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!
🏕 The Mini Update before the BIG UPDATE
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Hello Reader! LONG TIME NO SEE! After multiple years of consistently sending out Monthly Round Ups, I really fell off the wagon this year and haven't shared anything in months. My drafts folder is a graveyard of half-written round ups, filled with the occasional announcement and hello, but lacking any real substance. At least, nothing that seemed worth "rounding up" and putting in your inbox. Part of it is that I've just been working a lot. Story of my life (and most of our lives, right?). But there's been a lot of uncertainty lately. There's a big change coming my way (and I'll update you on that in the next email - just need to finalize a couple of things first). So I've been a bit... distracted. Here are the really quick highlights from the year thus far that weren't enough to put in a monthly update, but together make up a reasonable 5 month update! My Life LatelyHawaii Work Trip - I went to Honolulu for a work trip. I'd hoped to make more of a vacation out of it, but ended up spending 16 hours per day on my laptop or in meetings (I wish I were exaggerating). The night before my flight, two work friends and I snuck away for a quick lighthouse hike. My Parents Visited California - We went on a trip to Monterey, California and enjoyed sunshine (and some uncharacteristic rain), great food and my birthday! (Is that last photo a seal colony or a visual representation of how I felt after eating cake and ice cream nonstop for 5 days?) Bachelorette Party and Weddings - My best friend got married! I made two trips to Ontario to attend the Bach (wine tasting and yoga in Prince Edward Country) and the wedding in Wakefield. I also made a quick dash to Burlington the same weekend for the wedding of a work bestie. Camping at Mount Tamalpais - I did my first camping trip of the year this past weekend. We camped at Pantoll Campground, near Mount Tam (a high-ish mountain north of San Francisco) and then hiked to the top of Mount Tam and then all the way down to the ocean for a swim! AnnouncementsTemagami is now on the Route Planner! The latest destination to be added to the Route Planner is Temagami! As many of you already know, Temagami is HUGE. Although I've paddled a good chunk of it myself, that still only translates to a fraction of the region. So I started with the core Temagami regions, like Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater, Lake Temagami, Chiniguchi, and other popular areas. I consulted more than 20 maps and 50 trip reports to get it mapped. There may still be some errors and bugs, so I'm continuing to test it. But, while I do that, I've made it public so you can test and use it too. Check it out here! Fundraising for the Paddler Coop The Paddler Coop is raising funds to purchase the land the Coop rests on. If they don't raise enough to purchase it, there's a risk that someone else will purchase it and force the Coop to leave. The Paddlers Coop, along the Madawaska River, is the heart of Ontario's whitewater community. It's where I learned to whitewater paddle, it hosts tons of courses and events throughout the year, and is a great launch point for the Madawaska River run. They're super close to their goal of $350K by June 20th - last I checked they'd crossed the $300K mark. You may have seen this already on Instagram, but if not, until June 18th, 100% of all new sign-ups on Trip Reports are being donated to the Paddler Coop and I will personally match donations up to $1000. So if you've been thinking of signing up to Trip Reports, this is the best time to do it! The BIG Update As I alluded to above, I have a bigger update on the horizon, but I need to finalize some things before I announce it. My plan is to be back to doing Monthly Round Ups in July and I'll let you know then! Latest Trip ReportsAlthough my blog has been silent this year, we've gotten 40 trip reports published this year - there are now 187 on the site! Here are a few highlights:
You can see the full list here (in reverse chronological order) here. Write for Us!With all my busyness over the last few months (and my lack of outdoors), publishing new reports has been one of the best parts of my week. I love reading about others' adventures, seeing the photos, and sharing them with our Trip Reports community. As you take adventures this year, please consider writing a trip report for us! Info and instructions are on this page (including details on compensation, which has recently been increased!). My goal is that we end the year with 250 trip reports - ambitious, but let's make it happen! Well, that's all from me. Thank you so much for the support (and patience) as my website ebbs and flows over the years. It's great having you here and letting my not-so-short and sweet updates into your inbox! Happy adventuring, Mikaela |
Mikaela | Voyageur Tripper
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 😊 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! 🎉🎉 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....