Updated October 2008

David Thompson Bicentennial Commemoration Event 2008

In May 2008 the David Thompson Brigade set off from Rocky Mountain House in Alberta on a 63 day canoe journey to Old Fort William in Ontario in time for the annual Great Rendezvous on the 12^th July.

A 3600km journey involving 18 teams, 308 paddlers and support crews and 7,500 person days paddled! The journey celebrated the life of David Thompson (explorer, surveyor and trader) his Metis wife, Charlotte Small Thompson and a way of life which formed modern Canada.

Siân and I joined the 2008 Brigade as it entered Saskatchewan in late May and we travelled as part of the Borealis Canoe Club Team from Fort McMurray, Alberta.

We travelled down the North Saskatchewan River across Lakes Winnipegosis and Manitoba and then from Portage La Prairie down the Assiniboine River, through Winnipeg and into the Red River. About 1200 km on the water.

Other than one person we had never met any of the team before. Four were going all the way and others, like us, rotated in and out and stayed with the team for a few days, a week or as in our case almost three weeks.

The boat we used was a Kevlar replica of the North Canoes used in the fur trade. It was out of the same mould as the Voyageur Canoes used for expeditions by Adventure Scotland.

In the 26’ boat the paddling is not a technical challenge but keeping a rhythm with 5 others at 60 paddle strokes a minute knowing you have hours to go is a real mind game. Siân’s longest day was 104km mine about 90km.

I suppose the use of the word adventure has come to be associated with risk and adrenalin. In my mind this journey was an adventure in its widest sense. It was truly a unique and fascinating experience.

There are many memorable aspects; the rivers lined with the remnants of winters ice, the hot days on lakes that you just can’t see the end of, the forests and wildlife, bear and wolf tracks in the sand, the early morning starts, the physical and psychological effort, the occasional cold beer, the friendships formed.

The memory that really sticks is that of the welcome freely given by the communities through which we travelled. Breakfast at the James Smith Reserve, eating bison stew and bannock in Cumberland House, duck in Duck Bay, wild dancing in The Pas, and the ever present and never forgotten drumming……..

On a personal level I felt inspired to continue to seek out challenges. The youngest paddler on the trip was 4 the oldest 87 and the average age of paddlers 51.

There’s still plenty out there to go and do and time to do it whatever our age.

On a professional level all of the lessons about teams that we know in theory were brought to life. It yet again showed clearly to me the value and power of experiential learning, of adventurous activities and journeys of development in both mind and body.

So where next?

Anybody interested in the Yukon Quest or outrigger canoe racing in Hawaii? Or perhaps taking your team somewhere, near or far, where the memories formed last a lifetime.

Many thanks from both of us to all at Adventure Scotland Ltd for sponsoring part of our journey. (The gilets are great!)

Photos & Report by Dave Latham and Siân Loftus

You can find out more about this trip on www.2008thompsonbrigade.com