first_algonquin_heidiOur first camping trip with Heidi, Victoria Day Weekend. Can't remember what year. Probably 1975.
Date: 03/14/2005
algonquin_canoeI'm pretty sure this is that first Victoria Day Weekend in 1975 or so. If not then, later that same summer.
Date: 03/14/2005
on_the_bruce_trailI'm not sure if this is a day hike in Algonquin or on the Bruce Trail. I cropped out some grafitti on the rocks, which would tend to indicate Bruce Trail. But the shoes and the shirt would tend to group it with the previous canoe picture. So probably 1
Date: 03/14/2005
heidi_and_freddyHeidi and Freddy. Freddy was very old, and didn't live more than a year or so after Heidi arrived, so I'm guessing that this is the summer of 1975
Date: 03/14/2005
opening_day_trout_seasonOpening day of trout season. Biggest fish I every caught until I went salmon fishing with my brother. Probably 1976.
Date: 03/14/2005
first_backpackingFirst backpacking and canoe trip vacation. I think I was 15, so that would be 1976. Mom's backpack was a piece of shit that fell apart early on, and she sort of held everything together with her hands. It's a wonder she went on a second trip.
Date: 03/14/2005
heidi_and_meLooks like we're unpacking after a backpacking trip. Obviously not the first one. That red thing on the tail gate is Heidi's backpack, which she didn't get until after she started mocking us on the steep uphills.
Date: 03/14/2005
starting_bruce_trailHeidi and I start out on our ill-fated attempt to hike the Bruce Trail end-to-end. I'm 90% sure that was 1977.
Date: 03/14/2005
lunch_on_the_trailCooking lunch on the trail. I bought that hat and those hiking boots for the Bruce Trail end-to-end attempt, so this might have been taken on one of the weekends when mom came to join us.
Date: 03/14/2005
solar_greenhouseAfter my Bruce Trail end-to-end failed, I spent most of the summer hanging around my mom's house, reading every science fiction and environmentalist/energy conservation book the Barrie public library had. At one point, I just suddenly got the urge to bui
Date: 03/14/2005
carCan't place this. I'm skinny, so it's after I started cross country skiing, but I look younger than the university years. Actually, the short hair probably means I was still in the Lorne Scots (Army Reserve) so probably 1978-79.
Date: 03/14/2005
orienteering_heidi_drinkAfter finishing an orienteering meet, it was important to rehydrate. For me, too. My orienteering suit here has a badge that I won at a meet in the spring of 1979 when I was pretty new to the sport. Short hair still, so probably still in the Lorne Scot
Date: 03/14/2005
fishing_western_uplandsAbout 4 or 5 miles from the end of the Western Uplands hiking trail in Algonquin Park was a very pleasant little campsite on a very pleasant lake (Provoking Lake) with no other campsites on it. We often worked it out so we had almost a full day there at
Date: 03/14/2005
orienteering_niagaraI started orienteering the fall of 1978. In this picture I'm wearing a t-shirt I bought at the second orienteering meet I went to, but since mom didn't go to that one, and since I didn't start growing a beard until I went to University, I'm guessing this
Date: 03/14/2005
Early_1980Early 1980
Date: 03/14/2005
ski_racingSki race at Midland. The 1979-80 racing season was an almost complete wash-out - nobody had any snow except Midland (and for the most part, they just had a single track through the woods with bare leaves on both sides), and so almost every race got cance
Date: 03/14/2005
orienteering_probably_scotch_blockCanadian Championships, Manitoba 1982
Date: 03/14/2005
I thought this was a meet that we held in Scotch Block one summer. But mom reminded me that it was at a Canadian Championships in Manitoba. I remember Orienteering Ontario paid my plane fare because I'd won the Ontario Champs in M19-20 the year before, but I competed in M21 at the Champs, so that narrows it down pretty closely. I did ok, too - 15th Canadian and about 30th overall. Unfortunately I twisted my ankle at one of the mid week events so I didn't do anything at the North American Champs the following weekend.
orienteering_probably_scotch_block_2The same Canadian Championships.
Date: 03/14/2005
I think it was near Brandon Manitoba.
top_ontario_awards_late_1980Mon and I showing off our Top Ontario Orienteer medals. This picture was definitely taken at Mansfield, and I bought that shirt when I was meet directory for an A meet at Mansfield, but I can't be 100% sure that was the same meet. I don't look stressed
Date: 03/14/2005
ski_orienteering_mansfieldA ski orienteering meet at Mansfield Forest Club. I can't remember if this is the one I participated in, or the one I meet directed. Probably the former. The one I meet directed, I broke the best pair of skis I've ever owned, which appear to be the one
Date: 03/14/2005
posing_algonquin_parkDrinking a cup of tea on a backpacking trip in Algonquin Park.
Date: 03/14/2005
posing_algonquin_park_with_heidiHeidi joins me to enjoy the view.
Date: 03/14/2005
camping_with_bootlegCamping with Bootleg.
Date: 03/14/2005
I can't tell if this is Algonquin or Killarney park. Mom is pretty sure it's not Killarney. That's Bootleg in the background trying to help himself to my dinner. That plastic baggie with the Rothmans cigarettes was mom's, not mine.
killarney_park_vistaOne of the very last backpacking trips I went on was to Killarney Park. Killarney Park is not very far from Sudbury. The soil was pretty thin and the lakes pretty acid to start with, and even the first whites to visit the area remarked about this magnif
Date: 03/14/2005
killarney_cairnThere was a long stretch of the trail that went along the top of a ridge line that was almost completely barren. These cairns marked the way. One time we did it it was baking hot and sunny, and another time we were hoping we'd get down off the ridge bef
Date: 03/14/2005
Road Ski Race, 1981
Date: 12/16/2007
This is the first road ski race I was ever in. I did a lot of my training on road skis because of my bad knees, and I figured most of the other racers probably didn't road ski as much as me. So I lined up in the front row. Didn't take me long to find out that they were better racers than me even on the roads.
Lorne Scots Summer Recruit Training Program 1979
Date: 12/16/2007
When I was taking this out of the frame to scan it, I found that I'd placed a sheet of paper in the frame with everybody's names. Judging by the fact that sometimes I only have last names, I must have written it after the summer was over and I would have had minimal contact with the ones who weren't in A Company. I also wrote some quotes after some of the names. I need to record this somewhere.
Canadian Ski Marathon 1983
Date: 12/16/2007
I'm working on my Courieur du Bois Silver here.