Algonquin Outfitters

Brazil to Algonquin Park

Algonquin Reconnection Experience

by Simon Plestenjak, São Paulo, Brazil

The canoe trip I did with my brother in Algonquin park was a truly invigorating experience. Four years ago, I moved from Slovenia to Brazil, and my brother moved to Canada. Since than we were dreaming of meeting each other for an adventure. Living in Montreal, he discovered how popular canoeing is in Canada and he heard the best canoeing experiences were found Algonquin Park. After research the park together, we knew this was the place for our great canoeing adventure.

I flew to Montreal from São Paulo, Brazil, a gigantic concrete city with over 16 million inhabitants, dying to set my foot into nature and get away from it all. I was expecting to reconnect with nature and my brother, but the best thing was that I reconnected with myself as well.

As a professional photographer, shooting stories about nature for magazines such as National Geographic, I usually do reporting as an independent, invisible observer, with lots of gear. This time it was different. There was no client, no obligations, no deadlines, and the story was personal this time. I only took my small mirrorless digital camera with one fixed lens. We rented a light carbon-fiber canoe and all the rest of the gear at Algonquin Outfitters. Lightweight as it gets, we did four days trip starting at Canoe Lake, we camped at Little Doe, Sunbeam and Burnt Island Lake and paddled back to Canoe Lake.

The daily routine of paddling, building a tent, picking up wood, making fire and cooking showed us how busy a normal day out of civilization can be. Living in nature is a full time job. At the end of the day we were tired and always quickly felt asleep in deep silence of the woods, so silent we could even hear a pack wolves howling from miles away.

Coming from Brazil, a land of infinite natural attractions, the obvious difference from Brazilian natural parks was Algonquin’s organization. Well-defined rules, that do not keep visitors from nature, but rather regulate visits in a way they not affect nature. “Leave no trace” says it all. I could say this is the best way to really get “into the wild” in a safe way, accessible to anyone who loves getting into the rhythm of nature.