A story for the ages.

This is an old story, but it is winter, and thus I have no new stories.

The year was 2007, or was it 2008? Anyway, it was a few years ago, when I was just a pup. I had just bought a canoe the winter before, with great plans to go adventuring that summer. I dipped the paddle a couple times in a safe environment that spring, but never for more than a couple hours. This was the sum of my canoeing experience. The sum of my map reading skills were also at zero and so was the sum of my compassing abilities.

So with this basket of knowledge, I tied up my canoe and asked my roommate to drive me up to Besnard lake. From here I would navigate to the Churchill, hang around on the province's mightiest river for a week looking at the rock paintings, and then navigate back down into Clam Lake. So I took to the wide open waters of Besnard, barely able to stay afloat by myself, let alone navigate my big red buddy. But it was not all bad news, while the first part of the trip took longer than expected, the scenery was impeccable and I eventually made my way to the outlet of Besnard Lake. Here I expected a nice little river to take me into the Churchill. This is when I wish I had gained some skills in map reading. sure there was a river, but it certainly was not navigable for someone like me. Instead I faced a daunting, damn near 2km portage with a heavy canoe and a load of gear....alone. The next day though was not so bad. I woke up to a group of territorial hissing otters trying to scare me off their island. These furious beasts had no fear of me as they tried to frighten me out of their home.

So I spent the next week going around the Churchill looking at the paintings, doing some fishing, and just generally enjoying myself. I launched my first ever set of rapids, and got to view some other sets that I would not ever dare to challenge. I eventually neared the part of the trip where I would find the portage into a set of lakes that would take me into Clam. As my luck would have it (or more accurately, my lack of map reading skills), I could not find it. Just as I lost all hope of ever seeing the urban world again, I floated over to a set of rapids to do some fishing before the evening wore on. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw an 18 foot aluminum boat bound over this set of rapids that would strike fear into even Satan himself. They floated over to me.... "Where is your queen,?" a couple of elderly Cree men ask. "She is not crazy enough to come with me," was the reply. We exchanged some more small talk. they asked where I was headed and then invited me to their camp for some fresh moose burgers where they would take a look at my map. How could I refuse? So we pull the canoe helplessly crossways on top of the boat and I am told to hang on. An eagle would have reckoned from above that we were a small aircraft trying to helplessly take off, we must have been a sight for sore eyes.

One pull and the motor is up and going. We veer forward and in the distance looms another set of rapids that dearly frightened me. But my main man on the rudder held no such fear. He knew where the rocks were, he has probably taken this route 300 times in his life. I was totally flabbergasted, never had I seen such skill.

As I write this, I am salivating over those tasty moose burgers, so on to the feast. It was amazing, they threw me a coke and all the hamburgers I could shake a stick at. I was saved, mentally and physically. After some lie swapping and tall tales from a man who had been living and trapping in the bush for 60 odd years we pulled out my maps. "Oh!," he says, "that's where your trying to go...the trail is my trap line, and it starts right outside my backdoor here."

I'm not sure if a stroke of luck has ever hit me so hard. I would have never found this place if I had not found them. Not only was my trip saved but I had one of my most memorable feasts of my life and met an individual that I will never forget. When things get you down, right down to the ground, just remember, and I know this is cliché, but the only way from there is up.