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More
of Canada’s Best Canoe Routes
Edited by Alister Thomas
Boston Mills
Press, Toronto
$19.95
304 pp.
ISBN: 1-55046-390-X
There
are a lot of great canoe trip stories in Canada and
editor Alister Thomas is working his way through them
one book at a time.
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It began with
Paddlequest a few years back, it was changed into
Canada’s Best Canoe Routes and now the sequel has
arrived. A number of interesting rivers are covered
over a many years. The stories are short and told
in a variety of styles. Glenn Hodgins reveals his
early days on the Nahanni a quarter of a century
ago. |
And young Eric Pelly, with
the help of famed paddler and father David, gives a
child’s eye view of northern paddling - in your own
backyard.
There are trips down the
Rupert, Winisk, Coppermine, Notokwanon and Kazan by
tales by notable paddlers including Joanie McGuffin,
Bert Horwood, Max Finkelstein, Bruce Hodgins (one of
three Hodgins tales!) and C.E.S. Franks. Oh, yes, and
Kevin Callan too — as if he’s not everywhere else!
The book has a liberal
number of photos, well reproduced in black and white but
no colour plates. It’s a great book to pick though and
jump around. The stories are seldom more than eight
pages long and usually quite entertaining.
What makes the good ones
sing are the reflective tone many of the tales offer.
Often they are looking back at a great trip that changed
the writer in a special and memorable way.
— Michael Peake |
The Forgotten Skills
Expert Techniques and Tips to
Make Your Camping Experience More Rewarding
By Cliff Jacobson
90 min. video
Mike Leitner Productions 2002
Cliff
Jacobson is a star. You won’t find him on a red carpet —
well, perhaps a carpet of red leaves in the North Woods.
Cliff is a huge draw at the many canoe shows he speaks
at in the U.S. Midwest.
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His many books
offer myriad tricks to help your life along the
trail. And now there’s Cliff – The Video.
Forgotten Skills could as easily be titled,
Tents, Tarps & Tinder. Those are the three main
topics covered in detail in this 90 minute video.
Now, slick, it ain’t. There are not a lot of fancy
video effects and the lighting and sound is well .
. . very real. |
But more importantly, it’s
really the closest thing to being at one of Cliff’s
talks.
The whole thing is
photographed in the woods and Cliff takes you step by
experienced step over the important tips on buying,
using and customizing a tent and tarps. He also gives a
fine run though of building a proper fire. You can learn
new things every time to talk – or listen – to Cliff. We
have not taken axes on trips for years since they are
the primary cause of accidents. But Cliff shows us some
very smart – and safe – ways to handle and use an axe.
He certainly knows his stuff
– and not by simply giving talks. He has been tripping
for decades in the U.S. and in Canada’s north. We always
have time for Cliff, now we can simply pop him in the
VCR. Now, Cliff, have you heard about those new fangled
DVDs? They also double up as a great drink coaster!
— Michael Peake |
