Thanks Jim
I'd still love too read THEIR trip report?

solotripper wrote on Jan 11^th, 2010 at 6:38pm:


Neal,

Your wish is my command!  Here is the "missing last page" from my account of our WCP trip... the page Stu cut out:
**********************************************************

Approaching the completion of our paddling circuit the following morning on Leano Lake, I was glad to have notched the location of our access point in my GPS.  The small opening was nearly swallowed by the bush; we might have paddled right on by.  

Ben and I sat up front beside the outfitter’s driver, an elderly Chippewa, who would haul us and our belongings the two hours’ distance to Red Lake, where our vehicles waited.  The driver asked polite questions, listened to our tales, and seemed to size us up before sharing a tale of his own.  Solemnly, he told us of a group of twenty-one teenagers from an inner-city program out of Ottawa who, earlier in the week, he and tribe elders had been asked to “educate” before they entered Woodland Caribou Park.  None of these young visitors, including their instructor, had ever been in the wilderness, paddled a canoe, used a compass, started a fire, or set up a tent.  Our driver shook his head in serious doubt, indicating, “these people, they were determined to do things ‘the old way’… yikes, even we don’t do things the old way!”  He recounted how tribal leaders did what they could with the group in the short time allotted, even offering to serve as guides.   As the point of their trip was to “experience the wilderness”, they preferred to go it alone.  The teenagers would forego fishing poles in favor of using snares to supplement their food supply… even though they carried no sharp knives.  Neither would they carry maps, preferring the discovery method of learning and getting about the park.  Furthermore, the highlight of their three weeks would be to shoot rapids along the Bloodvein River in their Kevlar canoes.

Fresh off of our own challenges in the bush, Ben exclaimed, in incredulity, “Wow!  So what do you think is going to happen to them?”

The old Chippewa slowly turned his head to us.  His eyes creased into a smile as he chuckled, “That bunch?  Ha!  I don’t know!  I think maybe they’re going to die!”

Whatever your approach, there is plenty of Canoe Country magic and a unique, pristine beauty ready for your own discovery in Woodland Caribou Park.  It is, indeed, a path less travelled.  With that in mind, we strongly endorse the use of maps….

**********************************************************

And now you know the 'rest of the story'.

I also see how my memory fades with time.  The Objiwe was really a Chippewa.  There were only 21 teenagers and they came from Ottawa, not Toronto.

Hmmm... guess it pays to keep my trip journal in front of me when I write this stuff.

OF COURSE, I, for one, would NEVER be one to exaggerate about mission-critical stuff like fish size, length, etc....


Jimbo  

Now that's what I'm talking about
Some great pics too my thinking. Puts me in a great frame of mind.

I see camp chairs were a stable of your trip?
See a couple different styles. Maybe a report on the pro's and con's of each style would be helpful in the Gear Forum?

I can tell the Lean 3 is a keeper. Hard to beat a dry-fly type rig with an even bigger eve and mesh bug screen

I hope the details of your Ojibwa elder talk makes the forum? I wonder if that group ever posted a trip report of their adventure?

I got a big laugh out of the line's: "Hey, even WE don't do things the 'old way'.  I think somebody's gonna die!"

Reminds me of the time my friend and I hiked the coastal trail in Pukasaw National Park Ontario. It was the first year it opened. One wet rainy day we made camp and my friend who fancied himself a fire starter, struggled to make a decent campfire. He insisted on using too big of pieces of kindling and ended up with a smoky, smoldering fire. Hearing sounds of approaching hikers, we were surprised to see a Native trail crew heading toward us, carrying chainsaws and a ton of camping gear?

Seems they had come by boat and were headed for their homemade bush campsite, complete with SAUNA a few hundred yards down from our camp spot.

My friend has a very romanticized image of Native peoples. He "thinks" that they ALL are in touch with their wilderness heritage.

Seeing the Native crew, he hails them and asks the crew leader too show him the Ojibwa of starting fires?

The leader looked at him weird for a minute, puts his pack down and come up with a big can of BBQ type fire starter!
He squirts a generous amount on fire, it take hold and after the huge fireball tames down, the fire is burning good enough to add bigger logs.

The crew start laughing like crazy men and head off to their camp.
The rest of the night my friend just couldn't get over their lack of "primitive" skills

From that moment on, whenever a my friend is asked to build a campfire, he always tells people he's going too do it the Ojibwa!
While the unknowing wait for some primitive fire skill, he produces a can of fuel, shouts OJIBWA, and pours in on

I guess the old skills are valuable too know in an emergency, but convenience trumps even cultural heritage on occasion!

Here is the picks that I have.  Same as the ones posted in  Woodland Caribou Park/WCPP-june28.… thread.
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nice pic  Jimbo!

//Windsailor

Jimbo wrote on Jan 7^th, 2010 at 10:59pm:



Ok, I've taken my stab at posting a few of my lousy trip pics from our July, 2009 trip to Woodland Caribou Park.  I still have some work to do.  The pics are not in chronological order & I may yet post some additional pics.  

Mug shots on that crew can only be helped but so much, however....

Here's a link to my Inukshuk gallery:   (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Jimbo  

We just wanted to express our appreciation to all who take the time to write trip reports.  We really enjoy reading them.  We stick to canoeing the Quetico and surrounding area but really enjoy trip reports about Woodland Caribou Park. 

Kingfisher wrote on Jan 7^th, 2010 at 8:50pm:

I don't believe you didn't fish before 10 am.

-YB

ST,

Well, I suck at taking pictures... though you all will have to admit it was a neat trick HOW I took that picture of myself (& my reflection!) on that first page of the story, eh?  I KNOW I suck at taking pictures because Stu TELLS me I suck at taking pictures & asked me to BEG KF & dd to send something his way!  Fortunately, KF did so.  I am ALSO technically-challenged, so I would have to work at figuring out just how to load my lousy pics into the Inukshuk Gallery.  Maybe I can pull that off this weekend.

Actually, one of my pics really wasn't all that bad.  Just like the one attributed to me in the BWJ, it was taken by my son, Ben.  It is an interesting shot taken from inside of the cave on Aegean Lake, looking outward.  Blue sky & sparkling waters are framed by the mouth of the cave.  I really figured Stu would have used THAT pic.

You know, Stu actually "deleted" the very best part of my story, IMHO.  It WAS my next to the last paragraph (& certainly helped the last paragraph to make a whole lot more sense than it currently does!).  Anyway, in that paragraph I recounted my discussion with the old Ojibwe driver who trucked our stuff back to civilization on our way out.  He was telling us how 25 completely non-experienced youths from some Toronto inner-city program just went into the park with 2 completely non-experienced adult supervisors (early 20 somethings).  This bunch insisted upon doing things "the old way".  What does that mean???  No GPS, no maps, no matches, no fishing equipment, etc. & so on.  They had asked the Ojibwe - an elder in his tribe - a lot about how to make snares for food, etc..  After an hour or so of their crash course in wilderness survival, apparently they felt ready for their month-long adventure.  The old Indian was quite worried & pleaded with them to take him along as a guide... even if only for a few days.  They declined.  They wanted to "experience" the wilderness   By the way, they were ALSO anxious to try their hand at whitewater canoeing in their kevlar canoes.

So, the way my story REALLY ended was with my putting this question to the Ojibwe driver: "So what do you think is going to happen to that youth group?"

He paused, reflected, then solemnly replied, "Hey, even WE don't do things the 'old way'.  I think somebody's gonna die!"

Anyhow, a much richer account of that conversation got deleted from the tail end of my story.  Someday, maybe I'll ask db to put the unedited version up on the QJ Stories page.  The "unedited" versions of many of my BWJ stories are in there (including my personal favorite example, the last page of "Inukshuks & a Stroll through the Park"... deleted by the conservative Stu for use in his BWJ).

Hey, I'll see what I can do about pulling together my lousy pictures & getting them posted.

Jimbo  

I had previously posted a minimal trip report at the conclusion of our trip, but knowing there were BWJ stories in the works, I didn't add much detail.  However, I did post a collection of pics at:

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One pic I DID omit was one to accompany the small fish contest ... a very good shot where Jimbo was demonstrating the standard unit of measure for the contest ... his middle finger.  

Jimbo as a task master, slave driver, etc ... well, lets just say that he wouldn't earn the stealth award at 4:00 am.  Toward the end of the trip, I just simply waved "good bye, see you later." as they paddle off to the next destination.  Then I kicked by to savor my coffee until 6:30! 

Cherry Valance?  Well, lets just say I was an "independent contractor."

dd