Greetings from all of us at Chocpaw Expeditions.
Fall 2007
Greetings from South River. Do hope everyone is having a great fall. Lots of rain right now so slowing us down a bit. But running dogs & doing some trail & camp work as we prepare for the winter.
The phones are ringing! The e mail is humming! It’s booking time again! Reminded me I needed to let everyone know what was happening here at Chocpaw. Also time to remind everyone to BOOK/CONFIRM your time for this winter. Already we have weekends booked out & some weeks are full. The fall is almost done & snow will be on us soon.
The guiding staff was spread all over the country from Alaska to British Columbia, to Nova Scotia to Alberta. Several were in this area dazzling the tourists with their skills & knowledge. (See our Alumni Page) Most are planning to return this winter.
Have added some new staff this year. One from New Zealand, one from Australia, one from the UK & of course our Canadian talent. Some very interesting people who will bring a wide range of experiences to the guiding team. The staff page should be updated soon.South River celebrated its 100th year. Had a parade that was well represented with about 40 entries. We put in a display & enjoyed the day. We have been in South River 23 years. South River was established as a logging community. Logging remains a big part of the economy of this community as you could see last winter.
I have been busy in the kennel & organizing & repairing equipment. Only 3 litters to this point. Meaghan, Rene’s outstanding little leader produced 6 pups fathered by Friar, a Euro hound from Lou Serre. Tecoa & Micah teamed up to produce 5 pups. A surprise litter of 2 from Embla rounds out the pups. Stef swears he is not responsible for this. All of these pups will be running in teams this winter.
We had a super response this year to our adopt a dog program. For the first time in 5 years we are below 300 dogs. Still 10 or so to go this summer. But with pups being put in the yard we will be back over 300 by late fall. Still can’t turn away a good dog, despite what I say about reducing the kennel size, & I do expect to add a few really good dogs from late cuts to racing teams this fall. I am going to put up on the site the dogs that will be available this spring (2008). Next spring will be another big drive to find homes for our older dogs.
Learned this summer that we are no longer the largest operation in the world today. Had an application from a fellow who worked in a sledding kennel in Finnland that had 412 dogs. Now that is a lot of dogs, 60 more than at our largest. . We are not going to try & challenge that.
We had a slow start to the winter running our first trips in mid January, a month later than usual. With some creative scheduling Kate was able to schedule in most people/groups into an 8 week period. We did almost as much in 8 weeks as we usually do in 14 weeks. Very, very intense. Didn’t really get a lot of snow & therefore it disappeared quickly in mid March. Seems we have a winter like that every 7 years. Last was in 2000 when we had a 5 week winter & in 1994 we had a short winter . If weather patterns prevail then the next few years should have lots of snow.
We now have use of a cabin on our trail system that we used several times last winter. Can accommodate up to 12. Nice location on a little lake close to the park. See the Program & Rates Section for rates & programs using the cabin.
As well we have reached agreement with Spirit Point on Hinsburger Lake also near to the park. This is a brand new facility that can accommodate up to 60 people at a time. It includes a bunk house style accommodation for groups, a lodge accommodation complete with self contained cooking/dining facilities, a large dining hall & a rec hall. It is located on the northern extreme of our trail system so will give a few new trails. We are very excited about the possibilities for new trails & programs for the dog sledding & expanding our programs to spring, summer & fall.
With the cabin & the lodge we can now offer some new programs doing day trips & returning each night to the warmth of the lodge or cabin.
For new programs & rates see our Programs & Rates Page.
We have enough interest in the Moosonee trips for this winter that we will likely run 2 trips. If you are interested in these trips call Kate or Kathy. Destinations are the native & historical communities of Moosonee & Moose Factory. One of these trips will go from Cochrane to Attiwapiskat. 20 days on trail. These trips are a little more remote than our Algonquin trips.
Plans for this winter include a new camp so we will have 5 camps. Not sure whether in the park or on crown land but we are exploring options. The Dead Horse Trails should be available this winter & that is one area we are looking. We are expanding out trail system with trails running from the new lodge in the Tyne Lake system that will join to our existing trails at Wet Lake. With more snow our Park trails will be more usable. Perhaps the biggest contribution to our trail system is that the 4 logging companies cutting on our trail system last winter will be gone this winter. The bush will be ours once more.
Rene had another very successful racing season establishing again that he is the best in Ontario with a second ( losing by seconds ) at Eldorado, a first in the 120 mile at Marmora, a first in the 80 mile at Kearney. He was 5th in the 200 mile in the UP 200 in Michigan, but won the 60 mile in Fort Kent, Maine. I will tackle the race page next as it is 2 years behind. Some interesting stories to be told there.
We are also going to offer some fall activities. We did some cart running last winter with small groups when there wasn’t enough snow. As well we will do some training & conditioning of dogs using the carts. We run the dogs until the end of June on the carts & start again the end of August breaking pups & putting teams together.
We will offer some fall camping & trekking & survival skills. Great time to be in the bush. The colours are spectacular. In the winter there will be options for snowshoeing & cross country skiing from the lodge.
See the Program & Rates page for more information.
Also used dogs & pulkas with one group in early January.. That is a dog pulling a small sled & supplies & a skier attached to the sled skiing behind. Very popular in some Scandinavian countries. Understand they even use reindeer instead of dogs in some cases.
Every summer we do 2 or 3 canoe trips & each summer we get more requests for canoe trips. Three of our guides are making long term plans to be in this area for a few years. That has always been the drawback to trying to run canoe programs. Hard to keep staff around for 2 or 3 trips.
With 3 qualified & experience canoe people in the area we are now ready to offer canoeing next spring, summer & fall. Also the addition of the wilderness lodge gives us place to receive groups & a quiet lake to teach basic canoeing skills. We will do flat water & some white water. We are more into nature programs & family trips than thrill programs. We use the less used north west section of the park where there is ample opportunity to see moose, deer, bear & wolf.
We have also partnered with World Challenge to bring educational/recreational programs to school groups age 6 to 19. World Challenge philosophies compliment our beliefs in providing outdoor recreational programs. It is based on a belief that experiential learning will allow anyone regardless of age, or background, or position in society to develop & learn. World Challenge believes that whether students engage in a one day program or a 6 week world adventure, they are embarking on a life changing experience. We have always tried to deliver a program that will have a life long impact. So it begins. Our new facility will become the northern base for World Challenge programs. Chocpaw staff will be involved in delivering World Challenge programs. Together we will deliver exciting & challenging programs to Ontario youth.
Check out World Challenge at http://internet-canada.world-challenge.co.uk/home.asp?tabis=1.
So as you can see we have not been idle this summer. We have added some components to our programs that will elevate the product to a higher level. We will continue to deliver the high standard of product & service we are known to deliver. But there will be more options & all year programs.
We are all looking forward to the challenge of getting these new programs up & running. Of course it is fall & that brings the excitement of running dogs, doing some conditioning & training pups.
We look forward to seeing everyone this winter.
Keep your feet on the runners,
Paul
Chocpaw Expeditions