from bark to boat

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From Bark to Boat:Te Odyssey of a Birch Bark Canoe

Built in the Bush

John Zinser is a twenty-year-old student living in

Olympia, Washington. He is a junior enrolled inthe Evergreen State College studying history andEnglish. John has been with Wabun since joiningus as a camper in 2001 and has been a membero our staf or the past three years. He enjoyscanoeing in his daily lie, paddling in the PugetSound where he commutes to school.

Adam Wicks is also a junior at theEvergreen State College where he studies upperdivision science. Adam joined Wabun in 2000and has lent his considerable talents to us asboth camper and staf. Tis past spring Adamearned an apprenticeship with John Lindman,building birch-bark canoes in Spokane. He spentthree months learning the art and history o thisancient crat and building a twenty-eight ootbirch bark canoe. Birch bark canoes are now hispassion and he plans on building many more, inthe bush and in the shop.

Adam and John share a reverence orcanoe tripping. Tey have paddled thousands omiles in Wabun canoes as both campers and staf,have been a part o preparing those canoes andthe sections that paddle them on trip, and havean intimate knowledge o the satisactions andjoys to be derived rom traveling with the graceand elegance canoes aford. Tey have taken thissatisaction to a new height this past all by mov-ing into the emagami orest or a month and

building a birch bark canoe rom scratch. Teollowing is their account.

Adam Wicks Personal Account

Building a birch bark canoe in the bushwas the most amazing challenge either o us hadever experienced. On August 12th, 2008 JohnZinser and I entered the Canadian Wildernesswith the intention o building a birch bark canoein the woods using only the materials we couldgather and the hand tools we could carry (seepicture 1).

On August 10th John, my dog Churoand I arrived at Wabun with the camp nearlyempty and no clue o where we were headed.Frightened by the act that we had no idea owhere we would be spending the next ourweeks, Pete Gwyn suggested Ferrim Lake, a smalllake just west o Kokoko Lake where he hadestablished a hunting camp many years ago. Hethought there might be some large birches in thearea.

With a rm destination in mind, we

called and told our loved ones where we wantedto go but warned them that i we were unable tond the necessary materials at Ferrim Lake wewould continue north until we ound a suitablesite. Our plan was to stay in the bush until weeither ran out o ood or nished a birch barkcanoe. We brought enough ood with us or ourand a hal weeks. Tis sense o uncertainty wasthrilling, as neither John nor I had ever traveledin the bush without an itinerary. We only had a

goal: to build a birch bark canoe in the bush.

Building a birch bark canoe in the woodsdifers greatly rom doing so at home or in ashop. In the shop, one could order all the woodand bark necessary or the canoe and beginbuilding at once. In the bush its a whole difer-ent story. Te process o constructing a canoe inthe woods involves three undamental steps. Terst and most important step is gathering thematerials. It took us a ull week to simply ndenough birch bark, a cedar tree ree o knots, and

enough spruce root to sew up the canoe. Oncethe materials are gathered one must then preparethe materials or construction. Tis step alsotook us a ull week. It was two weeks into thetrip and we hadnt even started building. Finally,once all the ribs and sheathing are prepared, theconstruction phase begins. Tis stage took usabout a week and hal and was without a doubtthe most stressul yet exhilarating time o our

lives.

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Gathering all the materials was defnitelythe most spiritual aspect o our trip. John andI completely depended on Mother Nature toprovide us with what we needed. We searchedor days and tested hundreds o birch bark treesbut only ound fve trees that we could use (2).Te birch bark must pass a test o exibility (3).

Careully, we removed the birch bark rom thetree using our hands and a bark peeler spud,which Glen oogood grateully gited us beoreour departure (4). We used the cedar or the gun-nels, ribs, and sheathing. Our canoe required usto cut down two cedar trees, which were straightand couldnt have any knots. We then split thetrees in hal and quartered them by hand (5 &6). For this we used a roe: a oot long steelblade which is pounded into the log to split it

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along the grain (7). We were able to split the logsdown to quarter inch ribs and 1/8th inch thicksheathing (8 & 9). We also had to gather spruceroot and tap spruce trees or pitch (10). Spruceroot essentially holds the canoe together because

it is used to sew sheets o bark together and tolash the gunnels to the bark. Te roots are dugup in lengths o up to 15 eet.

Just over a week into our trip we beganthe material preparation stage. First, we split outour gunnels. In our canoe we employed ourgunnel members, two inwales and two outwales.Te outer and inner gunnels sandwich the birchbark and are lashed together in groups by spruceroot. With the ribs and sheathing split down to

the desired thickness, we carved them smoothand straight with the crooked knie. Tis took

several days but we were amazed by the qualityand near perection o our ribs and sheathing.One actor o the preparation stage that I un-derestimated was processing the spruce root intoa product that could be sewn. Ater the spruceroot was dug up rom the ground, we coiled andsoaked it in near-boiling water or two hours.Once the root had been heated sufciently, wepeeled o the skin or bark. Ten we split theroot in hal, careully controlling the split, not

unlike how we split the cedar. Te split root isthen trimmed down so the entire length is oequal width and thickness. Each strand o roottook about an hour to make it exible enoughor sewing.

Finally, two weeks into the trip, wenished gathering and preparing our materials.We hadnt started building the canoe yet, butat the beginning I had truly doubted we wouldget even this ar. For weeks beore we let or

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the trip, I was lled with doubt and thoughts oailure. What i we werent able to do it? What iwe couldnt nd any suitable birch bark? Whatwould I do i Churo, my our-month-old lab-radoodle puppy, got sick out in the bush? As

thoughts like those lled my head, I told mysel,How could we not be successul? Mother Na-ture did her job and supplied us with the materi-

als we needed. Te pressure was now on us. Itwas our time to perorm.

On day twelve we unrolled the bark andweighted it down with rocks (11 & 12). Te barkwas then olded up around the weighted build-ing rame (13). Side panels o bark were theninserted where needed and the sewing began. Inthis step, we sewed the side panels to the hullwith a stitch that ran the entire length o the

canoe on both sides (14). It was during this stage

that we could truly begin to actually envision thecanoe we were building. With each stitch, thecanoe began to show her lines and looked moreand more like a canoe (15). Sewing with spruce

root is an extremely tedious task that took usthree ull days to complete. Next we inserted thegunnels and began lashing the gunnels to the sidepanels o bark. Lashing the canoe was mentallyvery similar to sewing. For our days straight wedid nothing but lashings. Ill say that again, orour days in the bush we lashed or prepared rootor our canoe, or over 10 hours each day.

Ten it happened. I was carving thebow-carrying thwart and as I rocked my 5-inchbuck knie on top o the tennon with the inten-

tion o splitting of a 1-inch sliver, the piece

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popped out but my knie continued downwardinto the top o my wrist. I lleted a 1 inchchunk along my wrist, but luckily it didnt cutmy skin completely of. I was just let with ahuge apper. Miraculously the cut didnt bleed

a drop or hurt the slightest bit. Calm and col-lected, John and I treated the wound but quicklyrealized or a wound o such severity we wouldnthave had nearly enough medical supplies totend the wound or the duration o the trip. Wedecided to return to Garden Island and seekmedical supplies. John had to solo paddle us toGarden Island, and we returned to our site inless than twenty-our hours. John also soloed useleven kilometers back to Ferrim Lake.

With all the lashing and sewing com-plete, we bent and inserted the stem pieces. Testem pieces are what give the bow and stern their

shape. Te stem piece is a one inch square, twooot long piece o wood that is laminated or splitfve to six times to the middle (16 & 17). Tis

technique allows a thick piece o wood to bendwith relative ease (18). By day 22, with all theribs carved smooth and straight, we were ready tobend ribs. We soaked pairs o ribs in near-boilingwater (18) and then bent the ribs on our knees(20). Bending ribs was a wonderul culminationo all our eforts (21). Having spent so muchtime and energy on each rib, we elt a connectionto the wood and bent each rib with such care16

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that not one was broken in the entire process(22).

On day 24 we nished the canoe bypounding the ribs and sheathing in tight (23 &24), and ashioned and added birch thwarts (25,26 & 27). We also pegged a gunnel cap to thetop o the gunnels. With all the ribs and sheath-ing pounded tight in the canoe, John, Churo andI celebrated. With cries o joy we immediatelypushed of on the canoes maiden voyage. Weshot or it and John won so I had the absolutepleasure o watching our canoe be paddled into

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the wilderness, the same wilderness rom which itwas created. Even though we could only paddle

it or about ten minutes each because it wouldquickly take on water due to the lack o pitch. Istill elt an intense sense o joy and accomplish-ment. A birch bark canoe built in a traditionalmanner is the ultimate means o travel in thebush. Pushing of on our canoes maiden voyagelled my soul with an emotional euphoria. Inessence when you paddle a birch bark canoe youare truly paddling in a piece o that Canadianwilderness we all inherently love.

Ater 25 days in the bush we returned toGarden Island in triumph. As the canoe couldnot be paddled or long distances, we careullybalanced it atop all o our gear. Imagine thesight, two grizzly guys and a dog paddling a ully

loaded canoe with another canoe, a birch barkcanoe, resting atop their gear.

Te process o building a birch barkcanoe in the bush was simply the union o Johnand me working with the perection o whatMother Nature has to ofer. I we showed herour respect through our actions she wouldnt letus ail. Ater three and a hal weeks o workingeveryday rom sunrise to sunset we nished ourbirch bark canoe with an unparalleled sense o

achievement.

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