Section A and A New “Bay”

In 2016, John Frazier and Sam Morris teamed up to lead Section A to Ungava Bay, via the Leaf River. John and Sam also teamed up to write about the trip.

Part 1, by John Frazier

This year Section A paddled to Ungava Bay.  While the destination was new for both Section A and Keewaydin Temagami, the spirit of exploration – one of our oldest traditions – goes back to the woods of Maine in the late 19^th century and the inception of the camp. The first half of our route took us through the territory in northern Quebec, now familiar to Keewaydin’s Bay trips, up until our re-outfit site on Seal Lake, and then into new territory as we headed north over the height of land into the Ungava watershed.

We paddled 1000 kilometers from our put-in at Lac Des Oeufs to reach Tasiujaq, an Inuit village on Ungava Bay.  The Leaf River was about 350K long, and we wanted to paddle its entirety from the headwaters on Lac Minto to the sea.  The trip required we paddle roughly 350K further in the second half of the trip than Section A has paddled the past several summers, which meant distance-wise, we had traveled as far as the entirety of many of our other favorite bay trip routes before we had even reached the Leaf.

After our re-outfit plane came (a day late), we had our work cut out for us to get up to Lac Minto, heading straight north for several days over the height of land to water that flows east to Ungava, rather than west towards Hudson Bay.  The second “half” of the trip was to be roughly 130k longer than the first, and also required that we move more quickly to budget time appropriately for paddling on the bay.

The trip took the section through some breathtaking scenery, which changed as we moved from the lower reaches of the open forest sub-zone to the northern limits of the forest tundra sub-zone at the northern boundary of the Boreal forest, to the arctic shrub tundra.  As we traveled down the Leaf River, which is apparently only ice free for roughly 60 days per year despite its 556m³/s flow, we paddled along the liminal space between the arctic tundra and boreal forest vegetation zones, which made for dramatic views and cold water!  Despite its length, the fast moving water on the Leaf River was almost all paddle-able, save one portage half way down the river, which made for long multi-kilometer stretches of fun and intense rapids.

Ungava Bay was beautiful and dynamic, with arguably the largest tidal range in the world, the sea level rose and fell so dramatically it left kilometers of dry boulders and mud stretched out where hours before there had been deep water to shore.  The tide created obstacles for us as we paddled from the river to Tasiujaq such as a waterfall that flows different directions or disappears completely, depending on the tidal cycle.  The northern village of Tasiujaq marked the end of our trip, and also the first people we had seen (except the re-outfit pilot) in 1000K of paddling.  Then, we flew from this town of roughly 250 people to Kuujjuaq, with a population of about 2,500, where we got a flight to Montreal, a city of roughly 1.6 million.  It was surreal and jarring to see our trip-worn wannigans and double packs moving along the baggage carousel, to say the least.  Finally, we traveled by bus back to Temagami. The trip was done, the goal won, and many indelible memories made for all.  Thank you to the Section A campers, whose hard work and love of Keewaydin allowed for this spectacular trip to be successful!

Part 2, by Sam Morris

John’s piece should provide a sense of what made the trip special in terms of numbers—distance, days travelled, and so forth. To get an appropriate sense of the scale of this trek, I recommend taking the time to think about those numbers. My impulse is to add to his words with false modesty (“we only portaged three times on the Leaf,” or, “the second half proved a little tricky,” or, “to reach the Ungava watershed required some classic up and over portaging”), but in this case that bravado rings far too obviously untrue.

The truth is, I thought the second half of the summer was dang hard. Maybe I’m getting older and weaker, but I’d list the week-long push across the height-of-land after re-outfit, across Lac Minto, and into the headwind that barreled up the Leaf as the longest sustained effort I’ve done at Keewaydin. Anyone who was kind enough to stop me at paddle-in knows that I arrived on the island somewhat shell-shocked and hesitant to definitively answer that nagging question: “How was the trip?” The physical challenges, the frustration of headwinds and bad camping along the Leaf River (gone were the fields of caribou moss and sparse spruce forest), along with the deeply unmooring event of John’s back blow-out on the last days of the trip, colored the second half of the summer tough.

Still, I hesitate to leave my report there. “How was the trip?” It was hard, yes, but with some perspective, I’ve begun to consider that my answer might require a bit more nuance. Now, a full month and a half since paddle-in, thinking of the height-of-land into the Ungava watershed, I remember cresting the toughest alder-strewn hillside, breath ragged and smelling of wool wet with my own sweat, to behold far below me: shimmering with the gray light of a cloudy afternoon, Lac 222±, the high point above Minto, separated from seemingly endless ponds and lakes by somber swells of Canadian Shield. The challenge is there in the memory, yes, but it’s inextricable from the beauty of the place, and the feeling of chipping away at our goal.

Keewaydin is an unusual community for many reasons, but perhaps most appealing to me is our willingness to value challenge as an aesthetic. We like stories about folks achieving feats of endurance and strength in the woods, and we really like stories about our people overcoming obstacles and growing from the experience. It’s why John and I haven’t abandoned the craggy coasts of Quebec for the sprawling rivers of Ontario; there’s just something fundamentally right about Section A campers facing down steep, brushy portages, and long, thirsty, salty paddles on the ocean to achieve the Bay. For us, a good trip, a beautiful trip, is a trip that offers appropriate challenge through its terrain.

On the last, harrowing day of travel this summer, we raced time to pass a dangerous tidal waterfall and plant ourselves, exhausted but safe, on a shale beach within striking distance of Tasiujaq. Behind the beached canoes, the retreating sea exposed an expanse of boulders and mud. We had a tidal cycle to wait before we could move again, and only the water that remained in our bottles, so we wandered off the beach to find something potable to drink. We walked through fields of purple and pink wildflowers in a light sea breeze until we reached the blinding white of a quartz-strewn mountaintop that yielded views of Leaf Bay, Baie Rouge, and the undulating rises of Canadian Shield. We stood there as the trip ended, thoroughly parched, but drinking in the beauty of it all.

Better Than An Internship:

Takeaways From Being A Songa Staff

By: Jenn Hare, ‘99

In recent years, the pressure on college students to take on summer internships towards a specific career has become stronger and stronger. The prevailing wisdom is that padding a resume and getting one’s foot in an industry door are essential to career success. We who have worked on the Songadeewin staff for multiple summers know better. Summers spent working at Songa are rewarding and fun; moreover, they instill confidence, skills, and strength in young women. We recently surveyed over sixty current and former staff to hear what they had to say about the benefits of working at Songadeewin. The responses we received illuminated the countless ways in which Songa positively impacts the lives of staff.

The ability to stay calm under pressure stands out as a major skill staff acquire from their time at camp. Veteran staff Mel Joyce, who is now an admissions director at an independent school, wrote:

“When I think back to my most challenging moments on Songa trips, it makes navigating normal life seem easy. I literally have a specific moment on a portage that was the most physically and emotionally challenging moment of my life – whenever anything really challenging comes up in my life I reflect back on that moment and remember how tough I can be.”

Other staff echoed this, saying that problem-solving at work now is easy for them because of the training and experience they had leading Songa trips. Successfully organizing a trip and solving problems on the fly clearly give Songa staff the confidence and wherewithal to confront anything they might face in the workplace. As former staff and now medical student Jesse Briggs put it, “There’s nothing quite like running into unexpected issues in the wilderness to teach you how to improvise.”

Staff also find that working at Songa gives them invaluable experience working with a variety of people. Former staff Liz Mott, currently an advertising event manager, wrote about how much she learned to work collaboratively.

“Whether it was working on a more intimate scale with my cabin/trip co-staff or on a large scale with the longhouse group or the staff as a whole, it’s valuable moving forward in a career to have had an experience living and working with people in a variety of different situations.”

At Songa, a huge portion of staff training is devoted to building teams and learning how to work and live in a community successfully. Staff continue to hone these skills throughout the summer as they build partnerships with trip and cabin co-staff and are coached by staff leaders through any communication issues that arise. Additionally, staff learn to mediate conflict between campers as well as how to manage group dynamics. Staff reported that all these experiences made them much more empathetic and flexible when working with others. Ali Hare, a longtime staff who has also worked in child welfare, noted:

“More than anything else, Songa taught me how to work with other people. I’ve found that when working with difficult people or under difficult circumstances, I’m patient and tolerant when others are not.” When staff come back for multiple summers, they build on those skills and become more and more adept at collaboration.”

Why is Songa such a special place to work? The balance of challenge and support that Songa offers makes it a uniquely fertile environment for personal growth. Songa asks a lot of its staff – to work 14 hour days with energy and cheer, to organize and execute weeklong trips into the wilderness, to teach with love and expertise, to pivot and re-adjust plans midstream when situations change. However, at every step, Songa offers the most supportive environment possible for its staff. The culture of Songa is one of encouragement, where effort, determination and personal triumphs are constantly celebrated. This culture fosters growth in staff as well as campers. Furthermore, pre-season staff training creates bonds of friendship which make us feel we are never addressing any problems alone – our friends and mentors are always there to help. Kate Ward worked on staff for many years before becoming an urban planner. She noted that

“Songa is a unique environment where you can push yourself, and grow – but with the safety net of all the other awesome staff to be there to catch you if things don’t work out.”

Longtime staff, current leadership team member and middle school teacher Susannah White mentioned the “trusting relationships and comfort with camp that [she] built over time,” which allowed her to feel safe enough to keep taking risks like public speaking and creative problem-solving.

Indeed, perhaps the most worthwhile thing gained from working at Songa is the fortifying relationships with fellow staff. Fellow staff become your biggest cheerleaders, the first people you call with sad or exciting news, and role models who inspire you to be your best self. As Mel Joyce wrote, “Songa friends have been my roommates, world traveling companions, sounding boards, co-workers, and family.” Another longtime staff, middle school teacher Hazel Stauffer, noted, “I gained the best friends of my life. I also gained a mentor in Ellen who is a wealth of knowledge and insight.” The women of Songadeewin are brilliant, hard-working and strong of heart. What could be more enriching than to spend summer after summer working by their sides?

Jenn Hare, ‘99 was a charter camper at Songa on Dunmore.  She joined the staff in 2005 and earned her ten-year jacket in 2015.  She has been on the Leadership Team since 2011 as Longhouse Leader for Nawaiwan.  At the end of last summer she and Lolo Cappio, co-Longhouse Leader for Willoughby reached out to former staff to gather information in the article.

Dear Keewaydineesi,

It is with great sadness that I bring you the news of the passing of Abby Fenn. He died early this morning while asleep at his apartment at Eastview in Middlebury. He was 93 years old.

A memorial service will be held for Abby on Sunday, August 30 at 11:00am at Keewaydin Dunmore. A service at his church, the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, will take place later this spring.

Another Keewaydin giant has passed. Perhaps Waboos, Abby and Slim are reunited again, making plans for their next summer camp.

Keewaydinly,

Pete