Lotus and the Neuron

AIDS Awareness Week

2011-03-11T22:21:00.004-05:00

My daughter, Caitlin, gives an interview on a very important subject on CKLW AM in Windsor, ON.

Arizona Pictures

2011-02-28T14:09:00.001-05:00

I spent last week in sunny Arizona. Here a a few of my pictures.

South Mountain Phoenix, AZ

2011-02-23T13:34:00.002-05:00

Out on the trail in Arizona.

Here is a panorama of part of the trail.

Snyder's Bush Ski Trails

2011-02-06T16:44:00.002-05:00

Ski trail today at Snyder's bush, Waterloo, ON.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

The Mighty Thelon

2010-09-26T19:46:00.019-04:00

July 22- July 25
After our first full day on the Thelon River we had completed 187 kilometres, with 185 left to do. We were half way to our destination at Warden's Grove with 8 days left to our scheduled date of pick up. We had taken 10 days to get here, and we had to work very hard to make the progress we did. We were all concerned that if we encountered more difficult terrain, or if we ran into bad weather we would not make our destination in time.

Our fears were allayed to a large extent by the fact that over the next few days we made very good progress and the weather remained quite fair. In fact, over the next few days we travelled 133 kms., averaging 44 kms. per day. We managed to catch fish and had a feast of pike or trout each night.

The topography of the river in this section is dominated by sand eskers and sandstone canyons. The river current was very fast, at times the canoe reached speeds of 10-12 km/hr with little or no paddling. The swifts and sandstone ledges became more evident as we approached the delta where the river enters Eyeberry Lake.

Through one of the sections of swifts, where the river entered a shallow canyon, Nestor and Roman were in the lead canoe. Taras and I were about 200 metres behind and I noticed that the horizon fell away in a sharp line. I told Taras to head over to the left shore and instinctively began to draw the canoe in that direction from the bow. It was then that we saw that Nestor and Roman were in trouble as they hit the ledge and began to scramble out of the listing canoe. The two were able to avert disaster by holding onto the canoe and climbing onto a large exposed sandstone boulder in the middle of the river. In the process they broke a paddle and lost another one to the current.

Meanwhile, Taras and I slipped down a set of rapids on the river left. The rapids were tricky but manageable once Taras and I had our communication perfected. I kept yelling, "Draw Left!" Taras and I spotted the lost paddle and were able to retrieve it from the eddy. We talked about watching for signs in the river for differences in elevation that could spell trouble. This was to me a further reminder how little fast water experience my travelling partners had.

Eyeberry Lake and beyond
We entered Eyeberry Lake on the western shore at the north end of the large island in the delta. The cross winds were moderate and made for a difficult paddle, but we managed to reach the end of the lake in two hours. After the lake the river picked up speed as we paddled through canyons of sandstone and shale. We negotiated a set of class II rapids and about 5km of swifts and a little later a set of class II rapids where the river was split by two islands. The left channel was runnable.

At some point in the remaining few days, there was a suggestion that since we were making good time, we might be able to arrange an earlier flight out. The others had young families, so perhaps there was a felt need to cut the trip short by a couple of days. In retrospect, this plan was unreasonable since our flight out was coordinated with an incoming flight carrying another of Tundra Tom's clients. The extra flight would have meant an extra cost for Tom.

The result was that there now seemed to be added pressure to push on. The good travel days we had up to this point on the Thelon added to the anticipation of completing earlier than planned. The weather on July 26, however, slowed our progress tremendously. The north wind was cold and rain threatened throughout the day. Added to this delay, Nestor left his fishing rod on shore at the campsite and only discovered it missing after we had been on the water an hour. This meant a two hour delay while Taras and Roman offered to return to the campsite to retrieve it. Later in the day we were further halted by a storm and a quickening wind. The day eventually cleared but the wind remained strong. We were only able to make 20 km. this day.

The Thelon Canyon
During the final section of the river, toward Warden's Grove, the river picks up speed as it cuts through sandstone canyons. Heeding Tundra Tom's advice we approached a class II set of rapids with a tight left past the bulk of the turbulent water and rocks. A few kilometres down stream from these rapids we approached the Thelon Canyon, a 7 km stretch of ledges and chutes that needed to be portaged and tracked. We chose to portage from the left bank, which I later learned from Rob Kesselring was a mistake. The decision would add misery to our trek that could have been avoided had we chosen the slightly longer, but more even terrain of the right bank.

We estimated our portage to be about 3 km each pass. Given that we had three loads of gear, it would mean that we would have to make three loaded and two unloaded trips, a total of 15 km. At best this would take us six or seven hours. Since we had arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon, I suggested that we take the canoes over in the afternoon, camp overnight at the head of the canyon and trek the last of the gear over in the morning after a good night's sleep. To my surprise and dismay the other three were determined to complete the portage and to continue paddling late into the evening.

Whenever I have travelled with others, there is always an ethic that says that we do not push the trip beyond what any of the members feels they are able to do. I felt at that time, I would be unable to find reserves to complete 7 hours of physical endurance, let alone paddle after the portage. The desire to push on and complete the trip early, however, meant that the three friends were not going to consider my plan to take our time and conserve our energy. No one seemed willing to challenge Nestor's desire to push on.

The portage itself was gruelling. On the second trip over carrying the canoe with Taras, I fell several times as my feet sank into the bog of the tundra. I responded in frustration. The trail was uneven and meandered through bog, up and down sand and stone ridges and through dense bush. We were plagued by black flies, but that was the least of my suffering. By now I had developed a deep and abiding resentment toward my travelling partners, who up to this point had been ideal travelling companions.

Reaching a sandy beach on the right bank we made the decision to make camp. This was in part because we could not see the next set of rapids in the setting sun (the time must have been 10 or 11 at this point). After a quick dinner we took some photos of the full moon above the tents and then retired for the night.

Warden's Grove
With only about 10km left to our destination we learned that we would not be leaving two days early, but rather on our scheduled flight on July 30th. The next morning we ran the last set of rapids and spent some time where the rapids undercut the cliffs on the right bank. There was an eddy here where we went bathing and watching cliff swallows that had built their nests of clay in the sandstone overhang.

We now had a couple of days to spend at Warden's Grove, but unfortunately neither Taras, nor Nestor recognized the spot from their last trip. The place I had marked on my GPS was a place that reminded them of the campsite, but they remained unconvinced and after phoning the air service, we pushed on down the river about 1 km past the coordinates they gave us.

Over the next afternoon Roman and I tried unsuccessfully to locate the Warden's Grove cabin (it must have been about 700 metres up river from where we ended up searching). It was a disappointment to me not to locate the cabin knowing that I may never have another chance to visit this river. I had read Chris Norment's account of his experiences researching the Harris sparrow from the cabin in his book "Return to Warden's Grove" and had hoped to recognize the places he had described so intimately.

My disappointment was allayed to a large extent when Roman and I were alerted by Taras and Nestor over the walkie-talkie that a bull muskox was on the left shore of the river at the point I now believe must have been Warden's Grove. We paddled up river to within 50 metres of this majestic animal feasting on the shore grasses. He was seemingly unconcerned with our presence as we took videos and pictures from the canoes. This was a highlight of the trip.

The last day on the river was spent fishing, relaxing and sorting out gear for the flight home. The memories of this trip would be mixed. There was adventure for sure and the splendour of the tundra was unforgettable. The physical nature of the trip was satisfying in that I came away with a sense that I could still tackle a trip of this nature. I regret that I was not able to feel a closer bond with those I travelled with. None of us expressed a wish to travel again together.

The Elk River: The Rapids

2010-09-13T19:44:00.009-04:00

After Damant Lake, the last of the large lakes on the Elk River, the descent off the Precambrian shield begins in earnest. The elevation at Damant Lake is 390 meters above sea level, and where the Elk River enters the Thelon River the elevation is 300 meters. In the 120 km, therefore, from Damant Lake to Granite Falls (where the two rivers meet),the drop in elevation is 90 meters or 295 feet! Forty meters of that drop occurs in the last 5 km. There was some serious white water paddling to be done.

For our group the rapids presented a particular challenge. None of us was prepared for the what lay ahead, least of all my travelling partners, whom as I have already stated had no white water experience. We agreed after the first set of rapids that we would scout everything and that if any one of us felt uneasy about running we would track or portage.

I have provided as good a description of the rapids as I could from my trip journal on the Wilderness Canoe Association website (http://www.myccr.com/canoedb/routeDetails.php?routeid=876). As the route description notes, there were a few days where river travel was quite difficult and we ended up walking the through the safe water close to shore, a technique called tracking. This was difficult for me because I am not the most agile guy around. All of us found these days strenuous given the amount of hiking we did to scout the river, and given the amount of lifting the fully loaded canoes.

The days of tracking were contrasted with days when we were able to paddle 30 or so km with little difficulty through easy rapids and swifts. By about the 9th day, however, we began to worry whether we would be able to make Warden's Grove, the end point of our trip on the Thelon, by August 30th. This created some pressure to push ourselves when we could and we envisioned having to work this hard for every inch of ground even when we reached the Thelon.

The Dump at the Narrows
The Elk started to get tricky very shortly after leaving Damant Lake. The day we left Damant we were successful in running the class I and the swifts and our confidence was given a boost.

On day two things got somewhat trickier. Taras and I were the first to attempt to run a class I+ set of rapids. We had scouted the rapids and had a pretty good idea of how to approach them with a slight shift to the right after which there was an easy draw to the left. All went according to plan for the first 100 meters; I was in the bow and was able to draw right around the first submerged boulder. As is typical of guys who haven't paddled together before in white water, there were communication problems which in very short order created havoc. Before we knew it, the water was pulling us onto an submerged boulder on our right. My attempted correction, - a draw to the left- without Taras working with me, meant that we broadsided the boulder and were dumped into the river for a 400 meter swim through fast current.

We managed to recover our gear, except for Taras' fishing rod and tackle. And after changing into dry clothes we set out again. Needless to say, we were far more cautious with the rest of the rapids and made sure we tied the gear in the canoes, something we had neglected to do up to this point. In looking back on the incident I made a mental note that it is necessary when canoeing with novices to fully review the role of stern and bow paddlers. People who have only done flat water canoeing are under the impression that steering of the canoe is the job of the sternsman. And in flat water this is the case. But in white water the bowsman often sees obstacles well in advance and acts to correct the course; the sternsman then acts to move the canoe sideways in the direction set from the bow.

Unexpected Guests
On the morning of July 20th, as we ate our breakfast, we were hailed from the river by a pair of paddlers. The canoe was well fitted with deck covers and a spray skirt. The canoeists were Rob Kesselring and his friend Peter. Rob and Peter were attempting to complete a 1400 km trip across the subarctic to Baker Lake. They had to end their trip at Beverley Lake - impressive none-the-less.

The Unmarked Rapids, and Then the Falls
The drop in the last 5 km of the Elk River is about 40 meters. The majority of this drop is through Granite Falls. There is, however, about 2 km of class III+ rapids that are not marked on the topo maps. We wisely pulled out of the river upon hearing the roar and chose to portage this set. It is my opinion that Bill Layman really underestimated this set of rapids in his write up and I am doubtful they could be run in an open canoe. Check them out for yourself below.

Granite Falls is really quite a spectacular piece of real estate. I has 8 or more steps and runs over pink and red granite through a narrow gorge. I have included the video of one of the last steps on this blog. After these falls the Elk joins the flow of the mighty Thelon.

Next: The mighty Thelon - river of fish

The Upper Elk River: The Big Lakes

2010-09-07T16:37:00.008-04:00

The Upper Elk river is characterized by several large lakes, the largest being Vermette, Rennie and Damant. The first day out saw us paddling to the northern end of Rennie, stopping where the lake branches to the west and the east. Traversing the inlets and bays of the large lakes meant that we had to check and re-check our position on the topo maps. I was glad that I had pre-loaded the waypoints into my GPS before setting out, when we were in doubt a simple check was all we needed to stay on course.

Rapids Between the lakes
For the next two days we paddled east through Rennie Lake, picking up the Elk river at the narrows between Rennie Lake and Damant Lake. It was at this point that we encountered our first set of rapids; a set of class I and a few swifts. I learned here that my travel companions had little prior experience with white water. Skills that are needed to run rapids safely include being able to, execute special strokes (draw, pry, ferries etc.), "read" the water and wave action to predict the presence of rocks and execute canoe rescues in fast water. My new canoe mates did not have practice with these skills, or any training through courses. I made a note in my journey that, we would need to be careful through the rest of the fast water that we might encounter. Fortunately, the rapids we had just completed were not technical and we were able to make a successful run with the loaded canoes.

Damant Lake
Damant Lake proved to be more confusing than Rennie, given the abundance of bays and inlets. It took us two days to traverse this large lake and we were quite fortunate not to have encountered much by way of head wind. The weather was warm, mainly clear and only moderately windy. It was very fortunate, indeed, that the wind through Damant was at our back, not only were we pushed along with a 2.5 km/hr boost, but the wind kept the black flies at bay.

On both of the days on Damant Lake Nestor showed off his fishing prowess. By trolling the large lake on the first day he and Taras were able to catch a couple of nice sized lake trout for our dinners. Nestor and I caught arctic greyling on the second afternoon. These we caught in the rapids where the Elk river leaves Damant Lake's north shore.

Bird Life

One of the delights that I appreciated on the large lakes (and throughout the trip) was he abundance of bird life. Birds that we had identified in large numbers up to now included Harris Sparrows, Hooded Mergansers, Lapland Longspurs and Arctic and Common Terns and Thayers Gulls.

On our campsite at the north end of Damant we were treated throughout the evening and next morning to the alarm calls of a pair of nesting Whimbrels (a member of the curlew family).

Whimbrel Video

Next: The Elk River white water. (click to continue)

Elk and Thelon Rivers: A Brief History

2010-09-05T18:00:00.012-04:00

Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan

Northern Saskatchewan has been the traditional home of the Denesuliné (pronounced as Den-a-sooth-leh-na). They have survived in this landscape for millennia by hunting the Beverly Lake caribou that make annual migrations to the north through the Thelon River watershed. Stony Rapids and Black Lake, are two communities where the present day descendants of the so-called Et-en-eldili-dene or "caribou-eaters" now live.

In 1893, the Tyrrell brothers (J. W, and J. B.) travelled through Stony Rapids and Black Lake from the eastern end of Lake Athabasca on their way north and onto the Dubawnt River, a tributary of the Thelon. An excellent account of this expedition can be found at the online book archives as an e-book. In his report to the Canadian government, following the earlier 1890 expedition J. W. Tyrrell recommended that the Thelon basin be "set aside... as a game preserve" to ensure the survival of the muskoxen in the region (Pelly, 1996 pp 28).

The Elk River

I was unable to gather information prior to our trip as to the European history of the Elk River. I was able to find a description of the Bill Layman's trip (undated), but not much else. Layman's description of the rapids was generally accurate, although I think his account underestimates the seriousness of the last set of rapids before Granite Falls. In general, his account did not seem to provide sufficient information by way of a river guide, so I did not think to take it with me. Re-reading it after the trip, I realize that there may have been a couple of places where his account may have been useful.

On the morning of July 13, Nestor, Taras, Roman and I shuttled our gear down to the dock and prepared to board the Twin Otter bound for the upper end of Vermette lake on the short stretch of river that flows into Rennie Lake. In surveying the maps in advance of the trip it was the expanse of open water on the lakes of the upper Elk that caught my attention. Looking at these large lakes, I envisioned being wind bound for long stretches as we negotiated the 60 to 90 km of flat water.

As we touched down on the river, the sand spit made an excellent landing place to unload our gear and prepare for the trip. The day was an omen for the weather we were about to encounter during the rest of our trip; it was bright and warm with a slight haze in the air form the forest fires of Northern Saskatchewan to the south. The black flies were out in large numbers as we set about the task of assembling the canoes that arrived with Tundra Tom on his Cessna 180.

Before we set out Tom gave us a briefing on the indigenous and European history, points of interest along the way, several rapids to watch for on the Thelon River and the general description of the Elk as a "Class III river". It was the last statement that concerned me, given that this was the first time I had heard the Elk river described this way. Layman had referred to the rapids as "easy", Tom was giving a whole new dimension to the nature of the trip on which we were about to embark.

Despite any reservations we may have had, we were eager to get started and so headed in a northerly direction to the a peninsula where the lake swings to the east. It was on this peninsula, where the lake narrows, that we made our first camp. We were in the vicinity where the Denesuliné would camp in family units waiting for the fall caribou migration. And there was ample evidence of past hunts to be seen in the abundance of caribou bones and antlers in the sand eskers.

Next: Travelling on the large lakes; of wind, lake trout, swifts and Class I rapids.

The Elk River: Getting There

2010-09-05T11:17:00.031-04:00

Planning and executing a trip into remote areas takes a considerable amount of work to address the logistics of transport, equipment needs, and scheduling. Having completed this work on previous trips, for example the Nahanni River in 2007, I am grateful to Nestor Lewyckyj for his role in arranging the outfitting of canoes and air transport with the "legendary" Tundra Tom. (I have listed a number of recommendations at the end of this blog for those considering this trip concerning logistics).

My travel companions, Nestor Lewyckyj, Taras Gula and Roman Poluha have known each other since childhood and have trekked together on other occasions. One of the dynamics that played out on the trip was my need to adjust to a cohesive group with whom I did not share prior history. That being said, I felt welcomed from the outset and my travelling partners were generally agreeable and easy to get along with. The fact that we had all participated in the scouting movement provided a reference point for the ethics associated with camping and group cooperation.

We had arranged that I meet with the others in Winnipeg on July 10th and from there we would drive the 1800 kilometres to Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan. The guys picked me up at the Winnipeg airport at about noon on the 10th and we arrived at our destination in the mid afternoon of the 11th. It is interesting to note that the original end point for our journey was to be Points North Landing, SK some 200 km. south of Stony Rapids, but due to contractual difficulties between Tundra Tom and Tindi Air our plans were changed at the last minute. Our new carrier was to be Transwest Air. This change meant that we would have to drive an additional 200 km, taking us nearly 7 hours, over an extremely rough road, that a regular sedan would not have survived.

The trip from Winnipeg provided myself and my travel-mates an opportunity to get to know each other. We took turns being driver, co-pilot and backseat sleepers as we drove continuously for the thirty-something hours. This road trip became an adventure in its own right as we witnessed changes in the terrain, wildlife sightings and a forest fire in progress. The road trip was, in fact, a continuation of a much longer journey that Nestor, Taras and Roman had begun in Montreal on July 8th. Needless to say, we were all glad to have arrived at the Whitewater Inn and receive the hospitality of our hosts, Tim and Pearl.

Once we were settled in at the Whitewater Inn we learned that our flight onto the Elk River would be delayed a day due to unforeseen damage to the pontoon of the Twin Otter that would carry us. While somewhat concerning, given that it would mean one less day on the river, this delay allowed us to organize our gear and to rest after the road trip. We took the opportunity to explore the waterfront at Stony Rapids and take in the local scene. Given that Stony Rapids and the neighbouring community of Black Lake are dry and the fact that we had failed to buy beer or wine en route, were consigned to drinking Roman's whiskey in our rooms!

For access to my still pictures of the trip visit Elk River And Thelon Rivers pictures.

Recommendations Re: logistics

Points North and Stony Rapids are excellent locations from which to launch your expedition into this region of the Northwest Territories, as they are served by an excellent air carrier in Transwest Air
The difficulty in road travel to Stony Rapids can be avoided by taking a Transwest flight from Saskatoon, SK to Points North, SK
Churchill River Canoe Outfitters can provide canoes and gear out of both Points North and Stony Rapids

Next: Brief History and the Trip begins
(click to continue)

Elk and Thelon Rivers

2010-07-06T15:31:00.006-04:00

On Saturday I leave for a 3 week trip down the Elk River to where it meets the Thelon River at Granite falls. From there we will canoe down the Thelon to Warden's Grove just after the confluence with the Hanbury River.

I will be travelling with Nestor Nestor Lewyckyj, Taras Gula and Roman Poluha on what promises to be a terrific exploration of the Canadian subarctic. I hope to re-count the trip highlights from my journal once I return.

Anyone interested in tracking our progress can visit the link to our satellite beacon at after July 11 here.

Barry

The Rankin River

2010-05-01T17:23:00.006-04:00

One of my favourite places to spend an afternoon in the canoe in spring is the Rankin River. The Rankin River comprises a chain of small lakes and marshland between Georgian Bay to the east and Lake Huron to the west. It is home for a variety of marshland inhabitants such as terns, marsh wrens, red wing black birds, great blue herons, bitterns, osprey, several species of ducks, Canada geese, muskrats and beaver. In the spring the place is a very busy with activity.

I had an opportunity today to watch a muskrat forage for food, seemingly unaware of my presence. I also watched a pair of osprey jealously guarding their nest of eggs.

Value of Education - Part two

2010-03-05T11:55:00.003-05:00

A few weeks back I spoke about the value of education contrasting a skills based (vocational) versus a knowledge based (liberal studies) approach.

One of my colleagues provided me with an excellent article that recently appeared in "The Chronicle of Higher Education" on March 1. The article is worth a read and can be found here.

Diane Auer Jones has hit the nail on the head here!

River of Gold, River of Dreams

2010-02-21T22:02:00.004-05:00

The South Nahanni River is a tributary of the Liard River, which is a tributary in turn of the mighty Mackenzie River.

In July 2007 a group of friends paddled one of Canada's legendary rivers. Referred to as the "dangerous river" by R. M. Patterson, it is a rivers steeped in history and unique geographical features. The Nahanni was a river long before the mountains rose out of the Devonian plain. Typical of plains rivers it meanders its way through the landscape, unlike other mountain rivers which race in a straight line down the valley. As the mountains rose around it, the Nahanni maintained its meandering course by entrenching its way through the rising rock.

I wrote the song, "River of Gold, River of Dreams" to honour our trip and the amazing river and its peoples.

Canoe Season Around the Corner!

2010-02-19T17:17:00.003-05:00

Last weekend was the Wilderness Canoe Association symposium in Toronto. And with this begins the dreaming and scheming about "where this year?" There were some amazing presentations, and the barren land rivers seem to have a particular appeal among presenters.

So this week I was reminiscing about trips past and I wrote a song about my trip down the mighty Nahanni River in 2007.

You can check out the song here.

The Value of Education

2010-02-13T12:50:00.004-05:00

I had a student ask me this week, "Why am I being asked to learn all this stuff about the brain and the senses when all I want to do is learn to be a youth care worker?" The question implied that the sole value of education was in the acquisition of job related skills, anything beyond which was considered unnecessary and unwanted. To be fair to the student, the material being covered was difficult and not easily mastered, so there may have been some frustration fuelling the question.

It would be easy to dismiss the student's question, however, as the product of immaturity were it not for the fact that a more mature student in the class echoed this young student's query. It would also have been easy to dismiss this line of questioning as ignorance, the very antidote to which is of course, education itself.

But I think there is a more disturbing trend underlying the question of "why am I being asked to learn this?". The trend has been in post-secondary education in the past few decades towards what has been termed "skills-based" education. The teaching of skills that are necessary to work within a specific trade or profession. The shift toward skills training as the core goal of education has driven policy and the allocation of educational dollars since the mid '80's, especially in the community college system.

To argue that skills training should not be a focus of education, is of course, absurd. The problem arises when the allocation of resources is away from knowledge-based education that has traditionally been a part of the post-secondary curriculum. Jane Jacobs made this point very well in her last book "Dark Age Ahead". She argued that in order for a society to flourish its citizens need both skills and a well-rounded civic education that includes history, geography, politics, the arts, the humanities and the sciences. To impoverish our citizens by not providing opportunities to explore these areas of study, is ultimately to impoverish our society as a whole.

In the college system we have seen more resources being syphoned away from knowledge-based courses and directed so-called core program courses. This means that number of electives that students take has been slashed dramatically. The Liberal Studies courses in most community colleges face extinction in the next few years, as more resources are directed toward core programs designed to teach job-related skills. This trend has the massive support of industry given that its concern is to develop a labour force to meet both production and consumption patterns in society. And it would seem that this is the only voice that the college leadership listens to regarding education policy decisions.

We should be alarmed at this trend. Not the least concern is the manipulation of an unquestioning society by those who seek to manufacture consent (see Edwards and Chomsky, 1986). With no sense of our own history or the nature of human societies we are increasingly at risk of entering an Orwellian world where our ability to think critically has been limited by our lack of the ideas to express our dissent, or even to know that we should.

The simple answer to "why should I learn this" might be - because it will be important in expanding one's world view, and this is power. I might also point out that knowing about the senses in particular will enable you to answer your child, or your grandchild, a reasonable answer to the question,"Why is the sky blue?"

Mountain Dulcimer - Part Two

2009-07-04T14:21:00.002-04:00

During this stage of the project I steam-bent the side pieces (ribs) and glued on the lining. The lining is a thin strip of wood that is laminated to the ribs to provide strength and a place for the back/front to be glued to the ribs.

This was a challenge; trying to glue up while bending reluctant wood into shape. I wanted to get this done because I am away for the next two weeks and the danger is that the bent wood would just spring back if it was not laminated.

The Mountain Dulcimer Project

2009-07-01T11:46:00.004-04:00

Brief Introduction:

I have enjoyed woodworking for many years and have managed to make every mistake possible. And slowly, but surely my skills and patience have improved. In my time I have built furniture, kitchen cabinets, a couple of wood/fibreglass canoes and outdoor garden things. So now I figure that I am ready to do some more intricate work and build a musical instrument. Risky, I know - but I'm just a kid with a crazy dream!

The mountain dulcimer is an American instrument that was not brought to the new world when the settlers arrived from Ireland and Scotland. It appears to be a recent (relatively) invention from the Appalachian mountain area of the United States (for a thorough history see Chet Hines' book How to Make and Play the Dulcimore). The sound of the instrument is sweet, plaintive and hauntingly beautiful (you can hear it played at: http://www.gilamountaindulcimers.com/pete.htm and on Joni Mitchell's album Blue).

First Steps:

I have been following some of the basic steps set out by Stephen Miklos on his webpage.

To date, have:

Built the forms and the jigs
Re-sawn the side pieces, the top and the back. (maple, butternut and curly maple)
Booked matched and joined the top and the back
Built the scroll

If It Be Your Will

2009-05-20T15:16:00.002-04:00

If it be your will, that I speak no more
And my voice be still, as it was before
I will speak no more, I shall abide until
I am spoken for, if it be your will

If it be your will, that a voice be true
From this broken hill, I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will, to let me sing

From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will, to let me sing

If it be your will, if there is a choice
Let the rivers fill, let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in Hell
If it be your will, to make us well

And draw us near and bind us tight
All your children here, in their rags of light
In our rags of light, all dressed to kill
And end this night, if it be your will
If it be your will

If it be your will.

Algonquin Park

2009-05-20T13:25:00.003-04:00

Algonquin Park is a great place to get away to any time of year, but spring is especially nice. This year we camped on Tim Lake intending to fish. With the wind, rain and snow, however, fishing was a real challenge. Relaxing and enjoying the wildlife, on the other hand, was at a premium.

The Red Cross Torture Report: What It Means (April 30, 2009)

2009-04-22T14:15:00.003-04:00

The New York Review of Books
April 30, 2009
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22614?email

The Red Cross Torture Report: What It Means
By Mark Danner

When it comes to torture, it is not what we did but what we are doing. It is not what happened but what is happening and what will happen. In our politics, torture is not about whether or not our polity can 'let the past be past'--whether or not we can 'get beyond it and look forward.' Torture, for Dick Cheney and for President Bush and a significant portion of the American people, is more than a repugnant series of 'procedures' applied to a few hundred prisoners in American custody during the last half-dozen or so years--procedures that are described with chilling and patient detail, particularity in this authoritative report by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Torture is more than the specific techniques--the forced nudity, sleep deprivation, long-term standing, and suffocation by water,' among others--that were applied to those fourteen 'high-value detainees' and likely many more at the 'black site' prisons secretly maintained by the CIA on three continents.

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Mindfulness and Military Training - Reprise

2009-04-07T22:21:00.009-04:00

The context

The Iraq war was a unilateral act of aggression by the US and Britain, the so-called "coalition of the willing". The war was apparently a battle in the war on terrorism, this is the lie that had been perpetrated by the Bush administration from the beginning. In fact, Iraq posed no threat to the US and its allies. There were no weapons of mass destruction, this much we know from the UN investigators.

The real reasons for the US attack on Iraq, that began with the first Gulf war, and continued with the embargo that deprived innocent Iraqi children of food and medicine, likely had more to do with US economic and strategic interests in the area than anything else. The US military and its operatives, then, have been belligerents responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. (A 2003 medical survey published in Lancet put the death toll at the hands of coalition forces in Iraq at a conservative estimate of 100,000 non-combatants).

The Ethics

Given this context then, what are the ethics of using mindfulness to train young soldiers in preparation for duty in Iraq? The stated purpose of said training is to help prevent PTSD symptoms in these young men and women, which they are likely to suffer following their tour of duty. On the face of it this seems humane, in a sense treating the trauma before it occurs and saving these young people future suffering.

In the larger context, however, I see a problem. The problem is one of intention. What has been the intention of the military leadership in the Iraq theatre of war? As one of the belligerents the US military's intention has been to kill as many of the "enemy" as possible. And at this they have been very effective, at times killing non-combatants in the bargain. As Thich Nhat Hanh states so clearly this is the intention of any fighting force, and it is the focus of the military training in Iraq. The use of mindfulness in this way, means that it is being co-opted to increase the killing efficiency of soldiers in the battle field. If this was not the case, why would the US military agree to pay researchers, Amishi Jha and her colleagues, $740K (see: Jha's CV to confirm this amount) to conduct studies of mindfulness training?

An argument has been made that since the election of Obama, the role of the US military in Iraq is one of peacekeeping. There can be little doubt that there has been a re-evaluation of the US's involvement in Iraq since Obama took office. However, given the fact that the US and Britain have been belligerents in this war, to suggest that the US can now be peacekeepers is a total misunderstanding of the term peacekeeping. It's like having a bully physically abuse you, take your lunch money and smash your property to bits and tell you that they have now changed their ways and they are going keep others on the school yard from getting into fights. Only it's worse than that, because they have killed members of your family, taken your country's source of revenue and destroyed the infrastructure that you depend on for your livelihood. The victims of coalition aggression might have trouble believing that you now mean no harm.

True peackeeping is a function of the UN. It works when a neutral force is charged with the responsibility of keeping the belligerents apart long enough for a plan for peace to be constructed - it is what should have happened in Rawanda but failed due to a lack of interest by the superpowers (see Romeo Delaire's book "Shake Hands with the Devil"). If the US is serious about its intention of peacekeeping, ways to involve the world community need to be sought, revenue from oil needs to be given back to the Iraqi people and the US and Britain need to find the ways and means to pay for and re-build the infrastructure that doesn't impose massive debt on Iraq. This is a tall order, I agree, but it is the legacy of the last US administration's policy of world domination. (For an excellent discussion of the legacy of the Bush policies on world and America see http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22472)

The conclusion

Mindfulness training, as it is derived from the dharma, has no place in military training in Iraq because in the larger context the intention is still one of aggression on foreign soil. The ignorance of this context is what struck me as "hollow" in Amishi Jha's answer to the queston posed to her.

What the Dharma Says About Training in the Military

2009-03-31T08:36:00.003-04:00

Thich Nhat Hanh speaks on Prisoner Abuse

Q: What is the Buddhist perspective on the abuse of prisoners of war in Iraq?

A: Recent news about the abuse of prisoners of war provides us with the opportunity to look deeply into the nature of war. It reveals the truth that has been hidden to many of us about what actually goes on during war and conflict. This is an opportunity for us to be more aware. This is not new; everywhere there is war, these kind of things happen.

Soldiers are trained to kill as many people as possible and as quickly as possible. Soldiers are told that if they don't kill, they will be killed by the so-called "enemy." They are taught that killing is good because the people they are trying to kill are dangerous to society, and that they are demons, that our nation would be better off without them. Soldiers are trained to believe they must kill the other group because they are not human beings. If soldiers see their "enemies" as fellow human beings just like them, they would have no courage to kill them. Every one of us should know the way soldiers are trained in order to see the truth about war. It is important not to blame and single out the U.S. in this kind of situation because any country would do the same thing under the same conditions. During the Vietnam war atrocities were committed by both sides also.

The statement President Bush made that the U.S. just sent dedicated, devoted young men, not abusers to Iraq shocked me, because committing acts of torture is just the result of the training that the soldiers have already undergone. The training already makes them lose all their humanity. The young men going to Iraq were already full of fear, wanting to protect themselves at all cost, so they are pushed to act quickly, being ready to kill at any moment.

Q: Why would the soldiers torture the Iraqi prisoners?

A: When you are engaged in the act of killing, aware that fellow soldiers on your side are dying every day and that it is possible for you to be killed at any moment, you are filled with fear, anger and despair. In this state you can become extremely cruel. You may pour all of your hate and anger on prisoners of war by torturing and abusing them. The purpose of your violence is not only to extract information from them, but also to express your hate and fear. The prisoners of war are the victims, but the abusers, the torturers are also the victims. Their actions will continue to disturb them long after the abuse has ended.

Even if the superiors of the individual soldiers have not directly given orders to mistreat, abuse, or torture, they are still responsible for what happened. Preparing for war and fighting a war means allowing our human nature to die and the animal nature in us to take over. We should never be tempted to resort to violence and war to solve conflict. Violence always leads to more violence.

It is possible to achieve peace through peaceful means and there are many examples of this in history.

Thich Nhat Hanh
May 18, 2004
Plum Village, France

Mindfulness in the Military

2009-03-29T06:02:00.008-04:00

At the research symposium prior to the annual MBSR science conference, Amishi Jha presented some rather impressive data showing the prophylactic benefits of mindfulness training in reducing stress among recruits heading for the Iraq theatre of war. Following the presentation, Jha faced a question from a woman concerning the ethics of using mindfulness to train soldiers. While not germane to the science of the project per se., the question was one that many participants likely were entertaining in their own minds.

In discussing the topic below, I stated that I judged Jha's answers to be "hollow", perhaps not the best choice of words. I'd like to explain what I meant more clearly.

As a clinician and an educator I laud Jha's intention to reduce suffering in people who are likely to suffer, or who have suffered trauma. I do not in the least doubt her sincerity in this. Those of us, who are clinicians, are charged with the ethic of doing no harm and in using our skill to promote healing.

In other words, the ethics of doing the research are sound and the work stands on its own merit. Hypothesizing, that "mind training" (a term Jha uses to justify the work within the military) might help prevent trauma fits within acceptable clinical and research ethics limits. (Although a group of research subjects that would have allowed Jha to test this hypothesis without questions about her ethics would have been emergency first responders.)

The point at which Jha's answer disturbed me, was when she told an anecdote related to her by someone in the military. In the story, an Iraqi combatant had taken a group of children as a human shield. Apparently, a soldier trained in Jha's program fired a round above the perpetrator's head, whereby the children fell to the ground allowing the soldier to make the kill. While the story may demonstrate good soldiering, it fails as a justification of the ethics of doing this research and it does not address the question about whether a trained sniper can in fact be mindful. (An excellent discourse on this issue was presented by John Dunne in his keynote address entitled "Mindfulness and Buddhist Contemplative Theory" at the 2007 MBSR conference.)

Jha's argument in presenting this anecdote was that by training soldiers in this practice, her work was helping to decrease suffering in the larger context, that of the theatre of war. This line of reasoning fails for two reasons; a) it is an empirical question to which she has collected no data (the collection of anecdotes is not science), and b) questions about the dharma in relation to non-violence are beyond the scope of what she presented.

One final comment. Like many, I do feel that the Iraq war is unjustifiable and has perpetrated much suffering within Iraq and American society. Because of this position, I may have been somewhat sensitive to the way Jha chose to defend her decision to work with the military. All this, however, has little to do with the ethics of the doing the research.

Barry

MBSR Conference II

2009-03-20T16:30:00.006-04:00

Morning Meditation

Saki Santorelli led about 200 people in a sitting, walking and heart meditation. We were encouraged to make a heart connection with another in the room. My partner was a man who I have met several time at past conferences and as we touched each other's heart, the feeling of vulnerability and compassion was deeply felt.

Long Term Impact of Mindfulness-Based Self-Care

John Christopher and colleagues presented a study on the long-term effects of an graduate course in self care that included the teaching of a variety of mindfulness based practices. The course was described as a 15-week credit course that explored both ancient and contemporary methods of therapy and self-care; including MBSR, Qigong, Vipassana meditation etc. The students were required to a) practice meditation, b) keep an experiential journal and c) give a brief reasearch presentation.

Interviewing graduates of the program the researchers found that ex-students had brought many of the practices into their work with their clients along a number of important dimensions including greate attention, emotional regulation and self-care. Some of the practices used in the course can be found at www.montana.edu/wwwcc/docs/selfhelp.html

Keynote Address I

Margaret Chesney presented a compelling argument for prevention versus treatment in health care. The central thesis of her presentation was that the sole focus on pathology has meant that the medicine has spent considerable resources on trying to erradicate disease, rather than indentify and promote means to enhance the health of citizens.

Chesney offered a graphic example of this myopic vision. When faced with data that suggested that children in North America were increasingly becoming obese, her medical policy colleagues tried to hammer out a solution the problem. There solution was to turn to drugs that lowered lipids in the blood, which were deemed to be the culprit in the health-related problems that ensued from obesity. Chesney was shocked that none of her colleagues mentioned a national campaign of fitness, diet education and other preventitive measures that would have addessed the root causes of obesity.

Chesney demonstrated that positive psychology - the search for ways of enhancing health were likley to prevent about 70% of the premature deaths that now occur. One of the main mechanisms of positive health identified was positive affect. Postive affect leads to increase likelihood of engaging in healthy behaviour and and better physiological/immune responses.

Chesney recruited us all as advocates in the fight to include positive and preventitive measures in public health policy.

Keynote II

Richie Davidson presented his data on contemplative neuroscience. This requires a much more comprehensive review than I can provide here and now. Instead here are some pictures of the people wh havebeen influential in showing how we can actively shape our own brains through contemplative practice.

MBSR Conference

2009-03-19T10:14:00.005-04:00

The Body Scan and Alpha Waves

Research at Harvard by Catherine Kerr suggests that students enrolled in an 8-week MBSR course had different brain-waves patterns than those who did not meditate after 3 weeks when they had been using a technique called the body scan. The participants showed a greater degree of separation between brain waves indicating attend versus don't attend. These results indicate that meditation practitioners get better at attending to and shifting there attention away from differaent parts of the body. This may be mportat because it show the degree to which we are able to excercise active management of our perception of events, a stated goal of the MBSR curriculum.

Mindfulness Training and Working Memory Capacity

Amishi Jha, from the University of Pennsylvania has been conducting research that demonstrates gains in working memory capacity by those who have particpated in mindfuless training. Working memory is important for execution of both "cold" cognitive tasks, those that are accomplished without emotional content, such as attention orienting and "hot" cognitive tasks such as the down-regulation of emotions. What this means is that mindlfulness training appears to be helpful in coping with stressful events by increasing the capacity of the working memory which is important in allowing trainees greater cognitive and affective control.

Some of Jha's research is quite controversial because her subjects have been soldiers heading to the Iraq war. There was concern that mindfulness was being used to train better soldiers and some questioned the ethics of this practice since it runs contrary to much of the Buddhist teachings that is dedicated to the reduction of suffering. Jha tried to justify her decision to work with this group on the basis that it may reduce the suffering of the soldiers returning and help them make better decisions when in the field. In light of the amount of suffering that this war has inflicted on the citizenry in Iraq, this argument seems a bit hollow.

Mindfulness Taining and Symptom Reduction in Social Anxiety Disorder

Phillipe Goldin has completed a study in which MBSR and CBT were compared with wellness training and a wait list control to determine what the mechanism of action for symptom reduction in people with social anxiey. Using fMRI technology the study indicated that MBSR resulted in greater activation in two brain areas; the amygdila involved with decreased emotional reactivity, and the cortical regions involved with cognitive regulation. CBT involved these two areas and additionally the language centres. While MBSR was successful in reducing symptoms, CBT emerged as the most effective treatmen strategy, likley because of the activation of the language centeres (self-talk).

Evening Keynote: Saki Santorelli

Saki gave a moving tribute to Jon in is tour through the history of the Center for Mindfulness. He concluded his address with a benediction that implored all of us to help him keep his vow to promote mindful practices in medicine, education, social work and leadership in our communities and in the world.

MBSR: An evening with Jon Kabat-Zinn

2009-03-18T23:32:00.001-04:00

By simply bringing our attention to the breath we arrived to this moment in our experience, in our lives. And with the skill of a maestro, Jon asked people to stand if first. they had taken MBSR training at the centre. Second, if they were researchers or clinicians who had been trained in MBSR. And finally, if they were from other countries. As each group was recognized in turn there grew a profound sense of inteconnection in the room.

There was a deep sense of hope that through our cultivation of the bloom of the present we could change how we respond to the many challenges. We could limit the negative effects of the three causes of unwise action, greed, hate and ignorance. All that is required is to live more fully in the analogue world.

30th Annual MBSR Science Conference

2009-03-17T10:19:00.002-04:00

In the next few days Worcester MA will be the nexus of current research in mindfulness for the treatment of human medical and psychological afflictions. Give that this year represents the 30th anniversary of the Center for Mindfulness at UMass started by Jon Kabat-Zinn, it promises to be memorable. I started attending this conference about 5 years ago and it represents the highlight of my academic year.

What makes the conference unique? There are a few things that stand out for me over the years:

Early morning meditation led by either Jon or Saki
The quiet dignified respect that permeates the place
The presence of so many respected researchers in the field
Science blended artfully with practice
And most of all the recognition that what we are learning offers one major source of hope for the planet

Stay tuned for updates from the conference in future blogs!

Barry

Out of the Cold

2008-11-09T22:18:00.002-05:00

It is starting to get colder as November imposes its dreary clime on the landscape. And as a reponse to the need that exists, even in middle class university town, local churches open their doors to those who are homeless.

I arrived on Friday night at the First United Church in uptown Waterloo, Ontario to do my over night shift as a volunteer. I was greeted in a curt, but polite manner, by Howie (not his real name) and told to sign in. Howie is a no-nonsense guy, with a gruff exterior and a heart of gold. He tells me that he's been doing this work for ten years and it shows. He knows all the men and women who come through the doors, tired, cold, strung-out and looking for a place to crash for the night. I'm struck by Howie's straight-forward compassion, and his caring for the people who find themselves under his charge for the night.

Throughout the night we greet any new comers by readying a bed for them, preparing a bit of food if they are hungry and finding them some dry clothes in the mountain of donations that litter the hallway. In all we greet 40-50 people - Howie tells me this is a light evening. Some nights last year there were close to 100 folks huddled together in church halls across the twin-cities of Kitchener and Waterloo. When the program began ten years ago they would get around 10 people.

Howie tells me that most people in our community haven't a clue that we have a housing and homelessness problem. He says that some people, when considering the plight of those on the street, still believe that the homeless want to live the way they do. He observes, "nobody wants to live this way, there is always a story why they ended up here." And most of the stories include major losses and disadvantages that the majority of us have had the good fortune to dodge.

Most of the people are in bed and laying down when I arrived, so I didn't get much of a chance to talk to the guests. The ones that I did meet, however, almost to a person, presented with the signs of chronic mental illness. Among the disorders, addictions play a substantial role. The lack of services within the community has it these people hard; low employability, poor access to health services, the lack of affordable housing and the harshness of the northern climate have all conspired to make living on the streets the only viable means of surviving. Howie tells me,"these people know all the tricks; wandering around drunk and a nuisance can, if you're lucky, get you a night in a warm cell and a meal in the morning - you survive another night."

And that's what the Out of the Cold program tries to do - prevent people dieing on our streets. (Homeless will inevitably cut people's lives short - see http://www.streethealth.ca/Downloads/Streethealth0508.pdf for details). But these people need so much more, they need access to services that will help them deal with the problems that give rise to homelessness in the first place. (One such attempt at providing these services can be found at http://www.supportivehousingofwaterloo.org/)

Support me in my personal campaign for SickKids

2008-09-24T12:27:00.005-04:00

Friends:

I'm emailing you today to tell you about the Friends of SickKids Campaign.

As some of you may know, as a young child I was born with a congenital heart defect. As young parents my folks were faced with the terrible dilemma that I would die before I reached school age. My dad was 26 and mom 23 when they came to Canada so that I could receive the life saving operation that allowed me to live a complete and meaningful life. My campaign is dedicated to the memory of Bill Mustard - a true Canadian hero, to whom I literally owe my life.

SickKids continues to be a place of remarkable hope for children and their families. It is where the sickest children go. This remarkable place treats children with aggressive cancers, the worst burns, those awaiting heart transplants, and more. The kind of life-saving care that happens at SickKids only happens at a few special places in the world.

That's why I volunteered to tell as many people as I can about SickKids. I hope you'll support me in my personal campaign to raise much needed funds to continue the good work of folks like Bill Mustard. It is ONLY because of committed supporters - people like you and me - that SickKids is a premier children's hospital in Canada - and one of the top three in the world.

To support me in my campaign, please click on the link below:

http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1972031

When you make your donation online, you will receive a tax receipt directly from SickKids within 24 hours for the amount of your donation. Please give what you can, as soon as you can. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Barry Cull

*************************************
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Waterloo Mindfulness

2008-09-14T23:50:00.009-04:00

At the urging of Ross Clark, I arranged a meeting at my place for the inaugural meeting of Waterloo (Ontario) Mindfulness group. We discussed some of the ways in which a group could provide a community, a means to network and a way to further ongoing training needs. These ideas will likely be more fully developed as the group continues to meet.

Our group blog is at www.lotusneuron.com/watblog

Barry Cull

The Stigma of Mental Illness

2008-08-19T07:54:00.006-04:00

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) made public the results of a survey on Canadian attitudes toward mental health. And the results are not encouraging. Despite efforts by those working with people who have mental health difficulties (such as the public ad campaign run by the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health that profiles prominent Canadians who have lived with mental health difficulties) the stigma of mental health persists.

The President of the CMA, Brian Day, stated, ""We are looking at the final frontier of socially acceptable discrimination. It's a national embarrassment." I happen to believe it is more than an embarrassment, it is harmful. This type of discrimination gives impetus to neighbourhood associations to act irresponsibly in attempting to deny housing to the homeless, and for politicians to exploit the vulnerable when they see fit. For example, the Conservative Party of Canada is now running an ad campaign targeting so-called "junkies". They are suggesting that people with serious addictions will be forced into residency (incarceration) in "rehab" programs. The Conservatives are able to get away with this type of rhetoric only because most Canadians don't know that drug addiction is a serious mental illness, and even if they did, they would demand that these people just simply, "get over it".

We have much work to do.

The positive message in this year's survey is that 72% of survey respondents felt that funding of mental illness programs should be on par with funding for physical illness. This is energy we can use.

Letter to the editor of KW Record here.

Instructions to the Cook

2008-08-17T18:54:00.006-04:00

Rachel (who has a blog I've participated in) recommended a book to me after she learned of my interest in supportive housing. The book, Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master's Lessons in Living a Life That Matters, by Bernard Glassman and Rick Fields is a real gem! Thanks Rachel.

The premise of the book is based on a metaphor, proposed by the 13th century Zen master Dogen, that serves as a guide to living a complete and fulfilling life. The Zen master is a cook, who using the ingredients at hand, creates the "supreme meal" for the guests. Glassman invites us to be as cooks, practical in our spiritual lives, vowing to make a difference for those around us by using "local ingredients".

The fives courses to this meal we are preparing are:

1. Spirituality - taking time to centre and explore the "oneness" of all life.
2. Learning and knowledge - developing our intelligence for the job to be done.
3. Livelihood - being able to support ourselves through our work and efforts.
4. Social action - being aware of the needs of others.
5. Community and relationships - recognizing our interdependence with others and working for harmony.

Laying the foundation, Glassman then spells out clearly and concisely how to be a social activist in your own back yard, in the place where you live; helping others build lives that make a difference.

This gem of a book is quietly inspirational and it just so happens I baked a great loaf of bread today!

The roots of empathy

2008-08-14T20:13:00.002-04:00

While listening to the CBC radio yesterday morning I heard Dr. Anne Russon (author of The Evolution of Thought: Evolutionary Origins of Great Ape Intelliegence) relate an amazing story about one of our close relatives on the biological family tree, the orangutan.

Dr. Russon is a developmental psychologist studying the orangutan in the wild. Her research involves the rehabilitation of orphaned young orangutans back into the wild. She conducts her research through the Orangutan Social Learning and Cultures Project operating through the BOS Orangutan Reintroduction Project at Wanariset, Borneo.

Dr. Russon described a situation, that she observed, where a young orangutan got confused and frightened as the rest of his peers (all about 6-7 years old) left to return to their nighttime compound. While the human caretakers concerned themselves with locating the youngster in a tree, one of the youngster's peers doubled back and positioned himself in an adjacent tree. This young ape then gently got the attention of the frightened youngster and eventually coaxed him down to safety, leading him back to the compound.

What is so revealing about this story is that we recognize, immediately, that this was a kind, sensitive and socially responsible thing to do - in fact we would expect no less from our own children. Why are we able to recognize empathetic behaviour in a creature to which we are related through evolution? Check out Marc D. Hauser's book Moral Minds: How nature designed our universal sense of right and wrong, for some possible answers.

White Water

2008-08-13T00:05:00.010-04:00

Rumi's "The Guest House" expresses the idea that life is guest house into which uninvited guests stream daily. We never know who will enter the door; but we are to greet each guest with enthusiasm, so that we may live life to the fullest.

Murray McLauchlin's song, "White Water" has a similar theme. The river is much like a guest house, in that each turn offers a new vista and new experiences. Again, what the river has to offer must be accepted with enthusiasm in order to live skilfully and contentedly. In this video I tried to synchronize the two themes with my photography of Killarney and Temagami, Ontario and Nahanni, NWT.

Youth Justice - Revisited

2008-08-12T14:02:00.004-04:00

The Canadianl government is seeking public consultation on the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The folks in the policy research branch would like to get input from Canadians on how to address the needs of youth, in an effort to divert the small minority of them away from the criminal justice system. As I have noted below, doing a little preventive work might go a long way.

The Canadian Psychological Association has taken the opportunity to reply to the request for input and have sent a letter of recommendations for the policy folks. The main recommendations are for the continuance of programs to divert young people away from the criminal justice system and to conduct research into crime prevention and rehabilitation programs for more serious offenders.

And just how big is this problem in reality?

Well, there has been no increase in youth crime rates. In fact, since the last government enacted the YCJA in 2003 there has been a 15% decrease in youth arrested. Why? Because the system realized some kids make mistakes that land them in trouble. The vast majority of these kids when allowed to atone for their mistakes never get in trouble again. The diversion programs within the YCJA provided for community discretion when dealing with what amounts to petty drug charges and acts of minor vandalism.

There has been a 3.7% increase in violent crime. But rather than the YCJA, itself, being the problem, the CPA hints that maybe the increase may have something to do with the mental health status of those committing these crimes. Having worked in the field for nearly 30 years, I would suggest that child abuse, poverty, criminal neighbourhoods, involvement with drugs and school dropout might be some of the factors that have been on the increase in recent years, along with the cuts in dollars to community programs that deal with these more troubling issues. I wonder whether anyone has done a study yet on the increase in violent crime among youth in relationship to the decrease in community mental health programs, rates of retention in secondary education and rates of youth employment?

The myth of justifiable motives

2008-08-06T23:59:00.002-04:00

Canadian involvement in the war in Afghanistan is based on a collection of untruths. Young men and women are sacrificing their lives in a war that our leaders compare to the Canada's involvement in WW I and II. Marjorie Cohn points out that not only is the war in Afghanistan an illegal one, but also an unnecessary means to an end that would be better served through diplomacy.

End the Occupation of Iraq - and Afghanistan by Marjorie Cohn

The article below underscores why the justifications used by the Canadian government for the Afghanistan war are fallacious.

Freedom, Justice And Human Rights Versus Islam In Afghanistan
By Donald B. Ardell

There are many threats to liberty right here at home.These threats exist despite centuries of democracy, a constitution with a treasured bill of rights and all manner of additional legal safeguards. In some ways, it seems a distraction from the challenges before us in this country to become concerned about and involved in seeking to prevent human rights abuses in distant, strange lands with very different cultures This is particularly so in a country like Afghanistan, where freedom, human rights, democracy, civil safeguards and basic justice have no foothold. Who would expect human rights to be respected in a fanatically Muslim country of backward, warring tribes, a place from which sprang the horror of the Taliban? I would not – would you?

Yet, American taxpayers have been supporting all these rights and safeguards for Afghans since we invaded that country after 911. We invaded to destroy the religious barbarians who, among other offenses beyond the pale, were believed to be harboring Osama bin Laden and other lunatic jihadists. We had to deal with our enemies in that country who viewed us all as infidels to be destroyed. As part of our response, we not only fought against and removed the Taliban but also leaned on the natives to adopt an Afghan constitution that incorporated American-style freedoms, safeguards for basic liberties and adoption of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Alas, getting the people of Afghanastan to incorporate such rights and freedoms into their value systems steeped in religious fanaticism has not been easy – and probably never was a realistic goal.
Which leads to mention of the case of Sayed Pervez Kambakhsh, a 23-year-old journalism student sentenced to death a few months ago for the victimless crime of blasphemy! I’m not making this up.
It seems the poor fellow insulted Islam. Hard to believe but there it is. What a country. Mr. Kambakhsh’s insult leading to the charge of blasphemy was downloading material offensive to certain religious clerics. The material apparently contained statements that the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad oppressed women. Duh. Good thing that kind of offense is not a capital crime in this country. The unfortunate infidel Kambakhsh was taken to an Islamic court, charged with a litany of “crimes” (e.g., “un-Islamic speech and activity, socialism, rebelliousness and improper instigation of religious debate”) and found guilty - of blasphemy. The punishment? Death.

Human rights groups in this country, including the Center for Inquiry, are trying to save Mr. Kambakhsh from the imposition of the sentence. They are appealing to the country’s leaders to honor the Afghanistan constitution. That is, the document we more or less imposed on this theocratic society. The Afghan constitution makes freedom of expression inviolable and guarantees every Afghan the right to express thoughts through speech, writing, illustrations as well as other means. Well, that’s all well and good, but the religious authorities don’t take such secular affirmations very seriously. Nor do they care much for the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, though the country has signed on to that, as well.

Efforts are underway to get signatures on a petition for mercy for Mr. Kambakhsh. The petitions will be sent to the nation’s president, Hamid Karzai. The Free Inquiry petition notes that the accused was “tried without legal representation by a private Islamic court, and was accused of doing only what any promising student should do - independently seeking information, and stimulating discussion among classmates. If Afghanistan is to be a free, open society, it cannot allow religious orthodoxy to trump free inquiry among its citizens, and it certainly cannot impose deadly penalties on those who dare speak out. Such charges are an affront not only to the basic political and legal structure of Afghanistan, but to the freedom and dignity of its citizens as well.”

The president is then urged to “condemn this injustice and to secure the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Kambakhsh.” Well, I signed the petition at the Center for Inquiry website and I urge you to do the same. Maybe such expressions of concern and good will can save this particular victim of religious intolerance. However, I suspect that, given the mindset that infests the Islamic world, the prospects for this student and others who take Western-imposed documents of freedom and human rights too seriously are very bleak.

The case of Mr. Kambakhsh and the power of religion in so much of the rest of the world is all the more reason to celebrate our own freedom this coming weekend during the Independence Day festivities and every day thereafter – and do all we can to vote out of office Republican zealots who themselves would make blasphemy a criminal offense, though probably not a capital one. But then, if Bush had another term, you never know.

Donald B. Ardell, Ph.D. publishes the ARDELL WELLNESS REPORT

Global Climate Change

2008-08-06T23:57:00.007-04:00

In the last issue of Skeptic magazine there are a series of articles on global warming. The most controversial is that of Dr. Patrick Frank, a chemist working for the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (funded by US Dept of Energy). He contends that the models of global warming are all wrong, and conclude that the observed climate changes are not for certain due to man's activity. The trend though, in real world observations, are incontrovertible. Global temperature has gone up, concomitant with increased levels of CO2 emissions from industry.

The problem with Dr. Frank's conclusions:

Dear Editor (Skeptic):

I have read and re-read Dr. Frank’s article on the accuracy of global climate models (GCM) and most of it leaves me in the dust. I’m familiar enough with statistics to understand the point he is making about the accuracy of the models and will concede that he may have a point here. I won’t quibble about his analysis of the models and their accuracy – he likely has done his homework well enough to get this part right. I’ll leave any criticism of his analysis of the models to those who have skills and expertise in this area.

Where I will take issue with Frank is in his concluding remarks where he caricatures the skeptics of his conclusions about global warming in this way:

‘Some may decide to believe anyway, “We can’t prove it”, they might say, “but the correlation of CO₂ with temperature is there (they’re both rising after all), and so the causality is there, too, even if we can’t prove it yet.”’

Frank is right in suggesting that some of us have noticed that man-made CO₂production has seen a precipitous increase since 1850. Since 1850 the amount of carbon we have put into the atmosphere per year has risen from insignificant amounts, through to two billion metric tons in 1950, to 8 billion tons in the latter part of the 20^th century to present day. Furthermore, direct measurements of CO₂in the atmosphere show an increase from 312 ppm in 1958 to 375 ppm in 2005 (this is the so-called Keeling curve). Measurements of global mean temperature show an increase of 0.6⁰ C ± 0.2^o C in 20^th century. (see http://www.greenfacts.org/studies/climate_change/l_3/climate_change_1.htm#1p3). These are the correlations in the data that give some of us pause.

Frank points out that it is an error in logic to go from correlation to causation – no problem here (we’re all taught this in Stats 101). But isn’t there another alternative in our application of scientific principles than jumping from correlation to causation? Those of us who notice the correlation just might suggest that we continue with the investigation. We might argue that the continued use of fossil fuels isn’t sustainable (we’ll simply run out) and we may be concerned that all of the pollution generated by fossil fuels may be a causal factor in some of the ecological events of recent decades (the bleaching of coral just one of many). If that were the case, couldn’t we act rationally and try an experiment that would meet the gold standard of science?

In psychology, the behaviourists taught us a really good technique to test a causal inference called the A-B-A design. In phase A of the experiment we measure behaviour at baseline. In phase B we institute the treatment and note any changes in behaviour. Finally, in the second phase A we withdraw the treatment and note whether the behaviour returns to baseline. That observed pattern leads to pretty strong statement of causality, but to be on the safe side we institute the treatment phase again and run another B. What is practical in the climate change scenario is to do an AB design. We already have the baseline data as noted above. Now we do the B part – run the treatment; namely reduce CO₂(William Calvin has some excellent suggestions on how this might be done in his book Global Fever). If things get better, and it will take time to get the data – these things take decades given the size of events we are talking about, a tentative hypothesis can be made about man’s involvement in global warming. If the results are negative – no effect on climate change, we have at least found cleaner energy that is less polluting and all those other toxins and particulates will have made our air and water safer.

To just simply deny that there is a possibility that climate science has some of the picture right and to continue as usual seems counterproductive and not very scientifically minded – we have the chance to conduct a wonderful experiment in living more sustainably; what could be more scientific than that?

Barry Cull

A better approach:

William Calvin in Global Fever points out that the direct and careful observations by Keeling at Mauna Loa in Hawaii have shown a steady rise in mean global temperatures since 1958. This isn't a "model", it's the real thing.

Treating the planet as a "patient" with a high fever, Dr. Calvin offers some viable strategies to first halt carbon emissions from tracking higher and second to begin decreasing man-made CO2. The cure isn't going to be easy, and the initial costs may be high, but Calvin shows that it is doable. Having just finished the book, of which the Skeptic article is just an excerpt, I suggest that Calvin has a better grasp of the subject matter, and has covered more of the findings than Frank has. My money is with Calvin in this debate.

BC

Youth Crime as Election Issue

2008-07-31T16:15:00.001-04:00

You can tell when an election is pending, the polititians trot out their favourite issue they know will generate public anger that they can convert into votes. Last week Jeff Martin, MP sent out a circular about youth getting away with serious crimes and how his party was cleaning things up. The myth about youth crime is seldom dealt with honestly by polititians or the media. I replied to Mr. Martin with the following.

"Your recent flyer "Age is no Excuse", indicates that you have extremely limited knowledge about crime, its root causes and what needs to be done to effect change. The problem is not, as your flyer suggests, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the need for stiffer sentences. Crime is a societal problem with complex dynamics and has much to do with social disadvantage in all its forms. If you think stiffer sentences are the answer, look south. The United States imprisons more of its citizens than most countries in the world and its crimes rates continue to remain unaffected. The majority of those jailed are poor, black and have serious drug problems.

Here are some of the issues you might want to address if you are serious about youth (or any crime):

1. Child poverty

2. Lack of educational opportunities (high tuition costs, poor granting programs)

3. Lack employment opportunities for unskilled workers (or skilled ones for that matter)

4. Lack of support for children in need of assistance to stay in school (remediation services, psychological services, literacy programs etc.)

5. Poor cohesive communities - poor neighbourhoods breed disenfranchisement

6. Racial and social intolerance - (the use of the words "thugs" and "punks" in your flyer shows a serious lack of compassion and tolerance)

7. Services to address addictions issues - crack cocaine is a serious problem, and rather than treat the issue as one of public health, your party prefers to demonize its victims rather than address the mental health problems of the user. These addicted kids are the ones who will be filling our jails under your strategy.

Your flyer asks which party is "on the right track?" I know which party is the least likely to put resources into the things that matter in dealing with youth crime. We've seen it here in Ontario at the Provincial level, when Harris attacked vulnerable people with his policies, rather than the real problems facing our communities.

Barry Cull"
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Joys and Trials

2008-07-30T19:21:00.000-04:00

There is a truth about canoeing that the beautiful places of solitude are one difficult portage longer than most people are prepared to make. Nellie. Lake is one such place; the 1450 metre uphill hike from Murray is a real trial.

Jack Kornfield states that the trials in our lives are our teachers, and need to be invited in with willingness and acceptance. Today's portage provided a chance to practice being in the moment and not wanting to be somewhere else.
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Decompression

2008-07-30T19:15:00.001-04:00

Shedding the layers of urban attachments takes time. With repeated journeys the time gets shorter and a ride on the Big Canoe across the Bay sure helps. A highlight of the crossing is Flowerpot island.

(I left for Killarney Park on Tuesday - bound for Nellie Lake. This is the highest and clearest lake in the Park. It can be reached from the west end of the park, near the North Channel of Georgian Bay)

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Sunset Over Nellie

2008-07-29T20:40:00.000-04:00

A late afternoon paddle revived the spirit. The reward was the sighting of a doe at the water's edge.

The sunset was a little disappointing given that the clouds rolled in at the last minute.
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Tobermory

2008-07-28T10:42:00.001-04:00

Arrived at the dock by e10:15. The day is sunny and clear. Promises to be a clear sailing.
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Killarney Bound

2008-07-28T05:41:00.000-04:00

Killarney Park is considered the crown jewel of Ontario's provincial parks. It is situated on the north shore of Georgian Bay and encompasses the LaCloche range of hills. These white quartzite hills are the remnants of an ancient mountain range; they are dotted with the clear blue lakes and expanses of boreal forest. I headed for Nellie Lake in the park's west end - the highest lake in the park and the clearest. The lake is separated from the lower lakes of the west section by a 1400 metre portage up hill over rugged terrain. It is an effort to get there.

I'm going to try to post some blogs from my cell-phone so stay tuned.

Homelessness

2008-07-25T22:26:00.000-04:00

There has been a significant rise in the number of people living on the streets in cities across North America. Generally, municipalities view the problem as one of aesthetics, it looks bad and it is a nuisance to descent people trying to navigate past the panhandlers.

We may ask, though, "who are the homeless and how did they come to be here in such high numbers? Perhaps, more importantly we may ask, "what can be done about the problem?" In his TED talk, Daniel Goleman, offers some thoughts about the nature of compassion and provides some insight into the problem. Goleman states that recent studies indicate that over 90% of people who live on the street have psychiatric problems. He goes on to urge a mindful approach to seeing others through our busy lives and unexamined assumptions.

I came across a wonderful resource in my research into the topic of homelessness. In 2003 the Center for Urban Community Services published a document on supportive housing for the homeless. In chapter 1 they provide a history of the policies over the past that have resulted in the increase in the mentally ill living on the streets.

The trends have been:

1. The discharge of large numbers of people from psychiatric hospitals since the 1960's. The trend toward de-institutionalization and the lack of availability of community resources has been a major contributing factor.

2. The decrease in stock of single room occupancy units in the 1970's . These units, in older hotels, provided affordable housing to psychiatric patients and others. Urban renewal projects has meant the disappearance of these housing stock as cities seek to get rid of what some considered "eyesores" and the magnets of urban problems.

3. Diminishing government benefits, such as disability pensions.

4. The advent of AIDS.

5. Reduction of job opportunities for unskilled workers in an ever-increasing information -based economy.

A movement to reverse these trends has been in the offing since the early 90's. Supportive housing offers the best alternative to dealing with the problem of homelessness. In the next few weeks I hope to review what this movement looks like and how it is likely to result in a compassionate community.

CSS and the Creativity Process

2008-05-19T23:53:00.000-04:00

I'm really enjoying the opportunity to be creative. It provides exercise for my right brain that is otherwise dormant. I even went on a canoe excursion last week to "collect" some images. The marsh grasses on my "Psychology of Mindfulness" page are from the Rankin River.

The image on my home page is one I took of the Cirque of the Unclimables from Glacier Lake above the Nahanni River last summer.

Renewal

2008-04-19T13:54:00.000-04:00

I am building a place for mindful practice in the backyard beside the pond. There are repairs to be done and the work feels hard. Last night I removed the old bridge and today so far I have tried to locate the leak in the stream. I think I may have found it. It's a spot where roots have worked there way between the seams of the last fix. I can't be sure that this is the place, but it looks promising.

And part way through the work I think, I don't like this, it's tedious. I'd rather be doing something else. It dawns on me as I continue to breath, stretch and exert myself into deeper acceptance of this moment with its accumulation of sediment, mud, rocks and toil. That the place to practice has already been laid carefully before me.

Ecotones

2008-04-15T21:12:00.000-04:00

In his book Return to Warden's Grove: Science, Desire, and Lives of Sparrows, Christopher Norment talks about ecotones. In biology these are known as the transition zones between two communities where the species from each community co-exist. In effect they are verge areas, like transition between between states of awareness; becoming aware after a night's sleep.

Spring is akin to an ecotone; a transition between states that sees the remnants of winter leaving and the emergence of new life taking its place within our inner and outer landscapes. There is an anticipation, an excitement and even anxiety in the what the changes will mean. We are jolted into a transition that is ripe with possibilities of anything. Norment quotes part of a poem that captures this feeling nicely and I have reproduced it here in its entirety.

I go among trees and sit still.

All my stirring becomes quiet

around me like circles on water.

My tasks lie in their places

where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes

and lives a while in my sight.

What it fears in me leaves me,

and the fear of me leaves it.

It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.

I live for a while in its sight.

What I fear in it leaves it,

and the fear of it leaves me.

It sings, and I hear its song.

After days of labor,

mute in my consternations,

I hear my song at last,

and I sing it. As we sing,

the day turns, the trees move.

-Wendell Berry

MBSR Conference -Day Two

2008-04-12T09:32:00.000-04:00

6 pm

Drop into the moment that is now. No need to judge, no need to have an agenda as to what will be, no need to say, "I am meditating". Just be here, drink in all that this moment has to offer as if it is the only one that you have - because it truly is. Living fully demands that we pay attention, to this moment, with intention, acceptance and without judgement.

This the message of Jon Kabat-Zinn who led through an hour of practice of attending to this moment. He repeats this message in his important books that serve as introductions to this way of being and the titles are evocative of the importance of the experience of now:

Full Catastrophe Living (1990); Wherever You Go , There You Are (2005); Coming to Our Senses (2006)

Keynote Address: Mark Williams

Saki Santorelli introduced Mark Williams, Oxford Professor of Clinical Psychology, by reading the Rumi poem "Cry Out in Your Weakness". Mark Williams, like Marsha Linehan has spent his career finding ways to alleviate much suffering in the world - finding ways to prevent relapse in depression, that can and often does, lead to increased levels of depression and suicide.

Dr. Williams and is colleagues John Teasdale and Zindel Seigel have been important contributors to the treatment of depression, specifically the prevention of relapse. By combining many of the principles behind cognitive therapy with those of mindfulness practice, a powerful synergy has emerged that offers new hope for those suffering with chronic depression.

Dr. Williams spoke today about the role of the experience of psychological pain in preventing access to the specific episodic memories that are essential to problem solving. In effect the experience of a negative emotional state leads to a rapid flood of painful thoughts that cut off access to specific memories about how to solve the problem facing the individual. What remains are general memories that offer few, if any real solutions. Mark pointed out that mindfulness offers a way to reconnect with, and allow time for, specific memories to re-emerge promoting effective problem resolution and improved mood states.

Miriam "Miv" London, University of Vermont - Mindfulness programs for anxiety and depression for college students:

The effectiveness of a of 7-week mindfulness-based intervention for college students was discussed in this workshop. The net results were that the students benefited from the program through a reduction in their anxiety and depressed symptoms. The challenges with this group of clients was that they often were quite distracted by other priorities in their lives that the commitment to formal practice had often to compete with school work, social opportunities and space and time constraints. Despite this, many of the students were able to deal effectively with their anxiety and depression through incorporating many of the practices into daily life.

Arnold Kozak, University of Vermont - Curriculum course in the Psychology of Mindfulness:

Arnold spoke about a course he has developed and taught now for two years at the University of Vermont. The course includes the 8-week MBSR component, academic work in cognitive therapy, Buddhist psychology and clinical applications of mindfulness in psychology and health. The course includes both experiential and didactic components. The evaluation of the course has been positive, both in terms of student appraisals and in outcome measures that looked at whether students were incorporating the practices into their own lives. I would like to know to what an extent such a course might lower levels of stress for the students at Conestoga College. Anyone interested in working up a proposal with me?

Summary - conference themes in some of the informal discussions:

Has there been too much emphasis on mindfulness as technique in psychotherapy, when in the end it will be shown to be no more effective than other psychotherapeutic techniques accounting for only 15% of the variance in symptom reduction?
Is the benefit of mindfulness in its effect on the therapist, making them more empathetic, more non-judgemental, able to build better therapeutic alliances and less reactive? On this point, one meta-analysis shows that non-treatment aspects of the therapy (i.e. therapist listening skills) account for 30% of the symptom reduction.
What will it take to resolve the fundamental biases that exist within the two different ways of knowing between psychology and mindfulness? There was tension here at times between the agenda of the researchers who wanted to know about the randomized clinical trials and the therapists who were more concerned with the effect on the lives of their clients.
Finally, I sat in on a number of interesting sessions where the focus was on marketing mindfulness as a product. The cost of an eight week MBSR course has currently reached about the $2000 mark. Training of professionals can be substantial as anyone interested to investigate on the internet will find. This means that by the time the program hits the street, it will likely only be available to those who can afford a health club membership. It runs the risk of becoming "spa" treatment for the wealthy. And Buddha winces. So my question, how do we get mindfulness in the hands of those working with some of the most disaffected people in our communities?
Personal note: I have spent nearly 3 months now, offering my 30 years clinical experience for free, for a year. My sabbatical next year allows me to do this. My price: let me come and learn to hone my mindfulness clinical as part of the team. That means a net saving to your organization one senior clinician's salary and perhaps 20 - 30 clients off the waiting list. Total organizations that have jumped at the offer so far= 0. We need to look seriously, I think, at how we can massage the system to, as George Miller might say, "give mindfulness away". Anyone interested in setting up a volunteer list to assist with referrals for the treatment of depression, anxiety or trauma?

Mindfulness Conference - Worcester MA

2008-04-11T09:42:00.000-04:00

6 am

The day begins with sitting, walking and stretching in present awareness led by Saki Santorelli. I am slowly letting the flight, the other things to do, the distractions leave the now - but they are persistent in creating "noise". I decide to practice accepting noise - I am more or less successful.

7 am

I am successful in finding friends and colleagues from Waterloo. I am delighted and we have breakfast together. This is a conference on the science of mindfulness and its relationship to healing arts. There is excitement here, a quiet anticipation we all feel about the power of this approach to relieve much suffering. Breakfast conversation is about how the community that this embraces is something like the ripples in a pond that spread ever further out from the centre. And today I am at one of the centres of the movement, the birthplace of MBSR; mindfulness-based stress reduction.

Keynote Address: Marsha Linehan

Dr. Linehan spoke eloquently about her career as a behavioural therapist, scientist and student of Zen and how this led her to the developmental of dialectical behaviour therapy
Her work has been with some of the most troubled individuals, those who have received as diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, people who she points out are the most likely of all psychological disorders to succeed at suicide. One in every ten people with BPD will take their own life.
Using a mindfulness-based approach Linehan invites her clients to practice the art of acceptance in their lives. Clinically sound and scientifically validated over 30 years, her approach offers the most hopeful of all treatment modalities for this complex human response to betrayal trauma, abuse and neglect in childhood.

I found Dr. Linehan to be full of energy, realistic and the embodiment of compassion. As Saki Santorelli described her, "She is a force of nature".

Research Sessions:

Ruth Baer

Ruth Baer has been interested in cognitive therapy and has written an important work that reviews the effectiveness of mindfulness based interventions. Her discussion today was on the relationship between formal mindfulness practice, informal mindfulness activities and psychological wellbeing.

Donald McCown and Diane Reibel

Donald and Diane presented a compelling story about their attempt to market an MBSR program to train people in various workplaces how to reduce stress and to respond as people and as corporations in a more "contemplative" manner. While their program didn't get the funding needed from the university, their were able to run a scaled-down version of the offerings to some pretty impressive organizations. They reported that they are happy doing work they love in the not-for-profit sector.

One of their training programs has been offered to anaesthesia nurses, perhaps the most stressful of all nursing jobs. Students in the course learned methods of being more aware, less stressed and more at ease with themselves with the workplace. I found this talk quite relevant to my work teaching psychology to nursing students

Donald Marks, Alix Sarubbi and Rosanna Sposato

What role does compassion play in healing? There is little doubt that it is significant. Marks et al. presented their research on the relationship between the relief of suffering and active compassion. The results of their work can be summed up by the story Donald told of a woman, so debilitated by pain that she was unable to get out of one particular chair in her house. To add to the suffering, she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the spine. This woman, with the help of Marks and his team, was able to do something she'd wanted to do for a long time - volunteer at the school attended by her disabled daughter. The times when she was volunteering, the pain she suffered was less meaningful to her than what she had to offer the children. During these times the pain, became a background in her life, rather than the entire focus of her existence.

As a closing, Mark took us through a mindfulness session where we were encouraged to embody in ourselves "the perfect nurturer". It is from this base of compassion, we are told, that we are able to extend healing into the world.

Day's end:

Today has been busy and exceptional. At the end of the day we had a banquet and danced to the type of music that Geoff Johnstone loves. (Hope you had an ale or two for me on Thursday, brother). Wish all of you could have been here, there is much that is of interest to Liberal Studies folks; culture, philosophy, communications, sociology, economics, psychology, wellness and history to name a few. Even some comparative religion, like how the message of the Buddha and Christ and all religions has been the same since the earliest times - a compassionate heart is the key to peace that begins with ourselves.

As they say here:

metta (lovingkindness):
Barry

Arrival at the Falls - August 3, 2007

2007-09-03T10:22:00.000-04:00

Oxbow Lake

We got up early today in anticipation of getting to the falls campground by noon. It took us about two and a half hours to have breakfast and pack up the gear and we were on our way down river by 11:00.

Alex and Tania led the way and at the bend in the river took a detour up the creek leading to the Oxbow lake. The rest of us followed into a quiet creek that wended its way through reeds and grasses hanging with dew, eventually opening into a lake which curved to the right much like an elongated "j". The lake was peaceful and inviting and I wondered whether the campsite we had heard about was at the crook of the "j" about 150 metres to the right.

When I suggested to Glen that we investigate to the end of the lake, he rather vehemently rejected the idea. His rationale was that the rest of the group had not planned this sojourn, and it would be selfish of us to pursue the adventure without consensus. I suggested to him that no one had given Alex and Tania the approval of exploring the creek and the lake in the first place, and that since we were only going to be here this one time, it might be interesting to explore a little further. This was the first time that a dispute had led to hard feelings between Glen and I on this trip; the rancor, however, persisted until we reached the Falls.

Through the next section of the river we followed the Sunblood Mountain range on river left and the Marengo Creek valley on river right. The interpretive maps suggest that on the left, on the mountain slopes there are mineral licks that are an essential part of the habitat for the Dalls' Sheep (see insert, Robert Bateman "The Dalls' Sheep"). These impressive animals visit the mineral licks to lick on the mineral deposits that are a necessary part of their diet. We were unsure whether we had located any of the mineral licks, which would have been more obvious had we the fortune of actually seeing sheep visiting them. The mountain ridges were impressive nonetheless.

Virginia Falls Campsite

About a kilometre before the falls there is a well marked organized campsite and ranger post. We approached the dock in the early afternoon and slipped in beside a De Havilland Beaver bush plane. Arriving at the campgrounds meant that we had to check in at the ranger station, pick a camp spot, unload the canoes and make camp.

The campgrounds were situated along a boardwalk that was suspended above the marshy ground by posts drilled into the permafrost. The main purpose of the boardwalk was the protection of the flora from the trampling feet of the visitors to the park. It also provided a level of accessibility to people who may not be able to explore the area because of the uneven terrain.

We found tent sites side by side the would accommodate our three tents. The sites were wooden platforms that were built into the boardwalk; it was all very neat by comparison to the sites along the river so far. With the tents pitched, we began preparing supper and organizing the gear for our two night stay at the falls.

Moose Can Fly

Just before dinner we became aware, through the park warden, that a cow calf moose had been swept over the falls earlier in the day. The main concern now was that the moose carcass, which had found a final resting place on a gravel bar below the falls, would attract a nearby grizzly bear. Grizzlies, we learned, become very territorial about their food and posed a very real danger to anyone who ventured to close. This meant that the trail to the base of the falls was cordoned off while a helicopter was brought in to remove the carcass to a safer location.

Glen and I were excited to get a good look at the whole operation so we took the trail to the top of the falls. Along the way we met Jenn, a summer patrol officer , and her mother pushing a wheel barrow. They were on their way down to the bottom of the falls to assist in the "rescue". Glen and I eagerly offered to help and between the two of us took over pushing the barrow along the trail. The two of us were just glad to be able to do our duty, as volunteers, in a state of apparent park emergency. We asked Jenn to deputize on the spot, so that we would be official. Jenn informed us that we don't deputize people in Canada, but she would nonetheless accept us as official volunteers. Jenn's mom gladly let us take over and went on her way to where the crowd was gathering for the evening's entertainment. A dead moose being air-lifted out of the canyon!

Once we had safely delivered the wheel barrow and its contents - a sling, yellow "danger" tape, knapsack, 3030 rifle plus ammo (this was a serious potential grizzly terror attack) and other gear - to the end of the boardwalk trail, we were asked to return to the top of the falls. Jenn was not going to let us go any further, despite our dejected looks. Upon returning to the top of the falls, no one seemed to know of the risks we had taken to ensure public safety.

We had time to explore the top of the falls for about an hour and a half before the helicopter arrived. People had gathered with cameras and binoculars not wanting to miss the excitement. We could see a brown object on the sand bar and three park wardens and a pilot working in the spray of the falls. They worked for about 30 minutes securing a sling to the animal's legs. The work seemed to be painstaking and slow because of the spray and the wind in the valley. We were to learn later, as well, that the moose was broken up pretty badly, and that if they hadn't secured the sling just right, blood and entrails would have spilled along the valley floor.

The climax of the incident came when the moose, at the end of the sling rose into the air with the helicopter. The moose was being taken to a marsh up Caribou creek where it would provide food for any scavengers that might find it; it could be monitored there by park staff who could assess its rate of decomposition and what animals might feed on it.

The crowd atop the cliff cheered and applauded as the helicopter lifted into the air. Later people went to greet the heroes; the wardens and the pilot, when they returned to the campground, mission accomplished. When they emerged from the helicopter, the crowd cheered again with even more enthusiasm. It was then that I recognized Jonathan Tetso, the young warden we had met some days earlier at Rabbitkettle lake. The third warden was we were introduced to was Dan.

I was impressed by this group of young men and women in many ways. They were fit and energetic and quite knowledgeable about the ecosystem that they were assigned to protect. They took their responsibilities seriously and acted both in a professional and a friendly manner.

The Slow Descent to the Falls - August 2, 2007

2007-08-28T21:00:00.000-04:00

The Oxbows

The Nahanni river is an antecedent river. It meanders much like a slow prairie river might, taking the course of least resistance through the softer sedimentary rock where it can. This is not typical of most mountain rivers, which descend rapidly and on a straight course from high to low. What this means, then, is that the Nahanni did not begin life as a mountain river. Rather, it began life as a plains river wending its way through the sedimentary rock of an ancient ocean bed. It was much later that the mountains began to form by the tectonic forces that created the Rockies. The river carved its way through the mountains as they formed, faster than the mountains rose, hence the sweeping, meandering turns known as oxbows.

Our destination today is a curiosity that sometimes emerges as a result of a change in the river's flow around and oxbow (a hair-pin turn in the river). Sometimes the river will push through a new channel, stranding the outside of the turn in the oxbow, this forms a lake known as an oxbow lake. We were told by Ann, the Warden at Rabbitkettle lake, that the last campsite before Virginia Falls was at Oxbow lake ten kilometres from the falls.

We broke camp today at 11:30, later than expected. It seemed that people were tired from the last day's paddle. While we were having breakfast the "Rub-a-dub 8" rafters passed by on their way to the falls.

The paddle in this section was relatively slow. We managed an average of about 8 - 10 km/hr. The current was not much help to us and we had to work at making any headway. In addition to a slow current, we fought a moderately strong head wind for most of the day.

Last Chance

Our first break was at a campsite on an island called Last Chance. This was a very nice spot with a creek entering from river right. We took advantage of the creek to refill our water bottles and drink. Lunch was leftovers from yesterday's chili supper and today's multi-grain cereal served on tortilla wraps. The resulting concoction had a distinct resemblance to grizzly bear scat, more tasty than it sounds.

Leaving Last Chance we paddled for another three hours until we found a gravel bar about 500 metres upstream from the creek entering from the Oxbow lake. There were dark clouds gathering all around and we anticipated a late afternoon storm. We had just enough time to pitch the tents and put up the rain tarp before the rains came. It was a brief and intense storm that lasted about an hour and was followed by a clear and sunny evening. Our spirits were high knowing that tomorrow morning we would be able to arrive at Virginia Falls in time to enjoy a full day of exploring. We spent the evening enjoying the scenery, playing guitar, singing and telling stories by the campfire.

We had traveled 35 kilometres today and it had felt like 50!

Above the Falls - August 1, 2007

2007-08-27T18:13:00.000-04:00

Making Time

We woke up early and broke camp by 10:30, our plan was to make significant distance today. For the next two days we needed to make good time on the river to make sure that we arrived at Virginia Falls on the expected date. Our plan was to camp close to the falls on August 2 so that we could canoe a short distance and arrive on the 3rd before noon.

The day was sunny and hot and the paddling was strenuous. The river had good current and we averaged 10 - 15 km/hr. in three shifts of one and one half hours. We found the vistas quite spectacular with the Sunblood range of the Mackenzie mountains dominating river left and the Ragged range on river left.

Many small creeks flowed into the river creating gravel bars and silt deposits along the way. These were excellent places to stop and have our snack breaks. As the day progressed, however, we found it increasingly difficult to find the gravel bars to make camp. We anticipated staying at Flood Creek where there was an excellent campsite on a large gravel bar. When we got there, however, we waved at the Rub-a-Dub 8 rafters who already occupied the site. We had hoped to find another gravel bar campsite further down the river, but instead found silt and sand. We were all getting tired at this point and started to get irritable about finding a camp site. Just beyond our endurance for the day was an excellent campsite at Hell Roaring Creek. As it was we settled for silt and sand for a second night in a row.

When we finally settled on a place to camp we had plenty of time to set up and to prepare so few portages that this trip entails. dinner. We camped against some scrub bushes where we could see the evidence of recent moose activity; both scats and footprints. In the evening under the mosquito netting we enjoyed some very good scotch and sang some blues songs with guitar accompaniment. I have a Martin backpacker guitar that I made a waterproof case for before setting out on the trip. It's a little heavy, but worth while having especially on a trip with so few portages.

Our total kilometers traveled today was 43.5 km.

A Day at Rabbitkettle - July 31, 2007

2007-08-26T21:47:00.000-04:00

Hike to the Tufa Mounds

We were out of the tents early today and on our way across the river to the Warden's cabin. Ann, the warden we had met the day before, was going to lead us on a tour of the tufa mounds. This was an interpretive hike about the area, which is renown for its volcanic activity that has resulted in what was once romoured to be a tropical paradise. Geothermic activity has given rise to hot springs, emerald green lakes, and tufa mounds.

Tufa mounds are created when minerals are dissolved to the point of super saturation in hot springs that originate deep within the earth. As the water reaches the surface it begins to cool and the minerals, predominantly calcium carbonate, begin to precipitate out of solution and form a large structure resembling a mound of sandy coloured concrete. Indeed, calcium carbonate is one of the ingredients of cement, which is in turn one of the main ingredients in concrete. The tufa mounds in the Nahanni region are believed to be 10,000 years old and because of the fragility require us to walk on them in our bare feet.

On the hike in the morning were the five people in our group, plus Brian and Bert, two guys who had been camping on Rabbitkettle lake. They were the early risers in a group of six people who were headed to Virginia Falls in two days time.

The round trip to the tufa mounds took us about four hours and involved hiking three and one half kilometres one way. We needed to cross the Rabittkettle river and this was accomplished by a scow-ferry attached to a cable and pulley system. Four of us went on the first crossing, to be followed by the other four in the second crossing. Those on either shore who were not in the boat, pulled on the cables to pilot the scow across the river. This proved to be ab adventure due to the strong rapids currents in the river!

We learned that the tufa mounds were thought to be a sacred place and efforts to preserve their integrity arise from their geological and their cultural significance. The tour was tightly scheduled and we were required to remove our footwear to walk on them; only four people were allowed at one time. There is a another reason that the tours only occur at two times in the day. The country we are in is a significant summer habitat of the grizzly bear. This is due to the fact that their is an abundance of buffalo berries, the primary food source for the bear in the summer months (July and August). Tours at 8:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. have minimal impact on the bears, because they are more likely to be active in the early mornings and the later afternoons. Interestingly, the presence of a bear or evidence that a bear is in the vicinity means the cancellation of the hike, not only because of the safety of hikers, but also so that human activity will have low impact on the bears.

Afternoon Paddle

We arrived back at camp at about noon, just in time to see the "Rub-a-Dub 8" raft head down the river. We made a quick lunch and were ready to move on ourselves by mid-afternoon. We had planned to make as much time as we could today, given that it was a reasonably good afternoon for paddling. We didn't get off the river until after 8:00 p.m., having made 30 kilometres down river. By the time we made camp, no one was particularly pleased with the spot chosen because of the wet location and because of the sandy conditions. The wet and the sand made for lots of mosquitoes and lots of dirt in the tents and other gear.

On to Rabbitkettle Lake - July 30, 2007

2007-08-23T20:47:00.000-04:00

Breaking Camp

We'd been so long at Brintnell Creek that is was difficult, in many respects, to leave this camp. Consequently, we took our time taking down the tent when it was nearly dry, having a leisurely breakfast and packing the gear carefully. Alex, Tania and Andrew, the climbers, were tired and were glad for the relaxed pace. Having prepared the maps, I knew that to make the campsite at Oxbow Lake above Virginia Falls on the August 3rd (our expected date) we needed to paddle 122 km in four days. Since we were planning to stay at Rabbitkettle Lake tonight and the next night that left just August 1 and August 2 to paddle about 100 km. I was a little nervous about the distance since I had read that the river was slow in the next section.

As with most mornings here it rained a little, but by the time we were prepared to leave it was mostly clear. We loaded the canoes, put on the spray skirt and shortly after noon we were ready to leave. We had only 15 km to travel today, so we paddled leisurely and enjoyed the view. By lunch time we had reached the boundary of the Nahanni National Park Reserve.

Despite the fact that the river is slower than above Brintnell Creek, we still made good time and by early evening reached the Rabbitkettle campsite and visitor check in. After docking the canoes we chatted at the kiosk with some members of a group of guys who were traveling the river by raft. There were 8 of these fellows who collectively referred to themselves as the "Rub-a-Dub 8". They were from B. C. and have been doing canoe trips together for about a decade. This was the first time they had tried rafting.

We also meet a canoeist who was traveling the river with a friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer. He agreed to do the heavy work on this trip in order that his friend, an experienced paddler, can enjoy a trip while his health lets him. This man confirmed for us that there are many reasons why people come to the Nahanni. Bill Mason, Canada's canoeing icon, was brought here one last time by family and friends just before he died of cancer in1988 1 (Becky Mason).

With the canoes safely stowed we walked to the warden's cabin on the shore of Rabbitkettle Lake. It was good to be out of the canoe and hiking, it was hot and we soon worked up a sweat as the trail wound its way up the slope to the lake. At the cabin we checked in and met with wardens John and Ann, who talked to us about the park regulations. The check-in posts at various points along the river ensure that in the event they get lost their last whereabouts are known.

We took a welcomed dip in Rabbitkettle Lake to cool off and to get clean. It was a warm afternoon and the coolness of the water was very refreshing. We leave the lake with reluctance and returned along the trail to the canoes. Ferrying across the lake we arrived at the campsite which is well marked with tent sites and food caches designated. We were warned to use the caches because it was only a few days ago that the area was closed because of the presence of a grizzly bear.

The Belgians

Setting up our camp, we talked to the Belgian canoeists who we met a few days ago. One of them asked if we have had dinner yet. When I said that we haven't, he offered me a large pot half filled with pea soup, the remains of their dinner. I eagerly accepted and thanked him wholeheartedly. The five of us ate the soup with gusto and began the preparation of our own dinner of pizza.

The weather in the afternoon and evening took a dramatic turn as the wind picked up and blasted down the river valley. At the far end of the campsite we saw the Belgians under a tarp that blew frantically in the wind. It began to cool down and people put on windbreakers and rain gear in anticipation of the impending storm. Our own rain tarp, that Alex and Tania pitched, came down with a crash. As predicted, the rain came down in a driving torrent for about 15 minutes and then as quickly as it came, resolved into a sunlit sky and a rainbow against the peak on the opposite bank. Despite the onslaught we continued to prepare the Pizza and re-pitch the rain tarp.

We have our dinner under the tarp and prepared bannock for our lunch tomorrow. The evening ended with a nightcap of vodka cocktails and songs.

Adventurers Return - July 29

2007-08-22T19:55:00.000-04:00

Morning Routines

I awoke restless today and found it difficult to get organized; I spent an inordinate amount of time searching for my glasses. I left them by the creek the night before and this fact annoys me.

Glen and I are becoming accustomed to this place. While I have enjoyed the relaxing pace of the trip so far, I am getting anxious to leave. Glen, however, has settled into life at the creek; he busies himself with routines such as cleaning the canoe of sand, collecting firewood and doing laundry.

Glen and I prepared breakfast of oatmeal and double-smoked bacon. It was raining for the early part of the morning, but now the sky is clearing. Typical for the days that we have been here, rain clouds encircle the mountain tops and clear sky streams down the river valley. Whoever said that the area around Glacier Lake is a weather magnet was right.

After breakfast today I spent personal time doing some reading, meditating and GPS mapping. We expect our traveling partners to return today and in the mid-afternoon their canoe appears up river across from the campsite.

The Return

Alex, Andrew and Tania have arrived back safely from their climb to the Cirque. Glen and I are very glad to see them and hug each one of them in turn. They are quite happy with their accomplishment and the five of us share stories of our experiences of the past few days over tea.

Andrew tells us that at the Cirque they met quite a few Europeans from France, Belgium and other countries. He stated that these people come to the Nahanni area with the goal of climbing a peak they call the "Lotus". Much of the interest in the Cirque of the Unclimbables has been generated by George Bell. People are helicoptered into the site and often wait for two weeks or more to make the climb. The climb can only be done when the slope is dry and because of the water cycle that results in daily rainfall, this seldom is the case. We all agree that climbers are a strange breed indeed!

I make a call home on the Sat phone to let my family know that I'm okay and Glen and I prepare supper this evening giving the others a chance to recuperate. After a dinner of Beef Stroganoff and blueberry crumble, made with blueberries collected on the trail by our comrades, we finish off a bag of red wine. Under the mosquito netting we play a game of "Oh Heck" and talk about the plans to leave camp in the morning.

Brintnell Creek - July 28, 2007

2007-08-21T13:19:00.000-04:00

Camp Craft

As a youngster I was a boy scout and I learned a number of skills needed to survive in the woods. In those days it was acceptable to practice "full impact" camping. Early scouting books showed how to build a variety of pieces of camp furniture such as a kitchen (complete with shelves), a privy, suitable seating, campfire tripods and bridges. All required freshly cut young saplings, plenty of cord and the knowledge of a few good knots. The structures built were semi-permanent and designed to remain in place for other campers to enjoy and to build onto. Thankfully, the trend of the past few decades has been toward "no impact" camping, practiced by most but not all outdoors people. I have been on a few campsites where inconsiderate campers have left garbage, trails of used toilet paper, plastic wrappers and abandoned shelters.

Glen and I need a place where we can sit out of the sun and rain for the next few days until our friends return. We intend to build a structure that is temporary, uses driftwood and that can be easily taken down when we leave. We locate a large uprooted tree to serve as a bench and several long poles in the driftwood piles around the camp. Using the lashing techniques acquired through scouting we soon build a lean-to using a ground cover as fly tarp.

There are other chores that need to be done and after breakfast we set about to organize the site. One job that I tackle involves the tent. At the planning stage of the trip I told Glen that I had an expedition style tent that would be ideal for the trip. It has a large vestibule area for storing gear out of the rain and it weighs less than the tent Glen would have brought. This made it a hands-down choice.

One thing that I should have done before the trip was to check the tent for water tightness. After the first rain on the river, we learned that it was not. The one solution to this problem was to cover the tent entirely with a fly that is normally used as a rain shelter. This created two problems, the first that we didn't have an extra fly to use as an eating and sitting area; the second that we needed about an hour to set up our tent at each new campsite.

It was clear after a couple of days on the river that my reliable tent was going to choose the biggest trip of its lifetime to resign. Yesterday the zipper began to bind and to leave large sections of the mosquito netting open to the free entry of all bugs within the vicinity of the vestibule. There was usually about a million of them, including five different species of mosquito that inhabit the Nahanni area. A necessary chore, therefore, was the reparation of zipper by sewing it shut for a section of its length where it was not closing. That left a small section where we could crawl in and close it behind us, inconvenient but workable.

I also spent some time making a duct-tape lens cover for my under water camera bag and repairing my glasses that had fallen into the fire this morning at breakfast. I had lost one lens and now needed to work a solution, using wire, that would allow me to wear the clip-on shades. By the time I had these things done and the maps organized it was early evening and time to prepare dinner. A perfect day of idling.

The French

In the afternoon we meet another group of travelers on the river. Like the Belgians they are interested in how to get to the Cirque. We give them the same advice we gave the Belgians yesterday and they are appreciative. We learn that they are from Montreal and from France. They ask if they can beach their canoe at the site and then are on their way up the river. There are six of them in two canoes.

Fishing

In the early evening after dinner Glen tries his hand at fishing. Some of the species of fish that are likely include, Dolly Varden, Arctic Grayling, Pike and Mountain Whitefish. We imagined a breakfast feed of fresh fish, and thought our location was ideal. After about half an hour Glen returned to camp having snagged his line. We decided to retrieve the line in the morning when we could better see where the lure had lodged. So much for a Dolly Varden fried in butter over a morning fire.

We retired to the tent after we had braved the bugs long enough in the fading glow of the campfire. We expected the others to return tomorrow , so our mood was generally upbeat. We compose of song for our friends' return based on the tune to "Michael Row the Boat Ashore". Glen has a terrific sense of humour and we tell stories and laugh for some time before falling asleep.

Back to Camp - July 27

2007-08-20T11:47:00.000-04:00

Homeward Bound

Glen and I awake at first light after a cold and fitful sleep. Although it is raining we decide that the trek back to camp will be warmer than lying one more shivering moment on the cold ground.. We were glad to be on the move back to the relative warmth of our tent at Brintnell Creek, where we can have a long afternoon nap.

It is raining that slow and persistent rain that foreshadows a day long pour and before long we are drenched from top to bottom. We stopped briefly to eat the last of the jerky and the vegetable chips. The trail was closer to the creek on the way down and we get much better at picking out the main trails from the false ones. We conclude that we must have deviated a little from the main trail on the way up, likely because the trail next to the creek is mostly under water and fellow hikers have chosen a route further away from the creek.

At one point Glen tells me I have stepped on something in the trail. Something dead and gray.We stoop down to investigate. We are unsure what it is, but one thing is for sure it is a rodent. It was about 4-5 inches long, gray or black in colour with feet that looked like those of a rat. We take note of the details about the creature in hopes of identifying it later.

In a few hours we have descended the hill from Glacier Lake and have returned to our canoe still beached beside the creek where we left it. Without delay we load our packs and get into the canoe to paddle back down the creek to the river and our camp.

Note:

Our creature turned out to be a Meadow Vole, commonly known as a field mouse. These rodents are abundant in the area and are sought out as food by hawks, foxes and other predators.

A Little R' n R

Reaching the campsite at about noon, we have a very quick bite to eat and a cup of tea. We are very tired from the short, cold night and the 5 hour trek down the hill. Very soon we are in the tent and sound asleep during what turns out to be a warm and sunny afternoon.

Glen asked, "Do you hear voices?" Out of my returning consciousness I responded that I hadn't. I open the the flap of the vestibule and see that no one is there. Glen insists, "I heard voices near the water."

Getting out of the tent I declare, "There is no one here Glen, you must have been dreaming."

Glen and I both wonder to the shore in our long underwear and teeshirts that pass for pajamas out here to be met by an older and younger man in large hats like those the Australians wear. "I was right", Glen nudges me, "there were voices."

We learn that our visitors are from Belgium and that it is their intention to climb to the Cirque. Glen and I give them information about the trail and they still seem determined to make the effort. They tell us that they have been on the Nahanni twice now, once two years ago they paddled down the Flat River to where it meets the Nahanni, and on from there to the Laird river. We are very impressed by their sense of adventure and their ability to mount two such demanding expeditions. Glen and I wish them well and later in the afternoon we see them again, along with four other comrades, paddling up the river past our campsite, to the trail that leads up to the Cirque.

The rest of the afternoon was spent idling with a campfire, buckets of tea, a great supper of Thai chicken and rice and a cherry crumble dessert. There is plenty of nothing to do today, and we revel in it. We feel strong in the knowledge that we have survived an unscheduled camp out deep in the boreal forest.

Glacier Lake - July 26 and 27

2007-08-19T12:10:00.000-04:00

Camp Chores

Daylight floods the tent quite early, but we are in no hurry to get up. We have nowhere to be and the thought of a relaxing and do-nothing day is appealing. Glen has made a full and timely recovery from his heat exhaustion, his energy and enthusiasm returning. Outside the tent it is clear and the sun heats things up quickly. We look forward to accomplishing a few small chores that will occupy most of a lazy morning on Brintnell Creek. But first, there is breakfast. Both Glen and I like to talk and we discuss everything from the correct way to boil tea and coffee to the probability (or lack thereof) of the existence of God.

Glen and I prepare oatmeal and some rashers of double-smoked back bacon acquired from Brady's Meats in Waterloo. Rob is the friendly butcher who runs the store and I remind myself to tell him when I get back that his bacon made it all the way to the Nahanni River. Before leaving I packed the bacon in vinegar soaked cheese cloth and sealed it in plastic bags, and it remains fresh and mold free well into the latter days of the trip. Today the smells waft enticingly into the the gentle breeze in the river valley. I remind myself to make sure it is tightly sealed in the food barrel when we are finished and that I wear an apron while cooking. There are neighbours in the area who just might know about double-smoked bacon and may try to help themselves, uninvited, to a free meal! These neighbours can be surly, mean-spirited and a trifle territorial about food that they believe is theirs.

After breakfast Glen and I set about doing some laundry and hanging our wet clothes on a line to dry. It is a good drying day. At least at the moment. The ever-present clouds hang over the Cirque up river as if the place is a magnet for continual rain, which it likely is. The cold air generated by the Glaciers, the ring of high peaks and the heat of the summer sun create some kind of self-perpetuating cycle of rising moist air cooling at the higher altitudes and gathering as clouds and rain in the late afternoon.

The HikeThe trail map to the lake

Glen and I reason that because it is sunny, today would be a good day to do the hike to Glacier Lake. We haven't yet figured out the geography and its climate yet to fully appreciate that the sun may not last all day. We have enough sense, however, to always carry with us rain gear in the event of a shower.

We decide at 1:00 p.m., when the chores have been done, to take the hike up to Glacier Lake so that we can get closer to the Cirque where our traveling partners have gone. We have read Peter Jowett's and Neil Hartling's guide to the river and the book says, "This hike from the river to the beaitiful blue-green waters of Glacier Lake is an 18 km, 5 to 6 hour round trip of moderately strenuous trekking." We judge this not to mean arduous, death-defying, superhuman, monstrous or other possible adjectives. We use the advice of these experienced Nahanni guides to time our trip accordingly and reason that we will be returning to camp at about 8 p.m. in lots of time to cook dinner and have an evening all to ourselves by the campfire of our new home.

Like yesterday, Glen and I travel up the river using the eddies on the left bank of the river (The reader should know that the side of the river is determined relative to direction of the river. "River left" is so-called because it is on the left side of the canoe when traveling downstream. It is still called "river left" even when traveling upstream and it is on your right.) We have packed a lunch, some beef-jerky, toasted vegetable chips, and a bag of trail-mix (a mixture of dried-fruit, seeds and nuts). We are traveling light to make the trek a little easier on ourselves. In addition to my day pack, I carry a fanny pack carrying a "space-aged survival blanket", a first aid kit and a can of bear spray.

We take the eddies in the river as far as we can by paddling, poling and eventually tracking with a rope. Glen points out that when R. M. Patterson, the English adventurer, met Albert Faille, the trapper, on the river in 1927 he learned the skill of tracking from him. It involves tying a long rope to the bow and stern of the canoe, wrapping the rope around your back, keeping the bow rope longer than the stern rope and pushing the bow out into the current with a paddle. You then simply walk along the bank of the river, pulling the canoe as it rides the current. Glen and I do this now and are able to pass well upstream of our friends' canoe, adjacent to a gentle creek mouth on river right.

We ferry across the river and enter the creek as far as we can go. There is a dead-fall across the creek about 300 metres upstream and it is here that we beach the canoe, change into our hiking boots and start the hike to Glacier Lake. The trail is well marked at this spot with flagging tape, the modern equivalent to trail-blazing. We follow the trail from the creek down to the river trail with little difficulty, picking up the main trail in about 100 meters. It is sunny and hot but we have brought 5 one-litre bottles of fresh water and the day promises to be fun-filled and adventurous. A great alternative, for a couple of older guys, to the arduous trek that our friends are doing. We are looking for the spot where the trail bends sharply to the left and up the hillside.

After walking for about 20 minutes we begin to suspect that we have somehow missed the main trail up the slope. We reverse our direction and in about 10 more minutes we find the place our companions spoke about after their evening reconnaissance the night before. We recall Andrew saying, "The trail is marked by about 15 pieces of flagging tape. You can't miss it." Somehow, we had.

The most likely place to find black spruce is in a spruce bog. Bogs are generally wet places, filled with mosses and alive with mosquitoes. True to form the one we are in now is like this. The trail rises steadily up hill, for a time out of the wet and with a clearly defined path. There is the occasional detour around deadfall and areas that are underwater, where the path is less well defined because other hikers have taken a multiplicity of routes. Making matters worse is the fact that the trail is intersected by game trails throughout the bog.

Near one of these intersections we see a bright red swath of what looks like berry jam complete with seeds and gelatinous remains of unprocessed berries. We suspect that it is something left behind by one of the local residents. A few days later our suspicions are confirmed when on a interpretive hike we learn this is what grizzly bear scats look like this time of year after they have gorged themselves on buffalo berries. Other scats in the area look like those of wolf and woodland caribou - we realize we are not alone.

Glen and I take breaks to drink water and to rest when the rise in elevation causes a precipitous rise in heart rate. I am surprised, initially, at how much lactic burn must be endured, despite the pre-trip training I have done in preparation for the trip. Our first long rest is at the height of the first rise, it is here that we take lunch and a look through the trees at the river valley below. We have attained an elevation of about 200 metres in a distance of 950 metres and it has taken us 2 hours!

From our lunch spot there is a third rise in elevation before the trail levels out and swings back toward Brintnell Creek. There is a blessing and a curse in this change in topography. It is good that we no longer have steep inclines to negotiate. It is less to our advantage that we have dense forest cover and frequent pooling of water trapped in the bog. Our feet get increasingly wet and the trail disappears into numerous areas of braiding around stagnant mud holes. We are sweating profusely, cursing the bugs, and rapidly running out of water.

By 5 p.m., three and one half hours after beginning this hike we have gone an impressive 3.2 km! That makes our overall speed (breaks included) less than 1 km/hr. It is at this point that I start to have the idea of sending a very pointed letter to Mr. Jowett and Mr. Hartling about their estimate of the time necessary for this trip. I begin to wonder whether they have ever done this hike and suspect that they relied on secondary sources for their research. Six hours return!? For who?

Over the next couple of hours Glen and I wrestle several times with the thought of turning back. Had we turned around at five o'clock we would have likely been back at the campsite within the time we had allotted. We would have come a long way, however, without reaching Glacier Lake and a view of the Cirque. Still convinced we could make it back before dark, we press on.

After the last steep rise, the trail heads towards Brintnell Creek until it meets it at a set of rapids where we are able to pump some clear and cold water. The scenery here is wonderful. We now catch a glimpse of a mountain with glaciers within the Ragged range. Despite being tired we carry on, determined to reach the lake by six or seven o'clock; allowing ourselves plenty of time to be back at our campsite by nightfall.

The spruce bog seems endless, it stretches out before us in soggy-after-soggy kilometre for the next two hours. From time to time we can see the creek to our left through the bush. But there is no sign of the lake. It has been six hours since we started, our feet are sore, we are dispirited and down to our last few veggie chips and pieces of jerky. Instead of writing to Jowett and Hartling, I am tempted to seek them out personally should I ever get back from this "moderately strenuous trek". Glen and I agree the adjectives used in the guide are indeed wrong. We recommend terms like "onerous", "backbreaking", or "grueling" would be better descriptors.

Reality imposes itself at 7:30, when we finally make sighting of the lake, that we will be unable to make it back to camp tonight. It has taken us six hours to get this far one-way. We now wonder whether the authors may have made a misprint that they and their publisher failed to catch. Raising my fist to the now cloudy sky, I curse Nahanni Neil and defy that he show himself in my presence.

We are worried. There are several problems with our current situation. At the top of our list is that we have no food and it is dinner time. This fact is made doubly difficult to take because of the decision we made on day one of this trip. You may remember that I said that Tania, our organized fellow traveler, helped us with the logistics of the trip. One concern that I had about her planning was that she had convinced us not to bring the energy bars. Bars that I usually carry in my fanny pack for the situation in which we now find ourselves. The next problem is that we don't have a tent and the prospect of sleeping in the open outdoors is less than appealing. The final problem on the list was that is was getting cloudy, threatening rain and we were wet with sweat from the heat of the day. We contemplated our fate as we spotted several beached canoes at the end of Glacier Lake.

Survivor Man

There is a reality show that I have caught occasionally on television. This really fit guy of about 30 years strands himself for fun in some difficult terrain; for example the boreal forest in winter, or the heat of the desert with very few supplies. The drama of the show is created by watching this guy get himself out of these self-imposed jams and walk back to civilization and safety. All the while he teaches you about the skills needed to survive when you are lost. Glen and I are not lost; we are, however, stranded without food and shelter for the night.

We start to take stock of our present reality. We need shelter with the possibility of rain coming up. Glen suggests, "We have no food and this could be a real problem."

"Glen, I think we can survive for a few days without food and we are only a half a day away from our camp", I assure him.

But Glen is not consoled. He is hungry and about to expire from starvation. I remember that I usually pack a energy bar in my fanny pack and with any luck their may be one that escaped Tania's scrutiny. Finding one I offer Glen half of it. He is immediately revived and in good spirits. He remembers that he has with him a Coghlan survival kit that he has been carrying with him on canoe trips for about 15 years. With glee he exclaims, "This is just the occasion I have been waiting for to use this thing! We are going to survive!"

I look in my fanny pack and I find the space-aged blanket that can reflect 99% of the body's heat when worn correctly. Around us there are several canoes. It occurs to me that if turned upside-down they will make almost ideal tents - no bug screen, but tents nonetheless. I overturn two of them facing each other and make a rather cozy domicile. Just before it rains I harvest enough spruce boughs to make a sleeping platform, feeling quite proud of my resourcefulness.

Meanwhile, Glen has emptied the contents of his survival kit. The usefulness of the items appears at first glance to be quite dubious. At second glance I am convinced of the total uselessness of most items. Glen, however, remains enthusiastic and starts to insist that we use every item to ensure our safety. The kit includes; a metre long piece of nylon string, a book of matches with an application to a college of engineering, fire starter cubes , a small plastic compass whose needle points to the east, a poncho (actually a piece of plastic thinner than Saran wrap), a fish hook and length of line, salt tablets, a Bandaide and first aid sheet, a boullion cube, a tea bag, a razor blade and two nails.

"Look, we have same nourishment. The boullion cube. We can make some hot soup."

"Glen, how are we going to heat it up?"

"We have matches for a fire, their is plenty of dry wood and we have the fire starters."

"That is a good start, for sure. Did the kit come with a small pot to hold the water in while we boil it?"

"Good point, we'll have to find uses for these other things though! What a great survival kit!", chirps Glen enthusiastically.

We secure our shelter for the night. In no time we have a cheering fire going. We use the plastic poncho to cover the gap between the over-turned canoes, the fire starter and matches to get the fire going and Glen insists that we take the salt pills because we have been sweating all day. I resist initially telling him that the jerky is plenty salty, but Glen is adamant. We are contented and have time to take in the beauty of our surroundings. Across the lake, shrouded in clouds and mist, is what we came here to see, the Cirque of the Unclimbables.

Backpacking - July 25

2007-08-18T08:22:00.000-04:00

Departure

The hike to the Cirque of the Unclimbables takes a minimum of three days, but we are told by Jock the guide at Fort Simpson, to be fully enjoyed fives days is required. Glen and I discuss the possibility of a five day backpack in rugged terrain and agreed that a five day stay at the Brintnell Creek campsite would be more to our liking. Alex, Tania and Andrew, however, have been enthusiastic about the hike from the beginning and this morning they begin to pack out for their journey. I arranged the topo maps that they would need and gave them to Alex to add to his gear.

It is raining. A slow steady rain that is likely to last most of the day. Despite the effort that it takes to prepare a fire and get breakfast ready, our friends slowly, with determination prepare their packs for the strenuous five-day trek. Glen and I assist where we can to deliver them to the trailhead up river about one kilometer. This required a more or less vigorous paddle across to and up the left shore eddy and a ferry back to the right shore above a small creek. We took two canoes so that we could carry them and their packs to the trail that follows the river for some distance before cutting sharply into the bush and up the slope to Glacier lake.

Glen and I wave good bye to our friends, now ladened down with heavy packs, and begin the much easier paddle back to the campsite. It is just before noon and the rain has subsided. It promises to be a warm and partially sunny afternoon.

The Art of Relaxation

Glen and I have very little to do for the next few days. We can enjoy at a very leisurely pace the joy of camp life and the chores of splitting firewood, preparing meals, drying wet clothes and trip planning. The latter task I begin in earnest after lunch by folding the correct topos and entering the route waypoints into my GPS. It is then that I realize that I have given Alex the wrong topo for the route to the Cirque. This causes me some concern, but I know that he will have his GPS with him and that the trail is reasonably well marked.

In the afternoon Glen complains of a headache. He is listless and feeling unwell. I wonder whether he has drank enough water in the heat and exercise in the past few days, as dehydration is often the most likely reason for the symptoms. I get out a copy of my St. John's Ambulance Wilderness First Aid book and with little difficulty I am able to diagnose Glen's condition as heat exhaustion. It didn't help that he sat for most of the hot afternoon on a space-aged blanket with the reflector side up. The literature with the blanket boasts that it returns 99% of the body's heat to the wearer. I prescribe water and pain killers for the headache and advise him to rest for the afternoon in the shaded tent. He sleeps soundlessly while I take in the serenity of our surroundings.

I promised my family that I would attempt to reach them from time to time to let them know that we are safe. Later that afternoon I attempt to reach my daughter by Satellite phone. I leave messages at two of the three possible numbers. We are safe, having a great time, tell Leona that Glen is living out his 44 year-old dream and by the way please cancel Ompah's taxi in Fort Simpson on account we arranged our own shuttle.

When Glen was a young teen he recalls seeing a movie about Nahanni trapper Albert Faille. The film is a short National Film Board documentary about the latter days of Faille's life on the river. In his seventies, Faille seems obsessed with locating the legendary gold mine above Virginia Falls, a dream that occupied most of his life on the river. Needless to say gold was never found, either because there is none, or because one of the many creeks that flow from the mountains has yet to transect a vein of ore. Glen's dream of paddling the Nahanni river began when he was 16 inspired by Faille, Patterson, Kraus and of course Bill Mason.

I try to recall when paddling this river entered my life list of things to do. I began canoeing when I was very young, having attended outdoor camps when I was eight. My first big canoe trip was in a Lakefield (a subsidiary of the Peterborough Canoe Company) freighter canoe when I was 10. I began whitewater canoeing in my adult years after my children were born and began reading about rivers and the whitewater experience. I eventually learned about Bill Mason and his art and film work. In his book "Canoescapes" there is a picture of Virginia Falls, which is the most likely seed of my curiosity about this river. In the late '80's I met Neil Hartling, the so-called, Nahanni Neil, about the river. I was then bitten by the Nahanni bug.

Scenery

The afternoon is hot, we relax with tea, surrounded by mountains with clouds amassing and dissipating along the ridges. Across the river are some of the lower peaks of the Mackenzie range. Across from our campsite is an unnamed peak in the Selwyn Mountains. Referring to to the topo map I learn that it is about 6000 feet or 1800 metres above our location

Brintnell Creek - July 24 - July 29

2007-08-16T14:28:00.000-04:00

Brintnell Creek

The Cirque

The Cirque of the Unclimbables lies within the Ragged range, so named because of the irregular appearance of the peaks. The peaks were formed when igneous batholiths from deep within the earth were pushed upward. The subsequent erosion of the overlying sedimentary rock eventually exposed the harder batholiths leaving a rugged range of mountains that is an attraction, we learn, of climbers from around the globe. The Cirque is situated north of the Nahanni Park Reserve's northwest border above Rabbitkettle lake.

Camp 3 - Brintnell Creek

We are headed to Brintnell Creek because it offers a trail that leads to the Cirque by way of Glacier Lake. Our traveling companions, Alex, Tania and Andrew are determined to make the four to five day trek up and back. Glen and I are less sure about the prospect of doing such a hike with large packs on our back.

We take our time breaking camp today with the luxury of a shorter paddle than yesterday, about 32 km. We arrive at the campsite in the early afternoon and spend the time drying out wet gear in the sunny periods between cloud bursts. During the time we are on this site we see patches of blue sky upriver past the peaks of the Cirque, surrounded by dark clouds on all sides. This vista remains pretty much unchanged for the five days of our stay. It is as if the mountains in this area attract rain-filled clouds like a magnet. We can be assured of sunny mornings, increasing cloudiness during the midday, rain during the early evening, and clearing in the later evening.

Today's Travel

The River - July 23, 2007

2007-08-16T09:17:00.000-04:00

Breaking Camp

There are a number of chores that must be done each morning before we can get into the canoes. Personal gear must be organized and packed, tents taken down, breakfast prepared and dishes washed, camp gear organized and packed, water pumped and purified, food placed in the lunch bucket and finally the canoes loaded. The younger members of our group are much quicker at these chores than Glen and I. While we will try as the trip progresses to get faster at breaking camp, the best that Glen and I seem to be able to muster is two hours.

On the first morning of the trip, we break camp by about 11 o'clock. This tends to be the norm, and it means that in order to make any distance we end up paddling late into the day. Up here it doesn't matter at this time of year because it doesn't get dark until quite late.

After a good breakfast, we load the canoes and start down the creek leading to the river. The creek is quite pretty with willow lining the bank, it meanders slowly and within twenty minutes we enter the main flow of the South Nahanni. We notice immediately that the currents on the big river are fast and strong, we average about 13 km/hr. All around us we are treated to vistas of the mountains of the ragged range on river right and the more regular peaks of the Mackenzie range on the left.

Moore's Cabin

After a short paddle we come upon a rustic cabin on the left side of the river. We land the canoes and take the time to explore. The cabin was built by John and Joanne Moore in 1978 who lived here during their year long honeymoon. I guess that the Moore's left the area because of the warm climate created by the nearby hot springs, making the area a prime location for hordes of mosquitoes!

When we have had enough of the bugs, we also leave without visiting the hot springs. Back on the river we paddle for another hour or so before taking a break for lunch on a gravel bar on the right side of the river. Lunch is a decent fare of dried turkey strips (turkey jerky), bagels, humus and cheese.

The lunch site is located at a section of river with strong currents that resolve into riffles, or small rapids. Listening to the rushing of the water, we relax into a reverie brought about by the beauty of the alpine scenery and the realization that we are in fact on the legendary South Nahanni river. I am taking all this beauty in when I here one of our group exclaim, "We have a visitor, there's a grizzly".

There are two species of bear that make the Nahanni area their home. There is the black bear, ubiquitous across Canada, and there is the mountain grizzly bear, a much larger and more aggressive cousin. Interestingly, the black bear occasionally sees humans as prey, whereas the grizzly seldom does. On the other hand, grizzlies can be very territorial when it comes to food and their offspring and they like a good fight.

Our visitor is a yearling, he is a large cub. He is swimming in the rapids, headed for our lunch spot. This is not good, we realize it, and when he finally gets wind of us, he realizes it too. Rather comically he begins to back paddle into the main flow of the current which will take him past us. Paddling with some panic he ferries himself to the left bank, gets out of the water and shaking himself, begins to walk up the shoreline, occasionally eying us through a clearing.

It then occurs to us that if youngster is here, given his age, mama is not far behind. We expect that she is waiting for the safe return of her cub somewhere on the left bank. We decide not to risk an encounter with a concerned mother and pack out our lunch quickly.

The Rain

We learn something about the climate of the mountains today. It is sunny and very warm and we are dressed lightly. Shortly after lunch we can see dark clouds amassing on the higher peaks. Throughout the afternoon the wind funnels down the river valley and the air gets cooler. In time it begins to rain and with the wind and cooler temperatures, we run the risk of hypothermia. We all find our rain gear and put it on on top of our already cold and wet teeshirts.

Another risk here is that we can get caught on the water in a thunderstorm. When you are the highest point in the river valley, you worry about being hit by lightening. We hear thunder, but as of yet the storm centre seems to be somewhere in the mountain peaks.

Camp 2

We are making our way to a campsite we know is after the 90 degree bend in the river called an elbow. The campsite is still quite a ways off, but the flow of the river is fast and we are making good distance. Our destination is the Broken Skull river. There is a large delta here, as the river fans out into many different branch through a large gravel bar. This is an ideal place to camp, and we are excited about the possibility of a comfortable place, with large tent sites, a place to cache our food and plenty of firewood.

There is only one problem with the site. It is presently occupied and while the occupant is gracious enough to vacate the spot in a hurry, we are all too aware that his type has a tendency to return unannounced. When we pull up to the site we see a large adult grizzly bear dashing away from the structure used as a cache. He has gotten wind of us and is afraid. This is good. It is not good that he has decided to use the campsite as a place to forage. There is the real possibility here that the last campers may not have exercised enough care in avoiding food odours and that our bear may return when he gets wind of our goodies. We decide to may on a little further along the fan of the Broken Skull river and choose another spot.

We make camp late in the day. Today we have covered 56 km. on a fast flowing river through spectacular scenery. Supper is welcomed and we retire to our tents tired and wary that our bear might find a way to our site during the night. We keep our bear bangers and our pepper spray close and make sure to minimize all food smells.

Nahanni River Trip - July 22, 2007

2007-08-15T10:20:00.001-04:00

Fort Simpson, NWT
My canoe partner, Glen and I have been driving for two days from Edmonton to Fort Simpson in the North West Territories. It has been a scenic trip of about 1500 km along the Alaska Highway through the Rocky Mountains n British Columbia. The last 400 km has been less than scenic through the subarctic boreal forest, where a dense forest of black spruce, poplar and birch makes up the unchanging vista. The monotony of the drive gets broken occasionally by the sighting of a raven or a bird of prey and once, a small herd of Wood Buffalo. There are very few villages, no cross roads and very little traffic once we turn on to the Liard Highway, a gravel road that will lead us eventually to the town of Fort Simpson.

The night before, at Blackstone Landing on the Liard River, Glen and I meet our traveling partners, three young people from Yellowknife. After several months of trying to piece together a group with enough experience to handle the large rapids at the source of the South Nahanni River, we now have five people with intermediate level paddling skills. This number is one short of our goal so our plans have been scaled back to a start from the Island Lakes, avoiding the very technical moose ponds start at the base of Mount Wilson.

Glen and I have met Alex and Tania before when they came down from the north to brush up their skills at the Madawaska Kanoe Centre in Ontario. We made a good impression on them when during a peel-in after an eddie turn, we unceremoniously dumped our canoe in the cold waters of the Madawaska River. Glen and I had ready excuses for the error, we hadn't paddled together in a year, the canoe wasn't fully loaded and we weren't used to our "new" paddling positions with Glen as bowsman and I as sternsman. But Glen and I could see from Alex's and Tania's facial expressions that they weren't buying it. The real reason we tipped was because of a fundamental error, Glen and I had forgotten to lean into the turn once we had crossed the eddie line and the strong current grabbed our exposed hull and hurled us into the water. Our experience in those rapids some months before must have been on the minds of Alex and Tania as we organized our gear on the shores of the Liard at the South Nahanni Airways lot.

Alex Lothian and Tania Hercun are a newly married couple working in a diamond mine north of Yellowknife. Alex is an engineer and Tania is a metalurgist. They are young and energetic and have been enthusiastic about the trip from the outset. It is Tania that has been the lead as far as trip logistics and organization is concerned, her skills have prevented needless duplication of gear and the forgetting of essential items for the trip. Today, however, she will make one small mistake in planning - in order to save space in the food barrels she will convince me to leave my energy and snack bars behind.

Alex is an easy going man of 30 years. His family has a long tradition of canoe camping and his mother and father have canoed with Dick, who canoed the river back in 1971. He subsequently made a movie based on footage shot during the that trip. Dick was to travel with us on this trip and had recommended Alex and Tania as good candidates as trip members. It was unfortunate that Dick had to pull out of the trip early in the planning stages because of health reasons. Alex's experience with wilderness camping and his calm and assured manner was a definite asset to the trip.

The fifth member of the trip, who Glen and I met for the first time today is Andrew Robinson. Andrew is a earth science grad and is currently working for an energy and resources management NGO out of Yellowknife. Andrew is knowledgeable about northern communities and is a conscientious and self-sufficient young man. He will in fact paddle the entire trip in a 16 foot canoe outfitted as a solo boat, using a kayak paddle.

It takes us the better part of the morning to organize our gear and to grab a quick lunch. Our flight to Island Lakes is at one o'clock, so we have time to gather intelligence for the the trip and to explore the community of Fort Simpson which is situated at the confluence of the Liard and Mackenzie rivers. The latter is the longest river in Canada, flowing into the arctic ocean. The local indigenous people, the Dene, call the river Deh Cho which literally translated means "big river".

Today the Liard river is running quite high, there are large trees whizzing past us as we sit on the bank. We a Dene couple who are net fishing across the river. They are afraid that the debris in the river will get caught in the nets. We chat about some of our favourite foods and agree that blue berries and Saskatoon berries are a real treat if you can get them before the bears do.

We learn from one of the outfitter guides, Jock, that the river is high because of the rainier than usual July. He advised that it is beat to camp on gravel bars of the many creeks that flow into the South Nahanni as they represent the best places to pitch a tent. He strongly suggests that we tie everything down before going to sleep because should the river rise any lose gear will be swept down stream. He also tells us about hikes and trails that are good to visit should we have the time. Our three traveling companions are especially interested in the hike to the Cirque of the Unclimables, a grouping of granite pillars located above Rabbitkettle lake in the Ragged Range.

The Flight

The plane is loaded and we are about to take off from the Liard River, headed for the small grouping of lakes called the Island Lakes. Our destination is Haywire Lake, which on the topo maps is referred to as Honeymoon Lake. The pilot's name is Jacques, a friendly and gracious man who is South Nahanni Airways. Because of the clear and fair weather Jacques treats us to a flight through the valleys of the mountain ranges through which the South Nahanni River has cut.

The view from the windows of the Twin Otter is indescribable. Glen makes an attempt to compare it to the surface of an unknown planet. The ridges range in colour from dark gray to buff and sandy red. In places there are striations in the rock formations that run parallel as if some child has taken several coloured pencils in a bundle and drawn jagged and undulating lines. There are many creeks and river that course through the ranges opening to expansive valleys and alluvial plains. On some of the higher peaks there are glaciers and ice fields. At times it is possible to recognize the Mackenzie, the Ram or the Ragged rages and to identify sections of the South Nahanni River. Glacier Lake at the base of the Cirque is clearly identifiable.

After about 90 minutes we land safely on Haywire lake. We thank Jacques for the fantastic spectacle. With a laugh he reminds us that we paid $7000 for the view. We unload our gear from the plane onto the shore of the lake, Jacques compliments us on being more help than some of the adventure outfitters. We wish him and his co-polite Mike a safe trip back and he leaves us to begin our 3-weeks journey down the legendary river.

Camp One

Awestruck the five of us take in our surroundings. We decide rather than head out on the river today, we'll stay and soak up the scenery in the valley of Bolagna Creek in the Selwyn Mountains. It is early evening and the sun won't go down until 11:40 p.m., it probably won't get fully dark.

River of Gold ... River of Dreams

2007-07-19T00:09:00.001-04:00

The South Nahanni River is situated in the Mackenzie range of the Rockie Mountains in Canada's North West Territories. It is considered to be one of one of the world's great rivers with a "blend of scenic grandeur, wilderness adventure and solitude. Tumultuous rapids and meandering calm waters have cut deeply into the Mackenzie Mountains, creating three towering canyons and Virginia Falls, twice the height of Niagara" - Canadian Heritage River Systems.

I have planned to canoe down this river for about 10 years now. It was on last summer's canoe trip down the Spanish River in Ontario when my friend and paddling partner suggested that he wanted to canoe the Nahanni in his 60th year. I told him with little hesitation to count me in.

Planning:

The planning for this trip began with the decision to self-guide. Rather than choose a an adventure outfitter, we decided to try to save money by getting our own group together. All started out well when we had a potential 6 member group; this unfortunately fell apart when two of our experienced paddlers had to withdraw for health reasons. From that point on we have struggled to sign up enough members to maintain the safety of the group. After having several people sign on, only to withdraw for a variety of reasons, we finally ended up with five people. This has meant that we had to shorten the trip, missing the most challenging part of the river from the moose ponds to Island Lakes.

Some of the logistics which we had to work out were:
- getting ourselves to Fort Simpson where we arrange to fly to the river
- assigning who brings what gear to keep us fed and sheltered for 3 weeks
- making sure we have the right numbers of non-perishable meals
- taking the right amount of gear and not shorting ourselves of necessities
- arranging for emergency communications (Satellite phone)
- Glen and I decided to fly to Edmonton from Toronto and then drive for two days to Fort Simpson!

Getting There:

We fly out of Toronto on Thursday, July 19 to Edmonton Alberta. From Edmonton we drive 1500 km to Fort Simpson to save some money. Two days on a questionable road. Yikes!