Wilderness Canoeing Symposium - Toronto

The twentieth annual Wilderness Canoeing Symposium was held at
Monarch Park, Toronto, this past weekend. The >700 in attendance were
treated to a wide variety of presentations on rivers across the north
of Canada, both on the barren grounds and in the mountains. Among
them, Laurel Archer talked on several northern BC rivers, Bev Hollis
presented a 30 minute overview of 20 years of solo-paddling with her
husband entirely in verse, Jim Niedbalski delivered on the Hubbard
Memorial trip, retracing the 1903 route up the Susan and Beaver to
Michicamau, and then continuing down the George to the Arctic Ocean,
and Marilyn Sprissler showed her movie of a trip on the Stikine.
Not exactly river paddling, but nonetheless of interest, a movie
by Rollin Thurlow of a 60 day snowshoeing expedition down the George,
a retrospective of the life of author and explorer R.M. Patterson
researched by David Finch, and the story of the private recovery party
that went to the Torngats to find a missing couple from John Howie who
was a member of that group. And many more.
At the front of the auditorium were a fully restored 1923 Old
Town 17 footer, and a restored, vintage Peterborough sailing canoe
which was being raffled to benefit the Canadian Canoe Museum in
Peterborough. And there was the usual stack of northern books that
would be very hard to find elsewhere.
WCS founder and organizer George Luste received long and
resounding applause when he announced a gift of $10,000 from symposium
contingency funds to the Canadian Canoe Museum, which is again open to
visitors.
The 20th symposium was a treat to paddlers in general, and
specifically to wilderness aficionados. There are opportunities to
exchange information and talk with other wilderness paddlers, and to
evaluate future paddling targets and partners. There is no other
venue that delivers so much information in so concentrated a form for
so little cost. If you have an interest in wilderness tripping,
start making plans now for next years event. Tom McCloud.....

Thanks Tom.

Last minute major equipment problems kept me going. I was packed
and ready to head out, but the RADAR systems I maintain had other
plans.. A paddle partner from years ago took my place for her
first Symposium. She enjoyed it alot. I'd have liked to seen
the snowshoe trip down river.


rick

For those thinking about planning for next year. Get on the
mailing list, because it always sells out.




"Tom McCloud" <mccloud-tom.TakeThisOut@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:f47g01ljlvjri34lgelik3aku21eusd91f@4ax.com...
 > The twentieth annual Wilderness Canoeing Symposium was held
 > at
 > Monarch Park, Toronto, this past weekend. The >700 in
 > attendance were
 > treated to a wide variety of presentations on rivers across the
 > north
 > of Canada, both on the barren grounds and in the mountains.
 > Among
 > them, Laurel Archer talked on several northern BC rivers, Bev
 > Hollis
 > presented a 30 minute overview of 20 years of solo-paddling
 > with her
 > husband entirely in verse, Jim Niedbalski delivered on the
 > Hubbard
 > Memorial trip, retracing the 1903 route up the Susan and Beaver
 > to
 > Michicamau, and then continuing down the George to the Arctic
 > Ocean,
 > and Marilyn Sprissler showed her movie of a trip on the
 > Stikine.
 > Not exactly river paddling, but nonetheless of interest, a
 > movie
 > by Rollin Thurlow of a 60 day snowshoeing expedition down the
 > George,
 > a retrospective of the life of author and explorer R.M.
 > Patterson
 > researched by David Finch, and the story of the private
 > recovery party
 > that went to the Torngats to find a missing couple from John
 > Howie who
 > was a member of that group. And many more.
 > At the front of the auditorium were a fully restored 1923
 > Old
 > Town 17 footer, and a restored, vintage Peterborough sailing
 > canoe
 > which was being raffled to benefit the Canadian Canoe Museum in
 > Peterborough. And there was the usual stack of northern
 > books that
 > would be very hard to find elsewhere.
 > WCS founder and organizer George Luste received long and
 > resounding applause when he announced a gift of $10,000 from
 > symposium
 > contingency funds to the Canadian Canoe Museum, which is again
 > open to
 > visitors.
 > The 20th symposium was a treat to paddlers in general, and
 > specifically to wilderness aficionados. There are
 > opportunities to
 > exchange information and talk with other wilderness paddlers,
 > and to
 > evaluate future paddling targets and partners. There is no
 > other
 > venue that delivers so much information in so concentrated a
 > form for
 > so little cost. If you have an interest in wilderness
 > tripping,
 > start making plans now for next years event. Tom
 > McCloud.....<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->