Thursday, May 1, 2014

Innu Nation

The last house at the end of the road belongs to my adorable SIL,  Jane.
Last year I shared with you this story, written by Andrew
based on his canoe trip with our son
on the Churchill River.

If you missed that post,  you may want to grab a coffee or a tea or whatever
and take time to read about this fascinating part of our world.

Recently Jane and a group of friends joined
Elizabeth "Tshaukuesh" Penashue
for her annual trek through the Labrador wilderness
to raise awareness of the planned flooding in her homeland.

This is not her first walk.
Every year different people join her on this trek.

This year Jane and her friends joined Elizabeth.
They left Sheshatshiu and walked towards the Mealy Mountains.



21 days. 

Some things you need to know... is that the sky stretches forever
and the landscape can be both
beautiful and intimidating at the same time.

Oh and this is Jane's front yard.




That is her home.... and her guest cabin.... where lucky visitors often stay.



And of course those are the spectacular northern lights.

Oh yes,
it is hard to sleep in her lovely home
when the lights outside your door dance in various colours across the spread of sky.


I wanted to share these photos with you because I am not sure that the opportunity
to see this beauty will occur for all of us,
hopefully it does.



And then I also thought,
few of us will ever experience a trip like this.

That is 21 days of food spread out below.
Of course, the odd porcupine or wild game along the way will add to the menu nicely.


Traditional canvas tents and wood stoves are brought along...


It took several days to pack and be sure all the necessary items were present.



Branches are woven into a floor at night.



 And at the end of a day of walking through this spectacular landscape,
these tents with their wood stoves end up being like a little island of paradise.

Quite the adventure, I wish I had more photos to share but you can check it out at her blog.
My husband and son will be heading back up to that area in September as they join up with a ship leaving from Greenland, exploring the fjords
and then making its way along the coast of Labroador to the Torngat Mountains, Mealy Mountains and Fogo Island.

You can read more about this over at the blog belonging to Elizabeth Penashue.
And if you are really interested in this story, you can watch a documentary video over here.

2 comments:

  1. An interesting post. Your husband and son will be embarking on quite an adventure!

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  2. Amazing, I cannot imagine walking through the snow for one day let alone three weeks. I checked out her blog and the film and then looked at the area on google because I'm not that familiar with it. It's amazing what a wilderness it is, no names or roads. The world is such a varied place it's sometimes pretty gobsmacking.
    I also read your husbands piece, it was really good reading, I'm sure they'll have another great adventure in September. Thanks for sharing all the great photos too !

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