Greetings fellow Algonquin Back Country Canoe Trippers!As some of you are aware, I started a podcast last August ‘Algonquin Defining Moments’, https://algonquinparkheritage.podbean.com/  and am having great fun picking topics and sharing what I know or have researched over the years about the human history of Algonquin. My next two-episode series (one to be released later this week) shares what it was like canoe tripping in the Park 50 -100+ years ago using 1885, 1903, and the early 1940s as references. 

 It occurred to me that another great 'add-on' episode would be to collect your personal Algonquin backcountry canoe-tripping defining moments’s i.e. those that changed the very nature of the trip for you. This could be something physical that happened (good or bad), a vista you admired, an experience with wildlife, or on rapids or on a lake, or a great meal you cooked up or a weather event that was impactful - whatever really made a difference for you - I would then put them all together in some meaningful way for Youtube, a podcast or something written or all of the above. 

 I have two that come to mind. The first was in the early 1970s when as the counselor on a Camp Wapomeo trip one of my 9-year old campers fell in a bog on the Drummer Lake portage. Refusing to continue and everyone else many yards ahead,  I sat with her, held her hand while she cried and cried and cried. I  reassured her, over and over, almost like a mantra that she could do it and when finally she found her strength, she picked herself up and continued on.  The self-confidence the experience gave her was life-changing I think as it certainly was for me, realizing that I really could give back to these kids in a meaningful way. My second was when in my late 50s, I successfully crossed the Bonfield Dickson Portage. It's become a two-page story - too long to print here.  Who would have thought!!!

If you are interested in participating in this effort please feel to post your submissions here, or upload a video or pictures to my AlgonquinParkHeritage Facebook page,  https://www.facebook.com/AlgonquinParkHeritage   or email me directly at clemsong@algonquinparkheritage.com.  Gaye Clemson