This is a story about a slow, steady, strenuous all female adventure. Forty days spent canoe tripping in the Canadian wilderness.
Wood On Water: An all girl canoe tripping documentary
Wood on Water is also about the joy of nature and what happens when women and teenagers get together far from the stresses of everyday life. Over six weeks of summer, this all-girl group paddle traditional wood-canvas canoes through the remote northern wilderness, travelling a network of streams, lakes, rivers, mudholes and muskeg bogs, with one resupply via float plane. Only one thing is certain the 12 young women taking on this adventure, nine of whom are teenagers, certainly won’t see each other at best. Think bug-bitten, cold and boob-deep in muskeg bog while carrying an incredibly heavy canoe on their heads.
At the heart of this story is an American summer camp – but not as most people know it. The camp is called Keewaydin and it’s one of the oldest operating summer camp in North America. It’s steeped in history and operates with the same vision as when it was established in 1893, which is to offer “a programme focused on wilderness canoe tripping, with minimum time spent in base camp”. As a filmmaker I’m interested in how something established over a century ago to promote manliness and “roughing it in the woods” can still be relevant for teenage girls today.
The trailer from the film Wood On Water to be released in 2021. Last year we ran a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign and achieved 111% of our goal. We had 149 backers and are so grateful for each and every single person’s support and generosity! We generated over $32,000 to help make the film a reality and fund a labyrinth of logistical hurdles, including float planes and bush roads far from my home in the UK. With producer Max Christopher on board we also managed to secure a great sponsorship partnership with NRS. View the full film below>>>
The style of tripping is counter-cultural, its essence slow and purposeful. The group equipment is the same style of gear as that used over a hundred years ago. We cook on open wood fires and carry canvas duffel bags and wannigans – large, sturdy traditional wooden boxes. Gear is portaged using tumplines – a leather strap positioned on top of the head aligning the weight down the spine rather than on shoulder straps. And we paddle in beautiful wood-canvas canoes following routes that are centuries old.
I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say Canada was born on the back of a canoe. The First Nations people built birch-bark canoes and then showed the non-indigenous people who came over how to travel in them. Birch-bark canoes were in turn used as the template for the wood-canvas canoes developed in the nineteenth century when demand for boats outstripped the supply of birch bark.
Much of the story of Canada’s fur trade unfolded along the country’s many great waterways, with canoes as the dominant transportation carrying goods and fur to the trading ports of Hudson Bay. Indigenous hunters, early explorers and voyageurs tirelessly paddled their canoes in search of furs, which led to the mapping of the interior lakes and rivers of Canada. It’s on these trails and transportation routes developed by the necessity to trade that this story is told. As we paddle the majestic Eastmain River we’re in indigenous Cree territory and as our experiences mesh with theirs the route is kept open.
Filmmakers Perspective – Hannah Maia
When I heard about this story I was captivated from the get-go, simultaneously wondering what kind of teenage girl would really want to forego all of life’s luxuries and spend their summer in the wilderness – and yet knowing as a teenager I probably would have been one of them.
Fast-forward to last summer and I was one of them. I am also more than twice their age, hurtling toward 40, with the youngest of the nine girls only 15. Youthful shrieks, goofiness and the boundless energy of the teenage girls I travelled with were a constant reminder that I am – relatively – old.
I am interested in what can be learnt from trips like these. How do we confront the reality of feeling small in big remote places? Can it challenge our perspective of the world and our place within it? What can be gained from experiences like these that are slow, purposeful, strenuous and exhausting?”
I also feel different because I’m a mum now with a toddler waiting for me at home and my body is oh-so different, too. Joints ache, creek and swell. Whereas these teenage bodies seem to rebound from precarious twists and tumbles over rocks and tree roots, I’m acutely aware that a twisted knee on a portage trail might provide lingering pain for months, not just a day or two. I’m therefore careful, considered and cautious; while my pride insists I not be the slow or weak link of the expedition. I’m different from these girls and yet the same.
The trip is filled with emotional highs and lows and I watch in awe as young women carry heavy loads down mini rock cliffs. The best bit has been witnessing the fun, laughter and lightness that occurs when women get together far from the stresses of everyday life. It’s empowering to be surrounded by women all proud and happy to be using their body for strength. To be sweaty and dirty is expected.
``When young women meet in the wilderness and get the chance to explore their physical surroundings and their inner selves, free from mainstream society's expectations - that's when precious moments of palpable, uninhibited joy and self worth can be found. As women, it can be a positive challenge to step up our game and a moment in our short existence, where we can reclaim what we want...and what we need.``
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