Backcountry skills. PHOTOS: CHRIS STROMBERG
HOLLY ARMSTRONG KNOWS QUETICO IN A WAY ONLY LEARNED THROUGH SWEAT AND BLISTERS
HE WARDEN
HOLLY T ARMSTRONG
WITHOUT A MAP, Holly Armstrong effortlessly rattles off her all-time favourite canoe route in western On-
tario’s Quetico Provincial Park. “I would start at Stanton Bay and go into Pickerel, Dore, Twin, Sturgeon, Russell, Keats and Shelley lakes,” she says wistfully, but without missing a beat, “and then into Isabella and Side. Then I would get to my ab- solutely favourite spot…Sarah, MacIntyre and Robinson lakes. The water is so clear there and the white pines are so old. It’s just gorgeous.” The reason for Armstrong’s cartographic memory of
Quetico is simple. The 29-year-old grew up in neighbour- ing Atikokan and has spent the better part of the past 13 summers canoe tripping and clearing portages through the park’s watery interior. She cut her teeth for three years as a volunteer, progressed to being a paid member of the por- tage crew and eventually was promoted to become one of four park wardens. Do the math to see that Armstrong has spent more than 750 days in the backcountry. This summer, however, will be different. She made the
“toughest decision” of her life and has chosen to try her hand at becoming a bush pilot instead of working 10-hour days on eight-day trips hauling canoes, camping gear, chainsaws and brush saws across buggy and boggy Quetico portages. Learning to fly will involve mentoring with an uncle in Win- nipeg. Still, she’s planning to make at least a few canoe trips in the park, including entering in the solo category of the famed 232-kilometre, 32-portage race around Hunter Island during the park’s 100th anniversary celebrations.
Though only 29, Armstrong has spent more than 750 days in the backcountry.
“It’s been a really hard choice because I can’t imagine
doing anything else for the summer,” says Armstrong. “But it will be good to go on a trip and not have to take a chainsaw and satellite phone.” Besides, when all is said and done, she’ll have a set of keys to the best canoe trip shuttle vehicle ever. » CONOR MIHELL
Front country charm.
www.canoerootsmag.com
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