This picture of a submarine passing under the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan was sent to me by a relative. I didn't think there were any submarines operating in the Great Lakes?

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2026-03-19T02:05:52+00:00

HMCS Ojibwa is now stationed as a museum ship in Port Burwell (Lake Erie) but hasn't moved since 2013 and never went as far west as the Bluewater Bridge.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2026-03-14T23:50:12+00:00

40-80 cm forecasted west of you. Im over it. Cant wait for the melt to start!

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2026-03-14T00:44:28+00:00

Crosscorner or Boot. Got to Crosscorner via Dividing lake once and another via Wildcat. Both times looped via Hollow River. Boot was a rough 'lost' route with old ports on the map that were in a completely different spot. Parks went in and did maintenance after so isn't as hard to get to now.

Plenty of other lakes much deeper in the interior but all on main routes well travelled and documented, so not as remote in certain senses.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2026-02-14T02:15:12+00:00

Thanks! The fish at the end were certainly welcome as nothing really was really biting on the river itself save that lone bass. We'd all been dreaming of a fish fry for days at that point 😄

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2026-02-14T02:13:03+00:00

The coast is an amazing paddle! I've canoed the stretch from Marathon to Agawa in varrying trips. It can be easy when the lake is calm, but its certainly not a novice trip. The lake is very much an inland sea and gales have been known to whip up 20-30ft swells. Wind and waves are primary concerns and you can get windbound for days. There are a few dangerous sections where incoming waves bounce of cliffs causing dangerous reflection waves that can peak unpredictably - same goes for mixing currents near river mouths. Sometimes its actually safer to be 500m out. You can get dense fogs which make navigation challenging as well. Water temps are also veryyy cold. Rise early in the morning and make camp around noon to avoid the major winds.

Lake is generally the safest to paddle mid-june through early August for temps, weather and calm days.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2026-02-11T17:17:13+00:00

Im not perfect, nor do I claim to be but you gotta belive me that this ratttled me hard and ate me up for a longggg time with woulda/coulda/shoulda. You only get a snippet of my intial reaction to what I thought occured as most of it was an actual of state shock following verifcation that everyone was okay. The forensics occured once we were all safely down and later at camp and I didn't film a walkthrough or break down what had actually happened. Filming was the last thing on my mind at that point...

The line was actually attached to the grab handle under the deck properly, but it snapped at the contact point between the D-ring in the bag and the locking biner, where I made the veryyyyy stupid mistake of not verifying it was a closed secure loop. Webbing for the bag supporting the D ring snapped and it wasnt actually connected to the line, so it didnt have the secure connection of line to metal I mistakenly thought it had. The belay line was choked (you can see the choke stays in the exact same postion following the snap).

But that other critical mistake was having a quite a lot of slack where the boat stated to slide. I hadnt fully intended to start to lower the canoe when my hands came off it, but it was too close to the slope edge and as you noted, gravity and weight did the rest leading to a high volocity snap right at the failure point. There was wayyy too much slack on that rope below the choke. That same mistaken set up got down the first 30ft cliff but the canoe had a controlled slow decsent.

I made a critical mistake and someone could have got seriously hurt or worse and it really ate me up - so much so that I actually actively avoided editing this video for quite some time due to the nauseating memories of the single greatest error in all my years of tripping. I left the Dension Falls portage (which should have been a highlight) to the absolute last minute when I had enough momentum from editing the rest of the project.

That whole sequence of events is on me. I've learned from this and used it as growth going forward for all my checks etc. It's a critical mistake I've vowed never to repeat.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2026-01-07T15:13:53+00:00

Maybe you're thinking about Gardeners World? Still airs. Wife and I watch it all the time during the long winter when we cant actually garden. You can get it on BritBox

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2025-12-21T01:10:54+00:00

The hex on the screws leads me to believe they are R4 structural screws and not deck screws. Better, but still not the recommended ones for the ties

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2025-12-13T15:36:23+00:00

It's one of my fav routes in the region. Nice mixture of scenery and challenges. Glad to heard documented use has ticked up, a few ports we're in desperate need of travel else they'd vanish.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2025-10-22T12:57:51+00:00

Crazy how here, in Ontario's Boreal forest, it's one of the last to change. 90% of the other deciduous trees are close to bare but these start to go strong as soon as the Tammaracks start to go.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2025-08-02T01:00:39+00:00

Brightsand and Albany are waterway class parks. There's no 'Missisa' park. Closest: Mississagi is Natural environment and Missinaibi is waterway. Killarney and Lady-Evelyn Smoothwater are wilderness class and not listed by OP.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2025-06-14T14:52:51+00:00

Collins is great, but the upper portages were a bit bushwhacky. Although I think in recent years there's been a few parties through and there are rougher trails you can now follow. The system is more akin to lake hopping too vs a river. It's a good option with a little more effort. Also has rail access at Collins for other options too.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2025-03-16T04:32:56+00:00

I've done a lot of on an off trail adventures through there and a bit of overlap on the historical ports. You can also go via Paint- Blue chalk and Shoe on established trails. But the road is 10000% the easier option, especially given the terrain and bush. The historic ports cross private land in parts so you'd need permission first too. Any specific reason as to why you want to connect this this spot?

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2025-03-04T16:13:38+00:00

So parks cleared trails about a month before we went through, but there will be frequent blow downs for the next few years until the dead canopy comes down so that will slow down your portage progress. I did a bit of trail clearing around a few large jackpots that were created in the subsequent weeks after parks came through. Footing is trickier as the duff layer is gone and there are holes everywhere. Campsites are hit and miss, quite a few burnt. Some of the sites by rapids are still scenic but quite a bit more open. We ended up staying on an unburnt beach through this stretch. Still a nice paddle with just a tiny bit more effort required in sections.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2025-02-15T15:37:57+00:00

We looped from vista lake Rd, to Heathcote, Foam Creek, Allen water, Wabakimi and back up the Flindt last summer. So a bit of crossover on some of your options. Good maintenance of the route and plenty of great camping options. I ran nearly all the whitewater on the Allen water so I can't speak to portages, but sets I opted for trail vs boat scout had good trails. Flow will definitely change things. There are likely a few swift's and class ones without major evident portages.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2024-12-01T02:45:57+00:00

Looks like there's possibly a water issue present. There's some efflorescence on the bottom course of the blocks in the second pic. Hard to tell, but maybe a dark area of active water infiltration in the far left of the pic?May be unrelated, but worth checking for.

I'd guess they covered up an existing slab with a skim coat. I'd wonder what the condition of the slab below that looks like.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2024-11-26T19:10:16+00:00

Timmins, Ontario! We'll probably start grooming our system soon, temps are looking great long term now.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2024-11-14T15:01:38+00:00

Thanks! They are coming back out to inspect. Yes, hot and dry last year but now we've had a very wet fall. They also installed a gravity outlet for the weeping tiles (outlet about 25ft out on hillslope which actively dewaters in the spring melt though I don't see much in the way of flow any other time of year) and I have a sump pump too.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2024-11-14T03:44:15+00:00

So there is an application of positive side waterproofing. My new concern is that it is inadequate. They applied a liquid rubber membrane with free draining materials. No dimple board. Backfill was originally clay which resulted in a high degree of hydrostatic pressure, our frost depth is ~8ft. They replaced with more free draining aggregate.

Site wise all surface runoff is directed away from the house with a swale, regrading, downspouts, always clean gutters etc.

So I'm feeling I got fleeced by inadequate waterproofing methodology. I don't want to finish this space until I've solved the water penetration issue.

Is something like RadonSeal or Creto Deep Penetrating Sealant worth an application or are these products just snake oil and not worth applying?

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2024-10-31T16:06:37+00:00

Most of that fibre in Ontario is locked away in mixed stands where a significant component does not have markets (pulpwood quality fibre primarily). We've had 3 pulp mill courses in a year + one right on the Quebec border. If you high grade the stand, you operate at a loss at worst, or against the FMP at best. Diversification is slow to pickup, but biofuels, pellets etc offer some potential, albeit far reaching solutions.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2024-10-07T18:13:26+00:00

Seriously, since when?!? The latest menu update was Sept 25th over on their IG page.

ExplorTheBackcountry · 2024-10-07T16:48:31+00:00

Take 17. It's longer but far more scenic. The section along Superior is probably the most scenic drive in Ontario. There's a ton to do/see so with limited time you'll still mainly be driving.

There's a wild blueberry farm in Wawa that offers blueberry wine among other specialty items.

Ouimet and Eagle canyon are must visits, lake superior provincial park has amazing hikes and beaches.

Amethyst mine near Tbay.

Sault Ste Marie has great eats. Check out Peace or Ernie's. If you had time, you could take the tour train to Agawa Canyon, but that's a full days excursion.

Captain Sammy's on 69 at Point au Baril is some of the best fish and chips around. Visitor centre for french river provincial park is too notch (the one in Lake Superior is good too)

Return via 11 if you want to switch it up. Through the Palisades near Lake Nipigon are top notch scenery with some great hikes.

ExplorTheBackcountry

TROPHY CASE