Posts tagged: Temagami

I was asked to participate in a canoe trip this past Summer (2017) with a group of guys I mostly had never met before, in a place I had never been before and had no problem saying “yes!”  The opportunity to experience something new in a familiar situation was all too enticing.  The itinerary was four days and three nights on the Lady Evelyn River and Lady Evelyn Lake in the infamous wilderness area known as Temagami.  This area lies in Northern Ontario, close to the Quebec border about 1-2 hours north of North Bay. Seven of us arrived in Mowat Landing around noon on a Monday morning in August and were paddling up the Lady Evelyn River an hour later, looking for our first campsite of the trip.

This wilderness gathering of men was organized by a couple of men from Bethany Community Church in St. Catharines, Ontario.  As I mentioned before, this was not a trip consisting of close friends – I knew only one of the seven men!  This was a group on a mission: to enjoy some canoeing, fishing and camping while getting to know some new people and getting to know ourselves a little bit deeper through a study from the book of Joshua.

During the trip we experienced a little bit of everything.  There was plenty of good food to eat and thankfully there was only one portage to carry it over.  We mostly enjoyed sunny skies and warm temperatures, but also got caught canoeing in a downpour and spent an entire evening huddled under a tarp, around a smokey fire and contemplated how early was too early to just go to bed.  We got to spend a playful afternoon (swimming, eating, fishing & resting) on an island on Lady Evelyn Lake, but had to quickly head back to camp after seeing the sky quickly change from blue skies to dark clouds in a very short time.  As I alluded to before, we did not manage to outrun the rain.  We experienced some great campsites, good conversations, plenty of opportunities to swim and fish, one cold night followed by a beautiful morning of heavy mist on the lake and an intense time of self reflection and meditation while reading through and discussing the experiences of Joshua.

“I will not be afraid, I will not fear, for You alone are a shield about me.”

Here is a link to watch the short film made during this trip.