Campfire [ COMMUNITY ]
WIND, SNAKE, TATSHENSHINI, ALSEK, FIRTH AND ALL THE CLASSICS
NAHANNI,
Portage From Hell Everyone has a portage horror story. We asked readers to share their misadventures from the trail and they did not disappoint (
www.rapidmedia.com/0113). Mark Donaldson’s worst portage took
place four years ago, but he remembers it like it was yesterday. “The 2,000 meters turned into the cedar swamp bog from hell,” he wrote on
Canoerootsmag.com. Mark and his daughter persevered, but it took seven hours of slogging. “The most remarkable thing— no lost shoes or sandals,” he added. “My personal worst was on the Finlay River
in northern British Columbia,” wrote Erich Volkstorf. Following a historical route from 1824, his portage involved climbing through an old burn of fallen trees. “After a kilome- ter or more, we lowered the canoes down a 60-meter cliff and then slid and carried them over rocky outcrops next to the falls. It took us two days of hard work to get our gear across.” To combat tough days on historical routes,
best rivers, wildlife and hiking beneath the midnight sun.
Toll Free: 1(800) 297-6927 E-mail:
info@nahanni.com www.nahanni.com
Live your dreams with the
Erich thinks of the paddlers from the past. “That I am following in their footsteps, with modern gear and often better food, makes me less inclined to whine,” he wrote. Mike Roberts also shared some tech-
niques for getting across the roughest por- tages. “I sing, write things in my head or do math,” he commented. “I also relive things from my childhood and have conversations with my dead grandpa, who often led the way on many of the portages I now solo across.” On Canoeroots’ Facebook fan page, Wil-
liam Hurst shared that he has only ever been in canoe tripping heaven: “Never met a portage I didn’t fondly remember,” he com- mented. If only we could say the same.
Facebook Nahanni and Canadian River Expeditions 10 | Canoeroots Like Us on Facebook at Ultimate Family Adventure
Canoeroots’ Summer/Fall 2013 issue featured Alice and Dan Clark’s extraordinary 100-day canoe trip to the Arctic with their two tod- dlers (“Have Kids, Will Paddle”). The inspir- ing story and photos were a hit with readers. “This family, and especially the kids, are
awesome,” commented Mark West on Cano- eroots’ website. Of the family’s guns of steel, he added, “You wouldn’t think that canoeing could get you in such great shape but, then again, with trips this long it is no surprise!” On Facebook, readers expressed awe at
the distance—“100 days! Yikes,” wrote Mike Roberts. Read the story at www.rapidmedia. com/0114.
Events
Shine your paddle and get your boats out of storage because it’s time to get back on the water. Join Rapid Media at the premiere of the 2014 Reel Paddling Film Festival World Tour, March 4 in Toronto, or check out one of 99 other stops on this year’s tour (
www.reelpaddlingfilmfestival.com). Visit the Canoeroots team at the Toronto
Outdoor Adventure Show, February 21 to 23 (
www.outdooradventureshow.com); at Ca- noecopia in Madison, WI, from March 7 to 9 (
www.canoecopia.com) and at Jersey Paddler’s Paddlesport in Somerset, NJ, March 28 to 30 (
www.jerseypaddler.com). The East Coast Paddlesports & Outdoor Festival takes place April 11 to 13 in Charleston, SC (www.
charlestoncountyparks.com/outdoorfest).
Find Us
editor@canoerootsmag.com |
www.canoerootsmag.com |
www.facebook.com/canoeroots www.twitter.com/canoerootsmag |
www.canoerootstv.com
Natural discoveries, such as rocks, feathers, bones and sticks, trump iPods every time
Have Kids, Will Paddle
ALICE AND DAN CLARK’S 100-DAY PADDLE TO THE ARCTIC WITH TODDLERS
STORY BY DAVE QUINN • PHOTOS BY DAN CLARK 36 SUMMER/FALL 2013 W
hile most paddling families dream about weekends or a blessed week of family ad-
venture, Dan Clark and Alice Young Clark are busy mapping the put-ins and take-outs for family paddles that are thousands of kilometers, and several months, apart. While most are concerned with how many nappies to bring and how to keep the kids from throwing the new camera in the water out of sheer boredom, Dan, Alice, Koby, age five, and three-year-old Ava Fei, are likely weeks into the blissful and timeless routine of a long—and I mean really long—family canoe trip. With summer family canoe trips under their belt that in-
clude the coast of Alaska and a month on the Yukon River, the family decided to bite off something more substantial last summer: a 3,400-kilometer, three-month family canoe journey from Jasper, Alberta, to the Arctic Ocean at Tuk- toyaktuk, Northwest Territories. In addition to paddling, cooking, route planning and parenting, Dan documented
the family adventure in an award-winning, 14-minute film, titled Have Kids, Will Paddle. “We go on wilderness trips to escape our civilized world,
to strengthen our family bonds and to get grounded in na- ture,” explains a wild-blooded but mild-mannered Clark. “We appreciate the opportunity to live in the moment, en- joying a simple existence as a family. In the uninterrupted time together we delight in the solitude of wild spaces, the opportunity for creative outdoor play and the ability to live outside, amidst the rhythms of nature.” The family’s priorities seem driven by this existence.
Dan is an accomplished outdoor leader with many adven- tures under his belt, including helping to organize and ski the first half of the longest ski traverse ever undertaken: a six-month epic from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Skag- way, Alaska. Dan’s role in that trip was cut short when his skis hit gravel on a logging road. The wipeout fractured a vertebrate in his neck, ending his trip, but not his passion for big adventure.
www.canoerootsmag.com 37
PHOTO: DANA JORGENSON
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