Outdoor Writer & Consultant – Wilderness Guide – Custom Canoe Expeditions into the far north
Outdoor Writer & Consultant – Wilderness Guide – Custom Canoe Expeditions into the far north
Steel River, Ontario When I was a Boy Scout in the 1950s, my greatest thrill was summer camp and the overnight canoe trip. Only boys who had passed their swimming requirement were invited. If you knew how to run waves and steer around rocks you were a hero to your friends. Hitting a rock or […]
I recently chatted with Joe Friedrichs, the author of Her Island. It’s the story of Janice Matichuk, Quetico’s longest serving park Ranger. I knew Janice very well. She was talented, wonderful, and amazing. Joe did a superb job capturing her life story in this book. If you haven’t read it, you should. It will make […]
Updated: Aug 22, 2024 By Eric Watt: From my book, Campsite Memories. This true, heartwarming story will make you smile. Forward: Erik Watt is a politically incorrect misfit who fled North after thirty years as a fourth-generation newsman to avoid becoming a journalist. He’s known Canada’s Northwest Territories since he was a teenage Mackenzie River deckhand […]
I recently returned from a trip in the Boundary Waters, and as usual, it was a good time. But one of the things that gnawed at me, was the trash I found on one of the campsites. The fire grate was choked with the green branches of living spruce trees. Parts of branches were barely […]
In the 1980s, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources became concerned about the large number of deer hunters who became lost every year. They asked the rescued hunters a battery of questions: Question: “Did you have a compass with you when you got lost?”Answer: About eighty percent said “YES!” Question: “Then why didn’t you use […]
Canoe camp in the Werneke mountains, along the Snake River, Yukon, Canada Some years ago, after a dangerous storm with winds to 50 miles an hour, a teenager and I went out to fetch water on a popular lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Everywhere, wind and rain had wreaked havoc upon the land. […]
Charter boat pick-up, mouth of North Knife River, Manitoba Most Canadian Indians and Inuits who live in northern communities have never owned a canoe, let alone paddled one. In summer, they dash about in power boats and mini-four wheelers; in winter they drive Skidoos. Sounds like an extravagant way to get around until you realize […]
Rio Lacnja River, Chiapas, Mexico. 16-foot SOAR inflatable canoe. Yes, they capsized! Cr. Larry Rice Dear Fearful: Rest easy; the fear (let’s call it “concern”) you express is perfectly normal. And healthy. It shows that beneath your tough outward appearance there’s a warmly beating heart. Rest assured that you are not alone! Every wilderness canoeist […]
North Knife River, Manitoba. A narrow slot on river left (right of the canoe) allows safe passage. *SCENARIO Grand Rapids on the Mattagami River (northern Ontario) is more than a mile long and one-fourth as wide. When the water is high, the rapid is quite lively and produces a hollow drone which can be heard […]
Kopka River, Ontario. One of the prettiest rivers in the tree line. SCENARIO You and three friends are planning to canoe the Kopka River in northern Ontario. This breathtakingly beautiful route consists largely of small and medium sized lakes and gentle current, but it also includes a number of short, challenging rapids. Five major falls […]