Ernest Carl Oberholtzer

Founding Member of the “The Wilderness Society” (Early explorer of the Canadian Arctic)

 

Canadian Arctic: Barren-ground exploration, 1969

In 1969, Bob Jacobsen and I completed a canoe expedition of more than 4 months and over 800 miles, from the Canadian taiga forest of northern Manitoba north onto the great sub-Arctic tundra barren-ground and eventually to a remote Eskimo outpost on Hudson Bay. During this trip, we passed through terrain probably visited, in the past, only by the inland Eskimos (caribou Eskimos). It was my first encounter with truly pristine wilderness and constantly challenging navigation and survival situations, and it was a life-changing experience.