Robert Perkins is best known for his canoeing films, Into the Great Solitude being one of the most powerful. But to call them canoeing films is inadequate. He uses his camera as a visual journal; his reflections and observations are often poetic, his manner earnest and heart felt. He has a true and deep love of wild nature – just watching him smile as he sets off in his little boat Loon, makes me happy.
Robert has canoed extensively in Canada's Barrenlands. For seventy-two days he canoed alone down the Back River -- about seven hundred miles. I interviewed him in his Boston apartment afterwards and he described his trip to me. Particularly memorable were his observations on solitude. He said that after a while, your thought process changes. Everything seems simple. It is difficult to explain, but you become acutely aware of many things, but have no conclusion about or opinion of them.
"I like the tundra because you can see a long way. When you are by yourself, you get shrunk to the right proportion in the expansiveness. Especially on longer trips. Somewhere in the middle you can't reach backward and you can't reach to the end. And there you are -- just in the present moment. That is so exciting. I try to allow myself to flow into the tundra around me. I try to observe, not only with my eyes, but my ears; my whole body. I try to get sensitized to the creatures and the landscape. I have moved a long way into that world since I started. During my first journeys, I was clunky and jittery. Even the wind hurt. Later, you come to the point when your body works well. Somewhere during a trip, when you aren't as consumed with your own thoughts and your own fears, you begin to sense other stuff. Things about the animals and the land.
"With another person it's twice as hard. If you are with five people, it's five times as hard. You end up tuning in to them, wanting to take care of them. Letting them take care of you. Are you alright? Can I help? Your mood is up. Mine is down. We are always looking in each others eyes. If I am alone, I don't experience that. Instead, I have the sights and the sounds of nature. Of other creatures. They become companions.
"Solitude is the deepest well I have ever come across. I imagine it would be different if solitude was forced on you, but to choose it is to find a source of sustenance that never runs out. It places a person in proper alignment, in proper order....Some people are less interested in trying to understand or pursue or embrace their inner life. Every time I go on a solo canoe trip, I have to listen carefully to my thoughts and memories. It's the impact of stepping outside with a minimum of things and a great deal of landscape around you. A great deal of quiet. You begin to listen to what is around you and to what is going on inside of you.
"It doesn't matter what your concerns have been over the past year -- they just kind of boil off over the two months. Like maple syrup. You get down to some pretty fundamental, beautiful moments where you just catch yourself doing something. With no prior thought and no afterthought. You are totally absorbed making a fire, cooking dinner or just paddling. Those moments are the reason I do it. I just love those moments."
Into The Great Solitude is available through Heron Dance at a cost of $20, whether VHS or DVD. The book of the journey by the same name is also available at a cost of $20 each.
Related Resources:
* Crocodile River
* Into the Great Solitude
* Into the Great Solitude
* Talking to Angels
* Waterwalker
