24 Jun Andrea Wilson
Our first official female paddle-hider was definitely born to canoe. As a young girl, Andrea Wilson used to spend hours steering her cedar canvas boat to her will. Back country canoe trips came next. No stranger to the trail, Andrea first became a Wilderness Guide (and Portage Queen!) when she was a mere teen. Having helped to build the successful SmoothWater Outfitting in the early 90′s along side Hap Wilson, Andrea has also spent many years working in the seasonal paddle sports industry for canoe builders such as Swift Canoe, and retailers like Algonquin Outfitters and Northern Lights Canoe & Kayak, choosing to spend her winters on the slopes and trails as a talented Level 3 Ski Instructor.
Whatever the season, you will indeed find Andrea “Out There”! Not only eager to explore the trails and waterways of our natural world, Andrea has been dedicated to exploring the shores of her own mind as well having completed an honours degree in Gerontology (with a specialization in Religious Studies), a degree in Ethics, a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities; and is even now working her way through her doctorate with the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where she is researching “spirituality in the conversations of older women”.
Also Hap Wilson’s long time sweetheart, Andrea is the unnamed “young woman” that Hap pines for in the book “Grey Owl and Me”. As Hap’s true partner on the trail – and in life – they were finally married in a traditional Scottish wedding on their woodland property in Muskoka, Canada – where they also live with their children. Andrea can usually be found not far from the side of her loving husband and family, along the water trails, guiding, or spending time at their one-of-a-kind Cabin Falls EcoLodge in Temagami, whilst portaging her canoe across the famous “Golden Stair Cases” of Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park.
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