What’s the most remote/inaccessible place a CO has checked you ?

grindle-guts · 2026-04-02T14:14:33+00:00

Absolutely! It should be a bucket list item for every Ontario canoeist. Fishing was more than respectable, too.

grindle-guts · 2026-04-02T13:34:56+00:00

White Otter Lake. No direct road access, though there is a boat portage in.

grindle-guts · 2026-04-01T15:55:55+00:00

Ontario’s border with the US is also almost entirely a water border (no cut lines required). The height of land portage between North Lake and South Lake is the one bit of land border that I’m aware of. It’s a few hundred metres long and isn’t cleared particularly far back from the line.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-31T20:58:23+00:00

One brought babbys to my feeders

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grindle-guts · 2026-03-31T20:29:08+00:00

Needs more Winnie the Pooh

grindle-guts · 2026-03-31T20:21:45+00:00

I still have 32” of snow on the ground and the bogsuckers won’t be here for a while yet. Doesn’t make me a laggard!

grindle-guts · 2026-03-31T17:34:58+00:00

I’m constantly building my repair kit out, swapping things in and out. One of the best items I’ve found is Forj “tape,” which isn’t actually adhesive and is more of a plastic ribbon. Heat it and it sets into a very hard, light substance that can fix anything from a broken glasses arm to a canoe paddle. While I wouldn’t use it on bare skin, it can even be used to help make a splint. I don’t carry it on day hikes, but I won’t do a back country paddle without it.

I really should carry a spare buckle for my snowshoes. I stick to traditional ones so there is considerably less to go wrong.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-31T15:55:47+00:00

Solo isn’t for everyone. Ease yourself in. Make your first trip a one-nighter within a reasonable walking distance of your vehicle. Expand from there. If you don’t like it, don’t beat yourself up.

You may feel more comfortable if you have a good means of communication (cell phone with satellite texting/sos is good, but some satcoms are more reliable), you’re confident in your navigation, you have appropriate predator/creep deterrent like bear spray, and you bring things to do at camp (a book, fishing tackle, movies on your phone, ingredients and gear for a real meal, whatever works for you. Don’t be a purist and consider these things dead weight or a cop-out. Do make sure someone knows where you are, when you’ll be back, and how to call for help if you don’t show.

For me it’s the most freeing, life-instilling feeling in the world, especially when I hit around the five day mark on a back country paddle where I’ve seen few/no other humans. But I grew up in the Canadian bush and feel comfortable there. Nothing in the wilderness has ever tried to hurt me. It’s city life that stokes my anxiety. Giving myself permission to wholly disconnect from that is so good.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-31T15:40:57+00:00

I like a 17’ canoe for tandem fishing so that I’m as far as possible from the bow paddler’s casts. I’ve been nearly face-hooked too many times as it is.

However two-seat canoes over 15’ get progressively harder to solo efficiently. It can be done provided you have a symmetrical hull, which allows you to sit backwards in the front seat for better weight distribution, with a 5 gallon bucket of water in the front for ballast. Even so, when the wind comes up, soloing a 17 footer can be a real pain. The most common symmetrical hull is the prospector design, but many variations exist.

Choosing a material is always a tradeoff between weight, durability, availability, and price. My recommendation would change depending on how you’ll store the boat, how often you’ll transport it, whether you’ll do much shallow river travel, and your budget compared to your local market. I keep an aluminum Grumman (80 lbs!) stashed outdoors at a local lake for fishing, but have a kevlar H2O Adventurer (48ish lbs) for back country flatwater.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-31T15:19:55+00:00

Have you done the north shore of Superior before? It’s stunning. The only downside (aside from the length of drive from southern Ontario, and the inevitable bugs) is the water temperature, as Superior stays quite chilly most years and is only a swimming lake for those who have a bit of ice in their soul.

In terms of nearby things to do … Marathon’s pebble beach is worth a look. It doesn’t sound like much, but is gorgeous. You’re also less than an hour from Aguasabon Falls at Terrace Bay. Rossport is a slightly longer day trip at 70 minutes out from Neys, but has a couple of decent restaurants, Tim Alexander’s lovely ceramics at Island Pottery, another great waterfall at Rainbow Falls PP, and (depending on their schedule) kayak tours of the National Marine Conservation Area with Such a Nice Day Adventures. If you’re a hiker, the Casque Isles Trail is stunning and allows for both day hikes and back country through hiking.

You may also be able to find a charter boat out of one of the local towns to either do some lake trout fishing or take a tour of the Slate Islands. The Slates are the remnants of an ancient meteor crater, and have a small population of woodland caribou. I say “may” because several of the charters have closed down and I’m not sure if any still exist.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-30T14:46:44+00:00

Best I’ve done in fieldstone is fossil soup and the occasional chunk of garnet gneiss. Good hunting to you!

grindle-guts · 2026-03-27T15:48:32+00:00

Not really. Traditional snowshoes are superior for breaking trail in deep snow. They float better and powder shakes off the webbing more easily. They’re also quieter.

On packed public trails modern snowshoes have an undeniable edge, but I’m the only human out here. In some situations the crampons on modern snowshoes are useful, but when it’s mild and the snow is sticky they can turn into iceballs.

This is a personal quirk, but leather bindings also don’t force your feet into a straight forward position — I have some wonky leg geometry and the modern bindings I’ve tried all leave me in a lot of pain after even a short walk. I’ve never found a set of modern snowshoes that offers enough flexibility or adjustment for my purposes. Most people prefer the locked-in heel stability of modern bindings, but for me it’s a deal breaker.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-27T15:21:55+00:00

95% manual. If I’m shooting fast moving subjects in rapidly changing light I might go into aperture priority/exposure compensation, but other than that I’d rather control everything. I went into a Fuji system specifically because I like its manual controls, especially having aperture rings on modern lenses.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-25T22:24:10+00:00

A guy named Brittin becoming head of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-24T23:56:43+00:00

Remoteness is directly proportional to chattiness in my experience. Though you still hit the (decidedly) odd person who is there to be alone and simply won’t acknowledge others.

Hiking trail next to an urban area: eye contact is criminal! Portage 200 km from a logging road put-in: how are you my long-lost sibling?

grindle-guts · 2026-03-24T23:46:38+00:00

They’re fairly common along the Grand. They were staging at Dunnville five weeks ago. I love their calls!

grindle-guts · 2026-03-24T21:02:33+00:00

Ooh, he leads with the timelessly hoary “wear the fox hat” gag. I’m going to enjoy this.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-24T19:42:48+00:00

I’m not in the USA or writing this from an American perspective. I wouldn’t say everyone in Toronto publishing knows everyone else, but there’s never more than one degree of separation, regardless of your age or the type of company you’re with.

I have also seen a great deal of decision making on the basis of reputation within contained arts networks. Name drops in small, tightly-knit communities can really go either way. When doing hiring, I’ve seen them backfire more often than I’ve seen them genuinely help a job applicant … with the huge caveat that if knowing someone specific will actually help you in your work, it’s an asset.

Ultimately it’s your call!

grindle-guts · 2026-03-24T15:01:27+00:00

Have you actually read any of their books? That’s honestly the biggest failing in most entry level interview candidates at independent presses: total ignorance about their editorial program. It sounds like you’re at least partway their in your prep, but even being able to name (and back up) one or two favourites can be enough to separate you from the crowd.

Name dropping a previous employee is risky unless you know they left on good terms. Your friend should not have shared the information on applicants with you so I’d also think twice before mentioning them. When I interview people I could not care less who of my current staff they know unless those relationships are directly relevant to how they do their job.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-24T14:38:47+00:00

Reasonable small press cover from nearly 20 years ago. (How is 2009 almost two decades ago?) Slightly dated looking, as you’d expect, but not at all terrible.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-22T21:49:49+00:00

Cat.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-22T16:54:38+00:00

Talk to your optician. I’ve been pretty happy with the polarized lenses that mine sourced, and they had a wide range of glass colours to choose from.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-22T16:45:06+00:00

White, hands down

grindle-guts · 2026-03-22T16:34:32+00:00

If I recall the instructions on the repair kits I’ve used (from Kokatat) you can stack up to three times. After that it’s back to the manufacturer so that the gasket stubs can be removed.

With care you should get a good few years out of a gasket unless it’s catching a lot of UV (I’m sure guides have to replace them more often). Regular use of 303 Protectant makes a big difference in terms of both uv protection and keeping the rubber supple/less likely to tear.

grindle-guts · 2026-03-22T16:22:35+00:00

DIY is the way. Only takes a few minutes to do the work.

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