Aboyne Canoe Club
Get Wet
The 2008 David Thompson Brigade
By Dave Latham & Siân Loftus
The David Thompson Brigade, made up of 26’ North Canoes set off on 10th May from Rocky
Mountain House in Alberta on a 63 day journey to Old Fort William in Ontario in time
for the annual Great Rendezvous on the 12th 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 Canada.
Starting in 1784 David Thompson spent almost 3 decades exploring, surveying and mapping more than 1.2 million square miles of largely uncharted territory travelling to the Pacific and back to Fort William on the shore of Lake Superior by canoe, sled, horse and foot.
We joined the 2008 Brigade as it entered Saskatchewan in late May and spent 20 days
travelling as part of the Borealis Canoe Club Team down the North Saskatchewan River,
across Lakes Winnipegosis and Lake Manitoba and then the Assiniboine and Red Rivers into
Winnipeg. About 1200 km on the water.
In the 26’ boat the paddling is not a technical challenge but keeping a rhythm with 5 others at 60 strokes a minute knowing you have hours to go requires a certain choice of attitude. Siân’s longest day was 104km.
Not all our Journey was by canoe. As a small team, when we were not paddling we were the support team driving the truck and trailer, setting up camp and supporting the other paddlers.
There are many memorable aspects to being involved in an adventure like this; the rivers lined with the remnants of winter's ice, the hot days on lakes that you just can’t see the end of, the forests and wildlife, the early morning starts, the physical and psychological effort, the friendships formed.
The memory that really sticks is that of the welcome freely given in the communities
through which we travelled. Eating bison stew and bannock, duck in Duck Bay,
wild dancing in The Pas, and the Drumming ..
So where next? Anybody interested in the Yukon Quest or Outrigger Canoe racing in Hawaii?
You can find out more about this trip on www.2008thompsonbrigade.com
The still images on this page come from the collection of Dave Latham
