Canoe Country...

These are some of my pics during my summer excursion into canoe country....

* Three Minutes and Forty Two Seconds *​

 

If you are canoe camper like I am you will really enjoy the work of Daryl Phillips video entitled Wilderness Camping. He did an excellent job on this and was able to say things that I would have like to have said.

 

Thank you - a bit amateurish but I'm working at it.

 

Really glad to see you on line. Trust all is well in your camp.

We had a cold a wet summer for the most part. Our summers are short and if we waited for the best weather we wouldn't be doing much of anything.

No bears came into camp this year; in fact wildlife seem to be hiding from me/us. I did observe smaller creatures; beaver, turtles, geese of different kinds, and listened to a great Horned Owl who was in the vicinity of base camp. We had several storms go through which delayed our tripping a bit - but we were fine and didn't have a rigorous schedule. I threw the idea of tough schedules out years ago - you know the kind - you paddle like crazy to get to a camp site and then move on again early in the morning. We spend more time just enjoying the trip rather than making a marathon out of it.

 

I've made a couple videos before - I still have a lot to learn. Yep, sleeping is important to me especially after a trip.

The flag tells people I'm in residence. So what does it all mean? The cross of Saint Andrew represents the place that I received my religious training, the shield of Scotland represents my ancient past [though both my families have been in Canada since 1843 making us Canadian], the maple leaf for Canada, the M represents my name, the bears represent my identity with the wilderness [or at least that part I frequent], and my motto is at the base. for altars and firesides

 

Yeah you need to sleep so you can rest your aching body. I do not go without resting its just the best thing to do. You cannot stay up forever its unhealthy.

 

I took a tad of Latin - jut a tad. It's a dead language [for the most part] accept that it is part of many words that we use in our everyday conversation.

I guess I'm a bit of a romantic and do stuff like that. Winter is a time that I muse myself with ideas until I can get out for summer adventures again.

 

Latin is a part of many languages so its not surprising that most words have some sort of Latin in it. I am not much of a language expert so don't ask me about the history of Latin. There is not much use for the word Latin its just not used by other people anymore.

 

That's not absolutely true - it is everywhere and is still the language of the intellects and educated. True, it is not the native tongue, but look around, it is everywhere.

So...to get back on topic - did you have any comments about the video or suggestions that you could make to help me improve?

 

I liked your slideshow video its got beautiful photos there man how long did it take for you to snap those photos? I did like that photo that had an Indians face on it. I would say you can add some music to the video but that is up to you.

 

I just take pics when the opportunity comes up. The Indian head, as crude as it might be, was at the more difficult part of the portage.

 

I can understand it being difficult its something that really looks realistic and it made me thought of the sacrifices that the Indians had made. I never met anyone who had any ancestry to Native American.

 

The Indian head is actually a marker to tell me what direction to take. The portage [ a French word meaning - to carry] [the carrying of a canoe between two navigable waterways] was lengthy and had one difficult spot - where the Indian head appeared.

 

Oh okay that makes much sense now reading that part of your post. I never would have came to that idea that the face of the Indian was a guide to which direction to go.

 

I have been enjoying the reading of this thread about canoeing, and absolutely loved watching the canoeing video, Dancer! I have never been in a canoe, but it looks like it would be awesome once you knew what you are doing and can handle one. You make it look easy! The closest that I have ever been to a canoe was my sit-on-top kayak, and that was perfect for me, and I just loved it. I had a friend who also had a kayak, and she and I would load up the kayaks into the back of my little truck and spend the day at the lake, paddling around in the sunshine, and watching the fish swim underneath the kayaks.

We have a Facebook group called Bonners Ferry Back When, and it has some great old pictures of the early 1900's that I love browsing through. I found this one that shows Indians along the Kootenai River with an old (birch bark?) canoe. I thought everyone else might enjoy this picture as well; so here it is.

 

That's funny because I was never in kayak until this summer. It always looked so graceful scooting across the lake in lighting fashion. How simple and serene it appeared, paddling like the blades of a water steamer - fast, efficient. Be that as it may it was all about getting in and getting out without sinking or turning over. I did - loved it.

So the two laid beside each other on MacDonald Lake. Alas...I will not be giving up the canoe.



Yes...the pictured canoe would be birchbark.