There’s a beautiful wild world to discover in Canada

        February is what you make it.
        Love it, hate it, endure it, embrace it. It’s a matter of aptitude and attitude. It’s the shortest month so, even if you dread its arrival, it comes and goes before you know it.
        If you’re staying put, stock up on good winter gear and head outdoors. Enjoy the trails in your local Metroparks. Celebrate February’s designation as National Bird Feeding Month by doing just that. Join in one of America’s favorite activities by keeping your backyard feeders topped off. Stand back and enjoy the action.
        No feeders? Get some started but do some basic research first on what type of feeder is best to attract the species you want to see. If in doubt, feed black sunflowers seeds – they attract the widest variety of desirable birds. Make sure you know how to keep the feeders clean, and how to locate and protect feeders to minimize the dangers of attracting predators, especially wandering cats.
        While you’re enjoying the comings and goings of wildlife, dream a bit. Consider planning a trip, maybe a canoe trip to Canada’s North Woods, a fantastic Canadian Shield landscape laced with pristine streams and rivers that tumble over ledges in beautiful waterfalls and empty into scenic wilderness lakes.
        Let Hap Wilson, one of Canada’s premier outdoorsmen and explorers, show you the way. He’s parlayed his tens of thousands of miles on Canadian rivers and lakes; combined those experiences with his skills as a writer, artist, and mapmaker and added his extensive knowledge of and sensitivity to both the environment and the spiritual significance of the wilderness to First Nation people. The results are a selection of excellent guidebooks as well as stories based on his personal experiences that are important to enjoying those rivers safely and with an understanding of their significance.
        At the heart of his life adventures is the huge Temagami wilderness anchored by Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park. It is a canoeing paradise typically accessed by float plan out of the settlement of Temagami, located northwest of the better-known Algonquin Provincial Park.
        “With more than 3500 kilometers of intersecting canoe routes, the Temagami wilderness area has long been known as a canoeist’s Mecca and is one of the largest in Canada,” Wilson said. “Temagami, meaning ‘deep water by the shore,’ is known for its deep, clear-water lakes, fast-flowing rivers, abrupt escarpments, towering trees and rich First Nation history.”
        The canoe routes are part of the First Nation heritage, as well, as are many of the routes that Wilson has reopened and mapped.
        “Also known as N’daki Menan or ‘Our Land’ to the Teme Augama Anishnabe of Lake Temagami, these very canoe routes are known as the ‘nastawgan’ – the oldest known, still intact, aboriginal water trail system in the world, dating back 5,000 years,” Wilson said.
        There’s a beautiful wild world waiting to be discovered in Canada, much of it in Ontario and much of it within an easy day’s drive.
        Start your trip of a lifetime at www.HapWilson.com. If you do, be sure to investigate the Eco-Lodge and Guided Trips.