Thursday, March 1, 2012

Hap Wilson's The Cabin back in print

We just got in new copies of Hap Wilson's book "The Cabin" which I am happy to see are back in print!!

Back in 2005 we had both Hap Wilson and Soren Bondrup-Nielsen in the store for a book signing. The year before Soren had written a great book called "Winter on Diamond: An encounter with the Temagami Wilderness" and at the time Hap Wilson's new book "The Cabin: A Search for Personal Sanctuary" had just come out. Unknown to all of us the 2 brothers who had built the Cabin that Both Soren and Hap had spent a winter in some 25 years before both showed up for the book signing. Below is a picture of all 4 gentlemen.



The Cabin: A Search for Personal Sanctuary
Hap Wilson

One hundred years ago, a young doctor from Cleveland by the name of Robert Newcomb, travelled north to a place called Temagami. It was as far north as one could travel by any modern means. Beautiful beyond any simple expletive, the Temagami wilderness was a land rich in timber, clear-water lakes, fast flowing rivers, mystery and adventure. Newcomb befriended the local Aboriginals -- the Deep Water People -- and quickly discovered the best way to explore was by canoe.

Bewitched by the spirit of an interior river named after the elusive brook trout, Majamagosibi, Newcomb had a remote cabin built overlooking one of her precipitous cataracts. The cabin remained unused for decades, save for a few passing canoeists; it changed ownership twice and slowly began to show its age. The author discovered the cabin while on a canoe trip in 1970. Like Newcomb, Hap Wilson was lured to Temagami in pursuit of adventure and personal sanctuary. That search for sanctuary took the author incredible distances by canoe and snowshoe, through near death experiences and Herculean challenges. Secretly building cabins, homesteading and working as a park ranger, Wilson finally became owner of The Cabin in 2000. Artist, author and adventurer, Hap Wilson is perhaps best known for his ecotourism/travel guidebooks.

He has led over 300 wilderness expeditions in Canada, and served as actor Pierce Brosnan's personal outdoor trainer for the feature film Grey Owl."This is a complex and fascinating story, beautifully told. At first, it draws us in because the author appears to be living the life we all dream of-a simpler life, close to nature, free from the stress and strain of our consumer culture. But the reality, with its myriad challenges, is what holds our attention and gives the book its substance."
- Judith Ruan, Muskoka Magazine


Winter on Diamond: An encounter with the Temagami Wilderness
Soren Bondrup-Nielsen

Winter on Diamond is the story of two young men who winter deep in the Temagami Wilderness, neighbouring with whiskey-jacks and the tall red pines. It is the remembrance of a fifty-year old biologist who discovered the power in life by lifting his feet one snowshoe-step at a time across a season of cold. Winter on Diamond, redefines the meaning of adventure, where the surprise is not the danger encountered but the impact experienced. No longer is it necessary to conquer mountains. Sometimes it’s more powerful to rest in a cabin with your closest friend, eat bannock, cut firewood, play cribbage, feed the red black vole that befriends you and trek through the cold night mesmerized by an outburst of stars.

2 comments:

  1. I loved 'the Cabin' it whisped me into the wilderness treasure of Temagami, I truly felt like I was there... Super excited to read Winter on Diamond!
    ps. great picture of the men!

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  2. Thanks for the Comment Tera! It is a great picture and I thought I had lost it! Really happy I was able to find it again. Cheers

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