In the bull's-eye of an echo

Abstract

Algonquin Provincial Park in central Ontario contains thousands of lakes, moose, and bears. Located on 7,630 square kilometers of land in the Canadian Shield, the park is an area of transition between northern deciduous forests and southern coniferous forest. Car campers visit the edges of the forest, but the interior portions are completely cut off from civilization. In mid-July of 2006 the staff and campers of Camp Kennedy headed to Algonquin to spend six days canoeing its lakes and rivers. I was working on staff that summer and had been helping to prepare the campers for the trip since they arrived at Kennedy. It was a Jewish camp, and I was doing my best to conjure up that dormant part of myself in order to better connect with the campers. We were all very excited when we left the upper peninsula of Michigan in the camp’s green school bus. With Jeff, the director of the camp, at the wheel, we passed through the Sault, headed onto Canadian soil, and drove along the highway that runs north of the Huron’s Georgian Bay. Ten hours after leaving camp, we sleepily rolled into the northwestern portion of the Algonquin forest.