PADuncan

Trip of a Lifetime

This July Hurontario will be offering the amazing Hood River wilderness trip for eight trippers who are 15, 16 and 17 years old. Take this unique opportunity to explore Canada’s true north.

With its entire length located north of the Arctic Circle, Nunavut’s Hood River offers trippers a unique look at one of Canada’s most remote regions, the Barrenlands. Campers canoe through treeless vistas populated by caribou, muskoxen, grizzly bear, wolves and a huge variety of birds, including the majestic peregrine falcon. Add to this some amazing whitewater, the incomparable Wilberforce Falls, and some of the best fishing the country has to offer, and you’ve got a recipe for the trip of a lifetime.

The 2026 trip will be taking place July 1-23.

Please call 416-488-2077 or email us for more information, or to express your interest in the trip.

Hood River Meeting – November 12

We will be holding an information meeting on Wednesday, November 12, at 7 p.m. via Zoom

At this meeting, we will go over dates, cost, travel, and any questions you may have. Photos and videos from past trips will also be on display! Come and discover what this amazing trip has to offer.

Please call 416-488-2077 or email us to request the link to the Zoom call, and to confirm that your tripper and at least one parent will be attending.

Hurontario alumnus John Hartman’s Georgian Bay, written by another Hurontario alumnus, David MacFarlane.
(The Walrus, Sept. 1, 2014)

The summer of 2022 was so exciting as we welcomed the return of campers and staff to camp island. The energy and enthusiasm were contagious as we all greeted old camp friends and met new cabinmates! What a joy to be back at camp. Every day, groups were paddling to an island for a biology cookout or a game of camouflage with another group. The winds blew and sailors harnessed the breezes out on Twelve Mile Bay. Everyone was keen to whip down the zip line and jump off the top of the big water slide! The fun went on and on.

Hurontario’s long established tripping program returned in full force in 2022 – with white water trips to James Bay; river adventures on the Coulonge and Dumoine rivers in Quebec; senior trips to our North Camp in Missinaibi Provincial Park, which were only some of the adventure-of-a-lifetime trips.

A group of senior trippers experienced the incredible rapids, wildlife and camaraderie found while tripping on the Hood River in Nunavut. Imagine tripping by canoe from the headwaters of this mighty river north of Yellowknife, all the way to Bathurst Inlet. From catching big lake trout daily, to seeing peregrine falcons circle the river and exploring the area around Wilberforce Falls (the largest falls in the Nunavut), it was an adventure never to be forgotten.

This fall, Hurontario’s skating party reunion was once again an opportunity for families to enjoy a fun afternoon skate; for our campers and staff from the summer to get together and a chance to see many summer faces in the slideshow while munching on yummy pizza. Thanks to all who joined us. And now we are busily planning for the summer of 2023- bigger and better than ever. We are very excited! With a wonderful returning staff, days filled with activities in the outdoors and an opportunity to share with camp friends and make new friends, we know it is going to a summer not to miss. Register now and save your spot. We look forward to seeing you back!

Building on our amazing success this past summer, we are really excited that our 2022 registrations are now underway.

Looking back on our 2021 season, it was obviously a very different camping season for Hurontario, as we dealt with the realities of the pandemic’s social distancing requirements, masks, vaccination limitations and testing challenges. We also faced unanticipated late transportation and staging area issues, but thanks to our incredibly flexible and versatile staff we were able to rise to the occasion and creatively meet those challenges.

Our major “pivot” to one week family camps was met with tremendous support from many Hurontario alumni families, as well as a host of new families to whom the news of our new family camps quickly spread. In addition to our amazing family camp weeks we also enjoyed a two week special session for vaccinated 12 to 14 year old campers. That option also filled overnight

In addition, we were able to maintain our long established whitewater tradition by sending off two groups of senior campers in each of July and August on special trips on the Dumoine and Coulonge Rivers.

Given vaccination limitations then in place, we were unable to offer spots to all our previous year’s campers in 2021, but we are really excited at the prospects of doing so in 2022! 

Looking back, it is obvious that much of our success last year was due to the adaptability and commitment of our great Hurontario staff. We never ceased to be impressed by how they all stepped up to the challenge and morphed into excellent family camp counsellors, much to the delight of our family camp parents and campers.

Hurontario 2021 provided a wide range of our traditional activities to our full contingent of amazing new camper families and alumni families who brought their energy and enthusiasm to everything they did. Musical performances and skit-making brought out everyone’s creative side, delighting and entertaining the entire camp. It really was a blast!

And now we are looking forward to a full return to camp as Hurontario plans for its 75th year! We are so pleased to have had so much support from so many this past summer. We thank you all enormously, and we look forward enthusiastically to 2022!

The Hood River in the Arctic & the Moisie River in Labrador

Again, this summer, Hurontario will be offering two amazing wilderness trips for campers who are 15, 16 and 17 years old! Take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore Canada’s true north.

We will be holding an information meeting on Monday, November 29, at 7 p.m. on Zoom

Please call (416) 488-2077 or email us to confirm that your tripper and at least one parent will be attending.

At this meeting, we will go over dates, cost, travel, and any questions you may have. Photos and videos from past trips will also be on display! Come and discover what these amazing trips have to offer.

Please let us know if you are interested!

My mother was Leone (Suydam) Upton, only daughter of James and Winifred Suydam. The Suydams owned the east side of Portage Island (Cognashene area) from the 1930s to 1970s. Their only daughter married my Dad, in 1937, and we resided in New Orleans Louisiana.

My grandparents introduced me to Camp Hurontario in 1957; I loved it and, at my request, I returned the summer of 1959. Loved the 10-day canoe trips both times. The 1957 trip included a stopover at my grandparents place on Portage Island, for hamburgers, hotdogs, and cookies, and then on to the mouth of the Musquash River.

In 2002, my wife bought me a 17-foot aluminum canoe for Christmas. She and my now 44-year-old son have been fishing in it; my grandchildren will ride in it next summer. Have rented many cottages over the years near Pointe Au Baril & the Lighthouse, but the pandemic has left us bored in Dallas. I am equally proud of my Canadian heritage; my grandfather, James C. Suydam, was a Canadian Army officer in WW1, then built a successful construction company. Suydam Public Park, in the 400 – 500 block of Spadina Road was built & donated to the City of Toronto by my grandfather.

Since I haven’t been to “The Bay” since 2017, I thank every friend in Cognashene & elsewhere for sending photos; our last “Bay Trip” was to a rented cottage near the old Ojibway Hotel near the Pointe Au Baril Lighthouse. My goal is to see the campgrounds one more time with my family.

Warmest regards,

“Butch” Upton

Photo: Ryan Hodnett, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons