Gary and Joanie McGuffin are Canadian explorers, conservation photographers, writers, motivational speakers, documentarians and conservationists. Their most documented adventures have been about canoeing on waterways throughout North America,McGuffin, Gary and Joanie Where Rivers Run (Boston Mills Press Book, 1988) bicycling from the Arctic to the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans,McGuffin, Joanie IT’S LONELY OUT THERE ON THE ICE ROAD (Toronto Star, 1986) backpacking the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, circumnavigating Lake Superior by canoeMcGuffin, Gary and Joanie Superior: Journeys on an Inland Sea (Boston Mill Press Book, 2000) and paddling across Northern Ontario in the footsteps of Grey Owl.McGuffin, Gary and Joanie In The Footsteps of Grey Owl: Journey Into The Ancient Forest (McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 2002) The McGuffins are noted primarily for their popular paddle sports instructional books on canoeing and kayaking,McGuffin, Gary and Joanie Paddle Your Own Canoe (Boston Mills Press Book, 2005) and their documentary film based on their research about the Group of Seven artists.Priegert, Portia Film documents modern-day bid to locate Northern Ontario vistas painted by Group of Seven (Galleries West Magazine, Summer Issue 2015) Between adventures, the McGuffins are ambassadors of the wilderness, touring the world through speaking events, photo exhibitions, book tours, eco-tourism development, and educational seminars on conservation. In 2000, the Ontario government officially appointed Gary and Joanie as Champions of the Coast under the Great Lakes Heritage Coast program. In 2003, they were the recipients of the Premier's Award and the Queen's Golden Jubilee MedalSubstantiated claim from web site. http://www.gg.ca/honours.aspx?ln=McGuffin&fn=&t=&p=ON&c=&pg=1&Province=ON (The Governor General of Canada, 2003) for wilderness preservation and environmental education achievements for their province and their country.
Education
Gary McGuffin and Joan Wood met and fell in love at Seneca College in 1979. They were enrolled in a two-year Outdoor Recreation Technology program and graduated with honours.Neuhaus, Cable Their Marriage Is Up A Creek, But These Newlyweds Were Never Happier (Peoples Magazine, 1983) Their college education propelled them into their career through skill sets such as wilderness expeditions, writing, outdoor clothing and equipment design. In 2003, Seneca College presented each of them with a Distinguished Alumni Award in the category of Applied Arts. The award honours outstanding Ontario college graduates. Joanie and Gary McGuffin are the first husband-and-wife recipients.Moncrieff, Helena Seneca’s McGuffins PADDLE THEIR OWN CANOE (Seneca College Alumni Magazine, Summer 2003)
Career
Wilderness expeditions
Appalachian Trail In 1981, the McGuffins completed their first long-distance journey together. They spent four and a half months backpacking the 2100 mile Appalachian Trail through 14 states from Georgia to Maine. Gary photographed their journey with a Pentax K1000 35mm camera and a 50mm lens. The only other photographic equipment he carried consisted of a tiny tripod which could be screwed, clamped or balanced on a variety of surfaces. With only seven rolls of 36-exposure Kodak slide film, Gary could only average 2 photographs a day to document the expedition. Using a system of small town post offices, they received new supplies and sent their photographs and writing journals back home. The long-distance journey confirmed their personal commitment to a life of exploration and adventure. The success of completing the Appalachian Trail led them dream bigger dreams together.Cole, Judy Dream Weavers Gary and Joanie McGuffin (Photo Ed Magazine, 1998)
Canoeing across Canada Shortly after getting married in April 1983, the McGuffins went on the world's longest honeymoon: a two-year canoe trip across Canada from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Arctic Ocean. Preparations for this journey were extensive. They spent hours researching the route on maps and reading through historical journals. They sought out sponsors such as their major underwriter Labatt Breweries, and acquired equipment and clothing that would be tested along the journey. Thanks to both corporate and media support, this journey was well publicized. The McGuffins wrote regular articles for The Toronto Star, The London Free Press and the Bracebridge Herald Gazette, and they did a weekly radio broadcast series with CBC Ontario Morning for 40 weeks, and broadcasts with each provincial CBC radio network as they paddled through each province during the journey. Upon returning from the wilderness, they were inundated with requests to give presentations, talks and interviews about their trip, including one from Peter Gzowski, a well-known Canadian broadcaster and writer. In 1988, they published their first book, Where Rivers Run, which chronicled this voyage. The hardcover version was also published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK under the title Canoeing Across Canada. Their Canadian publisher Jack Stoddart sent the McGuffins on a six-week, 25-city Canadian book promotion tour. In 1990, Be-Pal Magazine, a popular outdoor publication in Japan with a readership of 500,000 ran a 6-part series excerpted from Where Rivers Run. This book created the credibility needed to launch their career.Sanderson, Gordon All Inuvik Turns Out To Honor World’s Longest Honeymoon’ (London Free Press, Sept 1984)McGuffin, Gary and Joanie Canoeing Across Canada (Hodder and Stoughton, 1988)Diotte, Bob Life is an Adventure (Northern Ontario Business Journal, October 2001)McGuffin, Gary and Joanie, 6-part excerpt Where Rivers Run (Be-Pal Magazine, 1990)
Cycling across Canada In 1986, McGuffins continued their self-propelled exploration of Canada when they embarked on a 7,500 mile (12,000 km) bicycling journey from Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories to L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. They began their cycling journey on April 1 on the Ice Road that links Tuktoyuktuk on the Arctic Coast with Inuvik at the northern end of the Dempster Highway thereby making a physical link with their previous canoe voyage. The journey took five months. The route was mapped out to link the three oceans from the Arctic to the Pacific to the Atlantic, to include the Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory and all ten provinces from British Columbia to Newfoundland and, for the most part, the route was on the most northerly roads they could find. Challenges faced included frostbite in the -40-degree weather on the Ice Road, avoiding grizzly bear encounters on the Dempster, enduring severe knee pain on 1500 miles of bone-jarring, unpaved roads, sheltering from hail storms on the prairies, having close encounters with log hauling trucks in British Columbia and northern Ontario, and surviving frigid late autumn weather in Newfoundland off the Strait of Belle Isle.Gordon, Al From Sea to Sea (Explore Magazine June 29, 1996)McGuffin, Joanie A Couple’s Cross-Canada 5 month Cycling Odyssey (Toronto Star, December 28, 1986)McGuffin, Gary and Joanie The Arctic by Bicycle (Doctor’s Review, August 24, 1987)
Lake Superior In September 1989, the McGuffins completed a 3-month circumnavigation of Lake Superior’s rugged wilderness shoreline in solo sea canoes. Lake Superior is the greatest freshwater expanse in the world. It is renowned by mariners for its late autumn storms that can create seas more challenging than the open ocean as immortalized in Gordon Lightfoot’s song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. In the book, Superior: Journeys On An Inland Sea, Joanie describes their voyage around Superior while Gary’s photography illustrating the book throughout is a compilation of images from the McGuffins four seasons of exploration from the shoreline to the rivers to the ancient mountains.Lawrence, James Superior Adventure (Outdoor Photographer Magazine, May 1997)
In the footsteps of Grey Owl In February 1997, the Province of Ontario was embarked on a comprehensive land use planning process called Lands for Life which would determine the future use of almost half of Ontario’s landscape. Lands For Life was going to determine the fate of Ontario’s old growth forests, wetlands, wildlife, and resource use over the long term. Industrial activities of logging, mining and hydroelectric development were being favoured on over 90% of this land so the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, World Wildlife Fund Canada, and the Wildlands League formed the Partnership for Public Lands to speak with one voice for protecting natural heritage areas. While public roundtable debates were taking place across the province with the input from corporations, interest groups, and the public, Gary and Joanie McGuffin decided to make their own contribution by embarking on a canoe journey into the heart of this ancient forest country. They aimed to show that the ancient forests and pristine waterways of the region constitute a magnificent natural heritage corridor that should be preserved. The McGuffins three-month-long, 1,200 mile canoe trip route from Algonquin Park to Lake Superior was based in part on the work of Dr. Peter Quinby and the Ancient Forest Exploration & Research Organization. The route linked key parks, major rivers and connected many of the remaining ancient forests to demonstrate the ecological and recreational values. This route also followed the same rivers and lakes travelled and written about by the most famous conservationist of the 1930s—an Englishman, Archie Belaney, who lived in a reimagined life as an Indian named Grey Owl. Before setting off on the journey, the McGuffins garnered the support of MSAT, Apple, Canon, Kodak and Nissan to enable unique virtual participation from the wilderness. While most corporations had not yet even built their first website, the McGuffins launched www.the adventurers.org to enable daily website updates, a weekly colour feature with Southam News through the Sault Star, weekly broadcasts with CBC Radio and a television series with Baton Broadcasting. They captured the journey through a digital camera and a laptop computer which was extremely rare in photojournalism and very forward thinking during the late 1990s. The journey created a much greater public awareness, involvement and debate over conservation policy in Ontario during that time. In 2002 McClelland & Stewart published the McGuffins 4th book, In the Footsteps of Grey Owl, Journey into the Ancient Forest. The photographic book includes the story of their journey and excerpts from Grey Owl’s books. Monte Hummel, WWF Canada President wrote in the Forward "In the end Lands for Life produced a "Living Legacy" of 378 new or expanded parks …. This was by far the most important single decision to protect nature ever taken in Ontario and the McGuffins were a big part of the team that made it possible."Substantiated claim from web site. http://www.cela.ca/article/lands-life-or-lands-lumber/ (Canadian Environmental Law Association)Riley, John Protected Areas and Lands for Life: Will Protection Policies be Met and Available Information Used? (PRFO Proceedings, 1998). Substantiated claim from web site. http://casiopa.mediamouse.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/PRFO-1998-Proceedings-p98-104-Riley.pdf Substantiated claim from web site. http://www.ancientforest.org/about-afer/history-and-mission/ (Ancient Forest Exploration and Research)Bellerose, Dan An Incredible Journey (Sault Star, June 7, 2015)
Great Lakes heritage coast