Wild Moisie Ride
Intense, I thought to myself as I smiled in disbelief while scanning the roiling river on the last day of an epic canoe trip down Quebec’s wild beast – the Moisie River. Each day had presented enough challenges to humble anyone but this one proved to be the toughest. Ahead, a white wall of foaming,…
Seal River Journey – Hudson Bay or Bust
The new day looked promising with a ribbon of orange sun stretched across the western Hudson Bay horizon that seemed to nudge on a veil of indigo clouds above us. But as we set out on the final day of a canoe trip down northern Manitoba’s Seal River, a cold late-August wind picked up from…
Rails to Rapids – Riding the Spanish
The weathered silver passenger train rolled through the thick northern Ontario forest and screeched to a halt in the middle of nowhere. I peered out of the window and noticed a frail old man with a battered brown suitcase and chainsaw slowly get off. The train’s baggage handlers helped the stooped man with more boxes…
Mad for the Madawaska
“They say you can hear the screams of the dead loggers who drowned there decades ago, if you listen closely enough.” With those words spoken by our shuttle driver still echoing in my head, my partner launched us into the surging current of Slate Falls on the Madawaska River. My heart pounded in the bow…
Paddling to Freedom on the Dumoine
The Dumoine River has a place in history as an important travelling route for the Algonquin natives, and environmentalist see it as an irreplaceable wilderness area, but I have to admit that I wasn’t really thinking about any of that as the current pulled us closer to the top of a rather large set of…
Intrigue on the Little Abitibi
The moment our shuttle driver tells us about a pinned canoe we might spot on one of the rapids, I know we are headed for an interesting trip. Then he adds, “oh, and watch out for a sharp curve in the river when you get past the canal. There’s a nasty chute and no warning sign.…
Planning for Paradise – the Legendary Nahanni
We were standing by a large turquoise pond, utterly alone and hundreds of kilometres deep in the heart of the Mackenzie Mountains on the border between the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Ahead lay 60 kilometres of non-stop rapids, three hikes, and 557 kilometres of wild South Nahanni waters to paddle. The buzz of mosquitoes…
Arctic Odyssey on the Horton
Two dark brown masses moved slowly over the smooth treeless hill in the distance as our heavily‑laden red canoe slipped through the silence along the clear, cold river. We followed the rippling wake to shore and stealthily hiked along a sunken stream bed toward the snorts and grunts that occasionally interrupted the buzz of mosquitoes around…
Lessons on the Chochocauane
The smoke and smell of curried beef simmering on the fire drifted over our campsite near the end of the Chochocouane River. The warm June wind steadily grew stronger as we hauled our canoe to the sparking campfire and flipped it over to use as a wind break. Sweat streamed down our faces under the…
The Mighty Magnetawan’s intense spring run
We stepped up on the tip of a huge granite tongue overlooking the turbulent water whipping wildly by us. “This is big water,” my partner warned as he secured the spray deck to the canoe. “This is really big water!” I took a look and immediately understood. The rising light of June cast a golden…