Northern Sun

The canoes are back on Canoe.ca

Generator problems kept the Hide-Away Canoe Club trek in northern Saskatchewan offline for a couple of days, but Michael and Geoffrey Peake, Peter Brewster et all are back.

Michael, pictured above listening to tunes on his son's iPod during a break in their hectic schedule, has been busy taking photos for the online photo album.

Peter and Geoffrey are writing detailed daily journals and from what they have written to date, the going was wet and wild during the first few days of their 17-day expedition along a course David Thompson canoed in the summer of 1796.

Their six-man, 450-km trek in three canoes is a reminder for couch potatoes and armchair adventurers of all ages to get outdoors and smell the roses before the snow flies.

Peter, a former Toronto Sun managing editor, is 64; Michael, a veteran Toronto Sun photographer, is 55, Geoffrey, a teacher, is 46.

We should all be so fit.

So being there on the trek via satellite is not only informative, it is motivating.

As Geoffrey says in his journal for Sunday:

"The biggest portage, 1.5 km, took several hours to complete and thoroughly exhausted us all - possibly the best way of losing weight known to man. If every gym in the country had a circular track where you could wade through muskeg while carrying a heavy canoe pack on your shoulders, there would be no obesity problems."

There is much more to come from Geoffrey the cook - everything from mac and cheese to fresh fish; Michael the photographer - snapping canoeists at work and play, breathtaking scenery and wildlife spotted along the way; Peter the "Piscine Procurement Officer" - catcher of fish.

Rounding out the crew are Rev. Canon Peter Scott, Tom Stevens and novice Keith Gunn.

Other than the July 4 sendoff story Michael wrote for the Toronto Sun, we haven't seen any coverage of the trek in the paper.

We know the Sun plans to do a spread on their return, but a photo or two and some words along the way would be of interest and draw new visitors to the web site.