property’ (130 acres onthe York River surrounded by the EganChutes Provincial Park). But my canoeshad been hung up in the log barn I inher-ited when I bought the property. I wasbusy working on the land but I wasn’tpaddling. So, I attended the symposiumand became inspired to join theWilderness Canoe Association (WCA).Everything seemed to change with thatand I haven’t looked back.The wonderful thing about the WCA

is that you can go online and find otherpeople who want to be outdoors. Within

Finding Meaning in QueticoStory by Iori Miller

Photos by Iori Miller and Gary James(with quotes by H.D. Thoreau)

Negotiating the first of many beaver dams


with Quetico Provincial Park in the sum-mer of 2017. The eight people interested,by pairs, included: Bernadette Farley andGary James, Agata Wisniowska andMarcin Komorowski, Meir Bester andJeff Haymer, Fariya Doctor and myself.It’s a marvel that 8 people who know lit-tle of each other can gel into a trippingcommunity. But that’s what happens on awilderness canoe trip. You can begin asstrangers, work out your differences, andoften end up with lasting tried and testedfriendships. There are few activities thatcan boast the same results.

Friends... they cherish one another'shopes. They are kind to one another'sdreams.

The trip began with numerous meetingsto plan food and gear. The second stagewas a day-and-a-half to the Quetico env-iron. Then we met outside of the park atthe Quetico College for our final pack-

Jeff Haymer and his thoughts on Pictograph Meaning

A quiet paddle between the many big lakes


ing, a great steak dinner and had a fewwobbly pops, and finally an early morn-ing shuttle with a local outfitter. Welaunched from the Nym Lake accesspoint and paddled to our first portage –830 m to Batchewaung Lake. Our firstday featured sunshine and gentle breezes.Immediately it became apparent to methat Quetico is gorgeous. Everywhere are

metamorphic and plutonic rocks cradlinga flora of majestic red and white pineforests. Before the trip I’d heard Queticodescribed as AlgonquinWest.Yet the factthat it is big, easily accessible, andchockablock full of canoe routes andcamp sites is where the comparison ends.While Algonquin’s portages and sites areall clearly marked, Quetico’s are not. And

there are no thunderboxes to give you acivilized excretory experience. You needto come better prepared and be a little bitmore hardy. Quetico is less busy thanAlgonquin, and with less signage andcampsite amenities you get a little moreof a wilderness experience and a lotmore privacy.

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin andhave it all to myself than be crowded ona velvet cushion.”

On our first night we experienced ourfirst group challenge – setting up camp.Who does what? Will everyone pull theirown weight? And our first testy moment– how to organize dish washing! Do youreally need potable water just to washdishes? Do you really need a final Dettolrinse? But after that night we became afinely honed machine. Compromise iscommunication.Quetico is significant in that it is near

the southern edge of the CanadianShield, an exposed 1000-mile expanse ofancient Precambrian rock. Some of theoldest exposed rocks in the world inhabitthis landscape. Few reflect that while youpaddle the Quetico waters the rocksabout you were formed under many kilo-meters of mountains that have long agobeen eroded away. These rocks are an-cient! Most formed at a time when lifeon Earth was nonexistent and the cratonsof the continents were in their infancy.Atop of this now exists a large number of“young” (oligotrophic) lakes (only tensof thousands of years old) rich in theirecological diversity yet not in nutrients.The Ojibwa peoples who occupied thearea at the time of the European invasionfound plenty of food in the forests and inthe waters of what is now known asQuetico. To paddle this ancient landscapefor two weeks left me with a sense ofbeing wholly alive. There is a synergeticrelationship between the natural flow ofwater and how we move in wilderness.

“Life in us is like the water in a river.”

There is little evidence today of the factthat the forests of Quetico once sup-

Agata and Marcin on one of many lift-overs

Fariya, Marcin, Agata, and Bernadette keeping a smile on!


ported a rich population of native peo-ples. Yet on day three of our journey aswe paddled west out of McAlpine Creekand into Quetico Lake we had an oppor-tunity to take a peek into history. Upon asouth facing concave outcrop, protectedfrom the elements, we found a rich dis-play of ancient pictographs. With thehigher water levels found this summer,we were able to paddle right up to themand closely see the details left by the an-cient artists that still lived naturally onthe land only a few hundred years ago.The contents of those pictographs appearat first to be little more than the scribblesof neophyte artists for they are only stickfigures of animals, canoes, and their ownpeoples. But truthfully many of these im-ages held significant meanings to theirmakers. They were made out of rever-ence to the spirits and realities withintheir existence. They were painted astheir creators made meaning out of theirexperience of Quetico, their whole world.On my third trip this summer I foundmyself less focused on the news, socialmedia, bills, and more on the rhythms ofour daily activities — waking, packing,eating, paddling, making camp, prepar-ing meals, sleeping. Repeat.On Quetico lake we took a day to rest

and soak up some of the ambiance of oneof the biggest lakes in the Park. Therewere other canoeists around us butthankfully no power boats to destroy thesilence. A few of us tried fishing but hadlittle luck there. In fact, it was the firstgrey day we had on our journey, and wehad a chance to bake a cake with the wildblueberries we’d picked and drink anextra cup of coffee in the morning!The next day was a full day of big

lake paddling, across the east – west ex-panse of Quetico Lake. Knowing the pre-vailing wind directions, we had talkedmany times of sailing our canoes on thisday. Nope. It was dead calm; we werecaught in the mid-Quetico doldrums andwe had to paddle it all under a hot sun.Our lunch stop that day provided a mem-orable wildlife sighting we’ll never for-get. Already on the trip we had seen quitea few bald eagles, most far away andsoaring high in the sky, but while stopped

for lunch, we sat on a sunny peninsulaacross from an outcrop where an eaglestood with a large fish. To our surprise itwas soon joined by four others … and allof them began to show interest in thefish! We had a front row seat for a good20 minutes and watched the eagles per-form various aerial maneuvers. Knowingthat my point and click waterproof Fujicamera wouldn’t get a close up of theeagle activity I chose to capture the cam-era activity of the humans on shore be-fore me. Suddenly, Jeff spun around andaimed his camera over my head … oneof the eagles had landed in the tree rightabove us!During the middle days of our trip we

made our way through a series of smallerlakes. Other than our first portage, allour portages to this point were less thanhalf a kilometer in length. Though a littlemuddy from recent rains, all of theseportages were very easy to navigate withno extreme elevation changes. Theweather was good, the water was warm,the bugs were agreeable, the food wasyummy. Repeat.While making our way east and south

from Quetico Lake to Sturgeon Lake,two of the larger lakes in the Park, wepassed through some smaller lakes andthrough some marshy rivers adornedwith some Beaver dams. These weretaken as ‘pass overs’ as this year’s higherwaters allowed us to avoid some of thesmaller portages. Here I remember en-

joying the sight of rich littoral zones rifewith diverse plant and insect communi-ties. I have noticed in southern Ontariowhere these areas are diminished by thewakes produced by overpowered motor-boats. In Quetico they see canoes but nomotorboats (I think native peoples canstill use them on the bigger lakes), andthey are accentuated in extent by the ac-tion of beavers. It made me sad to thinkof how our governments still allow mo-torboats in many of our provincial parks.It makes you wonder, ‘why are people insuch a rush to get out into nature?’ By

A bald eagle checks us out

Canoe yoga


looking for the easiest way to enjoy na-ture we often cause it and ourselves todeviate from our natural states.

“The path of least resistance leads tocrooked rivers and crooked men.”

I remember also that while we paddled inthese narrow waters we came upon somegroups of youngAmerican paddlers (one

was a Boy Scout troop) who had comeup from the Boundary waters and weregoing to finish their routes on Canadianshores. I personally had a little funpulling up beside them and with astraight face I asked them to show theirpassports, and also if they wished to de-clare if they were bringing any alcohol orcigarettes into the country. I got a fewsmiles as well as a few confused looks.

Coming into Sturgeon Lake twothings struck me. First, it’s important tobe playful and enjoy the camaraderie ofthe group experience. Here we took thetime to practice our canoe yoga, forwhich Agata and Marcin won the awardfor the most limber and creative displays.Second striking realization was that thewhole north shore was recovering from afire that had ravaged the forest perhaps adecade ago. The forest there was almostentirely composed of short, dense Poplar.And popping up through this were thesad, blackened sticks of the pines thatformerly comprised the forest. Sure, fireis a reality in the Boreal forest biome,and should be tolerated in the Park, butit’s still a little sad to see the extent of thedamage it does to a natural forest. Itstruck me at that moment that throughour experience of witnessing five nor-mally solitary bald eagles fighting eachother over a fish meal, or witnessingthe significant damage of a fire on aforest, we witness wilderness more inits real state than in the postcard sun-sets that we all strive to capture on ourtrips. It’s the furiousness of raw naturein all its forms that makes me feel alivewhen I witness it.

Evening sun

Best part of the day – feasting after a long day of paddling.


Paddling the length of Sturgeon Laketook another full day and a half, but afterthat we paddled south and east intoRussell Lake for we were setting our-selves up for another layover day. To dothis we had to paddle up Russell Rapids.Some of us had little white water experi-ence and so this was a bit of a challenge.On our day off we paddled empty canoessouth to Chatterton Falls, and a few of usplayed in the wave train below to get a bitmore experience with white water. Thewave train here is pretty uniform and bigenough to practice crossing back andforth across an eddy line. With our PFDson this was a fun and safe experience.Chatterton Falls itself is actually threesets of cascading rapids. Definitely notnovice material, although I suspectwhitewater kayakers would love it!There is an area on the middle sectionwhere large pine logs hung up on theriver edge some time in the past whenlogging was still active in the Park. Thisverdant green mass of mossy confusionis a real experience to walk over as thereis a serious amount of water still flowingbeneath and through the chaotic log jam.The logs are slippery and falling throughwould be scary. This was the only time inthe trip where I found myself rubbingshoulders with poison ivy. I didn’t noticeit at first, but luckily I survived it un-scathed.Marcin and I caught our first fish at

Chatterton Falls. And so we added a bitof fresh pike and smallmouth bass to twodinners while we were there. I alsostarted to take stock in the quality ofcampsites in Quetico. A plethora ofbeautiful, majestic rocky peninsulacampsites are found among tall red andwhite pine. The sites truly seemed to begetting better and better as the trip pro-gressed. I also began to appreciate know-ing that these forests don’t just exist onthe rims of the lakes, as they do wherelogging still occurs in many otherOntario Parks (Algonquin, Missinaibi,etc.).Unfortunately, as there are no thun-

derboxes in Quetico, some minefields oftoilet paper are found in the forests justbeyond the better and highly used camp-

site boundaries. It struck me that oftenwhen we leave our homes we seem un-able to cope with our own wastes. Whatdo we do when we can’t just put it to thecurb, or flush it?

“Our houses are such unwieldy prop-erty that we are often imprisoned ratherthan housed by them.”

After leaving the Chatterton Falls areawe were in the last few days of our tripand were swinging back up north to ourtakeout near the main highway. Fromthen on it became apparent that, as a gen-eral rule, we were making our way up-

stream. In retrospect, consideringQuetico is adjacent to the US border it isinteresting to note that throughout the en-tire extent of our trip in the northern halfof Quetico we were in the southern mostextent of the Hudson Bay watershed. Allthe waters we paddled would eventuallyescape the Canadian Shield into HudsonBay. I also noticed that while the weatherhad become a bit cooler the mosquitoeswere becoming a bit more feisty.Fortunately, we also had more breeze. Infact, we actually were now concernedabout becoming windbound on our lastbig lake, Pickerel Lake. Yet it turned outthat we were just experiencing local wind

The Quetico doldrums

Hiking along one of the cascades at Chatterton Falls


tunneling affects and the breeze onPickerel Lake was harmless in intensity.We were still seeing a lot of bald eaglesbut they were more solitary.We took out on Stanton Bay, 154 km

and 12 days after our start on NymLake. As only ten of those days weretripping days, we had averaged 15km/day. By the end I really noticed howroutine our camp organization was andin truth, how simple and easy things be-came. We generally shared all thecamp routines, and the patterns weresimple. I reflected on this a lot. I feltstronger and stronger as the trip pro-gressed. The portages were long andfrequent enough that I was able to re-ally push myself. Also, the meals werenutritionally satisfying and big enoughthat I never felt hungry. In fact, on oc-casion, I had to ‘take one for the team’and finish the seconds so that there wasnothing left that would have had to bedisposed of or burned. Our days be-came routine; we arose about the sametime every day and each night I wastired enough from the day’s activitiesthat upon turning in I fell asleep imme-diately and slept like a baby. And mostimportantly there was enough coffee to

have a healthy cuppa every morningthroughout the trip, with a second onthe layover days.

“I went to the woods because I wishedto live deliberately, to confront only theessential facts of life…”

Dare I suggest that canoe tripping is amirror of the life we want to live? To livewith simplicity, with purpose, whereevery day has a modicum of challenge.You keep all your stuff, all that you need,organized and immediately available. Allof your entertainment is immediately infront of you, all your responsibilities areeasily taken care of as long as you tacklethem right away. And it’s cheap. Butabove all, when else in your life can youclaim you ‘have everything you need’?

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say,let your affairs be as two or three, andnot a hundred or a thousand; instead ofa million count half a dozen, and keepyour accounts on your thumb nail.”

I began this trip with my partner of nineyears (who had never spent more thantwo nights consecutively in a tent) and agroup of strangers who, truthfully, Ibarely knew. Now I have a whole new

group of friends whom I know honestlyand genuinely, and my relationship withmy partner is far richer from thisQuetico experience. Wilderness pad-dling affords one the satisfaction of liv-ing simply and deliberately, with time tomake meaning of our actions and theirconsequences. If only the rest of ourlives were that simple.

Final ThoughtPresent-day wilderness adventuring isvery planned. Participants have a map forevery moment, know where every rapidand the according portage around it willbe, generally know where their tent willbe every night, and even before the tripknow pretty much what will be travelingdown their throats every meal moment ofthe day. I might argue that organizationand safety has lessened the opportunityfor surprise and wonder on a trip. Iwould further argue that a neophyte trip-per experiences more wonder and ‘goosebump moments’ than a seasoned one.For me, all this planning sometimesseems like too much of a good thing.“Not till we are lost, in other words

not till we have lost the world, do webegin to find ourselves, and realizewhere we are and the infinite extent ofour relations.”

The last of our clean clothes


A corporate restructuring in 2017 allowed me to plan acarefree fall for the first time in decades. I recalled howmuch fun my wife and I had on canoe trips with othermembers of the Wilderness Canoe Association back in theearly 1990’s and thought it might be a great idea to rejointhe WCA to find paddling partners on relatively short no-tice. Since my wife, family and friends were busy in theirjobs, I posted a WCA canoe outing called “PhotographingFrench River” planned for July 17-22, 2017.This was, for me, a leap of faith, since I’d organized

and led many canoe trips, but only for friends and familyto this point. What would it be like paddling and camp-ing with total strangers? Would it be fun? Might I regretit? I was not in my “comfort zone”, but in the spirit of ex-ploring, I felt this opportunity was worth a try.Thankfully, two outstanding WCA members signed-up

for my trip within a couple of weeks, and we got straightinto planning mode. Although I paddled the French Rivermany times since 1980 (and got engaged to my lovelywife on the French River in 1990 while paddling withfriends), Fred Emery and Marilyn Sprissler had neverpaddled the French River, but were interested to tick thatcheckbox on their lists. And since French River wasCanada’s first designated Heritage River, it seemed likea great canoe route for Canada 150.During our trip planning discussions, Fred and Marilyn

very quickly impressed me with their responsible, knowl-edgeable and very mature approach. We all broughtplenty of experience, gear and good food to the trip aswell as healthy doses of humor throughout. Marilyn andFred were especially great at preparing healthy and tastydehydrated food for the trip. All of us were members ofphotography clubs and brought our interchangeable lenscameras and tripods along.We met at my cottage on the French River (on

Eighteen Mile Bay), and the next morning we drove to thecanoe launch point. Thankfully, Marilyn surveyed theFrench River before arriving at my cottage, and expressedconcerns about the water levels and associated strong cur-rents in the narrows of the French River where highway69 crosses the river. And although we had planned to startand finish our trip from French River Supply Post on July17, we all agreed to revise our trip, such that we wouldstart and f inish our trip from Hartley Bay Marina. Weweren’t the least bit concerned at the reduced kilometersand portages that this trip revision presented – it wouldallow for more time to relax and photograph FrenchRiver! Our trip was the classic “figure of eight” trip along

Photographing French RiverStory by Ron Mantay

Photos by Marilyn Sprissler, Fred Emery and Ron Mantay

Marilyn in her high performance solo boat

A large Inuksuk spotted on the shores of French River MainOutlet

Marilyn paddling to the portage above Dalles Rapids and ob-serving the remains of an Alligator Steam Engine on the shore

22 NASTAWGAN FALL 2017NASTAWGAN FALL 2017

French River Main Outlet, the shores of Georgian Bayand French River Eastern Outlet.Marilyn paddled in her solo canoe, while Fred and I

paddled in his tandem canoe. We left the dock at HartleyBay Marina at about 11am on Monday and paddled about14 km to our f irst campsite at The Elbow (campsite#622). It was during this first day that we learned to adaptour paddling speeds and camping procedures in a waythat optimized group dynamics, performance and morale.On Tuesday, we paddled along the French River main

outlet and portaged Dalles Rapids, a scenic and danger-ous rapid, which has taken a number of lives over theyears. Dalles Rapids is a great spot for photography,and one could easily spend several hours scouting vari-ous shooting angles under various sun angles. Whilehere, we photographed the rusted remains of a steamengine used in Alligator Boats during the French Riverlogging era (1870 to 1920). Indeed there are severalplaces along the French River where historic artifactscan be explored.We continued towards Georgian Bay and then south-

east along the very scenic and island-studded shores ofGeorgian Bay. Although I navigated this section some 27years ago with relative ease using only topographic maps,it felt more diff icult this time. Perhaps we relied toomuch on a Garmin GPS, which acted erratically. Perhapsour declining visual acuity was a factor. Perhaps we weremore focused on photography than on navigation. In anycase, we found ourselves on an island trying to coax theGPS into behaving normally, and carefully reviewing themaps again. The GPS eventually provided enough guid-ance to conf irm our map reading conclusions, and wecontinued along towards campsite #718 on ObstacleIsland.We camped for 2 nights on Obstacle Island and en-

joyed a full day of relaxation, exploration and photogra-phy in the area. Perhaps Wednesday, July 19 was the truehighlight of our trip – perfect weather, amazing scenery,carefree paddling, great food and some nice social timewith new friends. It was wonderful to have such an aim-less day, with ample time to smell the air, absorb theviews, listen to nature’s sounds, reflect on life and dreamabout future adventures.On Thursday, July 20 we paddled up the French River

Eastern Outlet via two short portages (instead of thetramway, which is now on private property) and throughBass Lake, before stopping for lunch on a small island.While dining on the rocks, we were treated to a bald eaglesoaring overhead for a couple of minutes – but our ex-pensive cameras and lenses were safely stowed in our ca-noes, of course! We then paddled past Canal Island andarrived at campsite # 611. We camped for 2 nights at thislocation, and enjoyed another full day of relaxation andphotography. Once again, our relaxed and aimless pace

Fred taking photos below Dalles Rapids

An Inukshuk near Obstacle Island

Fred captured this great image at dusk on Obstacle Island atCampsite # 718


was heavenly – I felt like a kid again!This trip reminded me how wonderful it can be to take

risks, share wilderness adventures with new people, takethe time to be at peace in nature, and to schedule somecarefree time into our busy lives. I believe that this be-

comes even more important as we become empty nesters,semi-retired, or fully retired from paid work. As MaxEhrman wrote in Desiderata – “Go placidly amid thenoise and haste, and remember what peace there may bein silence”.

Peacefully reflecting on life and future adventures

One of hundreds of Water Lilies next to Campsite # 611A beautiful place near the Tramway – a short paddle fromObstacle Island

The Tramway, now on private property, is no longer availablefor public use

A perfect morning for exploring and photography at Campsite# 611

Paddling and shooting along French River Eastern Outlet


The Green River: A Trip Back in TimeStory and photos by Mike McClelland

The Green River is about as green as theNew River is new, (it’s the third oldestriver in the world). The only green you’llsee is a thin ribbon along the banks of theriver which consists of a few cotton-woods, willows and a lot of tamarisk orsalt cedar. The tamarisk is a non-nativeinvasive species in the AmericanSouthwest brought here from Eurasia foruse in streambank stabilization, a badidea to say the least. There is only onedam on the Green in its 730 mile coursefrom the Wind River Mountains inWyoming through Colorado to Utah. It isthe major tributary of the Colorado Riverwhich eventually flows through theGrand Canyon.We canoed the last 97 miles (156 km)

of the Green to its confluence with theColorado this year between September12 and 21. Our team consisted of Hunterand Devi Sharp from North Carolina,Lisa Benish from Virginia and my wifeSusan and I from Tennessee. Septemberis considered the month for canoeing theGreen due to cooler temps and still-goodwater levels. Spring flows cover manycampsites located on sand bars and sum-mer temps are unbearable. If you everconsider this trip apply for your permitearly in the year. We applied in lateMarch and had a choice of only two put-in dates left.We used Tex’s Riverways, Moab, Utah

as our outfitter for drop-off, pick-up andgroover rental. I would definitely usethese guys again. They were very profes-sional and entertaining as well.Canyonlands National Park, throughwhich half of the trip passes thru, recom-mends carrying one gallon of water perday per person to be carried due to heavysiltation in the river and possible agricul-tural contaminants from upstream. Wecarried 50 gallons and poured out 18 atthe end of the trip. We used collapsiblebuckets to settle out the sediment for dishwashing and solar showers. Also of note,we carried a small bottle of alum to helpwith settling suspended solids in the riverwater. If you haven’t tried this before itreally speeds up the process.

Group photo

Green River from the canyon rim


Flow is decent, we averaged paddlingroughly 4 mph or over 6 km/h. There isreally only one rapid of note and it’s aclass one riffle. Based on the advice ofHunter and Devi who had done this trip10 years ago, we took our kevlarWenonah Champlain and Spirit II. Bothcanoes proved excellent for this river.Headwinds can be significant in the af-ternoon as temperatures rise in thecanyon. We always had an early start get-ting those miles in early which also givesone the choice of best campsite. Due tothe permitting system, on some days wesaw only one or two parties but depend-ing on layover days and scarcity of camp-sites in some areas we saw as many assix or seven parties.Signs of ancient civilizations here are

amazing to say the least and very wellpreserved. Petroglyphs are viewable atseveral locations along the river and thegranaries used by the Fremont Culture

Bonito Bend petroglyphs

Hunter solo under cliff wall


from the 7th to 12th centuries are numerous along with a cou-ple of cliff dwellings. Be sure to pick up a copy of Belknap’sWaterproof Canyonlands River Guide so you don’t pass by anyof these up! Exploration of these canyonlands by foot reallymakes this float trip extraordinary, another reason we took tendays to do only 97 miles.Exploring Anderson Bottom was interesting for me due to

the history of early settlement here. It seems Mr. Anderson at-tempted (emphasis on attempted) to settle here between 1909and 1911. A spring flows in a large rock arch on the cliff walland can be reached by a pretty good rock climb. Here he hadchiseled out of the cliff face a rather large hole for water tocollect in.You could easily fit a dozen people in there. He thendrilled a hole in the low end for a pipe from which he couldgravity flow the water to where it was needed. It still flowstoday and would be a good resupply point if you need it. Otherthan a dozen old horseshoes under a rock and the spring, Ididn’t see any other signs of Mr. Anderson or the few otherranchers who followed after him. The last was in the 1960’sjust before Congress established Canyonlands National Park. Idid wonder how he could have herded his livestock here due tothe surrounding cliffs. A trail down supposedly exists but wedid not find it. Petroglyphs are found here also on the rock faceat the west side of Bonito Bend. A huge overhanging cotton-wood tree on the west bank provides an excellent campsite.The evening light on the cliff walls and the night sky weremagical at most of our campsites.The Turk’s Head formation is a do-not-miss stopping point.

We camped just downstream at Deadhorse Canyon to explorethis area. A small cave here in the cliff at camp provides acommanding view of the river upstream and Turk’s Head. Thisoverhang also provides welcomed shade and in general is justa nice place to sit and think about it all!The amount of red chert in this area was unbelievable.

Flint chips literally covered the ground. Native Americansprized this rock for arrowheads and it must have been a desti-nation point for them to collect it in this area. From here onecan hike to Newspaper Rock, so named due to the amount ofancient graffiti found on one large rock set a part from therest. Continue on from here past the Turk’s Head to the endof the river bend where numerous ruins of old granaries andsmall cliff dwelling structures are found down close to theriver bottom.We stayed two nights at our last camp to do some explo-

ration of the area. This was one of the few places you canclimb out of the canyon and see the surrounding country. AptlynamedWater Canyon it proved to be the only side stream withflow into the Green though it disappeared in places. This areaof Utah has been in a drought and a fire ban was in effect.High up in this side canyon following the rock cairns we founda pool of sufficient size for a cool skinny dip. We hiked to therim and took advantage of this oasis on the way down.Up early as always, we begin our short last day of paddling

down to the confluence of the Colorado with a quote by JohnWesley Powell who passed here on July 17, 1869 – “Late inthe afternoon the water becomes swift; an hour brings us tothe junction of the Grand and the Green. These solemn depths,more than 1200 feet below the general surface of the country.”

Cliff dwelling

Turks Head

Granary


The Grand River? If you like rivers and you love maps youmust dig a little deeper on that one! It seems in 1921Congressman EdwardTaylor of Colorado succeeded in petition-ing Congress to change the Grand to the Colorado River. Mostgeographic conventions would not condone this with the Greenbeing the longest tributary. Wyoming and Utah objected but theCongressional committee composed entirely of members east of

The girls seated by ancient structuresHiking Water Canyon

Jet boat shuttle at pickup on the Colorado

the Mississippi approved the measure and so it remains.A Grand trip it was, unique among canoe trips. So if you

are interested in extending that canoe season due to coolweather or as here in Tennessee where there is little flow thistime of year, check the snow pack in the northern Rockies forthe previous winter and head on out to Moab, Utah for thefall.

28 NASTAWGAN SUMMER 2017

1 A Tale of Two Trips: CrossingAlgonquin West to East,and North to South

13 Northern Style14 Finding Meaning in Quetico21 Photographing French River

24 The Green River:A Trip Back in Time

Editorial Team:Aleks Gusev: Editor-in-ChiefBob Henderson: Resource EditorDave Brown: Text EditorBarb Young: Food EditorAleks Gusev: Photo EditorPeter Jaspert: Layout

…in this issue

Where it is…

Ontario

WCA gratefully acknowledgesthe financial support of theOntario Trillium Foundation inpublishing this Journal

WCA Contacts http://www.wildernesscanoe.caWCA Postal AddressP.O. Box 910682901 Bayview Ave.Toronto, ON M2K 2Y6

BOARD OF DIRECTORSGeri James(Chair)[email protected]

Gary [email protected] ext.1286

Arthur [email protected]

Diane [email protected]

Larry [email protected]

Bernadette [email protected]

SecretaryBill King45 Hi Mount DriveToronto, ON M2K [email protected]

WCA OutingsBill Ness194 Placentia Blvd.Toronto, ON M1S [email protected]

EditorAleksandar Gusev8 Valiant RoadEtobicoke, ON M8X [email protected]

TreasurerBarb [email protected]

WebmasterAleksandar GusevEtobicoke, [email protected]

Membership andComputer RecordsEmmy [email protected]

ConservationJeff [email protected]

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Documents

A Tale of Two Trips: Crossing Algonquin West to East, and ... pdf...A Tale of Two Trips: Crossing Algonquin West to East, and North to South Story and photos by Jamie Dietrich riorofthepark,theareasinfrequentlyvisited,andtestingour