Hap Wilson has been a wilderness adventurer and guide for over 30 years. A self-taught writer, artist and photographer, he is also one of Canada's best-known canoeists and the author of several books, including Canoeing, Kayaking and Hiking Temagami, Rivers of the Upper Ottawa Valley: Myth, Magic and Adventure, Missinaibi: Journey to the Northern Sky: From Lake Superior to James Bay By Canoe, Wilderness Rivers of Manitoba: Journey By Canoe Through the Land Where the Spirit Lives and Canoeing and Hiking Wild Muskoka: An Eco-Adventure Guide. His hand-drawn maps and illustrations were featured in Voyages: Canada's Heritage Rivers, which won the Natural Resources of America Award for Best Environmental Book. Wilson worked as actor Pierce Brosnan's personal skills trainer in the Attenborough movie Grey Owl. He lives with his wife and two children in the Muskoka and Temagami lakes districts of Ontario.

Hap Wilson's recent entry, "Follow Your Blissters," in the International Regional Magazine Association annual awards, as submitted by Cottage Life, won an Award of Merit in the General Feature category. The judges said: "Hap Wilson's achievement in building this cabin is matched by his writing - crisp and well-paced.... Gentle humour in the lead carries into the rest of the article, providing an engaging thread to tie together personal experience, observation and research."