New Beginnings
Let me start by welcoming you to my new website - thanks for taking the time out of your life to visit and read this blog. Time is precious and I hope you find yours well spent here.
The ‘Wiki-up’ - built by my friend Matt and I. This was home for a couple of months of Wilderness solitude.
It is always amusing to look back on our beginnings in life. Often they seem to be a mere passing moment like any other and it's only upon reflection from a little further down the Trail that we recognize them for what they are. Such is certainly the case looking back to the summer I spent 'living off the land' in a moss hut in the wilds of Temagami.
The whole story deserves its own blog post but suffice to say that in a difficult time of existential angst, memories began to emerge - memories of a youth spent outdoors, of dozens of summers spent in the Northern Ontario haunts of my great-grandfather and his old wilderness lodge. Memories of placid lakes and rolling green hills, of loon calls in the night. Freedom. Like a burst dam they came flooding in and I knew what I had to do - I dropped everything and headed North.
Trout made up a large part of my diet that summer.
I certainly was aware of a momentous change taking place in my life and personal development as time passed at my hideaway in the Wilderness - but I had no concept of the magnitude of those changes or their far reaching effects. YouTube and Social Media were the farthest things from my mind - all I was concerned with was catching enough trout to feed myself for the next day or two.
Unknowingly, I had embarked upon what many cultures call a "Vision Quest". It was a time of isolation, reflection and rapid transformation. I dreamed dreams, discovered thoughts and felt emotions both new and forgotten. It was the most powerful experience of my life. I emerged at the end of that summer a completely different person, but found I no longer fit the world I had built for myself - so I decided to create a new one. It's been a long path, but I now find myself exploring the reality of a lifelong dream - living in a cabin in the Canadian Wilderness.
Ultimately it was my friends Matt and Jordan who convinced me that what I had discovered in the Wilderness was worth sharing. Or rather, they convinced me I was capable of sharing it. Years later, the only thing that comes close to the passion I have for Wilderness is the joy of sharing it with others.
Until now, sharing this with others has looked like guiding a trip with friends and family, a new YouTube video or some written thoughts and pictures on Instagram. However, a website and blog has certainly been a part of my vision for a couple of years and it's my pleasure to finally see it take shape and share it now with you. This website will serve as a central hub to all of my media creations and also as a place you will find opportunities to join Nanook and I on guided wilderness experiences unlike any other. Happy trails!
I hope you enjoyed the read. These small stories, blogs - whatever they are - come from my heart; I share them out of a passion to create and see others inspired to make their own connection with the Wilderness. If you found value in your time here, and are inclined to do so, you can help keep me writing by buying me a coffee!
About The Author
For Clint Zold, the pursuit of authentic Wilderness experiences has led him across landscapes both far and wide. Whether paddling the ancient Nastawgan of mystic Temagami, hiking the lonely mountains of the West, or snowshoeing the hunting grounds of his trapping territory in the Arctic Watershed of Northern Ontario - Clint is truly at home in the wild.
Living off-grid on the banks of the Mattagami River; the canoe, axe and snowshoe have become his daily companions in a semi-subsistence lifestyle where food, warmth and water come from the land around him. His passion for Wilderness is only equaled by his desire to share it with others