Canvas packs, tents, & canoes

If the moderators will allow me some leeway to post about canoe trips…

Since people seemed interested in my old school backpacking trips, here are some pictures of my YMCA canoe camp (Widjiwagan) adventures from the summers of 1970-72. That’s me in the bow in the first picture.

We went on unsupported trips of 14 to 21 days in the Boundary Waters/Quetico Superior wilderness of Northern Minnesota and Ontario. We paddled wood/canvas canoes made by Old Town, Siliga, Peterborough, and Chestnut, we carried our gear in canvas “Duluth” packs with leather straps, and slept in canvas tents (except the last trip we had one Eureka Draw Tight tent: what a wonder!).

At that time we drank straight from the lakes and streams without treating the water. Do any of you remember lifting your paddle out of the water, quickly tilting it vertical, and directing the runoff directly into your mouth? : )

To get to the put-in water to begin the 21 day trip, we loaded our canoes and gear into a Canadian Northern train and they stopped at a point on the tracks with no station to let us off! The trip was in July or August, and we had skim ice in the pot and on still water in the morning.

Here’s a link to a story about the adventures: http://landmarkimages.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20lifelong%20journey%20begins?m=0

We experienced some rain on 18 out of the 21 days of the trip. On trips ever since then, I’ve been confident that no matter what, I wouldn’t dissolve ; )