Camping & Cooking
Latest Camping & Cooking Skills
The Surprisingly Tasty History Of Bannock, The Classic Camping Cuisine
To identify a hardened wilderness canoe tripper, I watch how someone paddles a J-stroke, lifts a canoe and whether they use a tump. But...
Ultimate Guide To Choosing The Best Shoes For Canoeing
Much fuss is made by hikers about the demands placed on their feet, while canoeists tend to focus more on their boats. But before...
The Paddler’s Greatest Debates
Few topics get backcountry paddlers more fired up than debating the ethics of burning garbage on trip, or contesting the best way to bear-proof...
Mike Ranta Shows You How To Whittle A Canoe
Spend 60-minutes handcrafting a tiny prospector for someone with big dreams.
Tim’s Wilderness Rules
As my wife and kids know all too well, I’ve got a complicated set of rules for how I expect people to behave in...
How to decide between blue barrel and canoe pack
The Official Scorecard
Comfort
No amount of money spent on barrel harnesses can overcome the physics that make a canoe pack more comfortable. Canoe packs are...
A Dirtbag’s Guide To Building A Canoe & Kayak Rack For Your Pickup Truck
Pickup trucks are utilitarian, but the simple fact is canoes and kayaks don’t fit in them. Yes, you can tie a bunch of sketchy...
Cooking Tips & Recipe Ideas For Your Next Camping Trip
Do you want to know the secret to cooking camping meals? With the right gear, prep and knowledge, your camping meals don’t actually have...
4 Ways Of Treating Water In the Backcountry To Make It Safe To Drink
Humans don’t actually need that much to survive: food, water and shelter. You can even skip food and shelter for a few days—but you...
Wood-canvas canoes are tougher than you think
There’s no time to hesitate in the rapids of this steep, shallow, unnamed river, deep in the wilderness of northern Quebec. But my wife...
6 Expert Tips On Tent Repair And Maintenance
The tent commandments.
8 Basecamp Essentials For A Paddling Dinner Party
Making all that good stuff.
Canoe Camping With Kids: 7 Tips To Survive And Thrive
Survival strategies.
The Axe: Outdated Or Valuable Paddlers Tool?
If they don't axe, they won't know what they're missing.
Get The Best Backcountry Sleep Ever—In Your Canoe
What makes the best bed on a canoe trip? Some say a thick pad in a tent. Others swear by a hammock. Still others...
How To Make Your Own Voyageur Hat
Canada’s modern-day voyageur is windbound in a spruce swamp on the edge of Cedar Lake, Manitoba. Windy days have been a theme on this...
Sauce Recipe: How To Flavor Up Your Dehydrated Food
Dehydrating your own food will give you a variety of nutritious but also flavorful choices while reducing pack weight and food costs. Not to...
Tough Love: Teaching Skills To The Next Generation Of Canoeists
The headline, “Quit Doing These 8 Things for Your Teen This Year if You Want to Raise an Adult” appeared innocuously in my Facebook feed, shared by...
7 Best Camping Hacks-According To Pinterest
While not everything the Internet brings us is great, it is an amazing resource for new ideas and innovations. Although chatting to other paddlers...
Guiding Principles
I wouldn’t normally run this photograph. Why not? Let me count the reasons. For starters, my chicken line perimeter rope is too slack. It...
8 Healthy Snacks For Paddling Trips
Receipes for your next trip to keep you and your tastebuds happy.
Top 11 Canoe Trip Faux Pas
1. Never doing dishes at the campsite
Picture yourself lounging around the fire after a day slogging through portages and battling clouds of mosquitos....
The Ultimate Backcountry Birthday Cake Recipe
Being on a canoe trip for your birthday is a treat in itself. Make it even more special with a camp-stove friendly birthday cake....
5 Tips For Backcountry Cooking
Well-fed campers are happy campers. When you’re cooking at a campsite, your best approach is to prevent mistakes in the first place—not even hot...
The New Best Thing to Do
With so much focus these days on experiential learning, I sometimes feel to be a good parent I have to bombard my children with...
3 Easy Campfire Dinners Perfect For Hungry Paddlers
When you’re paddling you need to fuel your fun. Campfire dinners don’t need to be an impossibly orange blob of dehydrated mac and cheese...
Gear for Camping With Babies
Want to take your infant camping? How about your toddler? There's no best age to start taking your baby camping—you can start at any...
7 Ways to Lighten Up on Your Next Trip
It's true that money can help save weight with the latest and greatest gear, but there are much less expensive ways to do more...
3 Camping Dessert Recipes for Backwoods Adventures
Nothing will help you to win friends and influence people quite like a little something sweet after a hard day’s paddling. If you master...
Video: How To Start a Fire in Wet Conditions
Every paddler and camper should know how to make a fire when the weather turns wet and nasty. Jason Marleau from Algonquin Bound Outfitters...
Backcountry Booze: The Best New Ways to Imbibe in the Wilderness
You’ve spent the day paddling, portaging and pondering life from the seat of a canoe. You have earned a refreshment or two. However, adult...
17 Of The Most Common Camping Myths Busted
The wilderness has always been a place where myth and legend run rampant. Nowadays, instead of encountering tales like Little Red Riding Hood, you’re...
Kids Bushcraft: 9 Wilderness Skills Every Wild Child Should Know
TRAVEL LIKE BIGFOOT
When you travel in the backcountry, you’re a visitor. Just like when you
visit a friend’s house, you don’t throw your garbage...
Skills: Weekend Menu Planner
Sure, gear, route and paddling partners are all important considerations when planning a trip—but any seasoned camper will tell you that food can make...
How To Eat Fresh On Your Camping Trips
We’re not backpackers. Sure, bringing freshies on trip means portaging a few more pounds, but it’s a small price to pay to eat a...
Skill: Master the No-Match Fire
Flint and steel fire-making has become a traditional way of staying warm, cooking food and providing comfort and security. But far from being a...
