FREEDOM AND CREATION ON BRENNAN LAKE (LEFT). PHOTO: TODD MCGOWAN
WITH NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO BURNING, SMOKE DESCENDS ON THE ATTAWAPISKAT RIVER (CENTER). PHOTO: TODD MCGOWAN SHORTCUT (RIGHT). PHOTO: FRANK WOLF
I grovel up a side gully to reach the top. Peer-
ing over the edge, the looming gap between my precarious perch and the distant water takes my breath away. I inhale, step into space and let out a hoot before exploding into the liquid below. Under the surface, I look up through ris- ing bubbles at the cliff as it bends like a Dali painting in the expanding ripples. Experiences like this accumulate like dirt and
calluses over the course of a canoe trip, eroding the thin veneer of a modern, vicarious iPhone life to reveal a basic, animal core that exists in each of us. They are moments of pure freedom.
• • • P
others go for watercolor. The key for the artist is to find something that feels right, the meth- od and result that satisfies the creative self. Similarly, individual canoe trippers approach the wilderness journey in their own unique ways. Some like to paddle to an island and chill out for a week. Others linger in camp, put in a few hours on the water and then linger in camp again. The beauty of canoe tripping is that it reflects the style of the individual and no matter how you go about it, the rewards are rich. Typical days on this journey have been 10 hours long with perhaps a half-hour break for lunch. We average almost 47 kilometers daily for the 24-day trip, including upstream, down- stream, portages and dragging. I only sleep five hours a night because I’m so energized by every paddle stroke and aspect of this fresh environ- ment that I want to jam as much action as pos- sible into each moment.
42 SPRING 2012
ainters are naturally drawn to certain processes and mediums—some choose oil, some acrylic,
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