Daniel had just retired. He longed, more than anything, to travel: “I’ve always wanted to canoe on Great Slave Lake.”We read the news and wondered, with our trip nearing, whether we should cancel. “Wouldn’t it be like canoeing through climate change?”We flew to Yellowknife in late July, passing several forest fires before landing on a dingy brown morning.Masked up, we wandered through Old Town and N’Dilo, stopping by the shoreline of Great Slave Lake.
Beyond a patch that had been charred black by Fire ZF-011, we landed on the clean blue waters of Graham Lake.sharing the lodge with Gord and his wife Cathy, their two summertime staff, and 28 firefighters from the Northwest Territories and New Brunswick. Some of the firefighters were 20-year veterans; others were new to the job. We chatted with them at mealtimes.We all shared a laugh about the timing of our trip.feel-good story on his news website.
Our guides Nicolas and Hannah from Jackpine Paddle assured us and the seven other outdoor enthusiasts in our group: “There are no wildfires where we’re going.”The Northwest Territories sit on rock formations that are four billion years old: “The oldest rocks on Earth,” our guides told us.