Paddling into an Ancient Land
Rob Stimpson is an internationally published, award-winning photographer best known for capturing the wilds of the Canadian outdoors and the polar regions of our planet. He teaches photography part time.
Following is an excerpt from Rob’s May 28, 2021 story featured in Superior Country:
I’m like a little kid when it comes to going on canoe trips especially the fly in type. There is something about loading all your gear and canoe into a float plane. It’s about a 30 minute flight into Smoothrock Lake but well worth the time and money. The sound of the turbo prop starting up, the whine as the prop spins into operation, I think that is a guy thing! My nose is pressed close to the window, as we taxi out to the middle of the lake. I have done this many times and the feeling of excitement is always the same. The pilot makes sure we are all ready, the engine accelerates and we are on our way. One minute the sound of water on the pontoons, then the aircraft lifts and the unbroken panorama of the boreal forest unfolds. This is Wabakimi Provincial Park, Ontario’s second largest provincial park. It’s a 240 km drive, straight north from Thunder Bay, to the float plane base, close to Armstrong.