Canoe building plan

The Last Trappers Bark Canoe

The 2004 French film about the bushlife in Alaska the Yukon (thanks for the correction FrozenFella), Le Dernier Trappeur  - The Last Trapper has some wonderful cinematic shots of a birchbark canoe in whitewater. I came across footage of the film on google video

Around the 5:15 mark, there's some picturesque canoeing in a canyon with the white water run beginning around 11:30. Maybe its just me, but the main character in the film, an actual trappeur named Norm Winters, doesn't seem to be an avid paddler, especially after he rams the bow of the canoe into rockface in calm water just to pick up his pet husky. A simply back ferry would've prevented the cringing collision but the canoe seems no worse for wear.

Some screen shots










It turns out that the exciting whitewater run was paddled by a "stunt double" from Tatshenshini Expediting. Here's a little writeup. Brave stuff!