The Cabin: A Search for Personal Sanctuary

About the book

One hundred years ago, a young doctor from Cleveland by the name of Robert Newcomb travelled north to a place called Temagami. It was as far north as one could travel by any modern means. Beautiful beyond any simple expletive, the Temagami wilderness was a land rich in timber, clear-water lakes, fast flowing rivers, mystery and adventure. Newcomb befriended the local Aboriginals — the Deep Water People — and quickly discovered the best way to explore was by canoe. Bewitched by the spirit of an interior river named after the elusive brook trout, Majamagosibi, Newcomb had a remote cabin built overlooking one of her precipitous cataracts.

Following his death, the cabin remained unused for decades, save for a few passing canoeists; it changed ownership twice and slowly began to show its age. The author discovered the cabin on a canoe trip in 1970 while the current owner was there. Being too old to maintain the property, the cabin proprietor assigned Wilson the duty of steward. Only too happy to oblige, the author took on the task with pleasure. Like Newcomb, Wilson was lured to Temagami in pursuit of adventure and personal sanctuary. As an artist, the author found it difficult to assimilate into the mainstream — a lifestyle rife with world problems, where nothing seemed to make any sense. That search for sanctuary took him incredible distances by canoe and snowshoe, through near death experiences and Herculean challenges. Secretly building cabins, homesteading and working as a park ranger, Hap Wilson finally became owner of THE CABIN in 2000.

The Cabin represents a dream we all have of living a mere existence devoid of the burden of care — a shedding of layers in relative organic bliss. The author takes us there, along a wilderness trail replete with snags and pitfalls, through mishaps, tears and laughter, resting, finally, at the edge of the Lady Evelyn River in wild Temagami, looking out the window of a small log cabin in paradise.

Artist, author and adventurer, Hap Wilson is perhaps best known for his ecotourism/travel guidebooks. He has led over 300 wilderness expeditions in Canada, and served as actor Pierce Brosnan’s personal outdoor trainer for the feature film Grey Owl.