Educational Workshops

Robert James will present a trip report presentation via Zoom on the Bonaventure River.  It is sure to be loaded with excellant pics and vids and even drone shots!

The Bonaventure River is a stunning body of water in the Gaspe region of eastern Quebec.  It features fast flowing crystal-clear water and sections of interesting whitewater - but no mandatory portages in the duration of the 5-6 day descent to the Baie des Chaleurs on the Atlantic coast. 

Sandro Weiner gave a presentation describing his team's Bonaventure experience (June 2019) in this forum a few years ago.  Since that date, there have been a number of changes that have made the river less accessible.  This presentation is intended as an update to Sandro's talk to showcase the beauty of the river experience, clarify the new situation and will also highlight some options for further travel in the area to extend the trip in the Gaspe region.

Isadora van Riemsdijk wrote up the trip in the 2022 Fall Nastawgan.  Check it out here.

/sites/default/files/storage/Nastawgan/2022-3.pdf

Get your questions ready.

Join Zoom Meeting Jan25, 23 at 7 pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85948382440

Meeting ID: 859 4838 2440

Can't make the Zoom presentation, no problem.  The presentation will be recorded and loaded on to our WCA YouTube Channel.

One place has opened up in this course. Contact the organizer below if you are interested.

This 16-hour course concentrates on the basics of packaging and transporting patients and managing life and limb threats in remote environments. It includes prevention and treatment of common environmental problems like hypothermia and heat exhaustion and stroke.
The Wilderness First Aid programs are designed for the recreational outdoor enthusiast, club leader, and the professional guide. These courses are based on the principals of wilderness care and first aid.

** The WCA highly recommends that people organizing back country canoe trips take this course. Especially on multiple day trips where 911 help isn't accessible. Also, it doesn't hurt to have multiple people trained on any trip.

Please join us to hear Iori Miller presentation on the Trent-Severn and Rideau Canals.

He wrote an article in the Nastawgan Fall 2022 journal on his adventures.   Now you can ask him questions.

Tuesday Jan 17, 2023 at 7PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

This will be a trip report on the South Nahanni River that a  group of WCA  members participated in July 2022.

The river flows over 500 km from its headwaters in the Mackenzie Mountains and drops over 4,000 vertical feet in swifts, rapids, and waterfalls. It is home to caribou, bison, grizzly and black bears, Dall sheep, and moose. A mountainous wonderland with breathtaking canyons, a magnificent waterfall, diverse wildlife and some exciting paddling.

In reality, it’s not as challenging as most make it out to be. Most information on the Nahanni River available online overstates the difficulty. 

Náįlįcho (or Virginia Falls) is the most dramatic and impressive feature on the South Nahanni River.

Find out all the details, rentals, shuttles, flights,  cost, timing, camps, hikes, and more

Join the Zoom Meeting here to find out more.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81269455950

Meeting ID: 812 6945 5950

Can't make it?  No Problem.   The Zoom meeting presentation will be recorded and uploaded on the WCA YouTube channel a few days after the event.

This will be a trip report on the Broken Skull River that a  group of WCA  members participated in July 2022.

The Broken Skull river is 110 km long  and flows into the South Nahanni River.

Join us and find out about the trip details; camps, rapids, hikes, hot springs, animals, rentals, shuttles, flights, cost and more.

Join Zoom Meeting On Dec 6, 2022 at 7 pm EST

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88435892164

Meeting ID: 884 3589 2164

Can't make it?  No Problem.   The Zoom meeting presentation will be recorded and uploaded on the WCA YouTube channel a few days after the event.

Please join us to hear about Mike Stacey's adventure on the Wind River in 2022.

The Wind River is a river in Yukon, part of the Peel River watershed. It lies to the west of the Bonnet Plume and Snake Rivers.

Part of the greatest constellation of wild mountain rivers in North America, the Seven Sacred Rivers of the Peel Watershed.

In the heart of the Peel watershed, a huge tract of unspoiled wilderness that was recently protected from industrial development.

Wind River valley was the setting for the fabled “Lost Patrol,” a doomed group of North-West Mounted Police in the early 1900s who through a series of bad decisions found themselves running out of food in frigid mid-winter conditions.

Wildflowers and wildlife abound, including Dall’s sheep, mountain caribou, grizzly bears, moose, wolves and several species of raptors.

As the crystal clear water dances over colourful cobble the whitewater canoe excitement will overload your senses as we journey through dramatic mountain ranges!

The Arctic Grayling fishing is fantastic!

Zoom link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87105857630

Meeting ID: 871 0585 7630

The Hart River is one of the most energetic and pristine rivers in the Yukon. It also may be one of the least travelled rivers in all the Yukon because of its difficulty to access. 

The Hart River is a fly-in/fly-out canoe trip and one of the main tributaries of the Peel River. The river offers everything from flat water to Class II-III sections as it winds through ledges of sedimentary rock.

Photography, hiking, paddling, fishing and exploring were amoung the joys experienced last summer by 6 WCA members on a 3 week trip on the Hart RIver.

Please join in a presentation that includes video, drone fottage and still photos from the Yukon territory.

The Zoom presentaion will include details of the thier trip and followed by questions/answer session.

Zoom Presentation details;

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86315239161

Meeting ID: 863 1523 9161

Have you ever thought about winter camping? Not sure where to start? Do you have questions about gear and logistics? Or, are you a seasoned vetran looking to improve your setup? Then this is the course for you! We will discuss the basics of winter camping (hot tenting with a portable wood burning stove), gear requirements, tent set-up and food planning and preparation.

This one-hour, in-person educational workshop hosted at MEC's North York location, will answer all the questions you may have about beginning to winter camp.

Hugh P. MacMillan’s 1970 Nor’Wester Canoe Brigade: Retracing of a fur trade route from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg

This presentation, based on the lead article in the Spring edition of Nastawgan, will highlight some of the colourful characters who were part of the 1970 brigade, commemorating Manitoba’s centenary and the 300^th anniversary of the founding of the Hudson’s Bay Co., as they traced the fur trade route from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg dressed in voyageur garb and paddling five 26’ North canoes. Mark Stiles, the author and a participant on this remarkable journey, will elaborate on its historical significance and its frequent chaotic, yet in retrospect highly amusing, occurrences. Mark will leave ample time for questions. He encourages participation from anyone who was part of the 1970 brigade or who knew some of its eccentric figures, such as the renowned Hugh P. MacMillan and the notorious Shaman Chief Kitpou.

Bio note

Mark Stiles resides in Ottawa where he is mostly retired after 40 years of work in developing countries and with Indigenous organizations in Canada’s northern regions. Like many of us, he is a canoe head: a long-time member of the WCA, currently a member of the governance and nominating committee of the Canadian Canoe Museum, a former member of the Ontario’s canoe team in the 1971 B.C. Centennial celebrations, a privileged paddler on some of Canada’s most remote river systems, an active environmentalist and a good friend of the late Hugh P. MacMillan and Shaman Chief Kitpou.

Background;

Nastawgan 2022 Spring Issue

/sites/default/files/storage/Nastawgan/2022-1.pdf

Hugh P. MacMillan is the author of Adventures of a Paper Sleuth, Prenumbra Press, 2004, an account of his colourful life's work tracking down priceless documents related to the history of the fur trade and the province of Ontario. The book contains a brief account of Hugh's 1970 Canoe Brigade in chapter 2.

Shaman Chief Kitpou

Chief Kitpou Facebook

This WCA interactive zoom session will feature a joint presentation by John McDonnell (Executive Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Ottawa Valley Chapter), and Wally Schaber (Head Volunteer, Friends of Rivière du Moine) giving an overview of the Three Rivers project led by CPAWS, to create a large environmentally protected area in the watersheds of the Dumoine, Coulonge, and Black rivers (adjacent to the Ottawa River in west-central Quebec), and the related creation of wildlife corridors linking protected areas across regions, as well as specific measures to support wilderness recreation on the Dumoine. Session participants will gain an appreciation of what's involved and what's at stake with respect to expanding the protection of wilderness areas.