A Smattering of my 2024 Favorites
It was a slow year, as far as what I found. But, I still managed to pull together a playlist of mostly new music for the year that I’ll enjoy for awhile.
Forest and Fred
Our two new guys have fully taken up ownership of us and the house. They’re pretty enjoyable. I’m personally very much looking forward to 20 more years of scooping litter.
4 Days Carrying a Canoe OR The Temagami Turner Lake Loop
It’s hard not to write up a “trip report” and recall minute by minute the challenges and highlights of making our way through this little slice of the middle North. The bottom line is that I think both of us (my friend at the back of the canoe) feel accomplished for having set out a route and completed it when faced with rain and cold and very much wind.
I wanted to have a ton of photos, including us, for this trip since it was the most anticipated one of the year in the most rugged of places. But, when you’re battling waves or trudging through unkempt portages with wet feet you somehow just don’t feel like posing and framing and just generally stopping. At least I don’t.
We got better at spotting the overgrown and hidden entrances to the portages as days went by and just generally felt the experience of the trip more than thinking about sharing it with those back home. Bruised shoulders and trenchfoot aside, this was a really beautiful and satisfying trip. Still, I want to one day experience what it’s like to canoe with the wind AT YOUR BACK.
I have a tiny bit of footage with motion and sound for a bit more flavour. Those are below.
Temagami Again
Still deciding what I should say about this trip. This is a rare pause during portage mostly to capture the massive mossy log that somehow is minimized by the iPhone lens.
Tim River and Tim Lake with Tim (on Rosebary Lake)
The second canoe weekend of the year happened over the weekend. Lots of map reading, grunting through marshy switchbacks, jokes and mosquitos. It’s a beautiful place to end up for a couple of days. I saw little wildlife save for a couple of excitable loons who chased each other over the surface of the water during the day and hollered back and forth throughout the night.
Nice trip, Tim. Thanks for bringing your boat!
Samuel de Champlain
We had a little weekend camp up north, around North Bay, this weekend. The main event here is tubing down the Mattawa River but we just took it as a nice drive and place to hang out and wander around. You’ll notice a big screened dining tent which is crucial in these Northern locations in July. As long as you can hide from the buzzing, the scenery is majestic!
the comeback
I’m starting my own space back up again. No real purpose. Here’s a recent selection of photos from the past few months to kick things off.
