Tag: backcountry

TRIP REPORT: MUSKOKA RIVER (SOUTH BRANCH)

Published on by Erik ThomsenLeave a comment

Beyond Thompson’s Folly we found ourselves paddling through picturesque Crown forests, with gently sloping, tree studded hills running up from the rocky shoreline on either side of us. By this time of the season, the splendour of the colourful fall foliage had long passed and in its place were barren deciduous trees, beige leaf litter on the forest floor, coating the hills, and long, dry, sun-bleached grasses along the riverside. We were now approaching Cook’s Falls, a scenic, gurgling CII rapids that lay in the shadow of a towering granite cliff – this would be our campsite for the night…

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TRIP REPORT: MISSISSAGI RIVER PROVINCIAL PARK

Published on by Erik ThomsenLeave a comment

In the summer of 1912, Tom Thomson – one of our country’s most beloved artists – ran the Mississagi from Biscotasing or “Bisco” to Lake Huron over two months. In a subsequent letter to a friend, Thomson remarked that the Mississagi was “the finest canoe trip in the world.” While we can only guess what precisely caused Thomson to write those words, it is clear that the Mississagi still undoubtedly retains the magic that he must have felt as he sat on its rocky shores and sketched the wild panoramas that surrounded him that summer.

As you embark, perhaps, on your own journey down the Mississagi, please remember that in exploring these immense and formidable landscapes, we not only draw ourselves closer to the earth, our home, but we also rekindle the glory of our country’s formative years when the land was younger, before the ceaseless march of the modern world.  When we carve through the emerald cathedrals of the Mississagi, we reawaken the ghosts of a still wild kingdom, so that they may sing and chant and paddle once more. 

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