Wabakimi, the First Chapter

We're back from an unforgettable trip to Wabakimi.  

Ray and I were part of a volunteer crew that flew into Wabakimi Provincial Park for a canoe route reconnaissance mission.   Fly in...fly out.   ...and that was an adventure in itself!!  Our mission included locating and scouting out old portage routes originally used by aboriginal people and fur traders.    We  inventoried and marked by GPS campsites that could support 2 four man tents on  the lakes on our particular route.   We discovered two portage trails and flagged them, measured another that had been flagged by a previous crew, and cleared several others.  One route had been cleared in June and had become impassible with several large downed trees by the time we arrived last week.     If you were due to meet your bush plane in the lake on the other end of THAT portage, you would have missed your flight. Over the entire 7 days we probably traveled 60km over both water and land.

What was it like?  Pure unspoiled wilderness.   To walk game trails that haven't seen human foot traffic in decades, maybe even  a century is an experience I won't soon forget.   To see the Milky Way from one end of the horizon, stretching overhead, all the way to the other end of the horizon...immense.   It makes you feel so small but so welcome...like having a front row seat at the greatest show.   You really ARE  in the presence of Greatness.  The sky just goes on forever...night and day.    It almost makes you feel a bit claustrophobic to be back inside town limits, with just the little open square above you.   

 












If you want to know more about the Wabikimi Project click here.

One of Ray's favourite parts of the trip was scouting out "new" trails.    If you were travelling through the park on your own you would need to locate the beginning of a portage trail, or the "landing",  which is marked by a "blaze" on a tree (usually) visible from the water.   This is what a blaze looks like.   The old ones are made with three strokes of an axe, two downward and one upward, which strips the bark from the tree.  Newer ones are made by chainsaw.   Hence the name "trail blazers"....this dawned on me while I was sitting in my living room this evening.   

The close up shows the hairs that mark where the blow of the axe stopped.    Every tree heals differently which affects the appearance of the blaze.    I suspect that the blaze with the resin is Jack Pine and that the other is Black Spruce.    Once you locate the first blaze you travel from blaze to blaze following the portage trail until you reach the next body of water. Aboriginal people and fur trappers and traders logically followed existing game trails created by moose and caribou that still use those routes today, following the path of least resistance   Most often there is a visible trail, quite often cluttered up and made impassible by blow downs.   Blow downs are very common since the pine and spruce grow very tall in very shallow soil on the granite ridges of the Canadian Shield.  A tall tree catches a lot of wind and when the shear winds, or down drafts hit they often take down a tree or two....   So that's a little history behind the origin of the portage trail.    Sometimes there are no trees on the "caribou ridges" close to the trail, and rock cairns or inukshuks like this one are used to mark the way.

I could go on but will stop with this small glimpse.   The image near the beginning of the post of the moss covered forest is etched in my mind.   It is characteristic of the boreal forest.    If you look closely as you meander, you can spot where the hooves of a moose or caribou have sunk in....it's not a wonder you can't hear them coming or going.   I realize now what we lose in order to have paper for our daily use.    I know we need it, and I know I can't do without it....but it's a steep price to lose this irreplaceable wilderness and a good reason for projects that seek to protect it.    This remote park is beautiful in its grandeur, but also in its minutia.

Look for more posts and feel free to ask questions!!