When I was eight, I really wanted an emu.
I figured having an emu would be pretty awesome- kind of like have the most amazing dog on the block, except that my dog would be six feet tall, from Australia and be the only living member of the flightless bird genus Dromaius, distantly but not directly related to ostriches. I got the idea from seeing an ad in the local paper for a farmer selling emus (for meat, actually, although I didn't know this at the time) and figured I could probably learn to ride it or teach it to pull something like a donkey. I presented this plan to my parents, complete with research on approximately how much it would cost to feed said emu a month, a diagram of a house we could build for it in the backyard, and the various benefits of emu ownership. These benefits did not include any mention of the 6-inch long sickle-like claw used to ward off dingos in the Australian outback or their notoriously unpleasant temperament.
Despite this misleading and highly enthusiastic sales pitch on my behalf, my parents said no. I was thoroughly insulted- my plan was water tight, emus are awesome, and if we got two we could breed them and sell them like the man in the ad. I would even help to pay for it myself with my allowance. The answer remained no (and always remained, even when we lived on the farm and had a motley assortment of goats, chickens, cats, donkeys, dogs, cows and horses) and I was thoroughly offended by their criticism and out and out ridicule of my emu-related enterprising spirit.
When I got older, of course, I realized that having an emu for a pet is freaking ridiculous and that my parents were absolutely right to reject the idea (although this recognition does not stop them from bringing it up every Christmas). The Emu Debacle gave way in time to such other schemes as catching a raccoon for a pet by digging a pit-fall trap in the garden, setting spring snares to catch rabbits using my mother's yarn, spear fishing for minnows in shallow water, and begging my parents to allow me to have cattail roots for dinner (they are thoroughly edible; there's no reason, technically, that wouldn't have worked). Later in life, when I was old enough not to want a pet raccoon (who am I kidding, I still want a raccoon...) and my parents could no longer foil my brilliant schemes, I did things like getting a motorcycle when I had never even driven a car by myself and taking said 250 cc motorcycle on wild forays for days at a time, by myself, including a several-thousand km trip to the East Coast where I slept in the ditch most of the way. While my crazy ideas were slightly less crazy as I grew up, I discovered that they were often workable if not practical... if I was prepared to put the blood, sweat, tears, money, time, effort and madness into it to make it happen. Whether it's a good idea or not... it's always memorable.
Which brings me to The Big Idea Adventure. What am I scheming now?
Well, I am a woman with two real loves : road-tripping and roughing it in the bush, and while I have experience with both, I have been looking for a way to combine them in the wildest, most ill-advised manner possible- and that's where the Big Idea Adventure comes in. In the summer of 2012, precise launch date pending, I will spend an entire summer outdoors, in the great deep dark woods, hiking, canoeing and backpacking the greatest, toughest, strangest, wildest and most beautiful trails in Canada's parks, from the most remote arctic in Nunavut to the rainy shores of British Columbia to the perennial favourites of Northern Ontario. And I will do it alone, with just myself and my dog, Herman, for company.
Obviously, this is not a task to be taken lightly, as the backwoods are dangerous, especially in the Far North, and this will involve a lot of planning and work – I've got to get into great shape, hon my backwoods skills to a fine point and plan this thing out to the very last piss break. You can follow my training, hear the stories, and participate in The Big Idea Adventure by suggesting places to add to my journey, equipment you think I might need, and sharing your own camping/wilderness adventure. The Big Idea Adventure is intended to involve the online community and be socially-minded, so feel free to contribute!
The precise rules of this expedition are still pending, however, the Big Idea Adventure will:
- Cover at least one park in each province and territory
- Be undertaken in an environmentally friendly manner using the code of Leave No Trace Camping *
- Be photo documented
- Result in a book
- Update every Sunday and, most importantly of all:
The Big Idea is a Big Adventure!
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