cantdog
Waybac machine
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2004
- Posts
- 10,791
Just a heads up to all my friends here.
Tomorrow morning is the beginning of a ten day (we come out the 20th) canoe journey for me. Six of us, some of my closest friends in the world, strike out into the woods.
This is part of a graded series of such trips, designed to give a pair of delightful kids (now 11 and 13) the woodcraft and experience to go to Labrador for two or three weeks at some time in the near future when the two of them are in high school.
There are places in Labrador, in the back country, square miles, where no one has bothered to name things. Whole rivers without names. Lakes. You buy the topographical maps and they have no labels on them.
In this part of the world, it's sort of an ultimate. There's a book, Labrador Winter, which I recommend to those who would like to get the flavor.
Anyway, this is the first serious upstream trip for those kids. We will likely line the canoes up the falls (which have the coolest place name: Idiot Dog Falls) and step out to walk them along through some bony stretches. There are poles, too. I am the resident poling expert, but I expect to do some teaching this trip, since a good pole comes into its own on an upstream trip.
Ten Days! I expect a deeply satisfying experience, actually.
It's like a narrowing down. After the first day or so, you unkink the knots and tensions of your life. Your vision constricts to the moment you are in, but at the same time widens. I find I am like fuckin radar, man. I see all. I have such an eye, now. Every bird, every bug, all the movement in sky and forest-- it all gets seen, infallibly, once I've gotten into the mindset of the woods. I realize I'm not explaining very well.
We come back on the 20th. I have cameras and a journal. I'll be in touch with Lit about it. I always write up my trips like this. Anyway, I'll see you all later!
cantdog
Tomorrow morning is the beginning of a ten day (we come out the 20th) canoe journey for me. Six of us, some of my closest friends in the world, strike out into the woods.
This is part of a graded series of such trips, designed to give a pair of delightful kids (now 11 and 13) the woodcraft and experience to go to Labrador for two or three weeks at some time in the near future when the two of them are in high school.
There are places in Labrador, in the back country, square miles, where no one has bothered to name things. Whole rivers without names. Lakes. You buy the topographical maps and they have no labels on them.
In this part of the world, it's sort of an ultimate. There's a book, Labrador Winter, which I recommend to those who would like to get the flavor.
Anyway, this is the first serious upstream trip for those kids. We will likely line the canoes up the falls (which have the coolest place name: Idiot Dog Falls) and step out to walk them along through some bony stretches. There are poles, too. I am the resident poling expert, but I expect to do some teaching this trip, since a good pole comes into its own on an upstream trip.
Ten Days! I expect a deeply satisfying experience, actually.
It's like a narrowing down. After the first day or so, you unkink the knots and tensions of your life. Your vision constricts to the moment you are in, but at the same time widens. I find I am like fuckin radar, man. I see all. I have such an eye, now. Every bird, every bug, all the movement in sky and forest-- it all gets seen, infallibly, once I've gotten into the mindset of the woods. I realize I'm not explaining very well.
We come back on the 20th. I have cameras and a journal. I'll be in touch with Lit about it. I always write up my trips like this. Anyway, I'll see you all later!
cantdog
And please write of the journey and share with us! 
