9/10/2015 Steve Acuff

            It’s been a long week. It’s 2230 and I’ve finally caught up on academic journals and reports I have been pushing off the last few days due to long hours of movement, wetness, coldness, tiredness and hungriness. Maybe a little laziness too =]. This last week’s transition onto the river from seemingly endless lakes has been a bit more of a logistical nightmare than I imagined. As a leader of the week last week I learned quickly how to plan routes and estimated times of arrival pretty quickly and straightforwardly. My fellow leaders and I got us to right outside the mouth of the Missinaibi River where I would take over for the next weeks planning along with two other new victims (leaders of the week). Having knowledge and experience from the week prior, I felt comfortable with the next weeks planning. Well, long story short, I underestimated the logistical nightmare of Mother Nature’s waterways, the rapids. After the first night camping on the river we were baptized in rushing waters as our curriculum literally walked us up a running rapid to study how the water works in conjunction with the rocks and slopes. Onward we moved to finally trying to ride these monsters in our canoes. The uncertainty of running each of these swirling beautiful waterways raises many questions and concerns at each individual rapid. Some may be run without a second thought, others may need to e studied long for a safe passage, while some may not be passable at all. As each day passes we are getting a little better at identifying which is which. Our instructor and our canoes are thankful of this as the amount of rocks hit and scraped decreases. It’s not easy being on this river. The rapids are fun yes, but the days are long, the paddles hard, and the portages many. Maps of the river and pages from the guidebook are burned into my retinas. But, every morning I get up, have a cup of coffee, look over my routes, load my canoe and set off with a smile on my face because of the beauty of the land and water around me and the people I get to share it with.

Because it takes two to canoe. 

Steve Acuff 

9/9/15 Raquel Leal

September 9th 2015

The start of these mornings are starting to be an organized regime of events. Wake up, realize your sleeping bag has lots of sand in it still from the night before, realize all you want to do is curl up into a ball in that sandy sleeping bag, make breakfast, realize you dry bag was half way open, notice that it is still pitch black outside, complain about the buzzing mosquitoes... but finally does anyone ever get the chance to be grateful for one another? That is truly something important that each of us should have in mind when we need that extra comfort when everything else seems to be falling apart. Moments like those the tribe members must come together and realize that chatting with one another is what we need, do not hide from those lingering emotions, and embrace them! I am not one to be the first one to speak up when something needs to be said, but I will say this I am all ears and will try my best to give some advice for those lonely moments. I have noticed how different each tribe member is, and we all carry something so essential and that creates this group's energies of "let us keep on keepin' on!" I believe this adventure is going to teach all of us not only the skills to preform but as well what we all have to offer to this world. We are all like significant ripples in the water just growing more and more each day. We must all also be brave enough to know our own potential because without that confidence then what is left? What are we looking for? Do you really want to go that extra mile to see what you are capable of? Those questions I ask myself on a regular basis...mostly because I do not feel adequate for this expedition. I have had dreams of being on my own since I was a little girl, getting the chance to experience for myself what is really out there instead of the initial scare of going outside because my mother was an over protector. I have a mindset and it is set in stone, being out in this beautiful Canadian Missinabi River going wherever the wind blows us, but in the direction of the itinerary. I am CONFIDENT, ARE YOU?

Rockyyy

9/08/2015 Josh Samuels

20150908

           

This morning started of wonderful until discovering that other members of the tribe witnessed the Northern Lights last night. At fist I was extremely upset that not any pictures were taken. I was also angered that at the thought that not a single one of them thought to wake up the group. Then I remembered that fir sine reason I was not meant to see the Northern Lights, just yet. Some adventures are yet to be discovered. I took this into deep pondering and examination throughout the rest of my morning. I thought deep and hard on why I was here, and what I really needed to get out of ECOEE. There are many reasons, many explanations, but only one true answer. To live.

Not to see, I can watch a video in 415 Currens Hall. Not to touch, I can grab books off the library shelves. Not to hear, I can listen to the professor’s talk mindlessly about things they know nothing more about than I. Definitely not to taste, as the café in any residence hall is an experience enough. Not to smell because peoples cigarette smoke fills the air in any doorway to the buildings on campus. I am here to live. This is why no picture of the Northern Lights should be taken. Seeing the pictures might satisfy some small part, but not enough to really accomplish the goal. The goal of life is to really live. This is why I am here on ECOEE, to learn to live again. To get into the simple stages of life and not just through a picture, but in my soul.

The Native Americans once believes that a photograph was taking a part of your soul in every picture someone took of you. I see this as ever picture that you did not experience for yourself. No pictures of the sun or of the rain today would truly capture the feeling of it on your skin. No video recording of the buzzing of the mosquitos will create the annoyance of being swarmed. As individuals in modern life we try to experience as much as we can as fast as we can. Though ask yourself, think deep and long, what are you really experiencing? What are you really doing? What are you really living?

                        Joshua M. Samuels               

                                   

P.S. I saw the Northern Lights the very next morning.

9/7/2015 Bobby Liston

Bobby Liston

9/7/15

            Wow, I can’t believe today is my day to have the journal. After a night of catching three northern pike and Caleb finding a school of walleye there is not much more a guy could ask for. I have been feeling a little tired mentally and physically from this expedition. After Jeff read an excerpt from the  Singing Wildnerness by Sigurd Olson, a wonderful book I was assigned to read, put everything into perspective. Something needed to be changed and I needed to turn this trip around. I might never know that longing for adventure after ECOEE. I say this because it is the first time doing many of these things. The next day (today) I woke up, packed my gear nice and early and portaged. It was a gloomy day which made my mood not so bright. We were given a lesson on rapids and we walked up a pretty strong rapid grasping our paddles for balance. We were then given the option of running the rapids or carrying our canoes across the portage full of rocks and logs. At first, I was extremely afraid. This was more of a fear of the unknown. I knew this was the kind of fear I wanted from this trip. Something I have been waiting for my entire life. Josh and I looked at each other after a quick scouting session and said “Lets do this, do or die”. After strapping my Kodak action cam to my chest we were ready. WHAT A RUSH! As we raced down the rapids and my adrenaline was spiking in my veins. “DRAW RIGHT! STEER LEFT!”, commands were shouted out and we finally landed in the calm eddie. What a thrill ride, and I couldn’t believe I was scared to do this. I also said the same thing when I went on my first roller coaster ride. This was a giant leap from my confidence and flying through my rapids and I knew the Missinaibi River has finally welcomed us. 

9/6/2015 MO

9/6/2015

The adventure never ends and it always begins. To Hawk Junction to Blue Bay to Dog and Lake to Crooked Lake to Elsin Bay and to all those in between, the adventure never ends and always begins. I become stronger, I become more aware, and I become connected as I travel by canoe. Many have written stories from their knowledge they have gained through their travels on different paths down the Missnaibi River. Yet, we all share something similar. We all share the uncertainty, the unknown, and the lost thoughts of trying to find oneself. We search as we travel and we gain as hear, see, smell, and feel. I have lost myself many times before and I have found myself many times before and my journey is only ahead. What's the difference if I was in Macomb, IL with take-out pizza and a comfy couch? I am becoming connected to what was given to us in the first place. I am finding why, not only I matter but why EVERYTHING else matters. I am out in a canoe to lose touch, to get lost from society so I can find myself and gain respect for what’s around me. If I lose it again, so be it. I still have found and appreciated nature where it begins and where you make think it ends. The trees talk, the river flows, and the ground beneath my feet thank all those who have taken the time to breathe, stay silent, and listen. I thank Mother Nature every day for the whispers of the wind, the beauty that overwhelms my eyes, and the playfulness it provides. As I look out, I can only look within. And what I find there, I may never know. But you see...that's the beauty of the unknown. The adventure never ends and always begins.

            -Mo

9/5/15 Kyle Salz

9/5/15

                Today, I woke up and knew I had a lot of debriefing to do today. So, I took my time getting up before crawling out of the tent to another beautiful day in Ontario. The sun was coming up and the skies where blue. I started packing some of my stuff up as I thought I was going to move tents for the first time. Steve Acuff decided to cook same breakfast about a half hour before our first meeting. Some eggs and cheese it looked and smelled good until the pan fell off the stove. Right into the fire pit, he then tried to save some of it so he ate the top half that was not dirty.

                We went to our leader of the week debrief at 8am. Which took longer than I expected but we talked about a lot. I got a lot of feedback for myself and will use it from this day forward. After, we got done we went right to the next meeting with the group. Which that took an hour or so I was really not keeping track of time. I was glad when we got done with it. Since, I turned my keys over to the new leaders of the week (LOW) but I do think I will miss being a LOW this coming week. Had sometime before my first meeting so I washed my clothes for the first time in two weeks and hung them up to dry. Finally, it was time for this third and final meeting of the day. For the tent group evaluations which went very well and learned some things that I need to keep working on. Once, done with that meeting I got some free time to do what I wanted to do.

                Bobby and I decided we were going to go out for a swim and relax for a while. We went out to the beach on Missinaibe Lake for about an hour or so just relaxing in the water and talking. Then we decided that some big rocks on one of the points looked like a good place to sit. So, we walked out the point and got out of the water. Began to dry off of course you can just sit one way to the sun the whole time. We laid down on the rock and started to sun tan in Canada. We both thought at that “who thought we would ever be sun tanning in Canada in early September. We came back had a good dinner.

                Then we went out fishing Caleb, Bobby, and I to end the day. The sun was setting over the trees to the West as Caleb and Bobby paddle that way. We through our lines out trying to catch Walleye and then Bobby was the first to catch one. It was about a foot long or so but nothing special. As we kept fishing Caleb was the next to catch about a two and a half foot walleye nice size. I did not catch anything but had a fun time going out and to end the day off was nice that way.

9/4/2015 Meg Mason

Friday 9/4/15

This morning I was once again witness to the beauty of Ontario. Upon waking up I was greeted by a beautiful sunrise over Missinabi Lake and while the sun lit up the water in gorgeous colors the moon lingered in the sky as well. It was with enthusiasm that our group headed towards our first destination a mile distant, Whitefish Falls. The cascading water provided us with a chance for multiple photo opportunities. As we left the falls we were able to once again see some of the pictographs that dot the granite walls of the lakeshore. Looking at the pictographs is like looking at a snapshot of the past. It makes me think about the history of this place. This same route was used for years by the fur traders and even now artefacts from the fur trade can be found on the bottom of the river, but long before the fur traders the Assiniboine Indians used these same portages and lakes. I am paddling on a route that has been used for thousands of years.

Meaghan L. Mason