Showing posts with label National. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National. Show all posts
Sunday, 1 May 2011
National Canoe Day G20 Canoes
Yesterday was National Canoe Day, an event run by the Canadian Canoe Museum to celebrate our national icon. Events were held all over the country. In a bid to escape the G8/G20 Chaos in Huntsville and Toronto, the family decided to head over to the event in Peterborough.Unfortunately, heavy rain, slow traffic and a wailing child made the 1.5 hour drive seem like an endless oceanic flight. The Mrs. also seemed to have lost our camera when we visited the Toronto Zoo with our little man the day before...so no pics. Thankfully, Andre Cloutier and Alex Guthro posted some photos of the event on this thread on the WCHA forums.
When we finally arrived, the event was nearly ending but I got to catch up again with a few local members of the WCHA including Mike Ornsby who runs Reflections On The Outdoors Naturally blog. Got to see his new cedar canvas canoe built by Bruce Smith, a gorgeous solo boat with cherry gunwales and some walnut trim.
Also on hand were some vintage boats including a recently acquired 1919 Rice Lake Canoe with its quirky Aluminum Deck Plates. There's a thread about it on the WCHA forums here. Pulled a shot from the thread below:
1919 Rice Lake Canoe with Aluminum Decks
I was quickly introduced to Dick Persson of Headerwater Canoe fame who was caning some seats. Got to meet finally meet Terry McCaul, a volunteer with the CCM who was doing some paddle carving. Terry's paddles are also functional works of art, complete with gorgeous spined blades, cord whipped shafts, and laser engraved artwork. A shame that our lost camera was not on hand to take pics.
After returning back to the city, ended up reading that the wives of some G20 delegates were also introduced to some canoe culture as part of their Canadian experience. From this article in The Toronto Star:
"Eight of the first ladies spent the morning tucked away in a small, sparsely decorated hotel boardroom where they dined on chocolate canoe paddles and learned how to make nonedible canoe seats from a master craftsman."
(From L to R) Callista Mutharika (Malawi), Svetlana Medvedeva (Russia), Ban Soon-taek (UN), Laureen Harper (Canada), Nabuko Kan (Japan), Geertrui Van Rompuy (European Council) and Patience Goodluck Jonathan (Nigeria) sign on a canoe in Toronto on June 25, 2010.
Chocolate Paddle and pastry "canoe" served to the G8 wives.
Friday, 21 January 2011
On Polar Tides and the Torngat National Park
The Torngat National Park was created in 2005 at the northernmost tip of Nunatsiavut, Labrador. It encompasses a wonderful area of jagged mountains running down to fjords and steep capes, with islands offshore.
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| The Torngat Mountains |
It is tundra; the realm of the polar bear and caribou, wolf and arctic fox. Offshore the cold Labrador Current carries a procession of stately icebergs south toward Newfoundland.
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| The Torngat Mountains extend north from Nachvak Bay |
On clear dark nights the sky comes alive with the dancing curtains of the northern lights that subdue even the brilliance of a full moon.
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| A green curtain of the Northern Lights |
Boasting some of the oldest rock formations in the world, at about 3.92 billion years old, The Torngat Mountains have shouldered an almost supernatural role affecting endless generations of hardy northern people. The strong winds that can slam down without warning from the mountains into calm fjords, the ghosting caribou camouflaged against the terrain, and the polar bears that appear where they were not evident a moment before, as if materializing from mist and cloud, could be easily identified as the spirits of these mountains.
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| The northern extremity of the Torngat Mountains |
Nowadays you can join a tour backpacking, flying in by helicopter or small plane, or by boat along the coast. Nunatsiavut Tourism nowadays can help you learn more. But until recently the idea of tourism remained a faraway dream. The Torngats were reserved for a handful of hardy adventurers and a few tourists arriving by boutique cruise ship. So what was Labrador like then?
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| Violent winds can sweep the fjords to the icy sea |
You can gain more insight from my newly released FalconGuides book, On Polar Tides, (which better covers the ground than my earlier Stepping Stones of Ungava and Labrador.) In the book the Torngat Mountains and the coast of Ungava and Labrador is revealed as experienced from a kayak before the National Park was created. Take a deep breath of the clear fresh air of northern Labrador, and dive into the story!
Purchase a signed copy of On Polar Tides from my web store, or find the book on Amazon, direct from the publisher, or from your local bookstore. I hope you enjoy!
(Nigel Foster offers a slide presentation about his adventures in Labrador titled "On Polar Tides". Contact Nigel with any Requests/Invitations.
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