Guiding in the North
BY SCOTT HADDOW
Wild Northerner staff
Wild Women Expeditions guide Jennifer Holub knows where she is when she dips her paddle in the water of any remote northern Ontario lake.
“Going into the outdoors is going home for me,” she said. “It’s a constant comfort and such a grand design. Nature has been my most powerful teacher. It has showed me that dualities coexist in harmony and balance, something we still cannot grasp as people in our society. It serves to remind me that it is so much greater than we are and we should protect it.”
It is this connection, respect and love for nature that has Holub working in the outdoors as a guide. It has come from many years in the bush and on the water and on trails in the wilderness. It has been earned by Holub, and she loves everything about it. Holub found out long ago that nature, although precious and beautiful and something to treasure, can be harsh and unforgiving and something to acknowledge. It is in nature that Holub meets a challenge with purpose and meaning.
“I have learned that nature will test you,” she said. “It is what you do with the opportunity of a test that determines your grit and the strength of your character. The land is beautiful and hard, much like life itself. When I was 16, I took a month-long canoe trip in northern Manitoba and there I met myself truly. We were challenged by that trip. It rained every day and we were wind-bound for so long at one point that we had to wake up at 4:30 am and end at 9 pm for about a week to make up the distance we lost. I learned nature doesn’t care about your plan and won’t go out of its way to make things easy for you. I have learned nothing is owed to us, either. I hope I have learned not to take anything for granted both in nature and in the city.”
Holub, 35, is a singer-songwriter, teacher and landlord as well as being a guide. She is releasing her second album – The Reckoning – on Sept. 28. Born and raised in Greater Sudbury, Holub was introduced to the wild adventures waiting outdoors through YMCA John Island Camp as a kid. She looked up to outdoors-savvy camp counsellors and paid attention to how they camped and had a sense of peace in the forests and on the lakes. Holub grew and honed her outdoors skills and expertise in the John Island leadership programs. This included a memorable and lesson-filled 35-day trip on the Seal River in Manitoba when she was 16. These are Holub’s roots and they run deep. From there, Holub worked as a guide for summer camps for years, guiding trips in provincial parks. After teacher’s college, Holub got a call from Wild Women Expeditions to be a replacement guide for an injured guide. The impromptu gig worked out well for all involved and Holub was hired for more trips.
Holub has now been guiding for 16 years overall, and has been a guide for Wild Women Expeditions for eight years. The time spent guiding has been rewarding for Holub’s spirit. She has relished the moments of meeting new people from all walks of life and learning more each time she brings people out into nature.