ATTAWAPISKAT TAIGA TREK.

Winter 2000… Attawapiskat.

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Winter 2015…

January 21st, this picture was taken on the ice road outside of Attawapiskat Ontario. Fifteen years to the day had passed; an Anniversary if you will, since I had once left a home in the Ottawa Valley to live in the north. These years later, on a first walk during this latest return to “Skat,” did it really sink in how much of my life has existed on a border between two worlds divided, our north and south.

With the latest diesel fuel spill beneath the Attawapiskat Hospital I knew this trip up would have some difficulties. My previous three week contract before Christmas I pounded away through 280 hours of work while assisting in the relocation of the hospital to the health centre and, providing regular patient services.

This January & February tour was slated to be five weeks at a slightly slower pace. Even still, it’s also difficult, because of being away from home and the girls for that longer time. To keep my mind and spirit preoccupied, I hatched a plan, and I called that plan the “Taiga Trek.”

Before or after work, between shifts, whenever able, I would hike through deep river and bush snow, on beaten foot or snowmobile trails and hike the ice roads to reach a goal of 100 kilometers. Aside from that, I’d take on a 30 day plank, squat and push-up challenge, along with fitting in some other exercises. It would be for me somewhat like how it had been in the beginning, those 15 years ago when I first arrived in Attawapiskat.

The Taiga Trek was invigorating.
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(Some history with Skat, skip the italics if you like)

When first moving to Skat at 23 there was purpose to gain experience in my chosen profession. Student loans, car payments and bank debts to clear, a heavy smoker and a weekly barfly, 150 pounds of skin and bones, I had some health choices to make and financial ground to cover. In Skat, once alone and isolated from that person whom I was back in Ottawa, the changes began the minute I stepped off the plane on a cold, dark evening on the 21st of January 2000…

Six months passed with no cigarettes, booze or anything other. A small home gym was put to use everyday, and walks off into the bush along trails or ice roads became many. Solitude exploring in the outdoors became peace of mind away from a hardened community, and a people who could place great demand and challenge quite often.

A high price for food I found the best choices were healthy ones. Shipping frozen meats air freight from Timmins and many non-perishables up from the south while ignoring costly local junk food, for months fat, protein, calories and sugar were counted, an exercise of education and importance. Despite the first months of nic fits as well, a becoming more naturally fit was necessary.

Each night no matter what, I wrote into a journal as my way of having someone there along with me. Work was something I tried very hard to leave at work, and so when home that often meant quiet isolation from others not capable of living the same. No internet for a couple more years to come, I would write many letters to friends back in the valley to stay connected. On Sunday’s at my computer, I would record each and every patient as I had seen them throughout the week, oftentimes reflecting on difficult and specific cases in order to review care given. These practices helped greatly.

Interested in fishing it was the one study I quite enjoyed. Pouring over maps, fishing magazines and books, the 18-months living in Skat I became a far better angler in theory than I ever was in practice. Huge hopes for the short open water seasons, the six plus months of deep freeze always had me researching and meticulously preparing for the days ahead. I would dream about new places, new tactics, new challenges, new fish, many fish, bigger fish, setting goals and higher expectations, hoping to achieve those experiences in time. This lives on today but with better results now.

In a nutshell that was a younger life in Attawapiskat. It was the beginning of an adult life… a healthier body, mind and spirit for sure. By the end of my days there, 1067 patients received care and I learned a tonne within my job. Fifteen years later, with eleven in the north and 800 to 1100 patients annually, injured or ill with everything imaginable, I’m still learning… During those 18-months the weight shot up 26-pounds accommodating conditioned and solid muscle. In Skat I had written four books worth in journals to forever treasure that time. My bank debts, car payment and student loans were cleared and I walked away with a chunky amount invested. I found a greater love and a need to fish and be outdoors, not just because it’s fun, challenging and interesting, but because it is a necessary balance to the stresses of work and isolation, it’s a reward of personal efforts and time, and part of an internal drive to stay challenged. And there too in Skat, I found my wife and daughters, who’s love and support allow me to continue chasing a better life understanding and bigger, better fish.
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Some great things about life in the north…

Hellos. I can’t go to the store, for a quick trip to grab a coffee at the shop, or even walk down the street without many people waving and smiling a hello or taking the time for a chat. It’s such a small community thing which in reality makes it so much bigger a place. Genuine friendliness or even just respectable manners are socially valuable and should remain common-place.

Come winter I want to see the long and wolf moons. Absolutely fiery and enormous when they rise on a clear eastern horizon, incredible. The wood smoke. Stove fires burning in nearly every home, the streets smell of spruce smoke and it breathes easy past the nares. And the cold, ice and snow. That loud crunch beneath the boots. The still and the quiet, and the crisp and clear. The bigger horizons and the Northern Lights.

The work. It’s what I was made for, what I do best, when I feel most confident and valuable, and how I can help others the most. In the north you can be as important and successful as your strengths and efforts will allow, you overcome problems with less resources, while doing what’s right and best as the expectation. Your safety and your peace rely equally on your gut and skills.
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Anyways to the Taiga Trek… I made it 107 kilometers. Totally happy with achieving the goal. That was 107 kilometers measured straight-lines on Google Earth after each hike. Adding the zig-zags, the off-shoot game trails and the photo-ops it could be significantly more. First day out was a fast push klick of deep snow and another klick of packed snowmobile trail through the bush. A couple kilometers quick paced which strained the legs wobbly. By the time the five weeks finished I was ripping up to ten kilometers on all terrain in an hour forty-five or less. Dressed light as able, heavy sweat and keep walking. Shaved nine pounds, felt revived, grew some greys and even managed to possibly walk from Ontario to Nunavut while out hiking to the east, at the mouth of the river on James Bay. (got a little nervous out there on the sea though, Akimiski polar bears eh) One day on a back trail a skidoo’er passed me by and stopped. It was my brother-in-law Joe out gathering wood, and being Family Day it was fittingly perfect to spend time helping him out a little with that chore… For all this hiking some new Kamik boots I received for Christmas were OK for the task, some good and bad points to make with them, but they were toasty for the feet. The warmest day hike was -16 and the coldest was -40 with -47 windchill. One day had a windchill of -53 but I happily slept through that. When reaching somewhere around the 70 kilometer mark, I was walking a back channel of the main river about 3K out of town when just crossing paths with the DeBeers ice road. Looking west I spotted a shadowed shape on the snow in the distance. It was awkward and stuck out because it was dark, on the otherwise snow covered riverbed. I moved on, and thinking about it later decided to re-investigate closer on a future walk. When I returned about a week later to that spot a snowy owl took flight. The wrong camera lens I still laid chase, following the bird for about three more kilometers west then east then west then east again. The owl got the better of me that day, so I returned with a slightly better 200X zoom lens. Same game and the owl kept on the move. This time though, I captured some decent photos, yet had to return one more time to try for even better. Didn’t happen, for the camera froze and so did I. All totaled that bird put about 25 kilometers on the legs through hard packed snow to nearly knee deep powder, and the second camera battery completely died from cold and use while hitting the button as the owl flew right over head. Still, the experience ending a little too soon as there were a few days left in Attawapiskat, that owl photographed in the wild was as close a thing to catching some giant personal best fish I could have been chasing after for eons. Just a great and rewarding opportunity all around.

There’s a tonne of pictures and the rambling on has gone long enough.

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L to R. Catholic Church, Hospital and the Nurse Residence.
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Potato Island across from town… where some still grow, potatoes.
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Pics above and below are riverfront and street shots from just outside the Nurses Residence.
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Following the Monument Channel.
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Friend Stevie Z was up north working. Borrowed his truck to drive 12K out to James Bay at the mouth of the Attawapiskat River.
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Hiking James Bay. Looking to Ontario, Akimiski Island and Nunavut over the shoulder. It was a parka day out there, one of two.
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Ice Road Bus Stop. Young Rod and friend waiting… and waiting… and waiting… ti’ll the freeze likely.
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An awesome new elementary school. FINALLY
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Any guesses as to this track through the snow?
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One of those colder days to be out for some frosty stachcicles and bearditalia.
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A Cross Fox followed me around two days in a row, once on the river, once along the ice road. I’d never seen one before.
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Hind foot into front. 6 1/2 or so inch print. Out of the alders, onto the river and retraced itself back into the bush.
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Few days later, five sets all crossed the river together heading towards town. Wolf pack…
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