The White Silhouette

The White Silhouette

By: Megan Wells

This article brings to light a wide array of things that one might face on a long lasting backpacking trip through the wilderness. From challenging endeavours, all the way to some of the most beautiful sights imaginable.

The article is about a one hundred kilometre trek along the “Killarney Loop” that was faced by an adventurous group of people and their trusty half Rottweiler, half German shepherd dog Ekka. The group consisted of four people. Megan Wells; the writer of this article who was doing this for the first time, Jackson Huang; the trips photographer and was apparently meant for such a trip, Robert; a polish mountaineer, and Joanne; a woman who would “live out her life in a canoe” according to the writer of the article. All these people worked together in an outdoor outfitter shop and were looking for an experience that would leave them aching for weeks because they loved the wilderness just that much. Well, they got what they asked for. Along the way, they were faced with many different things to overcome. Of course they expected most of these issues, but they were far worse than the group originally thought they would be. Issues they faced were common things like hunger, exhaustion, improperly prepared equipment, and general discomfort. Although they also had to overcome wretched hiking conditions, such as at one point they were walking along a mountain slope so slippery that it could have been said to be related to walking along the backs of hundreds of great whales. As well as the unfortunate event of a sly white fox raiding some of their food supply on the third night of the trip. Even with the problems they went up against, the trip really helped to open up their hearts even more for the beauty of the wilderness. Their adventure was finished in a week as they planned it to be and even though they faced some hardships, they were able to slap on smiles at the end of it while they looked back at some of the amazing things they saw and experienced.

After reading this story, I feel like I really reflected upon it in my own mind and it got me thinking about how much I really love the outdoors. Also, from reading over the amazing experiences that they had, I just can't wait anymore for the day that I can go on adventures like that for myself. I especially loved that they brought Ekka (the dog) along and how much he was able to help them along the way with encouragement through his own motivation. I chose this story in particular solely based upon the fact that I myself want to be better prepared the next time I go on a backpacking trip in the wild, and I thought this story would help me with that. One thing I can definitely that I took away from this article is that I should try to be as best prepared as possible before heading out on such a trip. Also that if I have an eight year old camping stove, I should test it before bringing along the extra weight.

Wells, Megan. “The White Silhouette” Explore: Canada's Outdoor Adventure Magazine. Calgary, Alberta. Peter Thompson. December 4, 1998. (pg, 43-47). Print.