If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may know that for the past couple of years, I have attended the Ontario Winter Camping Symposium, which I love going to, so this year I decided to also attend the Ontario Backcountry Canoe Symposium in Waterloo. Keep reading for my take on all the speakers and sponsors who made this such a great day.
Early to Rise
Waterloo is a pretty long drive for me, but luckily I met up with Derek and Sean from Paddling Adventures Radio about an hour away and hitched a ride with them from there. That still meant an early morning – like up at 4 am early – because they were sponsors of the event, so they were permitted to set up a display in the front foyer an hour before the doors officially opened to the general public. They are just one of many sponsors attending the show which made walking through the foyer without buying a bunch of cool gear very difficult! The first photo in the gallery below shows all sponsors in attendance, and I tried to get a picture of every booth, but I know I missed a few.
Full list of sponsors 
Derek, Sean and John (kneeling) (1) 
Swift Canoe (2) 
Friends of Temagami (3) 
Badger Paddles and Paddle in the Park (4&5)) 
The Outdoor Kind and Kingdom Outdoor (6&7) 
Point Grondine Park (8) 
Unlofstify (9) 
KIHD and Man Camping (10&11) 
Nessmuk wilderness school and expeditions (12) 
Canadian Outdoor Equipment Co (13) 
SAIL (14) 
Camper Christina’s New Clothing Line (15) 
Backcountry Custom Canoes (16)
The Speakers
There were a total of six speakers at the show and, as the organizer David Bain had explained, they were all focused on highlighting destinations in Ontario. And although many of the areas discussed are far away from where we live, it still gave me the desire to get out in my canoe and do some paddling. I even texted my hubby saying that we HAVE to get out… Very soon!
PJ Justason
PJ Justason, who is the current president of Friends of Temagami, spoke about a route that he took with 4 other gentlemen that headed north from Driftwood to Moosonee along the Wawagigamau River. This route went along rivers and portages that are not well travelled – with many portages non existent – which meant they had to bushwhack trails to bypass sections of rivers that were not passable. The pictures he shared were amazing and the stories of their adventures on the river sections that were littered with rapids and log jams were beyond anything I have ever encountered before. The picture below shows just how massive one particular log jam was that they had to get over. Their journey north would eventually end in Moosonee where they loaded their canoes and gear on a train and headed back south. Very cool!
Kate Barrett
Now, this young lady really spoke to me. She talked about her days at the Taylor Stratton Camp where she not only went on a 50 day canoe trip as a camper, but eventually ended up leading two 50 day canoe trips over the last couple of summers. Although I was a girl guide and spent a lot of time camping when I was a kid, I never had an experience quite like this growing up. Not many people have, but hearing about the passion of the young woman on these trips made me think of why I push so hard to get my outdoor program to run at my school, and why I take my son out on adventures – it may not be for 50 days, but every adventure counts.
She talked about how their planning begins two weeks before campers arrive and involves spending hours going over maps to find new routes each year. Then, two days before the trip, the campers arrive to prepare before heading out into the wilderness of Ontario for 50 days. No phones, no mirrors, no outside contact – just them and their paddle mates. To keep things interesting on such a long trip, they have plenty of activities like celebrating specific days as holidays. For example day 14 is Valentine’s and day 31 is Halloween. Such a brilliant idea! Kate’s passion for this kind of trip was evident in her presentation and I was glad I was able to speak to her after the show.
Jeremy Shute
Jeremy is in the process of finding a canoe route that he called “Speed to Sea”, that goes from Guelph to the Atlantic. He talked about different routes that he has investigated through Lake Ontario, the northern states, Ottawa, and Montreal to end up on the eastern seaboard. The route that he has taken so far was down through the states and onto the Eerie Canal. Here the views were amazing with numerous bridges to paddle under as he connected the water ways to eventually cross back into Canada and head along the river in Kingston and onward. The second picture show the information that you can follow on social media on Jeremy’s Speed to Sea adventure.
Doug Gordon
Doug’s presentation started off with a Welcoming Ceremony where a friend of his played her drum and sang a song while Doug and his other friend walked the auditorium with a sweetgrass smudge. This was so moving that I was actually getting emotional. Doug then presented about his trips where he had encounters with Manitous, which he explained as that feeling you get when you are at a place you enjoy. He had us close our eyes and go to a place that brings us joy, and it is that place he called a Manitou. He shared with us many of the pictographs he has visited in and around Northern Ontario, and how he has a connection to all of these locations. I don’t know if it was his intention, but I had that strong desire to see these places in person.
Marian Sonntag
Marian talked about Killarney Provincial Park – known for its white capped hills and its clear blue waters – and how it is the jewel of the Ontario Parks. Marian, along with her family (The Camping Family and Wild Canoes) have been canoeing Killarney for 10 years. This experience showed as she talked about how beautiful the landscape in and around the La Cloche mountains are, as well as the solitude that can be found in many of its backcountry lakes. This park has 13 portages that are over 1000m long, so those who want to explore the vast beauty it has to offer, truly have to work for it.
As part of her presentation, Marian was able to share some recovered video footage of one such portage called “The Notch”, which is a difficult portage that connects Nellie, to Carmichael into Murray Lake. The footage was of her four children on the portage after a they had encountered a bear and her cubs. I got a kick out of it and I would suggest heading over to Wild Canoes or The Camping Family‘s Facebook page to have a look for yourself.
Kevin Callan
Kevin and his friend Andy talked about their trip around Algonquin Park known as the “Meanest Link”. This trip has some special requirements, but these two are known for breaking rules and “cheating”, and did they ever break some rules. They took their time (which really means they enjoyed themselves), had food drops to restock their food (and whisky), and even took the Opeongo boat taxi across Openogo Lake. Even though they did cheat a little, karma might have gotten them back a bit. There are sections on the water where there was very little water and they had to line their canoe upstream. Then along another section, the bugs were so thick they were surprised they didn’t get carried off into the wilderness! Overall they completed the trip with smiles and are still planning trips together. It is great to have a friend that will join you on such crazy adventures.
I hope you have enjoyed my take on this weekend, and if you act quickly, you can get tickets for the next Winter Symposium happening in November 2019.
Here are the links for the sponsor and display gallery above:
- Paddling Adventures Radio
https://www.facebook.com/PaddlingAdventuresRadio/ - Swift Canoe
https://www.swiftcanoe.com/ - Friends of Temagami
https://www.facebook.com/friendsoftemagami/ - Badger Paddles
https://www.facebook.com/badger.paddles/ - Paddle in the Park
https://www.facebook.com/PaddleInTheParkContest/ - The Outdoor Kind
https://www.facebook.com/theoutdoorkind/ - Kingdom Outdoor
https://www.facebook.com/kingdomoutdoorproducts/ - Point Grondine Park
https://www.facebook.com/PointGrondinePark/ - Unlostify
https://www.unlostify.com/ - KIHD
https://www.facebook.com/kihdstove/ - ManCamping.ca
https://www.facebook.com/ManCamping/ - Nessmuk Wilderness School and Expeditions
https://www.facebook.com/northgatebushcraftadventures/ - Canadian Outdoor Equipment co
https://www.facebook.com/CanadianOutdoorEquipment/ - Sail
https://www.sail.ca/ - Camper Christina (This is the link for her new outdoor clothing line called #LoveTheBackcountry )
https://bit.ly/2TRjMTj - Backcountry Custom Canoes
https://www.facebook.com/backcountrycustomcanoes/
Sue
Thank. you. I was registered but at the last moment (Thursday) events conspired to prevent me attending. I have not been going for many years but my first introduction indicated that this is one place I belong.
For me, the drive is long, 650 K, but well worth it. With 45 trips into the Canadian backcountry I am hopelessly addicted. You are one of those people I admire in your ethic and adventures. continue the good work.
Nice recap of the speakers ! Looking forward to part 2! 😊 Cheers !