BUTT END


UNLIKELIEST OF PLACES. PHOTO: KEVIN CALLAN


MAKING FRIENDS IN THE


A SOLITUDE SEEKER REJOICES IN MEETING FELLOW CANOEISTS ON THE PORTAGE TRAIL BY KEVIN CALLAN


IN THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS


Most of the time, I like people and con- sider myself a social person. On a canoe trip, however, I usually find it distasteful to run into other paddlers. Tis aversion to human interaction leads me to seek out remote areas where no one else goes. Recently, I launched my new film Te


Happy Camper’s Wilderness Quest and one of the first questions from the media was, “What was the most inspiring thing that happened to you while filming and canoe- ing around the remote interior of Quetico Provincial Park?” Oddly, I blurted out, “Meeting people out there.” What’s with that? My answer surprised


me and mystified the journalist. I’m sure he was expecting me to offer some poetic views on solitude and seclusion. Te film is called “Wilderness Quest” after all, and has all the standard scenes of loons, sunsets, nasty portages, bugs, scary thunderstorms, beautiful landscapes and moonlit paddles. In retrospect, however, it really was the


grab bag of paddlers I met out on the por- tages and campsites who motivated me the most. Sharing in the diverse reasons of why they love the wilderness is what made the project truly worthwhile. Some of the more memorable char- acters included two stoner chicks who


54 EARLY SUMMER 2012


proudly showed off the biceps they had gained from portaging; an interior maintenance crew boss who expressed his


appreciation of wilderness travel


with quotes from Toreau; and a min- ister from Germany—wearing a pair of Lederhosen—who recounted pure mo- ments of spiritual Utopia. Ten there was the slothful teenager conveying how he had his best nap ever while canoeing in Quetico; the deep-thinking philosopher who wished for the simpler life of being a tree or a bird; and the retired dentist who loathed seeing anyone while out on trip—especially a film crew!


When I returned, everyone was in tears.


Te woman had shared the story of how she was a breast cancer survivor and how she and her husband made the decision to head out on a wilderness canoe trip in Quetico to re-evaluate their lives. To them, the trip was like starting on a clean page, a reminder of how temporary our time is and how we should be spending more of it in wilderness areas. Like many people, I suffer from an in-


ability to articulate the intrinsic well-be- ing I feel from spending time in the wil- derness. But the candor and comments of the Quetico paddlers gave voice to these


The trip was a reminder of how temporary our time is and how we should be spending more of it in wilderness areas.


Te most inspiring interview was with


a middle-aged couple whom we met af- ter a very long day. Te film crew was exhausted and needed a break, but I felt we should talk to the couple. So I offered to carry their canoe across the portage while producer Kip Spidell did the inter- view.


feelings and spoke to anyone else who has ever spent quality time canoeing in wild places. For that, I’m glad I met so many people out there on my wilderness quest. If you see Kevin Callan in the wilderness


with a camera crew, don’t run away…he may carry your gear across your next portage.


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