the voyageur canoe brigade

The Mighty River Flows
by

The Mighty River Flows

Hail Brave hearts

Yes, it’s here, the spring has arrived, in snowy, blustery style,  In like a lion, with  heavy snow falls, March has ended the winter with a cold snap, that keeps us bundled up and happy.  Of course, the summer will eventually come, but now the trails are white.  The forest floor is covered, a late spring, with no drought in sight.

The itch is on, to turn the seasons, pull out the canoe and test the current.  Ice flows passing with the water as the melting winter turns to spring.  Catch us in our history, as we wave farewell to winter, the icy highways turn to melt waters and the dangerous ice flows temp.  No  more the sleighs to speed us along the slippery, white rivers, now it’s canoes and boats and water craft, to take our time away.

Go back, fine fellows, to days gone by, to times of yesteryear.  To the fur trade and the brave at heart the times of the voyageur.  A dangerous time of year, this is, when winter turns to spring.  The trails are wet, the rivers are thin ice and the progress becomes slow.  Take a nap and wait a week, a well deserved holiday.  The harshness of this difficult time, will melt the winter away.  Soon the canoe will be laden, with supplies to take inland.  To visit with the natives and to find a brand new land.  Off come the winter fur coats, hats and mitts are stored.  Onto another adventure, to the watery highways of this world.

A well traveled route, the St. Lawrence, filled with Coureur de Bois.  One of the most dangerous occupations of that lifetime, to travel, explore and trade in the great unknown wild.

http://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=25887&type=pge     Trois Riviers, Quebec

The canoes are large enough, they carry several men.  All trained and skilled in many ways, to tackle the obstacle at hand.  Come from far away, in European style, to make a living the hard way, adventure, in the Canadian wild.  A fearsome, mighty river, the St. Lawrence is cracking up.  Pretty soon, it will be show time, pack your bags and liven up.  No more naps or holidays, the spring torrents are flooding.  It’s an adventure too dangerous for us,  spring break up is not even for the daring.  Icy flows and chilly woes, we’ll wait for another day.  This is not the best of times, for watery, river play.

But if you were an itchy voyageur, with bills at home to pay, perhaps the tempting season, would  cast him adrift anyway.

A lovely camping trip, with lakes and rivers to follow, the Canadian rivers of highway, still bind us to our past.  Traditions of camping and canoeing, following well traveled routes.  Today, we love this great wild land and praise the nations splendor.  Our ancestors did a very fine job, of protecting and implementing the heritage that we covet today.  A land of unspoiled wonder, with historical routes to travel.  This is our fine country we still travel in style.  From winter sleigh to summer canoe, the adventure has never left us.

written by Dr.  Louise Hayes

April 18, 2018

Northern Ontario Canoe Trip,  The Nat River

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6ie5jptrgY
The Water Highway
by

The Water Highway

Good day Bravehearts

Feel the rush of the wind as it sweeps across the land, bringing the scents of summer fragrance to fill your mind. The aromatherapy of the earth. Pine, juniper, spring meadows and wild grasses. The smell of the forest with mosses and flowers. The cool shade of trees and the rich, enticing landscape. Venture forth, oh brave ones, the wild calls you.
The dance and play of rushing streams, the life force of rivers, and the clean, superb, land, with it’s sport and leisure. The health of the nation lies in this landscape. So much to do, in sport, in leisure, in adventure and in education. Out into the great land, for health and fitness, for rest and for meditation.
The wild! Every day adventure for the uncommon lives of the people of this country.
The rushing rivers cast their spell. The voyage by raft will take you into the great unknown. A wild river, a rushing torrent, a wet and wild and chilly adventure. The current sweeps you into the middle, to rapids and whirlpools and eddies. The diving and swirling craft dips and heaves as the pounding water floods its sides and plunges it into holes and narrowly past rocks and waterfalls.
Fun!
The whitewater raft ride of todays enjoyment is a link to the waterways of yesteryear. David Thompson, with his raft piled high with furs, transported his earnings through the Canadian waterway highways. A nation of river exploration. A nation of wilderness exploration. A nation of markets and trade.

http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/ canoe

The waterways were the highways of trade. Plied for transportation, for convenience, for travel and for adventure. The past time of canoing and boating serves us well, as we venture deeper and deeper into the heart of the land.
Summer! The pristine blue lakes of summer fun. The cooling, quenching waters of joy! The days of lazy dreaming in beaches of sand and grass, the pearls of seashells washed ashore, the endless waves, lapping the shore. The joys of clean, cool water as is soothes the hot and tired body. Fresh water for swimming. Clean water, for a cool summer swim.
The water. A gateway into the heart of the land and a pathway to endless summer fun. Ply the waters with your sturdy craft, maneuver into the surging current. Your paddle dips to the rhythm of your partners beat and the drums of your heartbeat set the pace. Onward. Onward. The constant motion moving the craft. The skills of your paddling, pushing you on. The lakes, the rivers, the water trade routes. A past time of pleasure, where yesterday meets us. The voyage of discovery to new lands, new people, new trade and new wealth.

http://www.birchbarkcanoe.net/video-canoe.htm

A home of opportunity waiting for discovery.
The ancient art of boats and river travel, of discovery of land and people. We travel with our forefathers in a journey that never ends, to a destination that stretches on. We fill our days with summer fun, in a land of sweeping landscapes and the water. The water highway.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
June 29, 2014

A Hand of Friendship
by

A Hand of Friendship

Good morning to you Brave hearts.

Hail the moral almighty human, whose words and deeds resound in peace. Oh moral human from ages past, with intellect of humanity, sharing and courage. Rise to the daunting challenge of the new world as it encroaches upon you. Brave hands extended in friendship, in peace, in mutual prosperity. Brave strangers, who dared peace not war, who dared conversation and negotiation. A peaceful assimilation, a marriage, an entrepreneur.
The voices of our ancestors call to us. We saved you, oh brave hearts, we became the almighty human. Legends are made of our feats of daring, of our collaboration and of our courage. Our prosperity and privilege from honest words and honest deeds and honest labour. The exchange of nationalities, the intertwining of spirits, the flesh of the mortal man, cast in iron and honed to steel.
The land has no mercy, conquer the land, the peoples are saved.
The brave accepted a challenge of rigorous duty. The call to nationhood in a land so vast and uncompromising. The stalwart rising each day to fulfill a quest of enterprise and trade. Mutual sharing, mutual trust, a negotiation so appealing to win the sides of the earthly human, to win the war without a battle, to win the fight for nationhood, to win the rights for freedom, to win the adventure of your lives.
The lives saved by skilled exchange, the communication for mutual prosperity, acceptance, dignity and trust. The contracts signed, mutually held. A bargain of trade, the prospect of riches, a business of grand proportions and a nation won and saved.
The hand of friendship extended in trust.
Worthy brave hearts whose daily toil was the hardship of the land. To rise each day to the battle of the elements, the hardship of the weather and the uncompromising, tedious toil and endless, difficult land. The dawn of nationhood carved from the elements of cold and snow, all for the beauty of the fabulous beast.
Adorn yourselves, you earthly spirits. Capture the heart of the European world. The new found gold is a treasure for us. A ready commodity of wealth and prosperity.
The land calls us, beckons and entices and the peoples are friendly. They extend a hand in friendship, no arrows cast or mean disputes. No terror and no war.
Come to the new world, calls the land, come to the adventure, you daring human. Rise to the challenge of the harsh endeavour, rise to the glory of this one day. For this is the day when time stands still, awaiting in anticipation, the outcome of change. The awesome human in conquest and daring, rose to the challenge of this day. For might was right among the negotiators and the powerful decreed the peace of the land.
Peace. Our fashion dictates the merchants greed and our people spy the valued need. Fur and trade, mutual sharing, compassion and kindness.
The land itself will take it’s toil in injury and lives lost. The inclement weather, the frostbite and the cold. Hearty human, gather around, our story of nationhood will unfold.

https://www.nfb.ca/film/voyageurs

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
March 1, 2014

And they are us
by

And they are us

The heroes of the past haunt us with their defiant perseverance.  Here us,  oh mortal man, we are your blood, your kin, your heart, your soul, your mind.  We are your yesterdays, your todays and your tomorrows.  We are the spirits of the conscience that will not die.  We live forever, oh mortal human.  Live forever and you will never die.

We are the example of your spirit.  The uncontested might, the strength, the courage, the path less followed, but always sought after.  We are the yearnings of your soul.  The leaders of the pack, the fortitude of the confident, skilled, accomplished human from anywhere.  We choose ourselves, to be the champions, we choose our lives to be the heartbreak.  Follow our footsteps, everyday heroes, test your strength against ours and feel the worthy soul of a brilliant life, cast in clay, dust and joy.  All that we live for is joy.

Joy!  Feel your heart sing!  Your call to order.  Claim your place.  Choose your prize.  The hero is you.

To follow in the path of a brilliant ancestor is a call to challenge your own space and time.  Limitless resources, limitless time, limitless company.  The path is the same, the company different, the skills unknown.  Would you dare to pursue the same adventure?  Would you dare to be a voyageur?

http://www.tfo.org/emissions/rendezvousvoyageur/en/world/worklife/daybrigade.html

The rivers are still tumultuous.  As long as they ever were.  The North Saskatchewan River passes through three provinces.  The Columbia River’s headwaters are in Canada and it ends at the Pacific Ocean in the United States.  Hundreds of kilometers of travel in voyageur canoes. Would you be the awesome voyageur.  The weeks of travel in open canoes, paddling hundreds of kilometers of rivers, battling currants, weather and fatigue.  Epic voyages of grand adventure.  To retrace the paths of centuries old man.  To relive the challenge of that call to adventure, that companionship, endurance, nature and freedom.  The love of the open water, the risk and the self worth.  To be the champion!  To rise to the call  of your heart and your mind.  To cast aside the daily toil.  What is a human?  What is it that is humanly possible?  The unreachable star.

The test of strength is good for the body and the test of will is good for the mind.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-Langley-Canoe-Club-2013-Fraser-Brigade/195684620567080

Play!  The joy of being, the fun of it all.   Play!  For sport, for relaxation, for companionship, for fun and for your body.  Come you awesome human.  Follow your ancestors on a path to glory.  Come and join the grand adventure of your life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLCBXdTA0Yg

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 23, 2013

www.bbcanada.com/10895.html