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This short film is from our great friends Goh and Courtney Iromoto and edited by Scott Edwards.
Thank you so very much to Correy Hawk at Organic Archery for coming all the way up to the pond to instruct our very first bow making course! His patience and knowledge are unmatched and we couldn’t have paired up with a better match to make this course a wonderful addition to our course offerings!
If this looks like something you’d like to do with us next year, please reach out to us!
The Aurora Borealis were out in full force the other week and we wanted to share some of the shots we took over the pond and the lake. I was coming home late on the barge over the lake and caught a flicker of red light to my left. I stopped the motor, with the bright moon to my right, and the show off to my left, I knew it was going to take me a while to get home!
Every time I thought, okay, I’m getting cold, it’s time to keep driving, I would start up the engine, drive for a hundred meters and then a new pulse of colour would flash in front of me and I just had to stop and take another look.
By the time I got home and out on to the back deck, Dave was already home from coming via ATV and on the deck enjoying the show looking out over the pond.
We don’t see the Northern Lights very often from our home, and when they are out, we are typically already in bed and have missed them! But this particular night they were out early enough for us to fully enjoy the show. With no light pollution from any development, we were able to be pulled right into the magic. We were again reminded of what a special place we are so grateful to have and to be able to call home.
This past winter we embarked on a brand new kind of adventure: a mix of canoe sled hauling through late-season ice and open water paddling. It was such an amazing experience, we’re offering it again in 2025. See Part 1 of the video here:
A week of camp designed for adults to spend time in nature and with other like minded people with the sole purpose of having fun!
Start your day with the sun rising over the pond, enjoy healthy meals, daily yoga/stretching, physical and creative activities and finish the day with a sunset paddle or swim followed by a crackling fire. Each day will be different, full of activities but the most important part of this week is connection, joy and rejuvenation!
Find out more by heading over the the CAMP NOWHERE page. We hope to see you this summer!
We have returned from our last trip of the season and what a finale it was! After a tough winter with many highs and lows (temperature wise) we came up against our final challenge of the season- a melting world! So rather than run away to the far north to find deep winter, we leaned in and adapted and time travelled to a time where season transitional travel was a necessity. And so with only a week to switch gear, we sprang (pun intended) into action and built canoe-sleds, purchased dry suits, rented canoes and found a very essential tool called a “pick-a-roon” or “pike pole”. With 4 adventurous and brave participants, six of us dove in with both feet (again, pun intended).
We navigated over 100 kilometers travelling around the north side of Killarney from Johnnie Lake all the way out to the North Channel of Lake Huron through Whitefish Falls. We were walking on water, launching into the open water, exiting onto thin ice, and portaging using winter and summer hybrid techniques that got creative. We gained an incredible amount of experience in this style of travel in a short two weeks in which we concluded that this was actually a really fun way to travel. The dry suits were such a great addition to our safety and weren’t actually that uncomfortable- It did make pee breaks more challenging however…
We had all types of weather in a matter of days with snow, slush, sun, rain, good ice, bad ice, open water, high winds and even days when the sun hat came out. There were times when people questioned why they signed up for such an adventure, but that’s when we lean in together and come out the other side proud, fulfilled and excited to go back out next year!
This was a style of trip that we’ve wanted to try for many years but it was hard to plan since how do you anticipate when the conditions will be perfect. But we realized that actually, we can make a trip like this work for routes that we’ve wanted to always try but because of large stretches of open water in some sections, we’ve steered away from those routes. But after this trip, we are keen and excited to go for some routes that we’ve never done before which have always felt too challenging.
We’ve learned so much from this trip and the one thing that was iterated to us was that adapting to what life throws at you is a sure way to have an incredible adventure. So our only question to you is: Are you in or are you in?! Ice Breaker Club 2025!
One of the best parts of winter camping, or not having a toilette inside in general (12 years going strong!) is that when you do have to exit the warmth of your cozy abode you end up turning your light off to marvel at the sky above. In this particular instance, what lay before my eyes was a symphony of colors from everyone’s headlamp and the incredible synchronicity of the colored smoke that exited the pipes. Winter camping captured in its finest.
We are more than half way through our season now and boy has it been a roller coaster ride of weather! From low -20s to approaching the double digits above zero, it has been anything but consistently cold here.
That being said, we still have enough ice and snow to get around and enjoy the beauty that winter has to offer us. We’ve run 6 trips already this winter and our Trapline group is out on the line as we speak!
We have the brain tanning course coming up and then we’re off for two weeks to cross Temagami on our classic Trans-Temagami Expedition! We’re praying for a solid finish to winter to keep our feet dry and our toboggans riding high!
This is the last time you’ll have the chance to get a full two-week intensive experience Life on the Trapline and then Brain Tanning the hide and learning the ins and outs of how to use all the parts of the iconic Beaver.
As a small business we have the power to evolve and grow as individuals and impact the direction and path that our company follows. We are constantly taking stock and making decisions that will continue to keep our passion alive for this lifestyle. And by doing this, we can make the greatest impact on the community that we are helping to build and strengthen, by giving it our all.
We are trying to think about the future of some of our programs and the direction that we’d like to take them. We have decided that this will be the last year that we will be offering the full two-week experience of Life on the Trapline followed by the Brain Tanning and Butchery course. While they are fantastic courses, we think that we will be better off to change the format in a way that attracts more people to experience it.
So this is your call to action to sign-up now! If you’re sitting on the fence, you won’t have another chance to have this intensive experience in all of its entirety. We don’t know exactly what it is going to look like for next season but we know it’s going to change.
We hope to see you soon!
Our first expedition of the season was a grande ol’ adventure with Mother Nature never disappointing. We asked for slow and steady, and she gave us 3 feet of snow and sticky slush on the lake. We asked for a winter wonderland, and she gave us snow laden spruce and snowshoe hare and deer prints to follow. We asked, and we received.
This was the first time we’ve done this style of trip where it was travel/basecamp/travel/basecamp for the whole trip and it did not disappoint. On our “rest” days we went explore new territory to scout or pre-pack the next days’ route. We found hidden little gems all throughout the land it I think that was my favorite part of the experience.
If you want to experience life on the trail, but don’t want the high kilometer days, this trip could be perfect for you! Watch out for the Winter Wonderland- A slow and steady expedition on next year’s 2025 calendar in the spring to sign-up!
We are sad to say we’re losing a star participant on our Trans-Temagami 14-day Expedition that crossing the vast Temagami wilderness starting on March 16-31st. BUT that means that there is room for one more! And that person could be you!
If you would like to experience life on the trail with a group that has been tested and are all stars (they’ve all been on at least 1 LOTN expedition before) then NOW is your chance!
Head to the product page for more information and contact us to see if you’re a good fit for this expedition. You must be in good physical condition, have a can-do attitude and like to work as a team!
All news, no fluff! We have only ever sent out 4 - 6 newsletters a year, and always when we have a major bit of news we want to share. You know, like one of us is going to be on a fancy TV show, or we're releasing our upcoming trip or workshop schedule. Plus we also offer the occasional newsletter-only special deal!
