Winter camping is not everyone’s idea of a way to spend a weekend away. No hot-tubs and dinners at gourmet restaurants, but more a case of trying to keep warm, it would seem.

  The winter camping experience that Sunrise Adventures offers, however, is exceptional. Venture out for daytrips from the cozy cabins and experience winter camping in a canvas tent heated with a small woodstove, learn to build a quinzhee (snow shelter), explore the river corridor and the ancient pine forests by snowshoe. Experience the absolute peace and tranquility of a secluded winter wonderland. Learn to identify a variety of animal tracks: moose, wolf, rabbit, squirrel, pine marten, weasel, lynx and possibly even the rare eastern cougar. Return to the comfort of Sunrise Eco-Lodge and enjoy more gourmet meals and a hot sauna. Stargazing and Northern Lights are often at their best in the winter months and the remoteness of Sunrise Eco-Lodge is the perfect place to enjoy a clear winter night.

  Owned and operated by Stephanie Aykroyd and Hap Wilson, Sunrise Adventures is offering 5 day, all-inclusive winter camping excursions to their Eco-Lodge, located in the Lady Evelyn Smoothwater Wilderness Park. Participants fly in by ski-plane from Sudbury, then snowshoe the last 2 kilometres to the lodge. Overlooking Cabin Falls on the Lady Evelyn River, the Sunrise Eco-Lodge is the only privately owned retreat within the park, nestled in a pristine setting, surrounded by old-growth pine forests and ancient waterways. Husband and wife team Hap Wilson and Stephanie Aykroyd personally guide all of the trips and retreats that are offered with Sunrise Adventures.

  If that is not within your scope then you might want to try one of the winter camping clinics offered by Hap and Stephanie. Presented through Outward Bound, these weekend clinics take place in Muskoka, running from January to March. The modest costs include an overnight, food, and instruction in the basic skills of winter camping.

  When not at their Temagami retreat or guiding wilderness adventures, Hap and Stephanie live with their two young children on their rural property near Rosseau, Ontario in Muskoka. Artist, photographer, writer and environmentalist, Hap Wilson has been a wilderness guide for over 30 years. He was the park ranger for Lady Evelyn Smoothwater Park for 8 years and his passion for protecting one of the last areas of old-growth forests in Canada led to the release of his best-selling book Temagami Canoe Routes, in 1978.

  Artist, wilderness guide, environmentalist and Nia instructor, Stephanie has been guiding trips and hosting wilderness retreats with Hap since 1996, and canoeing for over 15 years. Temagami has become an especially important area for her, where she and Hap run Sunrise Eco-Lodge, and where they lived for 6 months in 2000-2001, over-wintering with their two young children. Filing regular journal entries and photographs to a web-site with City TV in Toronto, the experience was secluded and isolated from the outside world. This strengthened her relationship to the rugged terrain, and over the 6 challenging, yet nourishing months, helped her to grow closer and more attached to the ancient land that surrounded them.

  Stephanie and Hap are both artists and also own Sunrise Studio & Gallery, located in their home, exhibiting and selling their original artwork, painted paddles, prints, cards and some of their eco-adventure guide books. For more information call 705.732.8254,

e-mail sunrise@vianet.on.ca or visit their website at www.sunriseadventures.com.