Kate Brown - Active Voice

The Way of the Wind

I recall the exact moment on a Yukon River trip in 2004, when the idea of paddling the Wind River popped into my head. I proposed to my friends — "Let's get the white-water skills so that we can all paddle the Wind River in two years!" My enthusiasm wasn't shared, but I started my mission to access this remote river in the central Yukon. At that point, I didn't know a J stroke from a C stroke, and what was an eddy turn? By 2009, I finally had the skills and a paddling partner …

The Wind captured my imagination soon after I arrived in Whitehorse, piqued by an inspiring exhibition, "Three Rivers Journey".  In 2003, groups of First Nations people, artists, writers and photographers paddled three rivers of the Peel Watershed and collated their work. One participant stated, "I feel very strongly about protecting this land, it might be one of the last places on earth that is free and clean." In 2007, after mining proposals in the region, the Peel Planning Commission was initiated. Fifteen years later, the Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan was ratified, an outstanding environmental triumph. 

We flew in from Mayo, the pilot looking dubiously at my new canoe. Musings in my diary capture the spirit of our trip. As the Wind quietly meanders by, the sun is still high at 6:30 p.m., warm with a gentle breeze keeping the bugs away. Mountains in every direction — a jagged peak ahead, grey silhouettes over Bond Creek, those in the north misty in the haze of forest fire, red mountains the backdrop to our orange tent, bright splash amongst stunted spruce. A moose grazes in the swamp. Across a stony creek bed, woodland caribou wander by. My parents on their travels rate days out of 5 stars. Today was a 6. This morning the clouds lifted to reveal rugged grey peaks beyond the soft nearby hills. Aqua water with river pebbles in a myriad of colours slid beneath our canoe. Paddling into headwinds or just drifting, taking in this spectacular wilderness in which we are tiny specks. The beauty of this land has exceeded my high expectations. After 5 years of dreaming, now I am HERE, in the midst of an unspoiled wilderness on our planet, listening to the wind...

The weather gods threw everything at us — sun, rain, wind and snow, but on most days, we have had blue skies. I lamented not bringing my snow goggles for paddling! We were fortunate to see a variety of wildlife — those in groups barely saw any. The paddling kept us alert, negotiating sweepers or choosing the deepest channel among braids. The increasingly swift river dumped us into the lazy, silty Peel, in a flat landscape — a dramatic contrast. As we flew home over the Wind, its translucent blue-green waters rippling over the beguiling, pebbled riverbed, I wrote: What a wonderful wilderness journey, one of the best backcountry trips I have ever done. Many years later, that has not changed.