Mar 07
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Lower Missinaibi River Part 5: Tidewater Provincial Park to Home

Day 8: Tidewater Provincial Park to Home I wanted to sleep in. We had no significant mileage to paddle today—just a quick jump across the river to catch the train. Despite my best efforts to stay in my tent, a week of early rising combined with the turf war a couple crows were having next [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Feb 25
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Lower Missinaibi River Part 4: Moose River to Moosonee

Day 6: Missinaibi/Moose Junction to the Otakwahegan River (49 km) We awoke excited. Today, after four years, we would paddle the last bit of the Missinaibi River. In a mere 20 km, the Missinaibi would join the Mattagami to form the Moose River which would take us the final 90 km to Moosonee. The weather [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Dec 04
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Lower Missinaibi River Part 3: The Pivabiskau River to the Moose River

Day 4: The Pivabiskau River to the Opasatika River (50 km) There’s nothing quite like waking up on a gravel spit in the middle of nowhere to a breakfast of pancakes and coffee (courtesy of Brian). As we ate and packed up our gear we watched the mist lift off the river as the sun [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Sep 18
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Lower Missinaibi River Part 2: Thunderhouse Falls to the Pivabiskau River

Day 3: Thunderhouse Falls to the Pivabiskau River (44 km) We woke up to windy overcast skies with the smell of rain on the air. No one likes breaking camp in the rain, so we packed our gear and ate breakfast quickly. Fortunately, the clouds only spit a little. A quick jaunt (~ 300m) brought [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jul 26
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Lower Missinaibi River Part 1: Mattice to Thunderhouse Falls

Four years ago we had a great plan. My friend Brian Lachine, my brother-in-law Nathan and I decided to paddle the entire length of the Missinaibi River from Lake Missinaibi to the Moose River into Moosonee. We were well on our way until, 50 km up river of Highway 11, Brian slipped on a portage [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jan 11
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Nothing (Without You): A Short Story

Chuck over at Terrible Minds threw down a challenge. Write a sub-500 word short story inspired by a randomly selected song title. Here’s my 481 word entry entitled, “Nothing (Without You)”. … I watch the drops of water arc perfectly off the tip of my ashen paddle as I swing the blade forward for another [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Nov 17
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A Sigurd F. Olson Documentary

I just found out that filmmaker Peter Olsen is working on a documentary of one of my two paddling heroes: Sigurd F. Olson (the other being Bill Mason, of course). Here’s a little preview of a man who lived life outside. Updates on the film can be found at his website, www.SingingWilderness.net .

Author: Stephen Barkley
Oct 16
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Killarney Provincial Park, September 2008

[singlepic=18,450,400] (There’s gallery of pictures at the end of the post.) I’ve hiked the LaCloche loop through Killarney twice now. The second time ’round, my friends and I had the energy to climb Silver Peak. After returning home and looking at the map, I realized that Silver Peak would make a good weekend trip. This [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley