Expedition LeaderI have been on canoe and kayak trips throughout Northern Canada and the world. I have lead and planed almost 700 days of river tips around the world. In my life I have traveled around 25,500 KM of river, and this is only expeditions longer then three days. The River courses through my veins surly as blood.
What I can provide you1) Experience planning a nutritious menu, and packing for hungry adventurers for up to 8 weeks.
2) Experience planing expedition and safety equipment and, knowing how to repair it. 3) Experience dealing with mental health issues associated with long, hard expeditions. |
Notable Expeditions
Expeditions are ordered from most recent.
21 day day canoe trip: Natla and Keele RiversIn August 2022 I lead 10 amazing people, two families and friends down the Natla, and subsequently the Keele River. We had overall a great mix of hot and cold, rain and sun. We enjoyed good food and drinks as we made our way down the rivers. Highlights where the end of the Natla, running and guiding some amazing whitewater. But the icing on the cake was the wildlife! not only did we see a wolverine but, we witnessed a hunt lasting three days. A pack of wolves slowly cornering a group of caribou. It ended as we descended down the river with us leaving a very cornered caribou in the middle of the river. A truly incredible trip.
10 day kayak trip: West Magpie RiverIn September 2019 Nick, Addie and my self took the train North from Sept Illes to the small station of Eric and the West Magpie River. From there it was 4 days of cold, wind and moving water till we got to the start of the white water. Wow what an incredible river! it is a shame that more people don't run this gem. We where graced by stunning scenery, amazing fishing, and world class continuous whitewater. Completing the West Magpie we entered Magpie Lake, one of the top 5 most beautiful lakes I have ever traveled on! This massive old fiord has 2000ft cliffs on both sides, jaw dropping. From there it was a mad dash to the take out two days kater on the lower Magpie. As an added bonus while Addie and Nick where setting shuttle I filled 2 water bottles and my bowl full of blue berries, Great success!
26 day canoe trip: broadback riverDuring August 2017 I lead 6 amazing people with my amazing co-leader. It was an unforgettable experience! the white water, wildlife, and of course the scenery was incredible. One of my favorite days was on day 13 I think, it was clear skys after 10 days of rain. we had a short lake section through a beautiful burn, then some good rapids, an encounter with a large black bear...at the start of a large rapid. a fantastic portage through the burn around a huge waterfall. To top things off the aurora borealis danced across the sky all night.
7 Day Sea kayak tripOne of the requirements to finish the Outdoor Adventure Program at Algonquin College is to plan and execute a self-guided trip. My group and I choose to sea kayak throughout a grouping of islands off the coast of Maine. This was my first ever official sea kayak (I had previously done a 10 day sea kayak on Georgian Bay) and dealing with a body of water that you could not drink was new for me. This was also the first trip that I took a key role in planning, a necessary and challenging task. I also got to implement much of what I learned throughout my last two years in the program.
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10 day kayak trip, first descent: Main Branch Magpie RiverIn September 2021 My Self and Marc once again took the train North from Sept Iles. Following the upper portion of the West Magpie for the first few days we soon hung a left and lake hoped and portaged our way to an Unnamed River. We followed its' course to its' confluence with the Main Branch of the Magpie River. Here the Unnamed River cascades almost 200 feet in to the Main Branch. The Rivers were on the low side of runnable and we bounced our way down down to the top of the Lac Magpie. We worked hard, had great weather and only broke my boat.
26 day canoe trip: Harricana RiverDuring August 2019 I lead 10 amazing people with a long time friend down the Harricana River. It was an unforgettable experience! the white water, wildlife, and of course the scenery was incredible. It was such an honor to be able to run such an iconic river. This trip, along with summer 2019 in general was characterized by blue berries. there was just so many. This one time we stopped to hike a burned ridge. we stayed for an hour filling our faces full of berries, we also filled one hat and two water bottles full of raspberries and blue berries. A delicious pie was had that night!
3 day kayak trip: Apurimac River, peruWidely considered the true source of the Amazon River, The Apurimac ('the voice of God' in Quechua) thunders over many falls and rapids from its source high in the Andes. At its deepest point the Canyon of the Apurimac is 3000m deep. My self and my Friend entered in a rarely run section near the town of Pururo, Peru. After a short warm up, we where in a committing canyon running the largest bolder garden I have ever seen in my life. For the next 3 days it was almost uninterrupted white water. During the points when the rapids lulled we ogled at the imminence canyon. On the trip we passed through many small Quechua villages, and saw prospectors mining gold from the River. The Apurimac is the deepest canyon I have ever been in, in my life. It lives up to its name for being one of the best kayak multi-day trips in the world
52 day canoe trip: Keel and Mountain riversDuring the summer of 2012 I completed a 52 day canoe trip in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, with 13 other amazing people. We put on the Tishue River on Yukon/ NWT border; from there we paddled a week towards its confluence with the Keel River. We then portaged for two days around a set of large rapids, putting onto the Keel River at the bottom. We then spent about a week and a half on the Keel, until its confluence with the Twitchya. There we began our upstream portion of the trip, we than dragged, and portaged for 4 days until we succumbed and began portaging. This portage lasted 12 days, covering an average of two and a half kilometers and 50 meters in elevation a day. After our height of land, it was a half a week on the Cash and a week on the Mountain River. We ended our trip at Fort Good Hope on the Mackenzie River. It was a trip of a life time and the hardest thing I have ever done.
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13 day canoe trip, first descent: Kachipitonkas RiverIn September 2022 myself and Alicia took the train from Sept Iles north. We paddled and portaged our way into the headwater of the Kachipitonkas. It was a very challenging trip! the whitewater was very technical and consequential and many sections required portages as the river was to steep and boulder strewn. The last days the rain came, flooding the river and subsequent rivers Wacouno, Nipissis and Moissie. The with the boost in water the Wacouno provided incredable continuous class 3 paddling. unfortunatly the rivers reached never before seen levels for that day. The Moisie reached spring river levels and we decided to portage the last section of whitewater. a very challenging and demoralizing trip.
15 day Kayak trip: Moisie RiverThe end of September and the start of October is a cold time in the North. Colin and myself braved sub zero temperatures, huge lakes and a swamp walk to paddle the beautiful Moisie River. The Moisie is one of the most beautiful rivers I have ever paddled. I have now been fortunate to paddle it twice. Colin and I took the train from Sept Illes to the mythic station of Orway. From there we paddled the huge lake Ashuanipi and portage through a swamp to get to the headwaters of the Moisie River. From the headwaters we paddled and portaged our way down the river to the the mythic lower canyons. Some of these cliffs tower over 2500ft and drop vertically down into the river. As an added bonus the we had high water for the last day, giving us a 5km long wave train. Some of them towered over 10ft.
52 day canoe trip: Chipman, Kazan Kognac, Tha-anneDuring the Summer of 2018 my Self and my amazing co-leader facilitated a life changing experience for 13 incredible human beings. Starting in Stony Rapids Saskatchewan we paddled and portaged (the first 5 days being a non stop portage) our way to Snowbird Lake. We then Portaged, dragged and pond hopped to Kasba Lake, the head waters of the Kazan River. We enjoyed the fast flowing currents, big rapids, huge lakes and amazing fishing of the Kazan. After crossing the tree line till we once again picked up our packs and walked and pond hopped for 4 more days till we reached the Kognac river. We then spent the next weeks paddling as hard as we could to stay on schedule. Thwarted by strong winds and a solo boat (do to a medical evacuation) we finished our trip approximately three days from the Hudson Bay coast.
This was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life! However it was one of the best experiences in my life! 21 day raft trip: Grand Canyon of the ColoradoIn February 2016 I left my Job at Mountain Equipment Coop for a 21 day raft supported kayak trip on the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. I arrived in Flagstaff Arizona excited to meet the other 15 participants (some of whom I had not met before). For the next 21 days I got to no and became friends with 15 other amazing people. The Grand Canyon is a very spiritual place, many times you are among the ruins of a civilization that thrived a thousand years ago. Sometimes a very moving experience. Other times you forget the scenery and are focused on your line in one of the many large rapids. It was an unforgettable trip packed full of excitement.
Canadian Ski Marathon: GoldThe Canadian Ski marathon is a two day 160 km ski loppet. It is divided in to two categories: Tourer and Courier de Bois. The Courier de Bois is devided into a futher 3 catagories: Bronze, Silver and Gold. For the Courier de Bois Bronze one must ski the entier 160km, in the Silver section one must ski the entierty with a pack (minimum weight 5KGs) and the gold one must do all the afromentioned items and sleep outside between day one and day two. in 2010 and 2011 I completed the Gold.
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