Outdoor Adventure Show 2019 – Part 1

This year’s Outdoor Adventure Show took place in Toronto from February 22-24th and I am so grateful that I was able to attend again as an official blogger. This show highlights all things outdoors and is an integral component of the outdoor community that I love, so I am excited to share my experience with everyone who couldn’t attend. The show is also a great place to see old friends, make new ones, and shop around for gear (that I really don’t need, but want to buy anyway!). I actually didn’t buy anything this year, but I did look REALLY hard at some items.

Over the next couple of posts, I will recap a few of the presentations that I was able to attend and take you around the venue showing off different booths, displays, demonstrations etc. I hope you enjoy!

Friday

Since I work a full time job as a teacher, I can never make it to the show on Friday, however some of my outdoor community members (Preston from Portageur.ca and Hailey from Wild Canoes) were doing live feeds on Facebook so I was able to get a little sneak peak of the show. As soon as the bell rang, I ran out of the school like a kid on the last day before summer vacation and headed to Toronto to meet Christina at the hotel we had booked for the weekend. It seemed as though we had just seen each other – because we did only 5 days prior in Algonquin! – so we quickly got caught up and headed to bed early knowing we had a busy day on Saturday.

Saturday

Good morning Toronto and Welcome to the Outdoor Adventure Show!

This announcement resonated through the arena and the doors officially opened for the day. Having a media pass meant I was able to access the show before the official opening time so I had a chance to quickly walk the floor and gather my bearings before the crowd appeared.

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Once inside, Christina and I headed to the Adventures in Paddling stage where we planned to listen to a number of presentations – including Christina’s – so we wanted to snag a couple of front row seats. With my seat reserved, I wandered the floor taking pictures of booths and displays before it got too crowded (If you click on each picture in the gallery below, they will display bigger).

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The first presentation we watched was by Brad and Leah from Explore the Backcountry. They talked about their trip along the northern coast of Lake Superior, which started near Marathon, passed by Pukaskwa National Park, and ended in Wawa. The great thing about a trip like this is that it doesn’t include any portages, but that also means they had to deal with the open waters of Lake Superior – and the big waves, unpredictable weather, and thick fog that comes along with them. Despite the risks, one look at their slideshow highlighting the waterfalls, rocky coastlines, and clear blue waters, would convince you it was worth it. It convinced me anyway! To find out more about their adventure, be sure to follow their page and keep an eye out for a video that they will be publishing soon.

Up next was John Van Barriger from The Outdoor Kind and correspondent with the Paddling Adventures Radio show, who talked to us about his journey last summer down the Yukon River, and provided some tips and secrets for others who might want to do a similar trip. Seeing the pictures of his trip reminded me of the time that Dan and I rented a canoe in Whitehorse and let the currents of the Yukon River take us down stream for a few hours. Of course our casual trip down the river was nothing compared to John’s adventure, but one thing we also learned was that travelling to the Yukon and undertaking a trip like this is not a particularly cheap endeavour. To that end John had some suggestions on how to make the most out of your time and money. He also had a neat trick to deal with silty water like you’ll find when you reach the White River: Add alum to a large container of water and let it sit overnight. By the morning all the silt will have settled and the water can be filtered without clogging your filter or using nasty chemicals.

It was standing room only at The Adventures in Paddling stage as Camper Christina took the stage. Her presentation was about pushing the boundaries of solo camping, and by the looks of the crowd, many people were interested in this topic. She is known for her solo trips and as she builds her solo repertoire, she is looking to do more harder, extensive, and challenging trips. With these kinds of “solo solos” – which she explained as “getting out there on a solo trip and being just that, solo, no one else around for days” – there are many things to consider. For example, on this kind of solo trip, having lighter and smaller gear is important because you will be carrying everything on a portage. You also don’t want to overlook your own physical and mental abilities – being alone can be just as hard on your mental state as your physical sometimes. One great way to deal with those stresses on the trail, especially when things become extremely challenging, is to talk and sing – to yourself, there’s no one else around, remember – something which Christina showed in her presentations videos, and I have been known to do myself from time to time. Again, make sure to head over to Christina’s YouTube channel (and follow her!), because she will be publishing a video of her talk in the coming weeks.

It was time for a break from all these presentations which meant walking the floor, visiting more booths, and chatting with old and new friends. It was a really neat experience to have complete strangers actually recognize me – not only from the videos I’ve been in with Camper Christina, but also from my own social media and blog. I was smiling from ear to ear all afternoon, and I know I smile a lot, but this was just something different, something special.

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By now, the day was winding down and I overheard people saying that the parking lot was full and that cars were being diverted to the Go Station parking lot next door! In the last four years of attending this event, I have never heard about the lot being full – it’s a big lot!

With the floor buzzing with people, there was one last presentation that I went to see which was given by Noah and Alex from Northern Scavengers . They talked about some rules they follow on trips – which may or may not apply to everyone – however one really hit home: “load levelling”. This is not just having the canoe level, or who is carrying what on a trip, but also the chores and tasks around camp that need to be completed. This can include who sets up camp on arrival, who makes the morning coffee, who cooks and cleans up. I had to laugh as Dan and I have similar rules that we don’t talk about, we just do them, like who cooks (me) and who cleans up (Dan) – we each have our tasks when we get to camp and we just do them. Even when Christina and I made eye contact, we both knew we were thinking the same thing about this rule. It’s probably why we make good tripping partners. They continued to talk about who gets fishing rights in the boat, and to also promote a little bit on their Meanest Link trip around Algonquin (check out their videos on their Facebook page).

My feet were now telling me it is soon time to stop walking around so much. So, we circled the floor a few more times, chatted with more people, and then eventually decided it was time to go. It was around 5:30 and we knew the parking lot would be very busy in the next half hour when the show officially closed for the day, so we headed out for an evening with some of our outdoor community for supper and drinks. It is really hard to get caught up in such a busy atmosphere, so this gave us the opportunity to do just that.

I’d like to thank everyone who came to chat with me during the day, as it did make it feel extra special this year. Be sure to check back next week for part 2 and the presentations I saw on Sunday.