Our Winter of Content in Canada's Western Arctic

[Pook]

Yup...what Pringles said.
Folks can opt in or out and read as much or as little as they want.

That said, I've been hooked since the first post of your Seal River trip. I'm living vicariously through your words. You have a wonderful style of writing and the "serialization" of your trip reports keeps it in bite size pieces ( so I can read at breaks at work) and keeps us coming back!

Looking forward to the rest of this story...and more.

Bruce

 

[Zac]

Thank you very much for the story, Michael. For the last two weeks I have excitedly refreshed this page every time I sat down at my computer in hopes of a new entry. And read the entire entry immediately, of course.

Your serial reports represent, for me at least, the pinnacle of story telling on this medium, a medium so often reduced to dribble and insults elsewhere on the internet yet so respectable on this site. It has been a pleasure to follow along, but I have mixed emotions about getting such a good story in small pieces for free. Have you ever considered having some of your reports published together in a book? I'm sure that I do not stand alone when I say I would love to have a copy in my library, even if it is printer paper inside a 3 ring binder. I believe your prose is certainly more than adequate, and I get the idea that you have many more pictures than you have shared here.

In no way do I mean to imply that you should stop sharing your trip reports here on this site. You have brought joy to a great many of us with your storytelling.

Zac

 

[Gerald]

Been reading with interest. Always impatient for the next issue. Thanks for sharing.

I do have a question. Unless I missed it I do not recall you mentioning ice fishing or snaring for hare, grouse or ptarmigan. I can imagine that fishing and/or snaring must have crossed your mind on many occasions.

I also can relate to the comfort that brings having a good reserve of firewood. We had a major ice storm in 1998 that knocked out power for 21 days. After a couple of days people could not find gas
to keep their generators running as service stations ran out. Our wood supply with a basement wood stove and an enclosed fireplace on the main floor kept us comfy until the power was restore. Now when I look out the window and see the wood in the shed I'm thankful that I can still make my own firewood.

Gerald

 

[Alan Gage]

For example, I didn't include the following material from our last two days at the cabin, thinking it was too much. Kathleen thinks I should have, though. So here goes.

No need to hold anything back! I very much enjoyed reading that entry. Kathleen was right. I particularly enjoyed this part:

I cleared the land for this cabin. I built the cabin. The people built Bern’s lodge in town, to help the priest. The people were here before Brown, not the other way around. Colville Lake was here before Brown.”

I was stunned by this quiet, unexpected, somewhat undiplomatic outpouring. But I could see their point. Bern is famous in the North, and I think deservedly so, for reasons I have already presented. But in reality, many southerners, many whites have come north and become famous for doing essentially what the indigenous people have done for millennia; building cabins, surviving in the bush, being part of an isolated community, creating art. The southern whites have become famous because their achievements have occurred in an environment considered strange or unusual from the southern, urban perspective. Fair enough. But the accomplishments of southerners, the success of ‘newcomers,’ the fame of men like John Hornby who travelled through the Barren Grounds, Bern Will Brown and Dr. John Rae with the Hudson Bay Company have sometimes been promoted by media that overlook or otherwise ignore the contributions of the indigenous population.

As all four of us walked back to the dock I asked what would happen to the cabin after Bern is gone. “After all, he’s getting on in age. He’s 79 this year.”

“Maybe we should burn it down. Priests aren’t supposed to marry, aren’t supposed to start businesses.”

I've often thought the same thing. All our books and legends of the north revolve around white people, all of whom arrived late on the scene in comparison to the natives, who taught them how to survive. A trapper with boat full of gear and a trading post where he can restock his supplies a couple times every year has got nothing on the nameless thousands of natives who made that area their home before white people didn't even know they existed.

Be as windy has you want to be with your stories. They're worth the time to read.

Alan

 

[lowangle al]

No need to hold anything back!

Be as windy has you want to be with your stories. They're worth the time to read.

Alan

I totally agree with this.

 

[memaquay]

Ya, that last installment was excellent, and conveys a message that lots of non-native people often overlook. I lived on a fly-in reserve for two years, and developed a deep respect for the people. I was the visitor, and they were very gracious to include me in all of their activities and make me feel a part of the community. It was especially generous, when I came to understand in the years that followed that this was often not the case when they come south into predominantly white communities.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

I do have a question. Unless I missed it I do not recall you mentioning ice fishing or snaring for hare, grouse or ptarmigan. I can imagine that fishing and/or snaring must have crossed your mind on many occasions.



Gerald

I'm a bit of a sissy, Gerald. I don't like killing stuff. I even feel sorry for the fish that I catch. That being said, just in case the need arose, I did take snare wire, and read up on how to set traps for hares, grouse and ptarmigan. I was also very willing to shoot caribou if the need arose. I'm not such a sissy that I would starve to death!

 

[PaddlingPitt]

My first posts on this site were for Winter Lake to Point Lake, the Coppermine River, and Great Slave Lake. I provided vey abridged versions of my Trip Reports, thinking that's what people wanted, until I read the praise for Alan's Wollaston Lake TR. Today I would post much larger versions. Too late now, though.

I have very much appreciated the positive feedback. It does seem like the Anderson River is an integral part of our winter at Colville Lake. I will start posting in about a week.

 

[Jim Dodd]

I meant No criticism of your story, or the length !!!

I'm just a slow reader ! And my Eyes aren't improving to boot !

Oh My Typing Skills ? Ha !

One paragraph takes me for ever ! That's why I post soo many pics !

Yes I too liked the additional two day material !

Again Thanks !!!

Jim

 

[Odyssey]

The simple stick it on a stick method of cooking fish really appeals to me. I definitely have to try that. And the equally simple approach to firewood is interesting too. I might be too far entrenched in the neat and tidy mindset of saw and split, but it's good to know if ever I feel in the mood for pushing my fire building boundaries. Thanks for those K & M.

Before this TR I'd heard of cloud berries and noticed them in photos of Newfoundland Labrador, but now thanks to you they've been added to my
must taste/smell/touch/experience bucket list.

Although I'm excited to be on the move paddling virtually, I do kinda miss the old place too. That cabin looked snug and congenial. It tugs at the heartstrings.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Odyssey:

I can't take credit for that picture of the fish cooking on a stick. Alan Gage posted that picture, which was taken by P.G. Downes in the 1930s. Kathleen and I do, though, use the ad hoc method of collecting firewood. We don't take saws or axes anymore. We just collect what is available. If the pieces are too long, we just feed them into the fire as needed.

I too miss that cabin. As I have said before, it was the best 141 days of my life. Will probably remain so from now on.

 

[Iskweo]

Fires are a touchy subject in Manitoba. In the 80s a large part of the province burned. Entire communities were air evacuated by the RCAF. Last year was brutal also with most of the back country closed to travel. I am not really a fire cooker per se but I do like a shore lunch of hot dogs or soup on occasion. I play by the rules though and use a stove for the summer months. It is actually illegal to have an open fire in MB any time during the summer. For real. Ever since the 80s.

I have them on rainy or coldish days but for the most part no. My brother in laws ( Cree) used to just grab a bunch of sticks and break them up out on a rock point and then sweep the coals into the water when they were done, with a quick rinse on the rock. They use rock rings at permanent camps, and the pile of sticks concept when on the go. Being modern guys they like all the modern conveniences...such as chain saws and log splitters, tin boats with motors, and semi auto shotguns. Most permanent camps will have the debris of modern living including a garbage pile. Which is always fun to dig through.

While I have in days past camped and travelled the old ways, I find a bit of comfort to be a pretty good idea. I am also pretty sure the old guys would have been down with a few of todays improvements. Sure, eating ducks and fish on a stick over the fire is ok, but a cold handle frying pan really kicks things up a notch. And percolator coffee especially kicks arse...lol.

After reading this trip report I am getting the bug to head up to Norway House this fall and do some wilderness travel.

Christy

 

[Rippy]

Just finished your report of wintering on Colville Lake. Thank's for taking the time and effort to share with us.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

I apologize to John Steinbeck for borrowing and altering the title of his book for this topic, but for me our time at the north end of Colville Lake was the best one hundred and forty-one days of my life. Complete satisfaction and contentment. In fact, the experience was life changing.

Don't feel bad. He lifted it from Shakespeare.

Fantastic adventure and fantastic story telling. A bound version would compare favorably to much of the canoe travel literature out there and would be welcome on my bookshelf anytime.

 

[Robin]

I built one of those sleds you have from Craig McDonald in my early (few) days of winter camping. His instructions said to use an old pair of down hill skis under two upturned 2x4's held apart by some plywood platform IIRC.

Not being a skier I probably didn't treat the ski surface correctly as I had a really tough time pulling it loaded. I found an old toboggan, removed two slats to narrow it down and restored it using some great information provided by HOOP on using pine tar/wax for the surface. It worked well but I gave up on winter camping, just not my thing. Fortunately I found early spriing/late fall canoe camping with my wall tent to be one of my favorite ways to get out there so all was not lost.
The wood toboggan is now my grandkids go to sled with that pine tar surface.

Thanks again for your effort, amazing story and wonderful pictures.

Here's my complete outfit on my restored toboggan which I could pull back when,

and my downsized 8x10 wall ten with the wood toboggan

.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

That's very interesting, Robin. Craig's instructions said, If I remember correctly, said that the native people used to urinate on the toboggan runners to make them pull easier in cold weather. He also recommended to bring along some mud to rub on the runners. I did neither. That toboggan was difficult for me to control and haul, except when we were out on the ice, going straight to town in April. We eventually sold the toboggan to the school teacher in town. He used it to haul groceries behind his skidoo.

Just back from splitting and hauling wood at -37 C (-35 F). Woodshed is about 300 yards from the house. Hauled it in the plastic kid's toboggan, which pretty much glided easily along the ski-do trail.