THE FORESTS OF TEMAGAMI STRETCH OUT FOR 2,000 SQUARE KILOMETERS.
I
t’s just an ordinary beaver lodge—a dome- shaped mass of sticks plastered with mud.
It’s situated on a small pond, halfway down the Wakimika River in northern Ontario’s famed Temagami wilderness. Five of us, floating in three canoes, gather round with cameras at the ready, hoping for a shot. Here, in the oldest stand of red and white pine in the world, we’re searching for an echo.
My husband, Gary, and I are guiding a very special trip. Accompanying us is a small crew creating a film exploring the beginnings of Canada’s most famous and controversial conservationist. During the early 20th century, Grey Owl helped
RAY MEARS IS A CANOEIST, WILDERNESS ADVOCATE AND POPULAR TV HOST.
to save the industrious beaver from the edge of extinction, becoming a bestselling author in the process. He wrote five books, dozens of articles, starred in National Film Board movies and gave hundreds of lectures. Shortly after his death he was exposed as a Brit pretending to be a First Nations man. More than 75 years later, we’re paddling into
the network of wilderness waterways he called home, following in the footsteps of this complex conservation giant to discover his beginnings. Though Grey Owl is often associated with his
final resting place in Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan, it was his years near canoe- culture mecca Temagami, where he learned bushcraft skills from seasoned trappers, guides and Ojibway elders.
AUTHOR, JOANIE MCGUFFIN, ON A QUIET MORNING PADDLE ON OBABIKA LAKE.
It’s a sunny July afternoon three days before we depart for the wilderness when I meet our group at the Temagami Canoe Festival. Water laps against the docks, boats come and go from the marina, music and traditional drumming emanate from the stage. People surround a birchbark canoe admiring the builder’s handiwork. The owner of the Temagami Canoe Company, the second oldest canoe manufacturer in the nation, offers demonstrations of traditional cedar canvas boat building techniques. It’s here I meet the man who will narrate our film:
BBC personality Ray Mears is famous for his Ray Mears’ Bushcraft and Ray Mears Goes Walkabout TV shows, as well as a for being a bushcraft expert. (Discover the man behind the household name at
www.rapidmedia.com/0518.) He’s also a Grey Owl admirer. Ray is here demonstrating his wilderness techniques for festival goers. An enthusiast of Grey Owl’s writing and work,
Ray has long dreamed of exploring the Temagami area that shaped Grey Owl. Though separated by decades, the two grew up in neighboring rural towns in the United Kingdom. Their differences are vast, but it’s hard to
ignore similarities between the two wilderness philosophers. There’s a shared appreciation of the traditional ways of the First Nations and both have passionately championed conservation. “He grew up with nature on his doorstep; it
just wasn’t big enough for him. I can relate to that,” says Ray.
44 | Canoeroots
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