"Ask any good journalist what the best part of the job is and he's likely to say the serendipitous moment when one story turns into another. A few years ago, the Ottawa Citizen's Ron Corbett set out to write a tale on wolves in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park. A chance encounter at a gas station led him to the front door of Frank Kuiack, who, Corbett was told, knew a good deal about the park's wolves. When Corbett went to meet him, he learned something remarkable about Kuiack. He was the last of the old-time fishing guides still working full-time in the park. ""Kuiack's life,"" he writes, ""seemed to be a counterpoint to the many changes that had taken place over the years, not only around Algonquin Park, but elsewhere in Canada."" "

The Last Guide : A Story of Fish and Love

Ron, Corbett

Biographies & Memoirs

Viking Press

"Ask any good journalist what the best part of the job is and he's likely to say the serendipitous moment when one story turns into another. A few years ago, the Ottawa Citizen's Ron Corbett set out to write a tale on wolves in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park. A chance encounter at a gas station led him to the front door of Frank Kuiack, who, Corbett was told, knew a good deal about the park's wolves. When Corbett went to meet him, he learned something remarkable about Kuiack. He was the last of the old-time fishing guides still working full-time in the park. ""Kuiack's life,"" he writes, ""seemed to be a counterpoint to the many changes that had taken place over the years, not only around Algonquin Park, but elsewhere in Canada."" "

The Last Guide: A Story of Fish and Love

Glen Ivy Media

Ask any good journalist what the best part of the job is and he's likely to say the serendipitous moment when one story turns into another. A few years ago, the Ottawa Citizen's Ron Corbett set out to write a tale on wolves in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park. A chance encounter at a gas station led him to the front door of Frank Kuiack, who, Corbett was told, knew a good deal about the park's wolves. When Corbett went to meet him, he learned something remarkable about Kuiack. He was the last of the old-time fishing guides still working full-time in the park. "Kuiack's life," he writes, "seemed to be a counterpoint to the many changes that had taken place over the years, not only around Algonquin Park, but elsewhere in Canada." Corbett explores those rush-toward-the-21st-century changes in this lyrical narrative of a fishing trip via canoe through the park with Kuiack. It would turn out to be the old man's last journey as a guide. By using the guide as his centrepiece, he weaves together a marvellous anecdotal history of the park, its fishing, and legendary guides like Basil Sawyer, Sam Beaver (friend and guide to The New Yorker's E.B. White), and Tom Thompson, who once lived in Algonquin's wilderness and seems such a part of its geography. Corbett writes: "While [the changes] led to the slow disappearance of the fishing guides in the Algonquin Highlands, Kuiack never abandoned the calling. Today, he is the last practitioner of a business, a trade, an art, that will die with him." Which makes the serendipity that brought Corbett and Kuiack together just that much more fortunate. Because of their meeting, something that would have otherwise been lost has now been preserved with great care and real affection. --Jeff Silverman

In the spring of 2008, Ottawa Sun columnist Ron Corbett pitched a summer story that he was sure would be an audience-grabber. He would write a series about a modern re-creation of the last (1908) commercial square-timber river raft to float down the Ottawa River. The first in 100 years. Ron s editor loved the idea. But there was just one little hitch: There was no raft and no raft trip planned. Yet. So Ron made calls, one thing led to the next, and by the end of June 2008, he and a handful of fellow raftsmen were travelling down the Ottawa River on a thirty-ton square-timber raft. One Last River Run is a quixotic tale of old loggers, a new world and a square timber raft that touched the lives of everyone who became part of the journey.

One Last River Run

General Store Publishing House

Part fishing trip, part history and lore, this is the story of Algonquin Park’s oldest fishing guide. Richly anecdotal, entertaining and with marvelous photographs throughout, The Last Guide is the classic Canadian fishing tale of Frank Kuiack, a loving tribute to Frank and to all those who have called the wilderness home, and to the world that valued and sustained them.

CORBETT, RON

Community & Culture

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ron, Corbett. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Ron, Corbett

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ron, Corbett. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Last Guide : A Story of Fish and Love

The Last Guide: A Story of Fish and Love

The Last Guide: A Story of Fish and Love

One Last River Run

The Last Guide: A Story of Fish and Love