Craig Johnson's Quetico Commemorated Paddle

Issue 200 of  Wooden Canoe features a lovely article by paddle maker Craig Johnson  discussing his many trips to Quetico Provincial Park. After seeing JClearwater's post on the WCHA forums regarding a paddle decorated with a mystery map, Craig decided to commemorate his most recent trip with similar route decoration on a repaired spruce paddle.

It turns out that after laying the paddle over the tripping map, the blade covered nearly their entire route without having to change the scale. After burning the outlines of the lakes and rivers, he proceeded to paint the lakes a dark blue which unfortunately obscured the lines he had just burned.

Outlines burned onto blade

Dark Blue Paint

The waterways were repainted with a light blue to match the color on the original map and with the dark blue layer slightly showing through, it added a wonderful sense of depth to the bodies of water.

Repainted with light blue map color

The shaft was similarly decorated with the park name and year for a lovely effect...

Congrats to Craig for making such a special piece. Perhaps his work will inspire more people to document their trips with paddle maps!

P.S. Many thanks to Craig for mentioning my blog site in the article as well.