wilderness – Page 2 – THE TERRA INCOGNITA

TRIP REPORT: MUSKOKA RIVER (SOUTH BRANCH)

Published on December 12, 2020December 12, 2020 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…

TRIP REPORT: WABAKIMI PROVINCIAL PARK – KOPKA RIVER

Published on July 19, 2019July 18, 2020 by Erik ThomsenLeave a comment

The magnificent, primeval ridges and valleys of Wabakimi were carved and scoured in the twilight of the last ice age, some 12,000 years ago. Black spruce, tamarack and jack pine, thin and stunted from long, harsh northern winters, cling to the shallow veneer of soil that scantly coats this portion of the Shield country. This harsh world still wholly belongs to the woodland caribou, the grey wolf and the bald eagle.

Signs of humanity are sparse; few tread here. But if you endeavour to pass through this land, look carefully under the shadowy canopies of those weathered and stunted tamaracks; under the beard lichen and Labrador tea; amongst the sphagnum moss, wood ferns and wild blueberries bushes; you will find trails of another time. Gaze over the placid waters, down the tumbling rivers, across the serpentine lakes, and envision the water trails of yesteryear. These canoe routes were established over centuries by the North of Superior Ojibwe – ancestors of the Whitesand, Mishkeegogamang, Saugeen, and Eabametoong First Nations. Today those canoe paths remain.

WHERE THE RIVERS RUN WILD: A JOURNEY DOWN THE LOWER MISSINAIBI AND MOOSE RIVER

Published on June 3, 2019July 18, 2020 by Erik ThomsenLeave a comment

The cold subarctic gales, driving rains, unrelenting headwinds, the ruggedness of the lands, the turbulence of the waters – the Missinaibi and Moose Rivers in northern Ontario may well put you on a threshing floor and strip you down to your rawest emotions. Isolation, desolation, fear, and at times, utter despondency; nature here is unforgiving, uncompromising, and is capable of testing the upper limits of your endurance and fortitude. You may question why you do it.

But it is here that you will find colours you have never seen and Gods that you never knew existed. Swallows will flicker as they feed in the dimming dusk, the Aurora Borealis will dance through the northern sky as it has for aeons and you will edge closer to answering the great questions.