Every Trail Has a Story: Heritage Travel in Canada

by Bob Henderson, James Raffan (Foreword by)

Overview

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Canada is packed with intriguing places for travel where heritage and landscape interact to create stories that fire our imagination. Scattered across the land are incredible tales of human life over the centuries. From the Majorville rock formation (dated as being older than Stonehenge), through the systems of walking trails developed by pre-contact Native Peoples, and the fur trade routes, to the more recent grand stories of the Chilkoot Gold Rush of 1897, Bob Henderson, the traveller, captures our living history in its relationship to the land – best expressed through the Norwegian quote "nature is the true home of culture."

The diversity of fascinating content includes the ancient James Bay landmark (the "Wonderful" Stone); the mountain treks of naturalist Mary Schaffer Warren; the west coast observations of George Vancouver; practices such as dog sledding, warm winter camping and canoeing that allow for heritage insights; the trails of Dundas, Ontario; the exploits of missionary Gabriel Sagard; the recluse Louis Gamache of Anticosti Island; the abandoned gravesites along the coast of Newfoundland – to name but a few.

As historian Michael Bliss once said, "We have to find a way to make history smell again." Author Bob Henderson brings the "fragrance of the past" into the present and invites us to imagine and participate.

"Like an enthused hummingbird too eager to land, Bob Henderson leads a wide-ranging tour of the vast garden of Canadian history and landscape. Once entrusted with the scent of intrigue we are invited to follow these stories and trails deeper, make them speak and inform our own travels and impressions. Here are stepping stones and touchstones, paths toward richer engagements via a storied and fabulous past."

— Alexandra&Garrett Conover, co-authors of The Snow Walker’s Companion

"I pulled off the river; a log cabin set back in the woods had caught my eye. Though very old it was in good shape — there was no lock on the door. A framed note beside it read, ’Leave as you found it.’ The interior was neat and tidy, a complete set of blackened pots hung on the walls, a small stack of kindling by the open door of a Findlay stove. ’A perfect place,’ I thought to myself. As I turned to take in the rest of the cabin I saw before me Canada/Yukon rivers, Labrador fiords, Prairie medicine wheels, Superior’s north shore, portage and trail - it was all there before me, across space and time. As I stood there ghosts emerged from the walls, trappers, cowboys, ill-fated explorers, lucky canoeists — all in the same room, all eager to tell their stories. Such is the nature of Bob Henderson’s wonderful book."

- Ian Tamblyn, songwriter

Watch for More Trails, More Tales coming November 2014.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459717893
Publisher:	Dundurn Press
Publication date:	03/07/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Bob Henderson has taught outdoor education at McMaster for twenty-eight years, often sharing stories on the trail involving characters and events related in this book. Bob is the author of Every Trail has a Story: Heritage Travel in Canada (Toronto: Natural Heritage Books-Dundurn Press, 25) and co-editor with Nils Vikander of Nature First: Outdoor Life in Friluftsliv Way (Toronto: Natural Heritage Books-Dundurn Press 27). Bob lives in Uxbridge, Ontario.

Bob Henderson has taught outdoor education at McMaster University for twenty-eight years. He is the author of Every Trail has a Story: Heritage Travel in Canada and co-editor of Nature First: Outdoor Life the Friluftsliv Way. Bob lives in Uxbridge, Ontario.

James Raffan, a much experienced writer, paddler and northern traveller, has been recognized with many honours including the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal. He is the Curator of the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, and resides in Seeleys Bay, Ontario.

Table of Contents

	List of Maps	ix
	Map of Canada	x
	Foreword	xii
	Preface	xv
	Acknowledgements	xvii
	Introduction	xix
Part 1	Places
1	Special Invisible Places	5
2	The Labrador	26
3	The Yukon: A Big Space Turned Big Place	39
4	Filling Cabins with Stories in the Land of the Little Sticks	56
5	Stories Out the Backdoor: A Traveller's History of Home	75
Part 2	Practices
6	Surface Archaeology: Living the Questions Now	93
7	Canadian Rocky Mountain High: Back Country Ski Heritage	108
8	On the Horseback Outfitter Trail with Mary Schaffer	120
9	Dogsledding: Old Canada Ambience	132
10	Rock Art: A Lifelong Quest and Mystery	146
11	Traditional Warm Winter Camping: Following Examples	158
12	Old Ways: New Perceptions	170
Part 3	People
13	Journal Writing and Explorers: Still Looking for the New World	190
14	Roots and Wings: A Peculiar Collection of Women's Stories	209
15	Capturing the Artist's Eye	222
16	Hermits I'd Love to Have Met	230
	References	243
	Index	268
	About the Author	286