I quit my job for a year of wilderness camping – spring

if you told your friends and family you were going to quit your job to make camping videos on YouTube what do you think they'd say um you're crazy well I'd call him a idiot doesn't know the first thing about camping uh that'd be very foolish it's a good idea like could change your life I think so I don't know I don't think he could do it jonno you must be tripping you're damn right I am [Music] I just quit my job a good job making maps in a quiet office in a small Canadian town this concept wasn't exactly new to me in fact it was my third time leaving a steady job to feed the hunger of my obsession I thought the first time I left my job for adventure might satisfy me but it only wet my appetite the second time I thought I could find a balance with a new small town lifestyle Closer To Nature this third time was was different I wasn't escaping or finding balance I was becoming one with the obsession camping was not going to be a break from Life camping was going to be my life after putting huge hours into YouTube for 4 years my channel had scraped and clawed its way to about 40,000 Subs that may not be many in social media terms but it was starting to provide enough Revenue to cover my modest living expenses combined with my savings I knew I could give myself the green light to camp for a full year at least as an experiment and maybe more if the channel grew however I figed what my partner Aaron would think of the idea when I finally brought it up she knew I was too rational to do something like this without a plan so she was behind me all the way after thinking it through for a few months the possibility became more and more real until I found myself walking into my boss's office I told him I'd be leaving to make camping videos on YouTube that sounded weird to say to my friends and family and it was almost embarrassing to tell people what I was doing I went to business school for a steady career and now I sounded like a dreamer possibly a fool but the more serious fears about what I was doing Came From Within what if I got injured where our financial situation changed where would this lead long term what if turning my passion into work ruined it or have something changed with YouTube but passion pushed through the doubts and days after submitting my resignation I went out for the weekend to celebrate for years one particular Obsession of mine has been to see a real display of the Northern Lights not a faint glow on the horizon but shimmering lights overhead there was a good forecast for them that night so I sat beside the fire and waited for Darkness oh my goodness oh my goodness no way incredible oh this means so much to me I've I've spent hundreds of days camping and whenever there's a good aora forecast it's it's cloudy or I can't camp and the Stars finally have [Music] aligned there were happy tears watching the lights that night and it felt like a sign that I made the right decision my irritating rationality knew that it was just a coincidence but it was still a meaningful one there were three big things that wanted to happen in the next 12 months one of them just got checked off my list and my year-long experiment hadn't even begun I'd given 2 months notice at work and now I was counting down the days until I could get some proper trips in it felt like the approach of summer vacation in grade school about 100 times better in my home province of Ontario alone there are over 250,000 lakes and a lifetime isn't enough to see them all so where to begin the stream I got an invite from a friend to join him on a river that almost never gets paddled and I told him I was in I'd seen something interesting on satellite that was near our start point so I decided to go in a couple days early on my own to search for it I had high hopes for the trip at my favorite time of year but things didn't quite go according to plan day one of what should be about a weekl long trip here I'm actually starting solo for two days two nights and then I'll be meeting up with another couple of guys for the main leg of the trip but I'm extending it a little bit get a full long trip out of it hopefully really good fishing wildlife and the special Northern scenery did one 900 met Portage now I'm on the second one into the main Lake that I'll be on for this little side mission there a special place I want to get to here we go and I were actually on this Lake last year this time it's just a gorgeous Lake it's over 10 km long dotted with Islands full of Pike got to love it beautiful little waterfall here couldn't resist getting [Applause] out woohoo I guess that's a good segue into while I'm doing this whole little extra side trip before the main trip it is to see a waterfall that has captivated me for quite a while I've seen on sight almost no one would ever see it that's what I'm shooting for home sweet home beautiful spot to camp here nice exposed rock Jack Pine no shortage of firewood NE little fire ring here with some stools just such an awesome spot makes it feel so spoiled to have it all to yourself should help with the Flies a little not too bad with the wind but they're around well done sir oh thank you before I get into the hammock it's just one more thing I need to hit maximum Comfort Catch of the Day just keeping it cool there in the water wind's going down so I'm going to get some fishing in but the wind being down means black fli are free to do as they will and what they will is to chew on my flesh so beautiful here oh just set the hook and pulled it out all right second chance okay there it is not even going to net it wow really calm down turned into such a nice evening got Sun dogs around the Sun now it's funny sometimes it takes days for five days to get into the flow of a trip I kind of felt it immediately oh fish on that's the feeling right there and I was just thinking social media and cell phones or a disease this is a cure feel so cont tent right now and uh you know this is the easy start of the trip it's going to get a lot more challenging but looking forward to that too right in the corner of the mouth just give me one sec there you go buddy thank you [Music] y wow just wow I am setting an alarm for probably 5 5:30 a.m. I want to get at her right Away Great Day really looking forward to tomorrow though as a man with Irish descent I'm able to get 100% of my daily minerals and vitamins from potatoes so this will give me everything I need today along with some ketchup for added sugar nutrition fish on okay all right buddy thank you so I want to cut West through the bush here and I'm just looking for the path of lease resistance cuz it's about a kilometer over and finding that path of least resistance makes it so much easier if you do find it oh rod twitched rod twitched and yep there it is w yeah same old really there we go all right here we go Aaron and I attempted this last year we gave up it's just impenetrable oral Forest there are little gaps so you can squeeze through but we opted to Portage into the next Lake instead and do some fishing there which was probably the best choice but still been on my mind so here I am getting really excited moose poop I can't wait to see these Falls I'm about halfway finding some decent reasonable terrain to get through better than what Aaron and I had found last year and I can see on my topo map that I met this the height of land here and I can hear now that I'm over the hump I can hear the waterfall moose signs all over here and then somebody lost a good chunk of fur here really close now the back half of this bushwack turned into a pretty nice walk actually it's a nice jackpine Forest which is pretty clear I was expecting walls of Balsam fur and I can see the falls through the trees oh man so excited and I want to fish it I have no idea what's in there if anything this this River virtually dries up in the summer there's not much water in the summer at all so see if any fish take to it oh get a lot steeper here to get down there oh man it's like a beautiful Gorge what a spot wow what a beautiful little shoot there I'll get the Drone out so you can see it better oh [Music] [Music] [Music] beautiful so happy I got to see it just trying to get to the base of the falls as close as I can to fish it all right let's see if anything's in here not a bite just switch it up but I'm not getting a good vibe here a spot like this usually it's automatic if they're there no bites but 100% worth it I want to see the top of these Falls this rock just looks old as time itself and it almost is what a beautiful little Gorge here right before the falls back to the lake felt a lot longer coming back than I did on the way which is usually the case actually cold out finish lunch finish packing up get out of here got to go all the way back I came yesterday to rendevu with Rob and uh set up our shuttle this is a river trip so that's the inevitable nasty part of it back into the access Lake just got to get back to the car that's where I'll camp tonight stashed my gear in the bush near the access point for tomorrow got to sleep in my car tonight drive to robs tomorrow morning and then we'll come back and start here again just saw a Bayer run off here on Forester Road middle of nowhere here's home for the night just a random ugly C cut getting everything Juiced up going to sleep in there tomorrow tonight so I can get going first thing tomorrow without much pack up just killing time here to be honest that kind of got me excited for some top water holy crap I just looked up and then there's a bear right behind me fourth one of the day right over there see if I can get out silently to film him oh right there there you go there's your big boy okay [Applause] hey hey hey seems mean but it's in their best interest to be scared of humans was cool wonder what else come by here I figured some would Bears or moose actually I thought more likely we'll see if we get any other visitors that was a long night in the car I don't like sleeping in the car and got some really bad news which is that the trip is canceled uh yeah uh Rob's buddy tore his rotator cuff he thinks last night cuz he can't move his arm so he's not canoeing and you know I feel for him that's the last thing you want early in the canoe tripping season he might be out of commission for a while so hope he's all right but uh onto Plan B there are endless canoe tripping opportunities around here I can never do them all so it's not like I can't do that trip now cuz it was a shuttle we needed the cars but there are tons of others that that I can do so on to the next one it's a beautiful morning it's potentially supposed to turn uh to rain and even thunderstorms later so I should get going I have to now pick up my canoe and gear in a very inconvenient location but uh won't set me back too much do you brush out here some people just don't brush when they're camping I on this road full of bears it's a pretty good size one and they all run away that's what they're supposed to do that's what you want to see now some Sand Hill cranes there's just so much Wildlife on this road it's crazy I also saw a moose earlier I didn't get footage though all right back to square one got to double carry my gear back to the car it's almost a kilometer each way and now I'm picking about bears everywhere back to the Gear time to Portage okay on to part two of this trip so last 3/4 of a day have not gone as planned but the upside saw five Bears two moose four sandill cranes three or four hairs and two bald eagles for my for my trouble so here and I'm on another route that I'm super excited about so really not too much loss just the company I was here last year with Joe two things happened that are bringing me back I caught a fish that I believe was a lake tro several people have said it was a tiger tro because it had very unusual coloration or patterning actually on it so I'm here to see if I can get get another one of those and kind of get some confirmation on that the other thing I lost my GoPro it had some of the gnarliest portaging footage on it that I've ever recorded probably the nastiest so I'm on hunt for that GoPro can't imagine I'm going to find it a year later we scoured the place looked everywhere for it last year right after I lost it but I'm going to give it a whirl feels pretty small but I bet it's a little Brook troat huh no way it's actually a lake troat this is such a small Lake thanks buddy I did not expect it to have the depth for Lakers hey it's a lake tro eh um this Portage is is horrendous black flies are uh at maximum level almost uh and we got to get back over there we've cleared and we've scouted and cleared it and uh I lost my GoPro on it I'm using my secondary one right now uh but we just need to get there and make Camp let's just do it we're taking a breather here just complete brutality this is a horrible Portage yep at the first Portage after a very Scenic paddle This fog is just racing through the lake it's got to be blowing something in so faster I can get this done the better oh man that is a rough trail long challenging and just difficult to follow it but here we are all right ugly Parts over such a beautiful Lake small this island in the middle of it and then a lake on either side of it just separated by Narrows pretty perfect doesn't look like it from here but that's home in there it's actually a pretty cozy spot once you get in black flies haven't been bad today and they suddenly just went crazy it's good to know this is here cuz it was hard to find anything with Joe last year and it looks like quite a Rat's Nest at first but there are some cozy spots look at that there's a fire pit some wood still thanks Joe and previous me just started raining scrambled to get the turf up I hope there's a thunderstorm I would love to ride out a thunderstorm in the hammock today [Applause] this is my favorite kind of campsite just rugged and Untamed unused aside from Joe and I who knows if anyone's ever used it probably not when it comes to camping trips I tend to set my expectations too high for instance on this short trip I hoped for a big thunderstorm this evening and then potentially northern lights tonight both were forecasted but instead I'm probably just getting a gray Knight and then I wanted to find my GoPro which I tried last year didn't happen and then I want to catch another fancy Lake troat whatever it was but in all likelihood none of those four things are going to happen and I spend so much time thinking about what I want to happen or what I hope will happen in the future that I I I'm at not in a moment and I find it's especially true as a YouTuber because I'm trying to put together some kind of theme or narrative for the video and that is mostly eradicated on things that are going to happen over the course of the trip so I think I'm just going to reset my expectations for this trip I'm going to enjoy this overcast evening tomorrow I'm going to go for a walk if I find something great and then after that I'll go fishing that's it whatever happens happens I think I'll enjoy it a lot more just looks incredibly beautiful down that way there's a creek leading to another Lake it's probably slog but looks very tempting right now maybe before I'm gone but I'm not going to plan that we'll see if I get to it [Applause] unreal [Applause] wind is crazy today wow I think these are fiddle heads they're a bit too tall now actually that one smallest one there is edible I'm going to keep an eye out might be able to get some fiddle heads today yeah so these are fiddle heads you can identify them with this u-shaped Groove in the stem this brown papery skin that falls right off very easily and the absence of hairs and these small ones those would be good to eat tonight these ones here they're too big once it's above 6 to 8 in it becomes somewhat toxic but yeah these ones are too tall as well but there's some for the picking [Applause] see here's one with hairs on it this is not the one you want and over here that's the Brown papery Skin So if you didn't see my trip with Joe last year here's what happened we were starting this exploratory trip here we got into this Lake and then we wanted to push ahead on our first day the black flies were off the chain like 10 out of 10 the terrain was very rough for portaging all of our gear through I can't even find where we went now with virtually no gear on my back and we were just exhausted and sweaty and somewhere along the way on this Portage between here and the next Lake I know it was somewhere there I lost my GoPro my GoPro had all the footage on of you know the difficulty of the travel and that was the hardest thing to lose not the GoPro itself just the memory card so I been wanting to get it back ever since but like I said last night I'm just out for a walk in in the woods if I happen to stumble upon a GoPro that would be lovely the hills were one of the toughest things last year just goes up and down with heavy loads we packed quite heavily it was rough so I have last year's tracks on here this is just a federal too map using the avenza maps app which shows my location there we had found this goat path here and we were so optimistic even just walking up this is tough steep but it didn't really lead to much sweet little pond in Between the Lakes so the GoPro is somewhere here between here and the next Lake but that's like a needle in the hay sock see anything it's a bit painful knowing today that I might walk right past it and be a couple feet away from it probably will if I don't find it that is probably going to be the case oh man brings back memories getting back to this point Joe and I worked so hard to get here and we were so low by the time we did but it's a really beautiful Lake I remember this spot there's this huge plate-shaped mushroom here so I did come through here so here's the top of the peak this is the last Stone whereabouts of the GoPro I remember taking a shot up here facing the lake and that was the last I remember using it oh man saw this little black bit of dirt there and from a certain angle it looked like a black Square we GoPro sized heart leapt a little stunning I've been recording my track for a little while now so I can see what I've covered we did a ton of bush walking to Scout and create a trail so went all over just so many places it could be well I searched every logical place I could think of no sign of it so it was a nice walk in the woods it was kind of fun though felt like a hunt so at least I'm getting some PID heads out of the deal just going to take these small ones in the middle that are still curled up got a few dozen plenty for me for one meal now I just going to get back to Camp it's going to be a challenge in this wind back to Camp these trees sound like they're about to break down M that's really good tastes similar to asparagus which I really love [Applause] [Applause] windbound all afternoon and into the evening now and this north wind is brutally cold I was getting really cold just reading there so up and about making some hot chocolate got some goat cheese it's not a bad evening [Applause] oh morning once we got the fire started wind settled down eh so far this Trip's been all stuff that we've done before maybe today we'll explore something new yeah all right just going to get some break Done Quick bear with me man sorry so yeah today I'm going to try and head north from this Lake I've been East I've been West I've been South North I've put off because it looks like a nasty slog through a creek but after being windbound most of yesterday not really accomplishing much I feel like I have it in me if I get through it looks spectacular on a map eight pieces of garlic breed with chili and cheese is a lot this is a lot of [Applause] food you can do it Bruce come on Bruce come on Bruce you can do it Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce [Music] and that's how we eat breakfast so there's my camp that red pin at the bottom there's my location in blue and I want to carry up through this Creek this should be the rough part once they get into this Lake it should be fine looks clear anyway on a map but sometimes the map lies just going to send the Drone up to do a little pre- Scout probably going to have to get wet here and it is cold this morning sun just busted through on me and that feels amazing but if I'm going to get cold I want to make sure this is going to be there's some potential there at least [Music] [Music] well I rarely get to say this but the creek actually looks good there's this Beaver Dam right at the start and then some other obstruction toward the end and that's all I could really see it's just enough water to paddle here and I'm at that last obstruction before the lake I can't believe how well that Creek travel went never ceases to amaze me where I'll find a cash boat I have no idea why like it's so shallow here you'd have trouble getting the boat across not to mention you have to lift over the Beaver Dam and anyway Trail looks pretty overgrown but there is one here so that's great news for me just a little clearing work it's looking good again nice little Falls just along the Portage gorgeous oh man so I'm coming out of the main Basin on the lake Lake Narrows for a little while here and then opens up again beautiful Beaver Lodge here what a whole gorgeous little Valley connecting these Lakes this is what it's all about for me bust your hump getting in see something that almost no one ever sees you just soak it up Sun comes out for you and you get these moments now and then it all comes together okay here is the last basin very nice The Cliffs aren't as dramatic as I thought they might be up here you can see some exposed rock but mostly treed beautiful spot though [Music] wow there's an old tropper Cabin in the Woods here totally tucked away I didn't see it at all except for the reflection of light off of a window hello how perfect is [Applause] this I'm assuming it's a Trappers cabin hello hope it doesn't collapse on me feels pretty rickety not much in here not even a bed clean though smells like kerosene cool I did see an old spring here that was a cool find not getting the things that I expect on this trip but finding different things to make up for it fiddleheads yesterday this today not to mention just the scenery is enough [Music] [Music] well I fished this Lake pretty extensively and I've come up empty so I'm going to get out of here and head to the one Lake where we actually caught fish last year caught that special unique looking lake trout I I think it was [Music] [Music] anyway so this troa CAU last year was special it just had very irregular patterning on it compared to most Lake troat some people were saying it's a tiger troat I agree it somewhat look like it but that should be impossible I think it's just a particular pattern on that fish or maybe in the strain that's in this Lake I believe it's a lake tro but anyway I want to have another look special whatever it was I was just stretching my legs and followed this Creek up a little ways really nice spot for fiddle heads here nicer than yesterday really there are four nice ones see if I can collect some more they were really good yesterday [Applause] pretty good hul plenty for one it's exciting heading back to home base couldn't make it happen I tried my absolute best but I got fiddle heads to cook up and I'm going to get a good hot fire going because it is cold really cold [Applause] man it feels good to be back that was a full day and getting back here starting to feel like home like I don't know there was a real sense of comfort in being back here so feels good can't wait to eat these up I love these things for for [Music] [Music] back to the access Lake there's one stop left before I finish up [Music] as the first trip ended and a paddled away with no GoPro no special trout no Aurora or thunderstorm not even the route to company had planned it was a reminder to relax my expectations for the rest of the year whether it's Wildlife a big fish or Northern Lights trying to force moments to happen on trips almost never works they tend to happen unexpectedly when you simply make yourself available for a moment to arrive it was a great shift in perspective for the trips to come but still a solid start to the year those really special moments would come so if you're thinking that sounds great I'm going to quit my job and make camping videos too warn you it wasn't quite that easy it was years in the making with countless hours invested and took lots of sacrifices and planning between the next few trips I'll sum up the story of how this all came to be and if you don't care how it came to be there are chapters in the playback bar if you want to skip ahead to the trips but if you want to hear the full tale here here how I turned my life upside down I grew up in Toronto studied Commerce downtown at tmu and sold cameras part-time at a mega mall until graduating in 2010 back in my city days I used to say that I could give up everything live out nature off the land I realize now just how hard and extreme that life would be but also how deprived I was of wilderness living most of my life trapped inside four walls in a city whether you work in an office a factory a store a restaurant School vehicle Hospital Hotel even home any workplace can feel like a cage the job doesn't own you but it does own your time be at 9: to 5:00 weekends and evenings day shift night shift part-time fulltime for those hours you are confined and when you finally see the bars of your cage the only thing you truly want is freedom so that desire I had to live in the wild was real just not realistic Toronto is a great City but I never belonged there nor in any City but after school my life continued in the city with a job offer I worked a 70th floor sales and marketing job where you could make six figures by your early 20s if you could climb the ladder it was an office full of type A's and suits and although the entry level positions weren't well paid at $32,000 a year which is difficult in the city the company skillfully dangled carrots in front of us to keep us hungry there were promotions and bonuses travel and restaurants flashy meetings with mega corporations and yet for all the Glamorous aspects of the lifestyle all I really wanted was to take my fishing rod and go north my escapes into nature at the time were irregular and brief fishing the harbor front or the Humber River in Toronto's West End where I grew up the odd weekend at a friend's Cottage or short car camping trips a few hours north of the city I know what a privileged life this was but that didn't mean it was fulfilling or that I belonged to it the old school mentality is that you should never leave a good job and if you don't like it you just got to suck it up but I'd rather be poor and free and Rich and trapped at 23 my dark hair started to turn gray from the stress of the job and I got passed up for a big promotion twice despite long hours and good results the second time I was up for the promotion I interviewed with an exec in the New York office and apparently he thought I sounded too young to get the role I had to have the slowest puberty ever and he wasn't wrong about my voice but I was working my tail off and it stung me on a very personal level it turned out to be one of those painful moments that's a blessing in disguise that rejection was crucial to dis menting the feeling that I didn't belong and Awakening A dormant sense of rebellion the plan for an escape began to take shape and I started squirreling away some cash my late grandfather was in poor health at the time seeing as how he would no longer be Dr driving I was given his minivan it was a champagne gold 98 Ford windar a pure Grandpa van and I was ecstatic to have it with that car the North Country I craved became that much closer with some Savings in the bank I quit my job with great relief and satisfaction and flew to Santiago to spend a month in South America to ride out the rest of Winter the warmth and mountains there were a breath of fresh air compared to the cold and steril skyscrapers I was used to but the reality of most vacations is you're still on a timeline often trying to catch a flag or bus or tour group or reservation so I was even more excited for my plans back in Ontario where I'd be completely free from the constraints of a schedule in May I came home for spring in the northern hemisphere to take a huge road trip with my grandpa's van my dad's big fiberglass canoe and my fishing rod my grandpa was a paper salesman in Toronto my dad was a book salesman in Toronto I thought I would be a Salesman there too but now I was going to have to figure out what I was for now I was a traveler and I was going to drive all around the northern parks that were always on my mind the ones I stared at on Maps while I was stuck in the city got a good one on here folks oh yeah giving me a little toe here unbelievable fishing oh folks here it is the one I've been waiting for this 12 lb Beauty was caught on a Musky buck lure [Music] [Music] all alone for weeks moving and fishing as I pleased sleeping in the back of the van whenever the day ended the road trip was my first true Taste of absolute freedom I was on a tight budget and on cold nights I shivered for hours rather than shelling out cash for a motel it just made Sunrise that much sweeter and things like that forced me to build up my camping skills which were still very limited I drifted from park to park finally laying eyes on places I'd only Dred about back in the city but as the weeks passed reality came back around and I knew that I would run out of money in a few months so I made my way back to Toronto to get serious about job hunting the road trip had been amazing but that feeling of Freedom faded fast once I got home it didn't satisfy my wander lust it just opened the door to Obsession let's move on to the next trip and get back to history in a bit I'd have some company for the second trip of the season I was headed for some remote trout lakes with Joe Robinette who had been watching for many years to many of us Joe pioneered the idea of making camping YouTube videos for a living and if you told me 5 years earlier that I'd be camping fulltime and dripping with Joe well that was not even remotely conceivable not to mention that for Backcountry Anglers there's just about nothing better than an early season trout trip even if that means lots of portages and black flies okay here we go the weather was unseasonably cold so at least we could start without the Flies for now yeah I think it is hail yeah so this routee is a real wild card for us we really have no idea what the condition of the route is but there is a Portage sign up ahead there just past Joe's head so that's what promising yeah it was about 200 M yeah measured it nice one down God knows how many left to go so we came through on the other end beautiful little Lake big pond makes me want to stop here doesn't it searching for the next Portage okay this looks like a trail fueling up before these portages we have them marked on an old map but no distances and the map is very low resolution okay ready to go weather is just changing on a dime goes from hail to Blue Skies right now it's coming down pretty good listen to that man it is wild out there [Music] [Applause] might bunch of portages here early yeah oh yeah there it is okay just a bit of an awkward take out beautiful that wasn't bad at all no no just amazing Pines I am blown away by all the pine reaching it uhoh tipping it oh my goodness bone dry yeah oh man wow this is really well done it's kind of bizarre it's like it's too precise it's a we'll take it Stone over here yeah just an incredible sight what did they just needed a fish but we got time for that well we're here cheers buddy cheers we're getting the camp set up here got my beloved amuk and it looks like the weather's about to change again for the 50th time today this site is magic magic can't VI through the roof Cheers Cheers brought to two tall boys each and they didn't make it till dinner first day M oh yeah that's good it's really [Music] good back to the snow it's been 20 minutes you know the little weather icon showed snow and I was like n crazy I don't think I've ever had this this kind of snow on a canoe trip I am right there with you I wow oh man so beautiful living a life boys living life over here [Applause] yeah this a scen okay oh man little Channel pit your tent right there that' be pretty sweet yeah decent shore fishing right Sun just cracked through a bit it feels really good it's uh very cool morning very blustery as well all right here it is it's close lakeer I think oh yeah on the board a nice Lake tro we release amazing how quickly luck changes eh with the change of aure change of Lu oh my goodness yeah he's going to fill that net another Laker oh no no no oh this is want going to bring my oh no oh no yeah there he goes wow pretty fish man you're on the board yeah okay we're not messing with this net no more yeah we're almost at the Portage we're almost looking forward to it the wind's gotten pretty bad on unbelievable Trails considering we had no idea and we figured we'd be doing fair amount of bush walking we're blown away just off the trail there's remnants of a cabin or something wow would have been the perfect size e for just one or two people another beauty that was an 1150 that was a lot longer than the other ones we've done so far what do you have show me a spec oh my God I saw color in that tail think that's a it's a rainbow rainbow oh it's a rainbow buddy your NE yep high pressure high pressure oh it's a beautiful rainbow beautiful oh my God beauti rainbow double rainbow double rainbow what does it mean oh thank you no a Brookie oh it is it was so f a monster it was so fat I thought it was a uh look at the color under it it looks yeah it's got the iridescence of a rainbow oh my that is a thick rookie bu that's a football that's a thick fish Bey man oh my goodness I'm happy Beauty I'm happy okay I'm going to put this guy back but awesome fish super happy about it very nice fish congrats thank you beae Joe has himself a Triple Crown just got into do a rainbow Laker Brookie and a rainbow it's going to be come on man one of the best fishing days of your life oh it already is oh yeah Brookie I think another beautiful Brook three trout a piece I can't ask for anything more keeping the fish in the water there in the nut wet my hands before I hand handle it oh just gorgeous thank you my friend thank you very much looks pretty good eh yeah I think so do yeah [Applause] [Applause] Jo is butterflying the tro trying to open it up so it Cooks more evenly if you don't everything around the spine is pretty raw by the time the outer pieces are cooked so the gist of it make a split get it down as far as you want fish is pretty big we need the fish to split down a little ways we got our skewers I'll have my lovely assistant hold this for me it's big pull that side yeah yeah yeah I'm worried I'm going to crack it no I know yeah it's a dangerous game how is it looking delicious [Applause] super Smokey nice job look at you that's perfect good job that's awesome dude sweet that looks like we I we're bushcrafting now you know I'm I'm part of the club we decided to add a side or actually an appetizer to this meal while we wait for it to cook and what could be more gmet to go with this rainbow trout then some craft inner please look off small sweet thank you yes that's that's plenty that's plenty thank you oo first course no I'm [Applause] good oh yeah she's fatty cheers buddy oh rainbowed Pro oh wow that is amazing M mhm M mhm like a bit of that Smoky flavor mhm good morning beautiful calm conditions Sunny not a cloud in the sky and I can't wait to get back in the canoe I've been that excited to fish in a while but yesterday brought back that excitement so can't wait to just cook up breakfast and get going day three it's been an amazing trip so far but we haven't even had conditions like this at all it's been raining on and off cold windy so this is what it's all about okay through to the next Lake all right oh my goodness just beautiful all right thank you oh man I was watching an eagle up there when I hooked up with another beautiful Brookie just another beautiful beautiful tro so we're on the river now this is a real wild card if it dries up then uh we're going to have a long day beautiful clear water so far we're getting through [Applause] Tre here oh man it's been a grind to get down this River oh might be a rainbow it's a rainbow it's a rainbow it's a rainbow come on oh oh it's fighting well here we go Rainbow Oh rainbows for all look at that let him go right away thank you very much awesome there's a big climb here we have nothing in the tank probably going to not make camp for another 2 hours hours or more that's the lake that we just left from lot of elevation gain hopefully we're at the top and it's uh down from here but doesn't really look like it made it exasperated but also super excited just a relief oh wow over here too oh wow this is why we do it so all right this is going to be it for us tonight Sun's low and we're too exhausted to uh search for anything else a better site this is somewhere we can sleep and cook food and drink water that's all we care about oh to a day to the day Cheers Cheers we're on our way paddling on glass on these spectacular Lakes which have such Clear Water seems like our luck with the trails is over real bird's nest here cleared a little sneak around it but a lot of this on this Trail 1,800 M taking a breather here after the last 24 hours we've been really worn down hopefully this is the last tough [Applause] one oh real stunner of a little Lake yeah Joe just found a shed is that cool eh not that big but beautiful that's the first moose I've ever found same actually no a second but it's got some he to it though oh they're heavy eh yeah oh I'd like to keep it but I'm not going to no we got enough to carry look at that though that's pretty cool man nice good eye heard to see in the leaf litter there a big steep drop descent here into this Lake glad we're going this way taking the gear up this would be brutal Joe actually wiped out right here a rock gave out his camera lens smashed right on that rock but miraculously seems to be all right and him done for the day all right looks like we might have found a little well-deserved slice of paradise here all right we're going for a dip we got a perfect jumping rock on this A1 campsite have to use it even though the water is freezing freezing I'm going to give my clothes a rinse while I'm at it we doing this together I think so all right amped up getting amped up you ready I think so one two three woohoo oh it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts oh that that was invigorating okay so I've eaten meat three times on this trip Joe brought steak Joe provided rainbow trout Joe provides beef 4 day old beef or pork I guess pork beak whatever whatever's in a sausage I don't think anyone knows no one knows squis it or they old backpack dogs little ketchup yeah e [Music] what a morning that was beautiful night stars were out it's completely clear we went without the fly because it was clear an owl perched right overhead in these trees B owl and hooting and the loons were going gold was chirpping away the Ambiance was off the charts got a big pot of cheesy veggie chili with some garlic bread and trying to fuel up because we want to put in a big day hopefully make up some ground I'd say every day we made less ground than we thought so hopefully today we change that saying goodbye to that fantastic campsite heading to our first Portage of the day should have several hopefully if we can get them done some nice jumping rocks here this is the trail this is the green trail that I said we we came off on this one we're coming here this is the green trail that would have intersected it but on that this it looks like we should head straight through there right that's what we're trying to do y and this trail goes and stops right there okay class suppli are really coming [Music] on okay three portages connecting the two Lakes couple ponds in between we're on our way it's funny we have several mapping resources for this trip Joe has a Garmin GPS I've got aen maps on my phone I've got I believe Kevin kalin's old map of this route and Joe has a different printed map that he bought at a store near him and none of them really agree and sometimes uh one of them is wrong some other times that same map is right and other one's wrong it's it's caused a lot of confusion for us on this trip but it's made for a great adventure not knowing the way sometimes is the most rewarding trip finding your way it's definitely rain up ahead I can see it with my sunglasses on at least [Applause] yet again we're searching for a Portage looks like water levels have changed a lot because this is all March we finally found the flag there so I guess that's our way to go but was going to put on my bug shirt but we're close to camp it's right over there it's in sight so hoping I don't have to got a smoky fire going hopefully ditch them so we checked out the campsite seems decent but we just we feel like carrying on there's just like a 160 m Portage to get to the next Lake still have plenty of daylight and the next lake is stocked pretty heavily with splake well if we did get splake that'd be every tro PES in the area basically true that would be the Grand Slam upgrade that triple crown to a grand slam last night finally out for an evening paddle just to fish and relax Joe went out about an hour ago and he got a spake so he's upgraded his trout Triple Crown to a trout Grand Slam rookies rainbows Lakers and now splake for him so pressure is on meina fish on hoping for the Grand Slam looking for a splake yes it's in the net it's thrashing the water's pretty dark I'm thinking splake though here is the moment of truth that looks like a splake to me bit of a fork in the tail and that is the grand slam my friends Grand slams tro Grand Slams for both of us for a couple of buddies that is a heck of a fishing trip and there is a magical Sunset gorgeous night unbelievable hey uh I know you're in the Grand Slam Club I wondering if You' let me in oh nice man over in the corner on my little Cleo good stuff that's perfect home runs for both us congrats man don't [Music] well we're in the home stretch here we got some Pond hopping to do and then one known Portage that we've already done to get back to our access Lake and then we're out of here Joe is in more of a rush than I am so he's going to Jet ahead clear all the trails right yeah that's the reason but that was an amazing trip very good right up there with one of the more memorable ones man I know that already and I haven't even like gone back and and look at the footage or try to remember it yet yeah it's going to be a fun one to look back on yeah yeah hasn't even ended yet yeah right and look at look at the golden oh just a gorgeous morning too yeah we've had amazing weather yep incredible all across the board even the snow it was kind of magical I'm going to saddle up right here just soak this in yesterday I was content with going home really miss Aaron body is wrecked but uh this morning it's feeling harder to leave it's just so peaceful and I'm really in my zen State now on day six kind of day seven for me cuz I camped the first night at the access point yeah I'm looking forward to the next one into the First Pond there are I think five or six so be a lot of pond hopping short Portage short Portage another boggy one seven buggy boggy portages later I'm back at the access Lake feels really good to have all the portages behind us cuz we had some tough ones on that trip it was an amazing trip with Joe extremely memorable after a spring canoe trip that trout Anglers dream of I packed up and hit the road to rest and resupply at home hammer out some edits and spend some time with Aaron full-time camper life was starting off as hoped but let's go back again to how this became possible 8 years before the trip you just saw I was returning to reality after a month in South America and the Northern Road Trip in my grandpa's minivan I came back to my lowrise apartment in Toronto I started applying for jobs that would bring me closer to Nature being the oldest of three siblings I was a ruider and and I had my sight set on becoming a conservation officer I think I would have been damn good at it too but I cast a wider net applying to places like parks and resource management companies but with my education and experience being in a totally unrelated field I was getting nowhere fast and eventually I was getting nowhere slow thankfully I was splitting the rent with my best friend Chris which bought my bank account a bit of time but as summer wore on I began to lose hope that any conservation or Parks organization would give me a chance eventually a recruiter contacted me and before I knew it I was working another marketing job this time in the city of Miss Saga just west of Toronto it was a pretty good role with an agency that ran inore promotions in Walmart like my last marketing job we created promotional materials in the Millions for Mass distribution across the country this really gwed at me forcing landfill onto consumers to convince them to buy stuff they probably didn't need from a company that had been the face of consumerism in my lifetime I'm not saying the marketing doesn't have its place people have real needs and there are products that make our lives better but I remember a promotion we organized for a toaster made specifically for hot dogs and it makes me cringe there were sugary snacks new products toting meaningless awards that were bought more than earned cheap gadgets that would be landfill in no time how do you push consumerism for a living when your core values are about conservation the work life balance was better with this job and there were a lot of good times with good friends but I could never reconcile those feelings I knew it could either continue like that for the next 40 years or reinvent myself in my late 20s before it was too late and after almost 3 years in the job and since the last big adventure the camping itch had returned with a Vengeance I'd spend hours looking at maps and thinking about where to go and imagining what fish might be in the Lakes yet again I began planning my Escape but this time I'd be smarter about it and have a real plan change starts with hope but is executed with a plan after months of preparation and saving I told my boss I was leading to do a college diploma to transition my career to Something in nature I've been squirreling away money again to pay for school and if I lived on the cheap I could quit 4 months before the first term to get in some serious camping I sold much of what I owned but I felt like I needed to make one big acquisition my dad's heavy fiberglass canoe needed an upgrade if I was going to be doing this all summer I bought my first canoe from a small shop in Hamilton Ontario it was a 15t prospector model an expedition grade Kevlar a terrific boat for adventure and at about $1,500 with some upgrades and paddles it was a really good deal I set out in May as soon as the ice melted and I was in the clear until the end of August when I'd have to get ready for school I kept a journal that summer but at the time I was only taking pictures and very rarely short video clips with a point shoot camera [Music] [Music] life was not glamorous but it was beautifully simple at one point I remember going 3 weeks without a shower or even a swim because the water was too cold in May and I didn't want to waste money on accommodations I was eating simple packaged Foods along with the odd fish my gear was very basic and the van continued to be my motel when needed but I was free and happy as could be and unlike the first escape this time I had a concrete plan to come back to real life and transform my work into something I cared about with this vision for the future I was able to enjoy the moment all the more my thoughts tend to be dominated by the future but for once I was in the present for the first time since I could remember I made time to read books for fun I fished and went wherever the wind blew me Guided by some invaluable Maps I'd bought I mostly picked out roots in the tamogami region and it was here where I learned the ropes of solo Backcountry camping for the most part I stuck to public land outside of operating parks where I could camp for free to stretch my budget as summer wound down I dreaded having to end this lifestyle but I was also excited to begin a fresh start with school but before I open that chapter let's get back to tripping cuz this next one was really special one of the best trips of my life hey gorgeous to get to my start Point Aon shuttled Me 3 hours West of home to an old silver mining town in what is now a sleeping giant Ral Park from there I intended to paddle over 200 km East to the small coastal town of rosport all right don't can't [Music] [Music] [Music] just took refuge in this little Bay I'm kind of stuck already this is this is kind of what you don't want to happen here waves are up there's two 3ft swells wind is up an onshore wind thick fog so it's pretty much the worst conditions for navigation so I'm just going to wait it out I promised Aon I would be safe she's usually pretty cool about my trips but she was understandably anxious about this one so I owe it to her to play it safe so I'm here in the canoe on the water waiting it out not so bad Skies have cleared up and the sun has burnt off the fog now I can see islands in the distance and such which is all I need to navigate here carry on that landform coming into view there is the sleeping giant what a sight all right buckle down on of a small Islands here middle Brown Island and I'm at a bit of a critical juncture got sleeping giant behind me at the end of the SI Peninsula it's on the NorthShore of Lake Superior here and over there and the far in the distance are the pops and I little mountain range call the mountains Hills at least and now I need to do a large Crossing and conditions I feel like are safe for me to do that right now so I'm inclined to do it alternatively I can camp here see what happens this evening make the crossing in the evening or in the morning when it's likely to be calmest but got a Tailwind the the rollers are pretty gentle so I feel like I can do this safely I'm just taking a moment here to to really think it through I'm going to give it a shot at least get out there a little bit and see how I feel I can always backpedal but I think this is my chance I got a nice Tailwind the rollers are pretty gentle so this is it that Island out there is about 3 km almost away and that's my next point of Refuge made it to the first island which is occupied by gulls they don't like me and I can camp on some islands over this way if need be Daryl said you can camp there in a pinch or a carryon just checking out the island seemed like a worthwhile stop either way pretty unique an incredible view here it's is tempting to camp but conditions seem even better over here that's the poery lighthouse over there it's quite a bit of History I'd like to visit you're allowed to I'm not sure it's in the C it's based on the the wind and my schedule pretty thick bush in here not the best for camping just going to check the weather again looks like the weather's going to be okay if I want to go across this is the SI Peninsula sleeping giant there that's where I launch that's where I am and then I just need to get across here and then I can camp in that red dot there if I like almost went for a plunge but I'm in a dry suit so it doesn't really matter does it okay onward I don't want to camp here conditions seem perfectly reasonable let's keep her going so I'm heading for Hard Scrabble Island over there great name there's a sailboat right by it another one there's actually quite a sailing and yachting culture here on the North Shore Superior which is pretty cool maybe if I'm lucky they'll invite me aboard for some cocktails in Lobster there's your big boy just coming into horseshoe Co I think this will be home for tonight I was beginning to wonder if there was a campsite here here but it is right here and it is really sweet just up in this clearing here there's a bench fire pit nice landing here on this Pebble Beach perfect and according to Daryl and Zach's guide book for this area supposed to be a little Trail to take me over to a beach where I can get a Sunset View but first order of business is getting out of this dry suit I'm eager to get it off but it was so great to have it for peace of mind and [Applause] [Music] safety that could have been a White Knuckle paddle if I didn't have this insurance policy oh it feels good oh really nice just nowhere to hang a hammock really though here's that trail just 10 m down the trail nice Beaver Lodge this Trail is a really nice little X Factor for this campsite and this should be a great place for sunset [Applause] yeah well because this is a coastal trip pack some luxuries liter of red wine 6:30 just got to make dinner set up the hammock that's it for today fantastic day I feel accomplished for pushing through that and getting that big Crossing done that's the biggest crossing of the trip so everything else should be more straightforward so anyway cheers oh yeah found a spot to sneak in the hammock here right beside the actual campsite got a few souvenirs out of this fire pit to take home but not too bad there's a message from Aaron I just sent her a text on theolo saying that I made it across got some old man's beard here which usually lights like gasoline but it's a little damp just slightly it'll go it'll go I said oh a mosquito flew right into the flame awesome veggy chili lots of beans oh I needed that didn't stop for lunch so that tastes extra good hunger is the best seasoning there's a lot of history in this area first nation's history going back thousands of years but an industrial history as well forestry fishing mining no idea what this is but it was right there still in strong shape built a l and the marina where I launched today silver eyelet was in the' 70s and early 80s the most lucrative silver mine on earth now it's just full of nice little cabins right by the water I've got everything done that I need to do for the evening and for a quick start tomorrow morning even chared some firewood on the fire so it's you know charcoal and I'm going to go check out the sun it's not going to be sunset yet you have to St pretty late this time of year to see the sunset so I'm just going to see what I see at this point in time and hit the sack I want to get a good start tomorrow morning hopefully get some calm paddling and I'm sure I'll have lots of sunsets yet to come [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] qu after 5 time to get up I can hear waves splashing already so must not be that calm [Applause] so today I want to make it to Stanton Island where there's supposed to be a nice view of the Pops that little mountain range that's it that's my goal for the day and I want to fish time to get back into the dry suit I'm just going to do it halfway not the top and then if I get into some nastier water I'll just zip up the top my favorite time of the day camp ch are done Full Belly full day to look forward [Applause] to fastic morning sleeping giant back there he's waking up I'm waking up porf Frey Lighthouse is just over there and I would love to see it but I just don't have time to see it properly and with the nature of this trip there's so many islands channels and Bays I cannot see everything cool fact about this Conservation Area it's the largest piece of protected fresh water on [Applause] Earth there are the pops coming into view [Applause] again starting another open water crossing a little over 2 km much calmer conditions than yesterday going to do this up just in case it's like being born this guy just made an emergency landing here came out of nowhere and just crashed into me anyway he get Sanctuary here as long as he wants or she it's magnet Island over there go halfway through the crossing look behind me same view in front of me this is why I'm wearing a full dry suit the average annual water temperature in Superior is only 4° C that's only a few degrees above freezing really a lake that deserves a ton of respect and caution oh we got we got oh he's alive he's alive folks come board welcome so magnet island is called that because I guess it has some kind of magnetic disturbance and it can actually throw off a Compass by 30° came to shore to stretch my legs and surprisingly someone has been here already a moose interesting to see that all the way out here [Applause] porcupine no way wondering what that was just coming in here to have some lunch it's only the second or third porcupine I've ever seen on an island way out here [Applause] cool [Applause] Hello so [Applause] awesome that's as fast as I've ever seen a porcupine [Applause] move that was fantastic such a rare Wildlife setting for me at [Applause] least looks like a Laker yep come in the water Gess hooks pretty easily nice little Lake tro would be a good eater but not right now I really want to get camp set up before the storm potentially rolls in there are thunderheads all over there and pretty dark clouds so that's my priority right now it's Hugh Island behind me and two kilm of Open Water ahead of me is Stanton Island that's all set up just heard the first booms of thunder and pulling into Camp right there perfect timing okay tarps up got a great view of the pops and hopefully a thunderstorm that would be cool it's amazing how much these trees deflect the wind as soon as I step out here way [Applause] stronger I passed out for 2 or 3 hours only sprinkled unless I slept through more but still looking nasty that way it's just been it's been all around but I haven't gotten any of it yet so I'm hope I'm cooking dinner and hoping that it'll hold off while I do that beautiful beach site I'm really digging this spot amazing panoramic [Applause] [Applause] view right as I took my last bite of dinner it started to rain perfect timing Thunder off in the distance it's always been in off off in the distance but it's creating such an Ambiance here with the swon thrush my favorite bird call and this view really off the charts I kind of want to go to bed early uh might have a North headwind tomorrow and I'd like to get an early start to get the beat on that but I think I'm going to have to stay up for sunset [Applause] [Music] [Music] spe [Music] [Applause] hey a rainbow wow what a morning rainbow over the pops was up at 5:00 a.m. with the birds on the water just before 6:00 a.m. just beat the buzzer at 5:59 a.m. beautiful and calm the wind was picking up it just died so that is a relief wow oh man this moment is going to disappear just trying to soak it up it's turning into a double got a double rainbow folks best way to start any day Lucky Charms showers just started and oh my goodness got triple rainbow one two three four there's a fourth rainbow no way hope that's visible that is [Applause] unreal I know I'm being the double rainbow guy right now but that's poor rainbows [Applause] oh my goodness wow what a morning we're on the other side I only see three but three still a lot of rainbows woohoo [Applause] unbelievable have you ever seen a quadruple rainbow have you ever even heard of one have you seen a triple what did I just witness that was [Music] ridiculous I'm exploring Sturgeon Bay this morning don't really know why it's like probably 10 km detour and no real notable features other than the mouth of the Sturgeon river which is hardly a river at all on the map it's only shown as being a few kilometers long [Applause] beautiful couple of sandhill cranes they're huge I saw it's red head popping above the grass there and they took off before I could start the camera but beautiful there they are that ahead [Applause] [Laughter] massive Birds whoa spider webs big spider I guess I can see why this is called a river it's not a long one it's uh kind of eerie probably almost never paddled and I mostly came in here for the hope of wildlife like moose and I got sandill crayons so gladly take that so quiet still having lunch on this little island it's got more of this big plant I'm wondering if it's devil's club which is something that's mentioned in the guide book it's kind of unusual whatever it is it's just crawling with insects oh me kind of swarm you I don't know if it's this island or these plants but it smells like poo it's not that appetizing about the burritos very good this archipelago is just incredible beautiful little islands and with this aquamarine water they look so tropical so alluring all of them make you want to camp on them until they smell like poo oh look at those bubbles oh oh oh he just got off oh well just coming into South Lon Harbor now it's a cluster of islands provides a really nice sheltered area for Anchorage or for camping and it looks [Applause] spectacular so it looked like a campsite here pulled up on shore and it's I was wondering why are there are chairs here and everything it's because this is a sauna believe it or not there's a network of saunas on like Superior wow it's actual like a log sauna everyone decent oh man oh it smells beautiful in here like an old Cedar cabin oh that's so cool I'm not really the sauna type but this is pretty neat even a mirror how do I look very cool Moss chinking it looks like they set up curtains to kind of conceal it that's interesting and I would Camp here but it's a bit used for my liking on a Wilderness trip this would be an amazing place to come with Aaron going in the sauna alone sounds kind of lonely and I have a campsite picked out for tonight on Lasher Island anyway so but what a spot just love it here it's like being on Lake Superior but on an inland lake with no Portage it's just sweet there used to be something here in L Harbor there's like an old crib underneath whatever these parts are for this maybe a boiler really don't know my Machinery my 1950s Machinery too well those parts are just over there in that bay here's another one man like rocks all it stuff back in the day and then this is a campsite here on this big slope which I just want to walk up to give you a perspective on Lon Harbor this this Harbor enclosed by Big Island then it's dotted with small islands all in the middle so just a beautiful spot notice some geese poop look at that little guy oh there they are there was some geese poop on the slope there they were tucked away but that one Gosling just came running down the hill toward me jumped in the Water started swimming toward me and I just thought better of it pretty amazing campsite here on this exposed rock someone must have gone OCD someday and organized all this firewood unless A storm blew it all up but I find that hard to imagine it's not even 4:00 but I've been up and at it since 5 and my wrist is done for the day so this will do [Applause] should be a great dinner nonel zones [Music] [Applause] on the water at 5:45 this morning earliest start yet Lake tro yeah I think so yep [Applause] [Music] [Applause] wow this one is really cool it looks like this little leg is holding up this entire little cliff [Applause] [Applause] this is absolutely amazing band Island so worth this little detour this morning I could have I had just head south to get here and I'm going north is it ever worth it actually some little grasses and stuff growing on that rock but how does that survive Millennia of waves and ice and storms that's incredible The Best Is Yet To Come From Bashan Island I thought I had seen the sea Arch I had not I see it now [Applause] wow oh my goodness creepy thing is I can see like little pin holes of light through the rock looks like it could collapse in any second like this is quite an overhang see it from the other side [Applause] I thought yesterday morning would be impossible to top with that quadruple rainbow um but this might have done it yeah nice thick good length like troat come here oh yeah probably a five pounder maybe even six want my hands oh yeah nice nice Lake oh no stupid idiot oh well just imagine El elro the size double the size of the ones that I've caught shot at Redemption here this one doesn't feel nearly so big though yep small leg tro let it pop off here underwater [Music] interesting spot here on Arthur Island just so raw and harsh only small trees and some of them are probably quite old just can't get big no soil these Cliffs across the channel seeing is always changing here it's always dramatic so beautiful fish on hope it's a Brookie I just have a a feeling in this Bay oh yeah it's a Brookie it's a Brookie it is a Brooky oh boy oh boy oh boy okay first rookie of the trip I thought I missed one one earlier too ah cool all right wet my hands Beauty Square tail red dots blue Halos all right thank you thank you very much ni view eh check this out it's always creepy going beneath these things but you have to remember they move in geologic time that won't collapse for probably [Applause] Millennia I'm into shishi Bay and I was planning on going right to the back of the bay which is about 8 km from here but the wind is against me and then it will be against me again coming out tomorrow so I'm just going to cut across the mouth of the bay and carry on just listen to the lake it's been over 2 km across shishi Bay and I promised Aaron I would wear the suit if I was doing a big Crossing but it is brutally hot it's so hot with this suit on pretty Choy but not as bad as day one that was by far the least Pleasant paddling this is fine picked up got pretty strong there what's started going with the wind I was flying very unusual rocks here like columns wow otter Island I'm make amazing Place Another spectacular Island shouldn't be surprised anymore but I am all right I'm turning away from otter Island one more Crossing and then I should be protected by the mainland from this North Wind I think this is called Sail Rock it's just sitting out here like an iceberg [Applause] oh oh that's sweaty found camp for the day and I think it's my favorite yet got a nice little Babbling Brook massively wide view I can even see my old friends the pops over there ni Stony Beach and there's a lake a little ways that way and I was wondering about bushwacking into it and there's actually actually it looks like there's a trail that might be fun to check out it's 4:00 so I probably have time to do that and there's actually places to hang the hammock which has been kind of a challenge been better for tents actually which is I don't say that too often yeah little Trail and this is an interesting place to have a trail because this is wild remote you have to boat a long way even by a motorboat to get here that trail petered out pretty quickly might have just been a game Trail yeah looks really shallow and it became a real tangle to get in here so forget it goes on Beyond could be deeper over there maybe it's a brook trout honey hole but I've got a pretty good Lake where I came [Applause] from I was wondering what that sound was ear earlier huh just a beaver [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] what Little [Applause] Beaver 5:36 a.m. new best time leaving Dawson Creek and this cloud of mosquitoes behind and it was actually a former logging Camp right there I was I felt like some of the trees look planted just cuz they were too orderly and yeah I was reading the guide book last night it said that and yes it is called Dawson's Creek nice little cave in there if you needed a [Applause] shelter no time to check that out though got to get around this point to see sunrise [Music] [Music] all wow I've never enjoyed mornings more on any trip day five those beavers were awesome last night beavers aren't usually that interesting you know you see them swimming and they Splash their tail and they're gone but when you actually get to watch them pretty cool and I was just lying in the hammock and then heard these little cries and I was thinking what the heck is that if you never heard a young beaver cry before it sounds a lot like a human baby or toddler it's weird mom and yeah if you're not expecting to hear a baby's voice in the wilderness it's pretty weird but I've heard it before and I should have known but it's been a while just looking at a big nest wondering if it could be an eagle and Mama just came home or [Applause] Papa it's funny how uncool and Eagles call that's why they always use red tailed hawks in [Applause] movies water checking me out little ler brought this little bat just for this purpose if I needed to dispatch one quickly like that fish was just hook near the eye I don't want to rip that out that just for Humane purposes that has to be a keeper and I was looking for a fish to keep today anyway so that's perfect and it's yeah a nice nice eating size for one thank you thank you pretty [Applause] much another Laker mindboggling scenery in this spot just uh south of Spar Island I would love to stop here and clean that trout there massive Beach here very long beach but I'm paddling on glass and I have to cross the nippan straight which is kind of a notorious passage so I think I'll continue and try and get that done and then once I'm across then I can have my fish reward that hilly region up there is plure Island I had no idea it was so scenic just like that wind picks up stiff breeze from the East just kicked up as predicted on the Zolo which I keep here in my life jacket pocket it's also my SOS [Applause] Beacon I'm at the start of the nian straight about 2 km to get across here reel in chops picking up but it's still perfectly reasonable so 80% of the way and in the Lee of clure Island now felt like a long haul but but it was it was pretty straightforward wind didn't kick up too badly found this big piece of Timber down the beach dragged it down here cuz it'll make a nice cutting board and lay this guy up he's pretty stiff now r moros M well I can smell it from here M phenomenal m digging the lemon pepper M seagull's taking on the eagle they both have an eye from the carpass carcass shocked that the seagull actually won for now anyway been waiting so Patiently I laid it on the rock for him and now that the eagle showed up he's just cing it down G eating the fins yeah you might be too small for the carcass an eagle might get that oh Eagle's coming back Eagle took flight oh oh wow what have I done and the eagle has this Eagle covered in every Dimension except scrappiness oh he's just a wiry scrapper and he'll take on anyone [Laughter] oh one of them just pooped Landing in the water right there that was close ooh he's like choking on that intestine he's back some beautiful rocks on this beach most beaches on Superior but really nice quartz they look better even when they're wet just look at those Jewels I remember the good old days when I was a kid and thought I could get rich off of these it was a simpler time removing any trace of my fire pit just so it looks clean that's my idea of a Shor lunch right there delicious wasn't being hounded by mosquitoes as I cleaned the fish which often in summer can make it so unpleasant and I got to share it with a couple of friends there goes that wimpy Eagle heading into FL Island the archipelago south of it tons of Island they're just everywhere that's the main Lake back out there and up along here there's a forest fire looks like it's not too old because there's no regrowth yet here's camp for tonight beautiful wide view of St ignes Island we'll get to that later and a really nice sheltered area to camp in here perfect for the hammock oh oh almost done this book desert solitire Edward Abbey it's aged extremely well it's over 50 years old but it's still edgy it's very good very fitting for today as well and there's one quote that really stands out here for that makes me think of superior gaze not too long into the abyss L the abyss gaze into the sometimes looking at at Superior like an ocean when you have a wide open view of it kind of feels like that and next up I've got this [Music] [Applause] gorgeous sunrise over San IGN Island this morning stiff breeze stiff headwind is already up it's uh 5:42 so I'm glad to be on the water early cuz this could be a nasty one I'm crossing the blind Channel now for St ignas [Applause] Island made it I'm very excited to be approaching s igas island it's a massive Island second largest on Lake Superior behind a Royale it's got Lakes on it big lakes actually within it it's uh got one of the highest points of land in Ontario in Mount s ignis but the scenery that I've got on route to getting here it's going to be tough to beat so we'll see what it brings it's getting quite choppy out there I just came on to this island for a breather that's Mount St ignis over there looking all dark and mysterious might be a short paddling day at this rate [Applause] [Applause] at the MK of the brook River here pouring out crashing into the waves quite a nice spot and I found a new souvenir my my usual I've got quite a few of these Oh there's uh it's half full [Applause] wow that so cool another sea Arch here in Duncan Cove and you can paddle right through it oh that's fun [Applause] oh man that is [Applause] awesome nice looking Beach stopped for lunch here on this beach in Duncan Cove and while I was cooking up my pen I found this I think it's an aate agot Rock and if it is it's the first one I've ever found there are geodes which look all like crystally but an agate has these concentric rings so I think this would qualify it's small but I think it still counts that in Focus hopefully anyway I'm pretty stoked about that Laker actually got hooked on the bottom of the jaw on the outside just going to film them on the underwater let them pop off coming around GRE point it looks so tropical the shoreline looks like it's pure Beach although it's probably all gravel and the little mountains yeah I thought this point was going to be a total war zone very shallow too so the waves can really lift up on it and they are but not that badly I'm able to paddle just fine and Mount St ignis it's just coming into view here and it's now lit by the sun back lit before it looks Epic [Applause] wow what an amazing spot this rock is mindboggling and it's pretty common here I'm protected behind the reason ly Long Point I don't really have it in me to go tackling whatever is around that point in terms of wind and waves so I'll Camp here if uh if I can find somewhere to actually hang the [Applause] hammock little exfoliation [Applause] [Applause] killed a I don't know a couple hours maybe even more in this spot it's beautiful spot I've enjoyed it I've got that wavy feeling in my head when you've been on the water with waves for too long it's kind of nice and I could conceivably Camp here but I don't it's not great and I don't really want to scar this pristine sight with a fire so found somewhere else I can go just down the the shore and that'll do for tonight took the canoe over to the camping spot some stuff's crying out cuz it ended up being a bit of a S Landing everything's drying out except for my my souvenir from Brook River but well as well it's sunny little [Applause] dry ah all set up in the Amar a fantastic view here's my impromptu washing things I've got my shirts and pants shirt and pants in the net along with a few Pebbles so it's not uh too light doesn't go away on me and this net has a tether so it slat it on the canoe here rinse cycle [Applause] [Music] on Modern Family there's an episode where Cam and Mitch talk about delaying gratification they have this bottle of really nice wine or champagne and they just never open it because it's too nice they don't want to enjoy it we'll enjoy that later at a better time more special time eventually they just give in and and drink whatever they want this is my champagne this packaged meal of Veggie Pad Thai I'm always bringing it on trips and I'm like no no got to save it got to save it I bring it primarily for longer trips to just add some variety I can't make veggie pad tie out here it would be hard anyway [Applause] so today is the end of the delay of gratification [Applause] tastes like the present need some Sriracha though I put that on everything this is great though I've had it before once [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] on the water before 6: again woke up at like 4:00 just couldn't sleep so I'm out here conditions are pretty good we've pounded the shore all night despite that the wind seem to die and now it's still settling down but pretty good what are you a lake tro cool oh and it's got a sea lamp pray on it oh come in let me get that off you oh brutal okay he's in the net check this out sea lamp Ray came in invasively they lash themselves on to fish and just Le them out basically no way the lamp pre detached on his own wa the Lampe is swimming around in there now trying to escape himself W my hands for the troat nice Laker thank you not a bad scar on him from the lampay so it probably hasn't been on for that long and look at this nasty little guy the bottom of their mouths is really gross I don't might be hard to get them to turn upside down but it's like a suction cup full of teeth and honestly I don't know if this is an invasive lamp pre or native so I'm not sure what to do with it look on my phone see if I have any offline resources for identifying it nasty it actually I'm going to pick it up oh it's so gross ew I don't want to let his mouth touch my hand to be honest it is so slippery I don't think I really don't think it's a sea lamp Ray oh it's the grossest thing ever I can't pick it up it's too there that works with the rubber netting look at its mouth imagine having that latched on to you anyway I I did have some ID and I don't think it is a CA lamp Ray I'm pretty sure it's not so I'm going to do what I'm going to do either dispatch or release what would you do I'm not going to record it cuz there's no pleasing anybody so I had taken a photo of uh a fish ID book and yeah there are Chestnut lamp pre silver Northern Brook American Brook and sea lamp pre but I'm pretty sure that was a silver Lampe not sea Lampe beautiful here in armor Harbor very tranquil [Applause] very interesting place behind me it's a nation called narvia some guys I guess over a few beers decided to occupy that spot I don't know if it's like squatter situation if they somehow acquired it but anyway if they declared themselves a nation and they have their own Anthem and flag apparently it makes for a pretty funny Google search I got to check that out nice gentle rollers today yesterday was like chop chop chop chop chop like the canoing equivalent to driving Mo over a really rough bumpy road today is just like like that heading into the bay where I plan to camp tonight do a hike this afternoon but Wicked headwinds just kicking up here haven't been able to find the trail head yet but before I do anything I need lunch and yay souvenirs aluminum foil my favorite souvenir found the trail head thanks to this little beat up flag hike to Mount St ignis St ignis island is the largest island in the nmca region and also contains one of the highest points of land in Ontario this Peak Mount St ignis is accessed by a little known yet worldclass hiking trail gaining 126 65 ft in elevation over its 5 km length hike takes at least 6 hours return and is quite challenging here comes the rain a beautiful hike was really excited for this it's quite an adventure beautiful Cedars growing so straight like Spruce I just did a big climb up what I thought was the trail I'm pretty sure I lost it haven't seen a flag or a saw piece of wood in a while must have been a game Trail probably wasted half an hour but got back to the trail and right at the right time check this out oh wow that's nice nice and cold this Trail is no joke you got to climb up this part right up the side of the [Applause] waterfall this is a tough one beautiful though spectacular ah wow oh what you can see from down there isn't even the whole Falls I was wondering where the trail goes here it is seen lots of mousse droppings on the trail let Open my see one at this Pond found some moose bones out here 90% of the way there still almost 200 ft of elevation gain left but I'm getting close starting to get my first views there are some beautiful Inland Lakes on this island that one looks stunning hey oh here it is the summit just when you think you got there before turns out I checked on my Topo it's not it wow that's phenomenal looks like it's raining over there oh I might be soaked pretty soon but I wouldn't hate it nice love finding those yeah here comes that rain what a hike my is off to whoever scouted cleared and has maintained this Trail like it is it's a beast it's got to be the toughest Trail I've ever done not to mention we're in the back half of June and the bugs are pretty thick came over to the west side of the peak really I just watch to look back on where I'd been isn't it ironic isn't it ironic it's like rain on your mou sness day when it rains it rains you know and it's the beautiful thing I have virtually no time constraints now quit my job I'm camping much as I want and before if I was taking my vacation time yeah I'd be pretty bummed but now it's just like another part of the journey isn't it ironic hey and look at that just cleared up a little so I could see the pops see everywhere I've been that Lake down there is King Lake it's an interior Lake on this island I've no idea if there's a trail in I have to imagine someone has put one in if they put one up to this bloody Mountain getting real gust of wind now it's just so raw up here I'm not in the hurry to leave actually unless it gets really nasty what a hard existence every tree the biggest tree is small and I love this one in particular out so beautifully this huge water body going right there there that's the nipan straight that leads into nipan Bay huge part of Lake Superior and then uh that's plure Island where I passed a couple days ago you see the channel goes all the way there and then there's this big island in the distance splitting it that's where I was hoping it might pass but just seems to be picking up so I'm going to get down back down but totally worth it very happy I did this I needed it too my legs needed a stretch they've been sitting in the canoe no Port portages has a downside and it's that your legs are just all cramped up my only concern now is desent on all these slippery wet rods but sure I'll get there just cleared up a little to the West there are a bunch of the islands that I just came through and many more in there and Beyond on a map it all looks pretty easy I'll just skip over to that Island in this island it's a big lake [Music] next up cross them offet straight over to Simpson Island [Applause] 6:30 no one touched my stuff that's good got to find Camp he hey just got the canoe loaded up and a rainbow materialized it looks so close there I could almost touch it Beauty oh I see a double there's a double coming on you know what that [Applause] means I was going to cross the muffet straight just over there other side of this island if the wind gave me a chance but it's still up and I'm out of gas had one meal and I've been going since 4:00 a.m. so you know 15 hours so I'm going to stop here there's a nice Cobble Beach really nicely sheltered from the wind and waves by this little spit and uh get a tarp up it's looking like it's still rain it's on and off and get a good meal in excited for [Applause] that fire feels nice tonight it's pretty chill soaked and that wind was is pretty chil [Applause] actually there's a pretty neat little cave right in there if I were a better YouTuber I would sleep in there that sounds just awful did you sleep in there it's got a good overhang protection from wind and driving rain but it's very uneven it would be terrible I'm just going to fake it for the thumbnail and extract still done just finished dinner you could see rain coming across the lake ran over here was scrambling to get the tarp up and then I can take all the Time in the World to set up my hammock oh yeah I'm just hearing it start feels like you cheated death when you just get ahead of the rain like this it's wonderful another early rise let myself sleep in till 5:30 though crossing the mofet straight so going to get it while it's [Applause] calm all right conditions look pretty good some gentle rollers crashing into these rocks here coming across to Simpson Island another big one so I'm getting into the last couple days of this trip I think I'll finish it in 9 days and I thought I'd be 10 to 12 but I wasn't I was never windbound for a full day I made pretty good progress every day so I'm ahead of schedule which is kind of sad you know to end early but better to end on a high note than to dry it drag it out and just fizzle out another amazing spot an arch too cave and an arch [Applause] very exposed paddling here on the South Shore of Simpson Island rugged and beautiful though and conditions seem pretty good I've got a 3 km Crossing after Simpson Island and I'm going to dip my toe in the water go around this point and see what see what it's like think this will be my chance to do it be up there on the hill looking down at me hey buddy it's too wavy blown away so cool what an awesome vantage point to see one browsing on top of a cliff it's looking good 3 km shouldn't feel like too much if these conditions hold on offway there [Applause] after 2: p.m. I'm just having my first real meal of the day and I've got my very own picnic table it's a nice one too reasonably new usually campsite picnic tables are pretty dilapidated like that one over there [Applause] glad I pushed through this morning while it was calm wind's up now it's white capping out in that Crossing perfect evening for the last night here I'm just soaking it up looking like it'll be a good Sunset it's almost 9:00 and sun doesn't go down till 10:00 so still got some time but it's been a phenominal trip just looking back on it as usual it hasn't been what I expected at all I thought I'd be seeing moose i' have constant fishing and I'd have really challenging weather and really none of those things happened the fishing was decent perfectly decent no mousse but be today a porcupine which is way rarer for me than a moose I never see porcupines it was a second or third porcupine I've ever seen so that was fantastic and then some great interactions with some of the more uh staple animals and birds got the San Hill trains and amazing interactions with beavers actually beavers I saw at Dawson's Creek that was that was amazing I've never really seen beavers that well and uh the one Beaver there was the baby crying and then the big one it had shoulders on it I was actually a little worried about it coming over it was looked like an absolute tank and then the weather I didn't lose a single day to conditions I maybe called it early couple times but still made progress every day and that's why I'm ahead of schedule I'll finish in 9 days it's it doesn't matter if you finish in 9 10 11 12 days just uh it's about embracing whatever conditions you get on Superior and if you get good conditions you keep going so there was no need to linger and drag it out it was perfect and I really want to say a thank you to Zach and Daryl who published the guide book for this route for this Aira area actually there are countless routes you could do I could do this route 10 more times and do it totally differently it's just amazing with all the islands and Bays there's so much to see I left a lot on the table but I I do plan to come back with Aaron someday cuz she would love this but uh these guys are real stewards of this area great conservationists they know this area so well and that really enhance my trip so thank you guys very much cheers thanks for joining me and cheers to Superior my favorite Lake on [Applause] Earth just finished this fantastic book and Edward Abby he passed in 1989 year and a half after I was born makes you wonder what you might be able to leave behind for a place that you love got the pancake mix with some cinnamon M love [Applause] cinnamon make them nice and small easier to flip I want to have these all trip there hasn't been time in the morning it's nice slow morning today slept until 6:30 I'm always ashamed of my bad head how was it today is it bad that was a fantastic final night and I'm looking forward to this final day Sun's shining what do we got [Applause] Laker oh he's in the net pretty small should let him pop off thank you that's the battle Island lighthous about 150 years old i' like to get out and check it out but I'm a bit worried about a wind and and chop kicking up I got to get back to my Rendevous point with Aaron last crossing of the trip rain's just starting to come on I'll be in the car before long where are you you got I don't know it feels like maybe a Brookie it's really uh it's crazy yeah probably Brookie got sorry yeah you at the TR Lake Diablo Lake Diablo yeah I just watched your video the other day oh yeah right on nice to meet you yeah likewise how' you find that oh this is a nice spec is it yeah nice sorry I might be ruining your no you're not you're adding to it you're going to be in it nice spe thanks buddy probably not legal though not quite no it's hard to get them legal normally they're all that size crazy standard eh yeah over a half meter spec that's a big choke that's a big spec well that's like 5 something PBS like that's a big thr you doing another video or what yeah I'm this is the end of my trip actually I'm finishing up in rosport I've been out 9 days oh really started from Silver eyet no way yeah it's been a great trip that's that's a good battle yes it's a good P that is awesome pretty good weather how's your day going you get anything no we just we literally just launched yeah are you from Ro man that was too funny run into some folks right as I'm getting close to the end of the trip with a fish on and it turned out to be the nicest fish of the trip and one of the biggest specs of my life hopefully I got a decent shot of it I didn't have this camera set up so I just reached back for the GoPro now another fish on just parting gifts from Superior that one disly felt like a Brookie he fighting like crazy this one probably more likely a Laker yeah it looks like it yeah another Laker hooks out nice little Laker thanks buddy just pulling into rossport Aaron will be here any minute here's my ride world class shadling services from Aon Outfitters as always a fresh delivery of chips couple Brews and a a perryer don't need that I had paddled Superior a number of times in the last few years but the strip From the Sleeping Giant really sh showed me the magic of this lake at home I go back to YouTube and the videos for the previous trips were performing Pretty slowly which was not very promising for being able to maintain this lifestyle long term the engine on Aaron's truck had also blown recently somehow water had gotten in it and replacing it set us back significantly but there was no reason to panic yet and I had plenty of time to make it work I was still riding the high of my new lifestyle especially thinking back to the city life I had escaped 5 years earlier I had quit my second marketing job and spent four Blissful months can camping with my grandpa's old Minivan and a new canoe but as August wound down it was time to go back to school and begin resetting my career it was a truly odd feeling to be buying school supplies again the college was located in a region known as the coras in the town of Lindsay it was about 2 hours outside of Toronto amongst Cottage Country and lakes which was a breath of fresh air originally I was enrolled in a 2-year environmental technician diploma and most of the students we fresh out of high school I moved into my room in a five-bedroom shared house which happened to be occupied by student in the college's GIS program GIS stands for geographic information systems which is basically modern-day mapmaking and Geographic data management I thought cartography was a thing of the past and had no idea people still made maps for a living my roomies showed me the work they were doing and said it was a good industry for getting work in natural resources the gis program was also only 10 months instead of 2 years and it was a postgrad certificate meaning that the students would be in the early 20s and some my age or older not to mention my savings would only have to last half as long as planned if I did the gis program I quickly applied the switch and got it done before the term began and I looked back with such gratitude that I happened to move into that house of GIS students however the program was surprisingly intense it was a 2-year program packed into three terms and most students there already had experience with GIS software whereas I had none during the first term we got an assignment to design any map we wanted and of course I chose to make a Backcountry map I made one for a route I had paddled that summer and I was loving the idea of being able to make maps for my trips later expanded on this project to make a padders map for the surrounding region and I've made more maps since for some routs that needed one the curriculum wasn't all as exciting as this but I was loving the gis World despite the program's heavy workload free time was limited but like any student sometimes I just had to procrastinate one night while I was supposed to be hammering out an assignment I got carried away with a little passion project I got to thinking about the journal I'd kept during the previous summer of camping and the idea for a Blog struck me I stayed up late into the night typing up the entire journal and drafting blog posts with pictures from my trips I titled the blog Backcountry angling Ontario without anything driving traffic to the blog the views were so low that it was exciting just to see a single page view come in now and then still the idea of having a platform to share my passion excited me I posted my trip photos on Facebook too but my friends and family weren't big campers and what I really wanted was to share my trips with a community of people who had passion for Back Country Adventure as spring arrived I took a Six-Day trip during a break between the second and third terms and on a I decided to film it on a point shoot camera it is Earth Day April 22nd 2017 it's the first camping trip of the Season which makes us the happiest Time of the Year back then in 2017 the camping genre on YouTube was nothing like it is today of the hundreds of people who are passionate about sharing their canoe trips now there seemed to be just a handful back then I loved watching guys like Kevin Callen Joe rinet and Brad Jennings go camping on their YouTube channels so I figured I'd give filming a try my production quality was arous especially the audio on my little camera the editing was even worse as a beginner using Windows Movie Maker but I posted it on YouTube under the same name as the Vlog Backcountry angling Ontario it barely got any views maybe 20 or 30 over a few weeks if I was lucky but that didn't really matter as a soloist I found it fun to be able to share the experience with others and the videos were reaching a handful of local paddlers and Anglers at that point I never even considered the idea of making a living off of YouTube I was just sharing my passion and I thought little of it after 10 Busy months in school I graduated and continued job hunting again maybe it was the fact that I had a marketing background and was applying for natural resource roles but again the transition proved difficult and I wasn't getting any interviews because school took half as long as planned I still had some money in the bank so again I took the chance to Camp between applying for jobs I'd recorded a couple more short trips that spring on the point to shoot camera and I was really enjoying the filming and editing process I carefully invested $900 into a better camera and microphone and unlike the previous summer of camping this time I'd film it all I ended up spending 95 days on trips That season I pumped Out rough Vlogs and never so slowly the channel grew it took me almost 6 months to hit 100 subs and I'd published almost 100 videos over that period though they were a shorter format with each day of the trip being its own video you know you're starting to let go of uh the constraints of time when you start having naps [Music] couldn't get any better right now I just feel so at peace so at home [Music] [Music] [Music] this is so vindicating when Nature cooperates when weather cooperates nature needs our respect but weather weather just demands our respect [Music] this is the type of day that makes you feel really lucky just to be alive the world's messed up especially environmentally but when you're out here uh connecting with nature you can't help but feel like you want to fight for it do anything to protect it [Music] if you are someone who cares about nature or you enjoy nature you have a huge opportunity to help shape the [Music] future nature is too precious to throw away the filming and audio had improved a bit but they were still pretty rough and the editing was just plain awful between trips I kept applying to jobs and hoping to come back from each trip to Good News over 6 months had passed and I still had nothing but I refused to go back to marketing as long as I still had some savings left I kept my expenses low and moved from Lindsay to a basement in a smaller town called omimi hometown of Neil Young I tried drumming up some freelance GIS work but couldn't get any real traction since I had no experience in the industry and I only made a few hundred from those efforts I was getting desperate for someone to give me a chance and the lower my savings got the more my anxiety grew to make matters worse earlier in the year my grandpa's van needed some repairs and I just couldn't justify sinking thousands of dollars into a 20-year-old car so I got another car and financed it over 7 years to minimize the immediate cost finally as Christmas approached my buddy Mike who I met at the college threw me a Lifeline he connected me with a brief contract just 3 months but that bought me time what really made it a Christmas miracle was the fact that it was with the ministry of natural resources and Forestry in petero Ontario after a year and a half living on the cheap and using my savings getting a paycheck again was an incredible relief and the fact that it was from the m&f was dream come true for the city boy but it was only for 3 months so I had to stay on my toes and keep looking for opportunities though as soon as I had that job on my resume the interviews started to roll in sometimes you just need someone to let you get your foot in the door one of my first interviews was with the forestry company 1,000 km away on the North shore of Lake Superior the natural scenery there was stunning in the quiet little town of marathon was a perfect Launchpad for Backcountry tripping I got offered a permanent role there and took a job that changed my life I'll finish this backstory in the next chapter but let's get back to some tripping the next trip was a shorter one just a couple of nights but a really good one I was headed for a stunning Trout Lake where I'd been once before but didn't have time to enjoy it it was a TR fine piece of water and it stayed on my mind since I first saw it oh yeah here it comes a fitting start for this [Applause] trip couple of years ago Aon and I finished our most brutal trip together we're waiting through the ice Creek whacking like it was just an awful brutal trip Terrible Weather ended with us getting drenched here on this Lake and it was a very memorable trip but we didn't really get to enjoy a lot of it so I'm here retracing the end of it starting from the opposite direction not doing the entire Loop but just enough to enjoy this end which we thought was gorgeous but we had to rush through we were just spent we were done we're out of time hopefully this time I can enjoy it on to the second Portage nice clear one this like here is a stunner big part of the reason why I came back here that didn't take long go oh I love barous hooks you see that just pop out his hands good and wet protect the fish you're going home buddy just a second please pretty good start not bad at all sorry what are you what are you hook popped out but he landed in the net oh a tiny little Laker it's one of the smallest lakeer I've ever caught oh man look at that little Laker it's tiny thanks buddy this is unbelievable another Laker going to let him pop off here you've seen one Laker you've seen two Lakers this guy just gets to to go less time they're out of the water the better if you're releasing wow this lake is incredible so nice to be able to enjoy it this time and I could stop here and camp where Aaron and I camped have a lovely time fish for Lake tro it's right across for some some Cliffs so it's really a nice sight or I could carry on and do some grueling Bush wax probably into some small lakes that I suspect could have rookies the the choice should be easy but I I pretty much know I'm going to go exploring those bushwalk Lakes there's an amazing campsite here on the Point course is late and it's ruined what do you make of this like a full-on Tempo tent shelter dilapidated portapotty lovely just Charming stuff like that is why I go bushwacking into these little lakes that just no one goes to because they're pristine this isn't incredible spot with a really gr gross blemish back to the good stuff this lake is just otherwise incredible and if you can make it out there's a Little Rock exposed rock there that is where we can't last year another Laker pretty decent one good size and quite dark thanks buddy [Applause] jeez okay I'm starting to scope from here and I'm just going to walk not clearing anything yet it would just be Madness before scouting it's about 3/4 of kilometer I don't know half a mile so first time this is just a feasibility study who and we'll see if this is if there's any hope of this it's not looking good oo black flies mosquitoes and thick bush unless I pick up a trail this ain't happening but Plan B is pretty good beautiful going along this Creek though yeah this would be a really sucky bushwack well good news is that I've made it to the First Pond bad news there's no chance that I'm taking the gear and canoe in here uh is way way too much of a grind for a small pond it's there are subsequent ponds and small lakes that I'm hoping to get to but just this is is too tough so that's all right it was a lovely walk in the woods I'm going to walk back to the last Lake and if I run into a trail that's the only thing that would save this Mission but the thought of just enjoying the last Lake and eating lake trout that sounds pretty good yeah this little Pond is not worth coming to oh would you look at that glass that's crazy who and why it's got to be snowmobilers which would require a snowmobile trail there is a canoe there is a canoe right there it's it looks very old let me check that out maybe there is oh and that could be a trail you got to be kidding me oh man this could mean a lot of work looks like a trail can't believe that so that must link up with the Portage to the next Lake I took the most direct route but clearly there's another way this is one of those little stubby like sports PS or if there were paddles I don't think there are I would paddle across the lake and see what's up look for another Trail but I still don't think this is worth it if anything I'll have to come back another time now knowing this Trail exists because too much X Factor Beyond oh man this canoe is in rough shape okay I saw it that's enough the trail looked a lot better at the Landing there it's actually quite rough so all the more reason to say no so now I need to get back to that campsite which might be impossible on this wind [Applause] just behind the last Point soon as I turn this corner it's going to get really nasty this going to be a tough paddle [Music] when you see that does it make you want a litter boggles the mine doesn't it [Applause] water and food Barrel in the shade there tons of sticks for cooking and a terrific hammock set up back here with a million dooll View a mhm okay took absolutely abolutely no time there's camp 30 seconds later this is insane [Music] [Applause] just pulled up on this gravel beach at the end of the lake South End some moose tracks that would just be an incredible scene here a moose standing here looking out at the lake the size of this guy so cute I'm curious is someone watching this video would you have rather seen me slog into those small lakes where I potentially get no fish just the hope of Brook tro or have an enjoyable trip on this very Scenic Lake catching and soon eating like tro oh that's perfect that's perfect found a good cut log which would make a nice cutting board I just took the head and pulled it back and then most of the iners come out with it then just have to scrape all this stuff out his okay flip this log over got a table now oh it smells good I just got a whip oh wow [Applause] it's all that's left plus the rib bones already [Applause] burn right now I'm feeling pretty good about the decision to stay on this Lake I could be bushwacking through thick bush and black flies all for potentially no fish so it was the right call on this one otter or a mink I can't tell you it's pretty far away I'm zoomed in it's curious about me wind is up perfect conditions for reading though [Applause] the upside of the wind is no bugs and I hope it's blowing in a big storm that would be fun tonight pretty good storm last night packed up under the tarp cuz it so looks pretty gray got some firewood there under the tarp I don't know if the mic will be able to pick this up but somewhere over there something's clopping along it sounds like a moose walking on the edge of the water I don't see it though hear that there it is awesome huh is that it that was an awesome way to start the day recola still biting here you go thanks buddy okay there this is just a lake trout Paradise it's deep cold Rocky Lake it's actually over 300 ft deep okay back to the access Lake oh man there's a scorcher today it's only 10:30 it's already really hot and muggy and buggy it's hard to believe that Aon and I ended our brutal trip here when it's been such an ideal little trip for me and I have a feeling I'll be back for those potential brook trout Lakes someday hopefully with Aaron and be better with uh a little reinforcement it wouldn't be long before wander lless called me back to explore those potential brook trout Lakes I went home for the usual routine before and after each trip a much needed shower dry out gear wash clothes edit footage respond to messages charge batteries resupply food Barrel swap out maps and so on I'll talk more about the behind thes scenes work on the channel in the next episodes but let's go back and finish off the story of how the dream of full-time camping became reality I left off where I'd taken a new job on the North shore of Lake SP career in the spring of 2018 the channel now a year old still only had 400 subs and was not even eligible for monetization on YouTube it was still purely a hobby and I had no illusions of doing it full-time but restarting my life in the North had changed everything I had a steady job making Maps which I enjoyed and Home Ownership was actually a possibility here compared to the insane prices in Toronto there was also Boreal Wilderness at my doorstep for weekend getaways in the city a weekend of camping took hours of driving and usually a frustrating battle with traffic the proximity of wilderness in the north allowed me to continue posting trips regularly while I worked the move also led me to the greatest reward of all after half a year I found a northern girl on Tinder named Aaron she lived 4 hours away in the town of Geraldton and I told myself I wouldn't consider long distance so had she we also liveed far enough away from each other that we were outside the maximum radius on Tinder so it's still a miracle that we ever matched we figured we must have driven past each other on the highway one day and gotten into each other's suggested profiles I was inclined to swipe right on her profile seeing that she was soloing a canoe in one of her photos we quickly planned to date for a hike at Ruby Lake Provincial Park halfway between us near the town of nippan first we met at Tim so she could screen me and send my license plate to her cop friend before going on a hike with a stranger when I first walked in the look on her face told me she was not interested it was the kind of look you might get if you catfish someone I guess I didn't know how to read her and thankfully I was wrong she was just a little nervous as all of us are on a first date she just decided I was safe and we carried on to the hike as we made our way to the lookout I learned that Aaron was born and raised in nearby Thunder Bay by adventurous parents who took her camping on Rivers like the kopka and Missin ABI at a young age she loved to be outside and wasn't afraid of mud mosquitoes or miserable weather she played Sports built her own house had all sorts of talents like stained glass and Woodworking and Was preparing to start her Masters in counseling psychology I was head over heels in no time we up the anti for our second date and went winter camping in the middle of nowhere I told her I normally recorded my trips for YouTube to feel her out on the idea she had no problem with it so I captured a bit of footage while trying not to make it too weird what a treasured memory that footage is now how many can say that they have their second date on video after 8 months we retired of long distance so in the summer of 2019 I bought us a house and she moved in and took a new job in Marathon housing markets in small mining towns run hot and cold and it happened to be a great time to buy the three-bedroom house with a finished basement was ridiculously cheap what a pay for the house wouldn't even even covered a down payment in Toronto it wasn't a fancy house but we're not fancy people our mortgage was a puny $250 a month and this would become a significant factor in making youtubing full-time financially viable shortly before buying the house the channel had become eligible for monetization on YouTube to monetize you need to get 1,000 Subs with 4,000 watch hours over the prior 12 months at first I was reluctant to do this but decided to try it the trips continued and in the first 6 months after monetizing ing the channel I made $800 and that was while putting full-time hours into it on top of my full-time job but I was doing it out of passion so anything I was making from the channel was just gravy that income came exclusively from ads playing on our videos and YouTube handled all of the business side over the following 6 months the channel got a bit more traction and I made over $5,000 bringing the total during my first full year of monetization to about 6,000 not enough to pay the bills even with our modest expenses but the seed of an idea started to take root in the second full year of monetization I made $21,000 from the channel and it now had 40,000 people subscribed to it after its first 4 years if I did the math I was making less than minimum wage for the 40 plus hours a week I put into the channel and it was hardly meteoric growth in the scope of social media the channel was still tiny meanwhile at my real job the hours of clicking away at a desk were resulting in some health problems and after almost 3 years there the itch of Wanderlust was nagging at me I mentioned that there over 250,000 lakes in Ontario alone and many of them are seldom seen every time I looked at a map they all seemed to beg me to explore them with my savings low expenses at home and a growing income from the channel I began to discuss the possibility of taking a risk on YouTube with Aaron she supported me without hesitation and I was all the more in love with her for it Aaron could support us with her job if need be but I wouldn't let her shoulder that load while I played out in the bush and not out of Macho Man Pride just out of mutual respect through my career transitions I always supported myself and I generally struggled to accept gifts helps or favors self-reliance is freedom and I cherish it but with Aaron I realized that having a partner you can depend on means stability she made taking a risk with YouTube that much more possible through the early months of the year we continued to discuss the plan until I finally committed to it I resigned from my job in March giving 2 months notice we also decided to rename the channel which was still called Backcountry angling Ontario as a marketing grad I should have known the name was too niche too long and too hard to remember but at least it attracted that initial audience we molded over countless names for a few months with nothing feeling quite right driving home from Thunder Bay one wintry day the name Lost Lakes popped into my head it was no stroke of Brilliance but it fell right for us and who doesn't like some alliteration so L Lakes was born and that spring the dream began I was officially a full-time camper and that brings us up to speed with the trips you just saw after a slow start for the First videos of the paddling season trip of superior's Northshore was taking off like nothing we'd experienced on YouTube so far but these surges come and go and to keeping come coming in the trips and videos had to keep coming too getting paid by YouTube to make camping videos was sweet but it wasn't really about the money it was still about triing I got to this point by following my passion not chasing money and that wasn't about to change for the time being the dream was alive and well and the season still had some incredible trips ahead as spring blossomed Into Summer [Music]

Channel: Lost Lakes

Views: 1,241,454

Keywords: lost lakes, camping, fishing, ontario, canada, bushcraft, backcountry angling ontario, winter, wilderness, solo

Id: k_the_L41yg

Length: 222min 15sec (13335 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2024