Roger's Ledge, Kilkenny Wilderness, from the south, 2007

This is a picture of Roger’s Ledge in the Kilkenny Wilderness. It's visible for miles and when you get to the summit there is a huge rewards waiting. (see the next photo) I was visiting in Labrador a few years ago, working with some members of the Innu (French-speaking Montagnais) community there in their attempts to block a huge Hydro-Quebec hydroelectric dam on one of the big rivers in Labrador. I was staying with an Innu woman, a friend of mine, who was married to an Inuit-Eskimo man. (Innu, like ‘Inuit’ means simply “First People”). One morning in mid-March we climbed a small whale-backed mountain near their village to watch the sunrise above the horizon for the first time after the long winter. We got to the top of the mountain and there was this astonishing view of the ocean still locked in ice and behind us the dark interior of Labrador, all greys, blacks and white from the rock, ice and remaining snow. We stopped and caught our breaths and the husband suddenly said, “urgaghook” or at least that’s what it sounded like to me. She smiled and nodded. I thought maybe he'd coughed. “Did he just say something?” I asked. “Oh, yes,” she replied. “He just said ‘It’s good to get up to high heights and look out over long distances.” Urgaghook!