Why every Canadian should take a canoe trip this summer
'Plan a trip, even if it's just to the point and back.'
"As an icon of Canadian identity, the canoe reflects our country's idealism and our pragmatism…. It travels with humility and peace in its wake." Throughout 2017, we're asking Canadians, "What's your story?" Janet Trull, of Haliburton, Ont., shares hers.
There are dozens of canoes in front of the cottages on my lake. A cruise around the shoreline would make you believe that every canoe owner is a paddler.
And yet? Planning on paddling and actually launching the canoe are two different things. Many of those canoes have been sinking into a bed of moss and lichen for years, their red backs fading in the sun, their gunnels slowly decomposing.
Paddling isn't as easy as it looks. You may think you enjoyed that canoe trip at camp back in 1972, but canoe trips tend to remain in that part of the memory that is hazy with false nostalgia. Not sure why. Maybe it's because, like other near death experiences, you are so euphoric when you get home, sleeping in a real bed, that you confuse survival with a good time.
It was raining so hard the last time I "tripped" that when we stopped for the night we flipped the canoe over and crawled underneath to wait out the downpour. The rain won. Soaked to the skin and miserable, I slipped into a trance about five in the morning, just moments before the sky cleared. Then the bugs came out. The sheer anger of being attacked by mosquitoes when our defences were at their lowest actually warmed us up and renewed our will to live. We screamed and slapped our way into the dawn, jumping into the ice cold lake as the sun rose.
Oh it worked out fine. Still, by the time we limped home, we had been beaten up by the backwoods. Nature always gets the last laugh. Bruises and bites and clothes that never come clean. These are canoe trip trophies.
A canoe trip is just the antidote for whatever ails you. You must paddle long after your arm goes numb. You must adapt to life without washrooms or Wi-Fi. You must rely on your fellow paddlers as you work together to solve problems in the face of broken equipment and bears and bugs. Like anything else that builds character, a canoe trip takes effort and stamina.
A hundred years ago, canoes were a common sight on Canadian lakes and rivers. If you have a canoe gathering dust somewhere on your property, plan a trip, even if it's just to the point and back. Launch that thing and paddle until your shoulder aches.
What's your story? What defines Canada for you? Is there a time that you were proud to be Canadian, or perhaps a time you felt disappointed? Is there a place, person, or event in your life that sums up what being Canadian is to you? Tell us at cbc.ca/ whatsyourstory.