Gentlemen (I know, loose term),

I moved from Illinois to central Wisconsin (as planned last summer) to take a position with a company that our corporation bought. They were having some transistion/acquisition issues between Mr. Big Corporate and the honest, down-to-earth people here. I got in the middle (hopefully helped) and got caught up in work and couldn't seem to find time to stay in touch. The corporation that I work for is AIG (I'm sure you've heard what some of our big shots did to us). Hopefully we will find a way to buy the Central Wisconsin company and move away from AIG.

No sooner did I get settled in, and things were going great, that a annual physical check-up found I had prostate cancer. Boy! - talk about a wake-up call. I recently had surgery to remove the prostate and things look great for the future. This hit on the back of the head made me reflect on what my priorities should be.

If I haven't been thrown off the team, I'd like to be part of the trip in August. I have the usual complete gear, duluth packs, (soon to have a MN 11), numerous trips up north, partner, solo, etc....

DL

glad you're doing well. life's events do tend to reorganize your priorities. we do indeed lead a very fragile existence on this earth.

nothing has been set yet for 2009 as far as date, duration, route, or roster. in general, the most manageable group size is four; we would like to travel further north out of the wabakimi; august is good weather and bug wise; 2-3 weeks duration. there has been no firm consensus on any of this yet, and our protocol requires consensus.

i don't know how many who have expressed interest in 09 will actually go. i hope we can firm things up early. i intend to be paddling somewhere in august/09.

Sounds like it will be another great trip. Hope its as good as the one in Aug.

I'm set for a early June trip into the Q.

Got a friend asking about a early September trip.

Any serious thoughts about Wabakimi in 2009?

august 8, 21 days, up onto the albany and back down the east side. option to fly in, train in, paddle in. 4 max, fit and experienced only. swifts, lining, rugged portages including crossing the height of land and ass deep bogs. great canoe country and lightly traveled.

this trip is open for 4 weeks. if it can be filled and organized in that time frame, we'll move forward. if not, i'm headed another direction. i'm paddling august somewhere north.

i'm traveling to the arctic mid may to mid june and will be out of contact, so that's the reason for the 4 week time frame.

Dave,

I take it the Arctic trip isn't a canoe trip? Where are you headed? How was Florida? I wasn't able to go this year because of work related stuff.

I may be interested in this trip? I'm on call at work the whole week prior to August 8th and that week-end? I would need to switch weeks at work with someone if I was to go. I would prefer paddling stern, so I would probably have to buy another canoe depending on who else went and what canoe they had. I know my Minnesota II wouldn't withstand the rugged terrain.

Chuck

CIIcanoe.com Edit: This trip would work out better for me to begin the next week-end, August 15.

canadian and alaskan arctic not a canoe trip, but high adventure none the less. beemer and i are going by motorcycle to inuvik, deadhorse, and many other points between. those are the two most northern roads. camping all the way including griz country. 3500 miles of gravel roads in the mix, about 14000 total. i'll probably link up a report on the ride.

spent almost a month in the panhandle. relaxing with good weather. walked 6 miles a day and still came home fat. obviously, i spent quite a bit of time cooking on the grill.

15th would be ok. we would have to fine tune the dates depending on how we go in. the train schedule was reversed east/west and departures are now 10:30 pm. i've been seriously looking at flying in and paddling out. weather is pretty dependable in that time frame and the bugs are almost gone.

the proposed route is as we discussed fireside and takes us down to a temporary bear camp on the east side. from there we can catch a truck shuttle out. east side route goes through the highest concentration of pictos in ontario. 21 days, look at your maps and see what you think. we cross the height of land twice. email me.

paddle stern if you want-makes no difference to me. i paddled bow for 8 days straight on the savant last season. kind of a change of pace. the stern wasn't much different weight than you and we made decent speed.

got a 1050sw, but i don't think i can keep up with you. going to test drive it on the arctic trip.

Dave,

e-mail sent!

Chuck

Dave,

Got your e-mail. I'll look it over and respond sometime this week-end. I am going to put in for the vacation time in case this trip goes through one way or the other. I need to do this so that I'm not scheduled for anything while the planning goes forward.

Chuck

CIIcanoe.com

sounds good. check your maps-you can see the route.

Just sitting back thinking about having some coffee in Wabakimi!

Chuck

CIIcanoe.com

CIIcanoe Canoes Wabakimi

that old fire blackened pot on the grill was from the camp up on the narrows. a timeless image, you should have put it in for photo of the year.

the spruce wood flames are dancing three feet above the firering and is a picture formed of memories of a thousand campfires in the past.

we were burning wood i had left there exactly one year earlier and no one had touched in the interim.

...and in case anyone wonders why i much prefer to cook over an open fire, the answer is in the photo.

I moved the info about looking for additional paddlers under a new thread, August 2009 Wabakimi Paddlers Wanted.

Chuck