Llamas, Anyone?
by Robert Langley

The Spirit of the Eagle

By Paul Woodcock

This incident happened on the Hays River in Canada. We had been informed that we could camp no closer than twenty-five miles from the take out at York factory on the Hudson Bay because of the danger of Polar Bears. We set up camp and as we were pitching our tents we discovered some Polar Bear scat. It was old and the wind was blowing so hard we could not move camp anyway so we spent a nervous night on the river. The glow of a forest fire on the horizon did not add to our peace of mind. We got up at sunrise so we could get on the river before the winds started to blow. We stopped at noon for a long lunch and to rest up after 5 hours of paddling through the smoldering forest. The winds started to pick up when we started to paddle after lunch. When the tides started to come in, it made paddling even harder.

Dana had gone close to shore to try and find and an easier route. We were in mid river when I looked over to the shore and saw the largest eagle I have ever seen sitting in a tree branch hanging from the bank over the river. He just sat there as Dana approached and when he was directly beneath him he flew down river and landed in another tree. I could see him watching Dana as he paddled toward him. One more time he waited until Dana was directly beneath him and then flew down river and waited in a tree almost as if he were saying, "Come on, old man; I know you can make it." He repeated this for almost two hours until the river took a right turn and we were not paddling directly into the wind. We could see the dock at York factory. He then circled overhead and flew away. This was one of the most difficult days of paddling I have ever done and I don't know if we could have made it with out the spirit of the eagle guiding us down the river.

the earth is my mother.
the sky is my father
the animals are my brothers
the canoe lets me get closer to them
Paul.