New YouTube video
New video is live! A short one on one of the trips from last year we took with the kids through Temagami. Thanks for watching.
Tips Tuesday #2
We’re back for another tips Tuesday. Who makes a trip plan? Who then leaves the details with someone they know? It’s a good idea to leave a detailed version of your trip plan with friends or family. Marking where you’ll be staying and when. This way if something does happen to you help can be sent out right away and search and rescue can target the areas you were supposed to be traveling through? Now some folks might say “wait I have a spot device for emergencies like that!” True it’s great… Read More
Ode to the Black Fly
“I’ll die with the black flies picking my bones. In North Ontario” -The black fly song – So if you’re like me your FB feed is full of people who have already got out for their first paddle as they live further south or are lamenting about the remaining ice and dreaming about paddling a northern lake. I’m just here to remind you what follows iceout just a few short weeks later. Those are not birds in the photo , nor is it a fleet of airplanes soaring in the skies of… Read More
Food Barrel Friday #3
What’s the one piece of kitchen/cookware you can’t leave at home on a backcountry trip? Let us know in the comments below or better yet show us a photo. Food Barrel Friday continues…. As some of you may or may not know it’s Canada Water Week . Now I think we can all agree that without water we wouldn’t get very far as Canoeists. We travel on it, we fish from it, most importantly we drink it. So here’s a question for all of you. With choice of beverages in short supply… Read More
A Grand Time
It’s a different experience paddling along the Grand but it does have its own beauty and intrigue. It’s not all urban landscape and it’s not pure wilderness but it’s important and (at least we think) extremely interesting. We often take local areas like this for granted and spend our time focusing on our favourite northern paddling destinations. My kids were asking me a million questions about the river and as I was rattling off info to them I thought you guys might be interested as well. So here are a few interesting… Read More
Day two Kawartha Highlands Spring 2016
With a great nights sleep on our side and bellies full of eggs, oatmeal and bacon we packed up the kids and headed towards the first portage of the day. There was a lot more portaging on day two than any of the other days. Keeping the kids motivated and fueled up with snacks was a high priority. A quick paddle through Triangle and Cherry and a short portage into Turtle we were making good time. The kids were counting down the portages as they passed and were very excited each time… Read More
Grand River Parks Membership
Just a quick blog for those in The Grand River area or those who visit it frequently. The GRCA has revamped the membership this year. Instead of the car sticker it comes in the form of a card. We feel as this is an excellent change for a few reasons. 1)Those folks with multiple vehicles aren’t stuck having to use the car with the sticker on it 2)The ability to hop in another persons car with your card and still get into the park. We will definitely be using a lot more… Read More
New guest Blog with Ontario Parks
Please swing by the Ontario Parks blog page to check out our new guest blog. Titled “what are you doing this weekend”. It talks about our year travelling through Ontario’s parks system. Let us know what you think. Cheers -Matt
Grand River Photo Blog
I had the pleasure of taking a four and half hour paddle down the Grand River last weekend. My daughter, wife and myself in our boat and my father,mother and a very excitable mutt named Jake in their boat joined us on this trip. We put in at just north of Bridgeport in Kitchener and took out at Freeport in Kitchener. Total time paddling was around four hours and as we stopped to have lunch and let Jake “do his business” on an island just past Bingemans. The day started out grey,foggy… Read More
