Reflections on the Quetico

-from an old Quetico traveler in Colorado

What is there about this land of bright waters and dark portages that keeps drawing us back year after year? Sometimes the attraction is so strong that it seems that rather than us traveling to hidden places in the wilds and leaving fleeting footprints, that instead, the wilds have traveled to hidden places in our souls and left indelible yearnings.

Perhaps the answer lies in the extremes. The Quetico is capable of dishing out high winds, bad weather, and strenuous carries that can test the very limits of your canoeing ability, common sense and stamina. But afterwards, there is great satisfaction in knowing that you measured up to the challenges and that the Quetico allowed you to pass. And when the Quetico blesses you with calm winds and blue skies, and the only manmade sounds are the canoe slicing through the water and the dip-dip of the paddles, it is then that the Quetico gives you the very best that it has to offer: tranquility and peace of mind....... Strenuous challenges at one extreme, and peace of mind at the other.....a rare dichotomy. And one of the few places, where you can experience them both, is in a place they call.......Quetico.