El santuario personal de Hap Wilson

Hap Wilson
Environmentalist / Nature Writer

David “Hap” Wilson’s was “the quintessential dysfunctional student”, constantly raising the ire of teachers. “I spent more time at my desk in the hallway than in the classroom, was once disqualified during track and field events because I ran the cinder track in bare feet and was called down to the principal’s office because I illustrated on the border of a hand-out sheet. I remember Mr. O’Beirn saying that ‘this will reflect negatively on your future’. There were times, though, that I thoroughly enjoyed the school dynamic…the challenges. My family was separating at the time so it was particularly hard for me to adjust and to trust authority, hence the reason why I continued to question authority and become an environmental activist!”

 Luckily for nature lovers, wilderness trippers and environmentalist everywhere, Hap Wilson chose canoes over comics, started a love affair with the wilderness and carved out a career for himself that is unmatched in this country. He was nurtured by the outdoors and saw the irreparable damage done by developers and industry to the wilderness (his home) and needed to become actively involved in protecting it. Hap has been a wilderness guide for over 30 years. He has led over 300 wilderness expeditions in Canada and is well known for his ecotourism / travel guidebooks. His expertise serves him well in his many endeavours from operating his ecological tour company, Sunrise Adventures, to his work as an eco-tourism consultant. He co-founded the group “Earthroots” in 1986 and is still active as a board member along with well-known lawyer, Clayton Ruby; has been a speaker at several high school functions, including Cum Laude grad dinners in the U.S and was even retained as actor Pierce Brosnan’s personal wilderness trainer for the feature film “Grey Owl”

 Hap is also a self-taught professional artist, photographer and writer. He began with his own illustrating business after high school, producing over 200 illustrations for customers such as Simpsons, Austin Marshall Card Co., Pioneer Village and Armadale Communications. He won the “Preserve North York in Paint” contest in 1972 and his painting hangs in the council chambers in North York. Mr. Wilson has written eight books beginning in 1978 with Temagami Canoe Routes, and including Rivers of the Upper Ottawa Valley [1993], Canoeing and Hiking Wild Muskoka [2002] and The Cabin [2005]. Hap has also produced a beautiful coffee table photo book entitled Wilderness Manitoba. He writes for several magazines. His original maps and illustrations were featured in the Canada Parks book, Voyages - Canada’s Heritage Rivers, which won the National Resources Council of America Award for best environmental book of 1995. In 2007 he capped his career to date when he was presented with the prestigious Bill Mason Award for a lifetime of conservation efforts. Hap is currently developing 60 km. of wilderness hiking and cross country trails at the 700 acre nature reserve and resort, Red Leaves, on the shores of Lake Rosseau in Muskoka. He lives with his two young children and alternates between his cabin in Temagami and a Muskoka farm.

 Mr. Wilson has two messages for students: “After you finish school, buy a backpack and travel “and “One must persevere and not forget what is important ... Life is more about grounding, sharing and giving than making money. Never stop learning, never stop questioning. This is the formula for success and clarity and peace”.(http://www.kcss50th.com/index.cfm?pagepath=&id=32580)

"When I first ventured to Temagami in the early spring of 1970, paddling solo in a fourteen-foot cedar-canvas canoe, with the snow falling and the ice still partially on the lake, I passed through a portal into another world – Grey Owl’s world – and I knew I had found my home." - Hap Wilson, Grey Owl and Me, p. 18

"And all of the Voices of the Night are all around me, and swift rustlings, soft whisperings and almost noiseless noises encompass me about.

And the moon throws eerie shadows down along the aisles between the trees, where strange shapes and formless objects stand like waiting apparitions, where moonbeams lie in glimmering pools, and spots of light like eyes peer out from the darksome ambuscade.

On the shore, in a little group, some tiny beavers sit, and sniff, and look, and whisper low, like children seeing goblins in a graveyard." – Grey Owl, Tales Of An Empty Cabin 

“We stood at a long, sloping bedrock terrace; before us, riverside, was a neatly trimmed, brown log cabin, and set below the cabin, overlooking the falls, was a quaint canopied gazebo. And elderly man was waving us over. Excited to know more about this haven in the midst of rock and pine, miles from anywhere, we complied and met the man on the deck with a barrage of questions. He welcomed us by pouring freshly brewed cofe in real ceramic mugs.” ~ Hap Wilson, The Cabin, (upon viewing this wilderness cabin paradise for the very first time as a young lad)

Overview

One hundred years ago, a young doctor from Cleveland by the name of Robert Newcomb, travelled north to a place called Temagami. It was as far north as one could travel by any modern means. Beautiful beyond any simple expletive, the Temagami wilderness was a land rich in timber, clear-water lakes, fast flowing rivers, mystery and adventure. Newcomb befriended the local Aboriginals -- the Deep Water People -- and quickly discovered the best way to explore was by canoe. Bewitched by the spirit of an interior river named after the elusive brook trout, Majamagosibi, Newcomb had a remote cabin built overlooking one of her precipitous cataracts.

The cabin remained unused for decades, save for a few passing canoeists; it changed ownership twice and slowly began to show its age. The author discovered the cabin while on a canoe trip in 1970. Like Newcomb, Hap Wilson was lured to Temagami in pursuit of adventure and personal sanctuary. That search for sanctuary took the author incredible distances by canoe and snowshoe, through near death experiences and Herculean challenges. Secretly building cabins, homesteading and working as a park ranger, Wilson finally became owner of The Cabin in 2000.

Artist, author and adventurer, Hap Wilson is perhaps best known for his ecotourism/travel guidebooks. He has led over 300 wilderness expeditions in Canada, and served as actor Pierce Brosnan's personal outdoor trainer for the feature film Grey Owl. "This is a complex and fascinating story, beautifully told. At first, it draws us in because the author appears to be living the life we all dream of-a simpler life, close to nature, free from the stress and strain of our consumer culture. But the reality, with its myriad challenges, is what holds our attention and gives the book its substance."

- Judith Ruan, Muskoka Magazine|||This eBook is sold by Sony Electronics Inc.

(http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/hap-wilson/the-cabin/_/R-400000000000000498490)

Cabin Falls 

Famed because it is the location of Hap Wilson and Stephanie Aykroyd's cabin, Eskakwa Lodge. The most widely-used name for this falls is Hyde's Cabin, commonly shortened to Cabin Falls. 

The original log cabin was built in 1931 by a group, mostly consisting of Lake Temagami cottagers, led by Adrian Newcomb. Katharine Hyde was the last surviving member of the group. The falls have been less commonly known as Twin Sisters, and sometimes confused with Bridal Veil.

Twin Sisters Falls, home of the Hap Wilson Institute. I mean cabin. I'd say it blends in fairly well

Hap Wilson is another one of Canada's canoe heroes, If you have ever planned a trip to Missinaibi, or Temagami you probably have used his guide books. He has also written other books about camping and wilderness tripping. One of my favorites is "The Cabin: A Search for Personal Sanctuary". He illustrates all his books, whether it be maps of a route or wonderfully rich landscapes all done in pen and ink. His illustraion are so clear and beautiful! Mr. Wilson has quite the history in the wild, he has worked as a portage maintenance worker in the 70's (dream job.), a guide, fought the logging industry, owned a outfitters, and turned Temagami in to one of the world busiest canoe areas. (Posted by Chris Adamiak-http://www.damnyak.ca/2011/08/hap-wilson.html)

Cabin Falls. PHOTO HAP WILSON

(...) The Lady Evelyn River cabin is the only private property in the park, pre-dating its creation. Perched at the lip of Cabin Falls, it is probably one of the most idyllic and stunning wilderness cabins in eastern Canada. It is a setting in his 2005 memoir The Cabin. (...)http://www.ottertooth.com/Temagami/News/newsbriefs-064.htm

"And the tree that lived so long, stood patiently and waited for the end. The first axe struck. The tree gave no sign, but stood in all its grand composure and nobility to the last – and then swayed a little, and started on its journey to the ground. With a moaning, screaming cry, as its fibres ripped apart and its sweeping superstructure tore downwards through the air, the mighty conifer crashed to earth…" - Grey Owl, Tales of an Empty Cabin, “The Tree"

Print by Hap Wilson

Hap Wilson Website

http://www.sunriseadventures.com/

http://www.damnyak.ca/2011/08/hap-wilson.html
http://www.kcss50th.com/index.cfm?pagepath=&id=32580

http://reflectionsoutdoors.wordpress.com/tag/hap-wilson/

http://www.ottertooth.com/Temagami/Sites/south-channel1.htm

http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/hap-wilson/the-cabin/_/R-400000000000000498490