General

Roni Furst is collecting those old MNR brochures for Northern Ontario (only!).
She has the approval of the MNR to publish them.
Several hundred are ready for publication but she would like to get as many as possible of the remaining brochures before going to press.
I think that this is a project worthy of the support of the entire paddling community, so please have a look through your files for the following.
If you find anything, please email her at RFdivr@aol.com
THANKS, Allan

She has minimal information on the following Routes/brochures:
Clearwater Loops through Pekagoning Lk
Eye R to Clearwater West Lk
Marmion Lk Loop
Atikokan to Lac des Milles Lacs and return
Seine R - Lac des Milles Lacs to Atikokan
Seine R - Atikokan to Ft Frances
Clearwater West Lk to Ignace
Wasp Lk Loop
Nym Lk Loop
Sydney Ck, Montreal R to Matachewan, West Montreal R

She has none of the following:
Kenora district:
Dryberry Lk - Feist Lk Loop
Highwind Lk - Porcus Lk
Highwind Lk - Teggau Lk
Porcus Lk - Geijay Lk
Jones Rd - Sand Lk Loop
Kenora - Trout Lk Loop
Blind River district:
Helenbar Lk Route (Mississagi PP)
Ten Mile Lk Route (Mississagi PP)
Nipigon district:
Sections 1-3, 7-9, 12-18, 22-28, 31-33, 35-38, 40-67.

 My incredible good fortune continues. I was recently interviewed by folks from Outcrop Communications out of Yellowknife. They are commissioned by the Government of NWT to orchestrate a marketing campaign for CBC's Artcic Air and various print media. The goal is to inspire people to visit the spectacular NWT and partake in some of the incredible outdoor activities NWT offers.

Some of my video footage from the Mountain river trip this past summer found its way into the campaign. Here's the brief synopsis of my story, as it appeared in the Saturday's Globe & Mail Travel section:

http://www.myspectacularnwt.com/content/aleks-story

Off to winter camping trip to Algonquin with Dave, Ann, Al, Wendy and Jerry from Vermont this Saturday. Can't wait - my first winter camping experience.

Aleks

Don Starkell, the Winnipeg paddler who claims to have logged more distance in a canoe than any other paddler in history (some 120,000 km) passed away on January 28 of cancer at age 79. Don and his son Dana made the Guinness Book of World Records for their 1980 canoe voyage from Winnipeg to the Amazon, a distance of 19,200 km. Don started his canoeing career in 1948 at age 15, and then went on to become a top sprint and marathon racer in the 1950's. Other notable trips included participating in the 1967 Centennial trans-Canada paddle, and an attempt to kayak the Northwest Passage in 1991-92 which ended just 58 km from the finish with a rescue after being trapped in pack ice. You can read about his exploits in his books "Paddle to the Amazon," and "Paddle to the Arctic." Don remained an active paddler all his life. In a 2010 Canoe & Kayak magazine interview he complained that due to poor weather he only put in 2400 km the previous year. His parting words in that interview would make a great epitaph for him: "I've travelled three times around the world. If someone wants to beat that, I don't give a damn."

If there's a Paddler's Heaven where there's always sunny skies and a tail wind, we know you must be there, Don.

Bill.

Dear Toni,

My apologies first if I greet you on a first name basis even though we don't know one another.

I just want to congratulate you and your staff on a job really well done!

I just finished reading the last edition (Winter 2011) of the Nastawgan and could'nt help but notice the overall high quality of that publication from the glossy paper to the high quality colour pictures to the well written articles, all of great interest.

It's really a labor of love and I want you to know that it shows throughout the whole publication.

All the very best,

Jean-Claude (JC) Lessnick

The best weather yet was had for our 3rd annual hiking weekend.

Saturday started off cool but warmed up quickly. Our 16 km hike to the Kolapore uplands was followed by a pot luck supper (where 17 of us squeezed around the farmhouse table), singing/guitar playing (courtesy of Bruce Bellaire) and charades. The regulars (Diane Lucas, Rick Sabourin, Bruce & Beth Bellaire, Barb & Dave Young, Mary Perkins, Faith Hughes, Johanna de Bruijn & Bear) welcomed newbies (Rick & Maaike Nonnekes, Elizabeth Barker, Dave & Dawne Robinson, Jon McPhee & Dian Connors, Scott Campbell).

Sunday was even warmer and we enjoyed shorter hikes on the Bruce Trail to Best Caves in the morning and Standing Rock in the afternoon.

Close calls: Elizabeth almost didn't find us on Friday night in the dark, a few missed turns on the trails added to the kilometers & calls for new hike leaders, Bear had trouble retrieving a stick from a tree, sauna/microwave technical difficulties.

Even though most of us had some sore muscles/joints the weekend was a wonderful experience. We are indeed fortunate to have such great hiking along the backbone of Ontario.

...in a dozen photos I posted in the Photo Gallery? If you can, please drop me a note! Thanks, Aleks

A phrase "hard to beat" would adequately describe this weekend; If you missed it, and many of you did, you better have a good reason :)

Boundless offered a perfect location with many ammenities. Adrian, Vinnie and Trevor were gracious hosts. The food was incredible. The place is simpy too cozy! We didn't want to leave home.

We paddled Little Mississippi to the Cornoy Marsh & Lower Madawaska on Ssaturday, in windy but sunny conditions. We stopped at the Crooked Slide Park and Pligrim Reader bookstore in Combermere. On Sunday, we visited Craigmont, once thriving mining town. with Dave Kelly, the curator of Mission House Museum in Combermere. We hiked. We climbed. We descended into caves and mines. We learned about Clearwater and Bonaventure rivers.

Jon McPhee - great job organizing us, as usual.

Check out the photos in the Photo Gallery and the link to YouTube video.

Aleks

Congratulations to the WCA's Jon McPhee for his First Place finish in the Legends Class at the Gull River Open Canoe Slalom this past weekend. Perhaps even more impressive was Jon's tenth place finish in the Men's Solo class. This is the highly competitive top class that pits some of Canada's finest paddlers against each other. To come in that high against pro paddlers and canoeists half his age is a remarkable achievement.
Jon could be seen working out at the Minden Wildwater Preserve for at least a day nearly every summer weekend, and then go back for weekday practice as well. Clearly his hard work and dedication paid off.

Outstanding performance, Jon.
We're all very proud of you.

Bill

Herb Pohl on the Sand River - May 1997
Photo: Herb Pohl far left then Karl Schimeck, Jay & Frank holding hands

The Late Herb Pohl and Karl Schimeck joined us on our Sand River WCA Trip in May of 1997. This glorious adventure was enjoyed by all, though perhaps less by those only dressed in shorts and T-shirts during bug season! The most memorable event was catching up to these 2 swift kayakers at a lunch spot, to discover them both gleefully amused after nude swimming in the heat wave, something they both confessed they had never tried before! Why were these 2 gentlemen so respected ? Perhaps because no matter what the situation, they were always entertainingly enthusiastic about everything.