I enjoyed his comments and wilderness views/skills right up to the point where he went all snobby on making his coffee in the cabin. 

One minute he's making bush tea in a soot-covered
pot, eating berries off the bush to going thru an elaborate process just to make a damn pot of coffee JUST right.   

I guess my nylon sock method wouldn't cut it with him. 

I was surprised as I just found out a couple of days ago. But he and his wife are moving on so it's not that surprising I suppose. I wish them both well.

I just came across this one from his youtube channel that provides a lot more details.

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Shoot, Highanddry. Now I'm going to have to watch.

HighnDry wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2020 at 9:20pm:

Umm, don't know the guy, never been to WCPP and actually love coming across places in the middle of nothing in particular where I find signs of use by like-minded people - but - that's not where I'd be comfortable putting a fire.

My main reason for sticking my big nose in this is in the beginning when he puts the two logs down and presses on them and they spring back like there are roots under there.

I don't know for sure but I'd not be comfortable doing that myself much less promoting a practice like that on a public forum with the vast reach of YouTube.

The other half of the reason for this post was seeing a BW/Q video recently in which people were cleaning fish on campfire sitting logs. No one said a discouraging word about it and it's been bugging me. We can all agree that's bad, right?

db,

It probably wouldn't have been my choice as a place for a fire, either.  OR, if it was, I would likely have looked around for a large flat rock (or three) to build it on.

On the other hand, burning a fire in an established fire spot (he's used that very spot many times in his previous videos) seems such a small matter in the natural course of events in the boreal forest. We all know that a huge hunk of the WCPP ecosystem has burned up just in the past few years... most of it due to lightning strikes.  I certainly do not advocate "helping that process along" with poor woodcraft and forest stewardship but, at the very beginning of his video, Harlan does emphasize "looking around you" before you build a fire.

I DO agree with your observation re: YouTube.  Every time you express yourself to a wide audience, you are taking a risk.  Not everyone will know the relevant history.  Not everyone will have looked at Harlan's past videos and understand his experience on that very spot. He opens himself up to fair criticism.  It's similar, in a way, to what Stu Osthoff did to himself a year or so back when he put a picture of a paddler NOT wearing a life vest on the front cover of the BWJ.  Holy mackerel, he certainly took crap from holier-than-thou sorts for that oversight!  The reality?  The guy in that BWJ pic was truly an Olympic-caliber swimmer and was paddling in very shallow water.  In similar fashion, I trust Harlan had his situation well under control.

Nevertheless, anytime you venture into the public arena, you are heavily pressured into "political correctness" and you become fair game for critics and/or someone trying to wave their favorite banner.  Stu will likely never publish such a photo, again, despite the unfortunate reality that a LOT of paddlers go around that way (25 years ago I was one of them). Likewise, I'll bet Harlan wishes he had built his fire somewhere else, despite the precautions he was taking.  Both he & Stu opened themselves to criticism, regardless of possibly-vindicating "back stories", and regardless of the realities they were depicting.

I ask: who among us has never paddled without a life preserver?  Who among us has never built a fire that failed to measure up to forest Ranger specs?  In neither case do I believe poor practices were being consciously promoted/advocated.  Yet, when you put a video on YouTube or publish a magazine, you get fried the first time you fail to be PC.  You become a "poor custodian of public trust."

A lot of the ruckus came about due to the comments of a rival outfitter in the Red Lake area.  I say, "let the Red Lake outfitter among us who is without sin cast the first stone." With Harlan out of the picture now,  this former rival may well inherit similar scrutiny, should he ever grow his business to a size where it merits some attention... and that's not going to happen any time soon.

Re: cleaning fish guts on campfire logs, well, I don't know anyone who would argue that's a good thing.  I don't recall that I've ever seen that done in any of Harlan's videos.  Then, again, there are so FEW people using campsites in WCPP, I doubt it would matter much if folks did clean fish on campfire logs.  Heck, I've seen more than one campsite in that park with small TREES growing up through the fire rings!

Later,

Jimbo      

Jimbo, You captured my sentiments fairly well. I dont' know what happened but I was going to ask everyone at our QJ Copia gathering. Now at least there's some clarity to the situation, as you say, from Harlan's perspective. Too bad it didn't work out long term. He was a successful promoter for the park.

DB, I'm with you on those points but I figure I'm still too much of a greenhorn to be an authority on anything...at leas that's what my kids tell me 

P.S. Hope to see you at Copia

My favorite part of this, Jimbo's line: "It explains a lot... at least from his point of view.". Still smiling from that one.

Jimbo wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2020 at 3:14pm:


You nailed it right here Jimbo.  It's small minded people who were jealous of Harlan or looked at him as a disruption to their "control" over the area.  They probably saw him as an intruder and representing wholesale change to the area.

TomT wrote on Feb 5^th, 2020 at 1:58pm:


  I wouldn't assume that Harlan's enemies were ALL small-minded people. Harlan came from southern Ontario which is very Liberal and a very hustling/bustling place. Not knocking that, just saying that how it is.

He came for a trip, fell in love with the area and decided he wanted to make a life for himself up there. Nothing the matter with that either.

  The problem is many people LIKE that small town, slow pace lifestyle. The ones that don't move away after HS, the rest stay.

  Harlan came it with his hard-charging ways that being from where he came from is the norm for people starting their own business.

  To the locals that is EVERYTHING, they don't like about "city" life. Neither side is 100% right or wrong for that matter.

  I have sister and brother-in-law that lived in CA for most of their married lives. When he retired they moved to Prescott AZ because CA was too expensive to continue to live the lifestyle they were accustomed too.

They built a very nice home in a subdivision that the minimum lot size is 2 acres and the zoning is such people can have horses/ goats/llamas/chickens but not BREED them for profit.

They are Rottie lovers and have 2 of them at all times. They fenced in their 2 acres and all was well at first. Then THEIR CA very Progressive values kicked in and the trouble started.

They went to a neighborhood association meeting and complained that the smell from the animals was so bad they couldn't enjoy time outdoors on the patio!

They didn't like that the roads were not paved but hard-packed gravel with a coating to keep the dust down. More horse friendly. There is also a neighborhood GUN RANGE at one end that backs up to state land.

It gets minimal use but it does get used.
Well, that went over like a lead balloon. People told them, you left CA because it became unaffordable to you and now you want to BRING that mentality here!

So now they don't talk to any of their neighbors and of course, they think THEY'RE the ones being treated unfairly.

It appears Harlan isn't the innocent he made himself out to be in that video? That doesn't excuse people vandalizing his property or running him off the road but then that's HIS side of the story too. 

I'd bet some of those snowmobile trails were cut by the First Nation people who still have camps in the park. They have their own hunting/fishing rights as they do in Quetico I would think?

solotripper wrote on Feb 5^th, 2020 at 4:59pm:

While I haven't actually noticed snowmobile trails in the park, I have seen several noted on some of the older maps of the park.  And yes, the First Nation peoples have hunting and fishing rights there as well. 

On my very first WCPP trip, I (and a portion of the group I was in that included MagicPaddler and Jimbo) had the good fortune of having a person from the First Nation as our driver on a return shuttle to Red Lake from Leano.  I believe he was even a Tribal Elder.  Over the course of conversation on the return trip, he did relate that they were permitted to take Woodland Caribou from the park, but because of the relative small population of these caribou in the park, they were severely limited.  (Of course, it is illegal for anyone else to hunt these caribou.)

A few years after this meeting, I remember he and the park superintendent made a presentation at Canoecopia, which I attended.  I've often wondered how he might have felt about revealing all the virtues of the place he calls home to a bunch of strangers.

I'll have to apologize for not remembering his name (dang!).

dd

DentonDoc wrote on Feb 5^th, 2020 at 10:20pm:


DD,

Doug Gilmore?

Jimbo 

I think what upsets me about this mess in Red Lake is that some good people have been slandered and because of lawsuits or threats of lawsuits could not use social media to defend themselves. Publicly Harlan had a stellar reputation and part of that was because he could edit out any comments he did not like from the social media accounts he set or or pressure forums he supported to delete certain threads that contained complaints about him. I had personal friends caught up in problems with Harlan. He would tell clients to just give them their credit card numbers and he would take care of everything. This led to charges that were higher than paddlers thought they  had agreed to. Having been burned this way one friend tried to straighten it out with Harlan but could not. One the next trip he made sure to only pay when he got an invoice. Arriving in Red Lake Harlan insisted he was owed for some maps, my friend insisted Harlan bring up the account and the maps had been paid for. Another paddler told of arriving in Red Lake and Harlan demanded they pay for a canoe rental that they had not requested. Harlan said he had to charge because it was too lake to rent it to someone else. I had heard enough stories that my advice when asked about Harlan was to only pay when you had an invoice. I know there would be another side to these stories but I heard too much. None of these things were ever worth pursuing legal action. That is why when things heated up last summer Superior Airways posted on their Facebook account that anyone with a legal fight with Harlan should contact them and their legal team would help. At this point the war that Harlan started turned against him and soon he had left  town with no notification to his clients with paid for trips still arriving. Not a pretty story and one I hate to write but I just need to put out the "rest of the story."

Quote:


  I got burned that way once too by an outfitter I used to rent a canoe to do a brook trout fishing trip on the Fox River in the UP. I said I just wanted a canoe, had my own life-jacket/paddle.
  Get there and see they had billed for both the items.
Since it was already on the account, I just got them to give me the same amount in merchadise from their store.

Now if they want my credit card number I decline and tell them I'll send a certified check or pay them out of my PayPal account.

Quote:


  Back in my backpacking days 4 of us had just come back from hiking Isle Royale. We were staying at a State Park campground.

  We met some local 1st Nation people who were camped there too for some event.

It started raining steadily and when evening came we struggled to get a good fire going. My buddy, who was 3 sheets into the wind decided he was going to go down and ask how THEY had gotten a roaring fire going?

  The next thing we see is two old Ojibway guys and him coming back to our campsite. Our buddy says " There going to show us the Ojibway method of fire building" 

One of the old guys had a beer can in his hand. He steps forward POURS the beer on the fire and quickly steps back

  The fire bursts into a roaring flame that ignited all the damp wood! We said WHAT the hell was that?

He laughed and said, " it was COLEMAN fuel, that's what the Ojibway WE know use now". We had a good laugh about that.

  Every time I see someone struggling with a campfire that comes to mind.

Well said Marten.  I wholeheartedly agree.

Later......

I've never met the guy but I watched some of those videos you mentioned Jimbo and thought the same thing you did 

  There are ALWAYS 2 sides to every story and the REAL truth IMHO lies somewhere in between.

What is really telling is him leaving town and NOT notifying his PAID clients. That speaks volumes right there. You don't bring innocent people into your squabbles.

TomT wrote on Feb 10^th, 2020 at 7:06pm:


I know Richard at Chukuni who stepped up to help some left stranded by Harlan is going to do some outfitting and Albert at Goldseekers has been ramping back up for over a year. I noted Goldseekers on Facebook was promoting a 30% off sale for booking flights early and his rates looked very good at list price. A big difference I saw too was that he was up front about lowering cost even more if he could match up your early booking with someone else using the back-haul on your flight. Nothing in this for me but wanted those planning a WCPP trip to know that full outfitting and flights are easily booked for WCPP and the surrounding areas.

Joe Robinet (a very  popular man on you tube) is going to be back at Canoecopia doing program on WCPP. Harlan outfitted him last summer and from comments on his trip video he heard a  lot from  Harlan. Ontario parks no longer promote their parks at canoe shows so it is going to be hard to find out much.

I recall reading some time ago that part of the Quetico park mission was to provide a meaningful wilderness experience.   But at the same time to have enough attendance through fees for it to pay its own way.

Is it possible that they have hit the sweet spot in visitors that at the moment no "advertising" at sport shows is needed?

I see attendance stats posted occasionally, but at times they seem to contradict each other?

MB

That place, it’s so crowded nobody goes there anymore.

That says a lot. I've always wondered why there weren't better roads for example built around parks such as WCPP and Wabakimi. It would appear because the powers-at-be didn't desire them to be built perhaps. Roads would create better access and more visitors.

I remember being at the same breakfast table as Caire and also the then Supt. of Quetico. He knew I was sharing a program with Claire that day about my explorations in WCPP and said to me. "Why would you share with others these wonderful things you have discovered." Claire held her tongue until we  were alone and then assured me that she did not share that attitude and apologized for his comment. One of those things you can't "Unhear."

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x-kelowna-13/

I had mentioned a few things about Harlan's past  and thought I would add the background info. Note the date that he purchased a home in British Columbia. It seems his exit was long in the planning.

This link is from his new home town but not sure what it means??
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Well, there sure isn't much 'about us' there.  He does seem to be a good marketer.  I don't suppose we'll them at 'copia though.

Seems odd that his bridges are burned and now he’s in the transportation business. I never would have guessed it. I would be shocked if he was at Copia. He probably doesn’t have any need and he would get lots of questions...

db wrote on Feb 14^th, 2020 at 10:43pm:

As a newcomer to the WCPP area, you hit the nail on the head with that quote.  We just want to get up there and enjoy the area.  We are planning on coming in August and have spoken a few times with Albert.  He's been very helpful.  WCPP is a true treasure!

Here is my rant. 

-- Harlan.  Nice guy.  Uber expensive for my diy tastes. TONS of potential to run up a bill here, if not mindful.  $350 to shuttle a vehicle to Lund Lk, five years ago, seemed excessive.

-- Quetico Dave. Nice guy. I realize that he has his followers. Our experience was so-so. We were forced to use another outfitter when things went off the rails AFTER we got on-site.

-- Cleaning fish in camp.  C'mon.

-- Leaving the parks w/ fish.  Really?

-- db: Thanks (as always), for maintaining this site and putting up with us knuckleheads who think we know shit. 

Thank You,   --paw

Brand new pot and a cleanly shaven neck? Doh!

I don't recall if this was previously ascertained, but it looks like Harlan hung onto the Olive Lake property in the park.

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Canadian clients must be filling it this year! It's definitely not any of us.