Hello hello Reader!
I'm sending you this email from a cafe in Kailua, Hawaii! I am visiting a client based in Honolulu mon Monday, so I thought I'd tack on a mini trip this weekend. Still cannot believe I get to come here for work.
In contrast to my previous Monthly Round Ups, this one will be super short. After an amazing and busy summer, September was relatively slow. I made a quick trip to Ontario to see my younger brother get married (weird, because I still think of him as being 13 years old even though he's 26). I spent the rest of the month at home in the San Francisco Bay Area, mostly working, chilling, and sleeping.
Some photos I took this morning:
Reminder that TODAY is the last day to enter the $500 giveaway! Here is the blurb about how to enter:
All you have to do is review a campsite, portage trail, access point, rapid or a point of interest in one of the six provincial parks on the Canoe Route Planner. Each review equals one entry and the prize will be a $500 gift card to a local outdoor store or outfitter of the winner's choice.
The winner will be randomly drawn on September 30th at 11:59pm Pacific Time.
How to Enter the Giveaway:
Some disclaimers: To ensure accuracy, I have a little team of frequent paddlers reviewing all entries to verify they are correct and that the reviewer has actually been there. By submitting a review, you are confirming that you own the content and you are giving me (Voyageur Tripper) permission to include the review on the Canoe Route Planner.
There will also be a surprise bonus prize for whoever submits the most verified reviews.
If you have any questions, let me know!
I have three new destinations that are ready for testing on the Canoe Route Planner. They aren't live on the website yet, since I want some more people to test them out (make sure there's no funny business happening!). If you're familiar with Frontenac, Kawartha Highlands or Massasauga provincial parks, let me know and I'll send you the demo site to test. Thanks!
New Trip Reports:
I've brought on a new trip report regular writer: Gabe Rivest! He is based in Whitehorse, Yukon and is an insanely talented canoeist and photographer. He wrote three of the new reports - all about destinations in the Arctic that most people have never heard of. I highly recommend checking them out just to see the beautiful photos and trip videos. Check him out on Instagram.
Also, thanks to a report by Jamie of Field Guide Outdoors, the site has its first trip report for packrafting! Packrafts are a hybrid between kayaks and rafts and are super cool. Check out the Hess River report to read about how they work and see some fantastic whitewater and scenic shots!
(The other two reports - the Nahanni River and Mount Whitney - were written by me. You can check those ones out too if you want)
Well, that's all from my end. I hope you're all enjoying the start of fall and pumpkin season.
Happy adventuring,
Mikaela
PS: Don't forget to submit your review to be entered in the giveaway!
A Canadian in California giving you the skills to get outside. Sign up for gear, trip reports, how-to guides and all things canoeing, kayaking, backpacking and outdoor adventure travel!
Hi Reader, I hope your week is off to a great start! You may have seen on Instagram that I ran a survey about backcountry camping earlier this month. To my surprise, hundreds of people responded to it and the results have been quite interesting so far! If you didn't get the memo about the survey, it's still open - click here to complete the survey and you'll receive a free copy of The Voyageur's Backcountry Cookbook as a thank you š I wrote this digital cookbook early in the pandemic to...
Hello Reader, Happy long weekend and welcome to September! You don't need me to say autumn is coming up - I'm sure your social media feeds are already getting bombarded by influencers' photos of larch trees and pumpkin lattes (at least mine sure is). But September 1st is not autumn and we still have a few more weeks of the non-winter camping season, so hopefully you can make the most out of it before it's gone! And without further ado, here is the August Round Up! Mikaela Updates It's been...
Hello Reader! I hope you're having a great day thus far. Somehow we're already halfway through summer (boo!). Have you been able to get out for any good backcountry adventures so far? Anyways, let's cut to the chase. In my last email, I said I had a big update coming and here it is: I QUIT MY JOB! šš Wooh! Friday was my last day of work! I don't typically talk about my "day job" online so a lot of people assume I work in the outdoors full-time, either as a blogger, guide or outdoor educator....