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Kathleen and I have paddled the entire South Nahanni River, from the Moose Ponds to Blackstone Landing on the Liard River. Have also paddled the entire Thelon River from Lynx Lake to Baker Lake. Both are spectacular in their own ways, but I think most people would rate the Nahanni as...

Good point, Alan. Kathleen and I both laughed out loud!

I previously posted this in another thread, but it seems appropriate here as followup to boreal birch’s suggestion to pursue new, and hopefully exciting activities when wilderness canoeing disappears with advancing age. It worked for Kathleen and me. In the summer of 2022, Kathleen and I...

Kathleen and I usually carried bear spray, bear bangers and a .308 rifle on our extended canoe trips in northern Canada. I have fired the bear spray at home to see how far it would go. Not very far, it turns out. It would be a close-in defence. Spray would be even less effective shooting upwind...

Despite the story below, I would not want to rely on my boxing skills to thwart a grizzly attack. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/man-punches-grizzly-1.7274199

North and south depends on one’s perspective and experience. Kathleen and I have done quite a few northern Canada wilderness canoe trips. We generally consider anything south of 60 degrees north to be southern, and not something we would pursue. (One exception was the Seal River in northern...

I think you have provided an appropriate perspective, Odyssey. In the summer of 2022, Kathleen and I completed our last northern Canada wilderness canoe trip. To fill the void we finally accepted our daughter Monica’s annual invitation to share her passion for cruising. In May of 2023 we...

That’s actually a composter, not a wine keg. If it had been the latter I would have loaded up my trusty .308, which as yet, has never shot anything other than inanimate paper or tin targets. We need to be tested in real life, drink or die scenarios.

While sipping a glass of wine in our sun room, Kathleen and I enjoyed this visitor wandering by.

Picturesque, like beauty, I suppose, is in the eye of the beholder. It depends somewhat on what one seeks. Even so, everywhere I have paddled I consider picturesque. After all, I would never choose ugly as a paddling destination. That being said, based on the preferences of most people, the most...

The copied image doesn't appear if one is logged in only as a guest. So here it is re-posted. Hope this works. The campfire is over by the white buckets.

I posted this image on our Snowdrift River trip in 2001. Most of the tripping Kathleen and I have done has been 3-6 weeks in the Barren Grounds north of tree line in the NWT and Nunavut. We were usually all alone, and could not afford to lose our food. Usually there were not enough tall and...

Admirable tenacity! And humorous as well!!

Quite a struggle, Erica. I think that ground pine (also known as club-moss) is Stiff Club-Moss (Lycopodium annotinum). I could be wrong, though.

A fairly long posting here, for May 25, one of the very best days, as in "mesmerizing" of our entire winter sojourn. We sat outside most of the day, on the south side of the cabin, out of the north wind, feeling warm and reading in the sun. I slipped between dozing and waking, listening to the...

Kathleen and I paddled the Seal River in northern Manitoba in 1997. From the mouth of the Seal River on Hudson Bay, we took this image of the Seal River Lodge, 6 km (4 miles) north. Cold water below, and warming temperatures above (an inversion) produced this superior image of the lodge, which...

We enjoyed walking on the lake ice during our winter sojourn. But we were ready to paddle down the Anderson River to the Arctic Coast. On May 18 late in the evening, about 11:00 pm, the ice on Colville Lake itself finally began to stir. From far across the lake there came a groaning, as thick...

I have three more mesmerizing/interesting experiences from our winter sojourn that I would like to share. Like those seeking the total eclipse, Kathleen and I had gone to a lot of effort to put ourselves in the position to see spring emerge from winter. We drove away from Vancouver on January...

I don’t think I’ve ever seen stars reflected in a lake. I’m envious.

I strongly believe that I communicated with the Ravens. I practiced making their common calls. They eventually routinely replied, often swooping to a nearby tree. We would talk back and forth. I had no idea what I was saying, but the Raven seemed entertained.