For 8,000 years — 8,000! — Native peoples lived and moved through this magical land parcel, and after an unchecked chapter of logging, Algonquin Park was established in 1893. Soon after, Tom Thomson and the rest of the Group of Seven fell in love (and inspired legions to do the same) with the Park’s 2400 lakes, 1200 kilometres of rivers and streams, and all those flora and fauna that reveal themselves if we’re patient and attentive.

Moose, wolves, beavers, deer, bogs, swamps, deciduous and coniferous forests side-by-side, trout, loons, grouse, bunting, salamanders, turtles, snakes, bears, and yes, blackflies and mosquitoes. Fall colours along highway 60 that might just win the planet. There is so much here.

We are very grateful to be within a small list of friends and partners who can access the magical Algonquin Wildlife Research Station for our Quest. The Research Station has been the queen bee of Algonquin since 1944, home to the critical work of deciphering how humans and the land and its furry and scaly and winged and more can live in harmony.