People often ask me how I choose my journeys. Quite simple really— I look at blank spots on the map of Canada and/or the world that I've never visited and then figure out a way to do an interesting and aesthetic self-propelled line through the landscape. Nunatsiavut and Nunavik are unknown to me, and having read books like Dillon Wallace's Lure of the Labrador Wild, it was an easy draw.
Travelling through new wilderness landscapes makes every paddle stroke and corner fresh and new — it's personal discovery that is absolutely in-the-moment. I find I'm completely unmotivated to repeat my big expeditions — with so much to explore and only so much life to live, there's no point in being nostalgic and lazily going back to what you already know.
So I'm back from a couple of weeks of R+R and now boxing up some food to send to Minipi Outfitters in Goose Bay. Chris there has generously offered to hold our canoe and other parcels until we arrive in town on July 14 (Randy Letto of Destination Labrador has also been a great help). If you're ever over that way, make sure you look up Minipi for all your outdoor outfitting needs — they're good people.
On somewhat of a side note, I've never been to Labrador but have visited Newfoundland a couple of times. The last time was as co-host of a quirky CTV series called Exhibit A. The show looked at the "B-sides" of Canadian history in an off-beat yet informative way. The video above is our segment on the first European inhabitants of Canada: the Vikings of L'Anse aux Meadows. We shot this at the northern tip of Newfoundland, across the strait from Labrador — it's a fun look at Canadian geography! If you like the clip, you can watch other segments of the show through my website.
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