Canoe

An Historic Summer Holiday
by

An Historic Summer Holiday

Hail Brave Hearts

The memories of summer holidays filled with fun and sun, swimming and boating and  our great escape to the Canadian wild.  This is the life!  So full of warm summer waters and warm summer sun.  A life of frolicking on beaches, camping and cottages.  The great Canadian summer holiday.  A life style to fulfill.  There’s no life like it.

Grab your canoes and head to the water.  The footsteps of travellers in the past, mark routes of undeniable beauty.  Maps and compasses, campgrounds and hotels.  The small town oasis of civilization along a path of well travelled waterway.  The iconic Canadian water transportation routes of waterway highway.  A path of rivers and lakes joining one part of Canada to another.  The rivers, waterfalls, rapids and portages.  Pack you bags, fill your canoes,  join in the adventure of Canadian travel that has marked our history with holidays from coast to coast.

The Historic Trent/Severn Canal System.  Glorious!

Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site (canada.ca)

Grateful are we to have this grand opportunity to visit this historic waterway, in historic voyageur canoes.  A fun and fabulous holiday in the middle of the summer.  A canoe brigade.  The fortunate few who participated in this endeavour, which leads from Georgian Bay to  Lake Ontario.  following rivers, locks, canals and lakes.  A historic waterway of magnificent scenery, birds and wildlife, lily pads and rushes.  And the locks.

Up and down, up and down, it’s the easiest paddling ever! And the locks are a marvel of engineering.  Different styles of lifts picking us up the rapids and waterfalls to a new level of water.  Spectacular!

The Severn River to Lake Couchiching, to Simcoe, the Trent Canal to Balsam, Cameron and Kawartha Lakes, Otonabee River, the Trent River and on to Lake Ontario.    It’s an historic route for an historic paddling group, or for anyone with a boat and a licence to pursue this holiday adventure.

Canadian Voyageur Brigade Society | coordinate and support big canoe brigades

This 386 km of historic waterway was first started in 1833 and completed in 1922 with 45 locks connecting Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario.  This  ambitious idea was appointed by  Sir John Colborne of the the inland Water  Commision who constructed the first lock at Bobcaygeon.  Now a National Historic Site, this waterway is a path of boating delight.  In it’s early history, the canal was hoped to be a passage for steamships plying these waters with trade, but the canal had several setbacks, which delayed it’s progress.  By the time it was finished, the steamboats were too large for the locks.  Now this historic canal is used by thousands of tourists in pleasure craft from May to October each year.

The iconic canoe, a favourite of many family outings and wilderness adventure, is part of Canada’s  historic lifeline to survival.  The canoe has been with us for centuries, as a transportation vessel and a pleasure craft.  From it’s aboriginal routes to the fur trade, to modern day vehicle, the canoe has been a valuable and necessary part of Canada’s wilderness history  With this in the past and so much enjoyment today, the canoe is a classic pleasure craft.

 

written by Dr Louise Hayes

October 21, 2023

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

And they are us
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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

The Fur Trade
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The Fur Trade

The French fur trade was based in Montreal and...

The French fur trade was based in Montreal and the later British trade at York Factory. The shading shows Rupert’s Land (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oh the wonder of it all.  The endless beauty, the landscape the forest, the smell, the  sound, the quiet, the glory!  The freedom of adventure, the challenge of skills, the might of our strength to be pitted only against ourselves with the adversary being the landscape.  Oh the land!  The call of the great wild.  To hear the sound of the soul searching cry.  Come, mankind, venture forth oh diligent and aspiring soul.  For the land becons the voyageur and it calls them by name.

Almighty man, it whispers, come harvest my treasure.

From all walks of life the hero responds.  The lure of the magic entices.  The earth song sings and the sirens of the great north call to the almighty human.  Walk my soil, forge my rivers, the catch lies just beyond.

Feel your strength as the paddle pushes through the water.  Stroke after stroke of the rhythmic beat.  The voyageur, with canoes laden with supplies, pushes onward to a destiny of treasure.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzFHfS1BWm0

Fur.

The cry of the century and the wealth of the nation.  Fur!

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/fur-trade

The  boastful preoccupation of a wealthy nation, the fur trade entices the entrepreneur.  Come, almighty human, into the land of plenty.  The trade in furs will make you rich and there is plenty.

Explore the great rivers in your birch bark canoes, in your voyageur canoes.  The nation opens its waterways to you and presents the thousands of kilometers of river systems throughout the land.

The vast watershed of lower Canada is accomplished.  Onward we push to the limitless north.  The Hudson Bay and the rivers beyond.  Up  to the forts of York Factory, where the trade in furs grows to coin, bullion, gold!  The land is rich in harvested fur.  The champions of navigation press onward through the river systems, the tributaries, the lakes, the voyage north to trade.  The fur trade opens the nation to commerce, entrepreneurialism, wealth, fashion, merchants, the gold of the country.

From province to province, to province the voyageur paddles on.  Prosperity, trade, union, negotiation all for the almighty man, be he the king of a great nation, the sovereign of a tribe, the Coureur de Bois.  All are connected to the forest, the rivers the place of prosperity.  Fur!  The cry of the aristocrat becons and the sovereign lord of the forest responds.

Hail, almighty human, the sword and the musket never raised against yea.  The trade of commerce is the negotiation of the nation.  Blend, you great human, you moral man.   The fur trade and the conquest of the river systems opens the world to the intelligent human.  Yes, the mortal strength of one man cannot accomplish feats so daring, but the might, the privilege, the brilliant mind, knows no other recourse than to win.  Win the trust of the people, win the support for the venture in trade and in human harmony we bond and become.

Hail, almighty human.  A collection of huts is a settlement, a sanctuary.  Home!  The country is called Kanata, that is HOME.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 14,2013

www.bbcanada.com/10895.html

Coureur des bois
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Coureur des bois

Bonjour, almighty human.  Welcome to this day.

This is an awesome day of great courage, adventure, exploration and discovery.  A day filled with the life of brilliant mankind, the negotiator, the peacekeeper, the intellectual, the athlete.

The investigation and settlement of our great nation comes from the brilliant aspirations of great minds, healthy bodies, bold and courageous spirit and constant daring.  To travel where no European had gone before.  To take the challenge of everyday courage and to explore a land of unknown peril,  sometimes, to fight the unbeatable foe.

To take up trade items and to develop trade routes through a land of changing conditions, constantly battling the weather,  negotiating treaties, fighting the currants of swift flowing rivers.  The constant negotiation for good relations, the constant perils of unseen deathtraps.  The unknown, always, the unknown.

The passage into the interior of the country was mainly by water. Rivers, lakes, canoes!  The canoe of the Coureur de Bois, laden with trade items to maintain the negotiated peace with the native peoples.  Trade for wealth, trade for exploration, trade for peace.  A land established by the peaceful negotiation of mutual prosperity.

http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_furtrade/fp_furtrade2.html

Hail Bravehearts!  For the peace amongst you was for the beneficial, mutual prosperity of the peoples of the nation.  The negotiated peace was trade to make your lives easier, trade to make your lives more secure, trade to reduce barriers, strengthen bonds, build congenial relationships, allow exploration and the building of forts and settlements.  Trade, without hostility, trade to connect to an unknown peoples, trade for influence and to reduce war faring.

Trade to encourage contact, to learn new ways, to respect.  Trade.  The nation was built from trade.  Not only trade in commodities, but trade in culture and language as well.  The curiosity of the peoples reduced their hardships and the mutual respect saved their lives.

The Coureur de Bois, with canoes laden with items for trade, navigated the lakes and river systems of this great land.  They explored the country, opened the nation, found new river highways to travel throughout the country.  They negotiated the great peace, survived the call to the wild.

Come, beckons the great land.  Come!

The courageous explorers paddled their canoes into the heart of the dark, foreboding stillness.  The great wild!  Where only the birds call and the penetrating quiet of life deafens the thunder of remote civilization.  Gone is the city.  Now, the only street is the river.  The thunder is now the rapids and the gossip comes from the birds.

Wonderful peace!  The wild allures.  The remote shore, the distant horizon, the untravelled land.  The unrivalled superiority.  All of this for the freedom of adventure, for the challenge of a great day, a life of unrivalled adventure.  All of this for the building of a great nation, a great life and a bold and daring existence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coureur_des_bois

Welcome, to the Coureur de Bois for the lasting peace.  For exploration and community and for the fight that beats the unbeatable foe.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 13, 2013

www.bbcanada.com/10895.html

http://www.empowernetwork.com/?id=louisehayes