CG9603.  Look forward to buying your book.  Let us know when it's published. 

Ever since I read Canoeing with the Cree the first time, 15 years ago or more I 've fantasized about making the trip. Going to have to do it vicariously thru guys like you now at my age.

I completed my trip from Lake Superior to York Factory this summer, and much of my crew's route paralleled Sevaried's and Port's.  May 26 - August 9.  What a trip !!  I would do it again, too, but there would be some changes.  My book will be coming out in a couple of months or so. 

If anyone has the opportunity to do this, take the opportunity.  You will have memories for the rest of your life.   

I recently read this book also and some of the parts were sort of disturbing to me. When they talked about shooting animals for the fun of it, I dont like that stuff.

I enjoyed this recent kids trip.  Papa back home would post daily updates because these kids had the latest in technology.  The kids would spot beama GPS coordinate and a short text message back home.  It was a blast using Google Earth to follow along with them.

Their speed was nothing short of phenomenal  Lake Winnipeg in under a week.

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Akula wrote on Jun 27^th, 2008 at 8:38pm:


Unfortunately for many of the offspring of my generation ( The Boomers), well meaning but over protective parents have produced a generation that has never known "fear/failure" instead they've been told that as long as your "participate" ( just show up in many cases), you have "won"
60 minutes had a good segment about the trials of a modern day corporation trying to get these "kids" to accept constructive criticism or show responsibility by showing up on time and giving a good days work for the pay.
They've always had Mom or Dad to fight there battles and had rewards given to them for less than a full effort, because God forbid anyone would "lose" at anything, that would ruin there over inflated sense of entitlement
As all veteran paddlers know, you can't appreciate the rainbow without weathering the storm.
I think most people would say they've learned more FROM there failures than success's?
Never being allowed to sink or swim on your own teaches you nothing, it makes you dependent and a burden on others.
I have numerous friends who's 25 something kids are living rent free at home, taking extravagant vacations, driving cars they can't afford and losing jobs because it cramps there social life !
Not only do they feel NO remorse over mooching off the parents, they think its there RIGHT

I just now finished reading this, and for anyone who hasn't yet, it's definitely a must-read.

I am a non-believer in GPS technology while out "in the nature," and I proved to a friend a few years ago that a man with a map and compass who knows what he's doing is more valuable than a guy with a GPS who hasn't a clue... to make a long story short, we navigated out of North Dakota's badlands at night, with no moon, using the stars to guide us out of the canyon - while this guy and his GPS lost his way numerous times. If you can't even read contours, a GPS will do you no good in the bush... besides, I think that technology distracts the mind from its true purpose - to go out there and be sharp. And at the end of the day, after using wits and simple magnets to navigate the wilds, the taste of victory is infinitely sweeter.

So to me, it's not so surprising that they were able to make it with what they had, but I do think they had their share of good luck. Without the ferry, the locals' directions, etc., they may not have made it in time. I have no doubt they would have made it, but certainly not before freeze-up.


Quote:



Truer words have never been spoken. Our kids don't need a Nintendo, they need a place to explore with their own feet and hands. They need sunrises and sunsets, blisters, and moments of fear and accomplishment. They need to live life...

Wally,

I think times were different back then altogether. I imagined their folks probably smiled at the idea, thinking the boys might struggle their way up to Fargo, at best. Spending their summer along the river, before a parent had to go retrieve them in the fall. I doubt they heavily considered that they would get as far as they did. Hence the lack of due diligence on the route. I assumed the skinny dipping to go hand-in-hand with the "times were different back then" thought.

One thing is certainly true, IMHO: the boys not only got further, but may credit the fact that they even returned alive, to the credit of generous strangers. There were people almost too numerous to mention that helped them along in crucial ways.

I agree though, that the real adventure is, in many ways, gone. Worse yet, is to have that spirit of adventure, and have no place towards which to direct it.

Ranger

Some interesting points I found while reading...(possible SPOILERS for those yet to read it)
SPOILERS ahead













Parents of that time were different.  I wonder if Sevareid's parents would still tell a 17 yr old in "todays day and age", sure, go ahead and do it.

It strikes me that either their social standing(?), or work connections(?), may have been influential in getting them access to aerial photos in that day.  I wonder what the cost of those photos were in that day....free(?), were they available to the average joe?  I thought they were millitary photos?  Did the millitary of that day just make these available to the public?  Canadian millitary photos?

I'm still awestruke that these kids and their parents just take-off without a complete understanding of the journey....having a lack of complete maps.  "Oh well, I guess we'll just find our way when we get there".  If someone did that today and failed...we call them a fool, if they succeed, we call them a hero.  I find it strange.

It seems there was some sort of "love found" with a youg lady in Berens Bay...did anyone else pickup on that?  Skinny dipping at midnight in Lake winnipeg....sounds like it could be interesting.  Thought I was gonna read a romance novellete for a second.

I wonder if that ferry service wasn't available....would they have conquered Winni in time to finish the trip?

The real adventure is gone for us today (IMO)....There's very little of the Earth's surface thats unmapped.  Today...the granduer is still there, the adventure of the wild is still there....but as soon as you are scared or worried about "where am I at"....just turn on your GPS.  To me, that was the true accomplishment of their trip.

I compare the recent publicised trips to this "original" trip....today, satellite phones, radio show call-ins from any rapid you choose along the way, unlimited power for cameras, phones, computers on the trip with cell chargers, GPS, accurate maps, high tech equipment (I'm not condeming this....just comparing)......It just can never be the same again IMO.]

I wish I had this spirit of adventure.

This book is the story of two high school grads that set out from their Minneapolis home bound for York Factory on Hudson Bay. Their glaring lack of experience and quality equipment was surprising. Regardless, they somehow procured parental permission and nominal funding from a local newspaper and set out for the Bay. Sevareid was 17 when he did this trip, and his partner Walt Port was 19. Sevareid wrote this book a few years after their trip, when we was 23. The book itself is a very quick, straight-forward read, and not unlike a long trip report that you might read right here on QJ.

I'd rate this one: 4.0/5.0

Ranger