The Outdoor Adventure Show 2018 – Toronto – Day 2 of 2

After getting up and getting ready, putting some peppermint oil on underneath my Lure buff,  a.k.a. today’s head bandage, I decided I would be good for a few hours.   I was very excited to attend the show today with no obligations or responsibility. It was a great feeling having my presentation behind me and knowing I did my best.  I was now excited to roam the show freely and visit with friends and other outdoors people that I was not able to speak to yesterday.

 

Sue and I arrived just after the doors opened at 10 AM.  We went upstairs to get a picture of the show floor, posted above.

My main goal today was to meet up with the Killam family, all who watch my videos, and follow my blog.  Mark had advised me they would not be able to make my presentation on Saturday but very much wanted to meet up with me on Sunday to say hello. Mark also advised me his dad John had a gift for me. I messaged them to find out their location and found them easily as the show was not incredibly busy as yet.

John had made me a rope he had commented about after one of my winter trips with my freight toboggan. I took a short video of him explaining how to use the rope and he also provided me with a bottle of his secret spice mix. I am so grateful to have people like this in my life, and cannot wait to try out both items. Thank you so much john. It was a pleasure to meet you and your family and I appreciate your kindness more than I can say.

Next stop I was on the hunt for David Lee, The Passionate Paddler.  I had seen him only briefly the day before and wanted to have a quick interview with him. Thankfully, I found him, and he was surprisingly not busy. He showed us some of the new gear that Eureka is offering and took some time to talk to me about this year’s hot item, the Suma2. It is a great tent for the backcountry, both lightweight and at a good pricepoint.  I was hoping to pick up a No Bug Zone but as last year, they were all sold out again. You can find the video on my interview with David,  by clicking this link   Thanks to David for taking the time to chat with me.

While at the Eureka booth, I heard my name called from across the way. I was incredibly delighted to see my friend Colette Descent!  Colette is a sweet, kind person who has always left the nicest comments on my videos and posts. At the end of the summer she even sent me a package of freeze dried food that she could no longer use as she was done tripping for the year. I was so happy to be able to finally meet her in person. Here she is!  Isn’t she a cutie?

On our way out of the Eureka booth, Sue and I ran into Gayle Labuz from Sometimes Eventful.  Gayle also runs the Twitter chat #WeGetOutside.  It is held at 7:30 PM on Tuesday nights and is always a fun hour chatting with other outdoors people about popular topics.

 

I roamed around visiting various booths and checking out what people had to offer.

I messaged  my friend Kevin Callan to see where he was,  as I wanted to do an interview with him before it got too busy. We met up shortly after and had a great chat on camera about his presentation, my presentation, some of the trips we did last year, and plans for another adventure this coming year. If you are interested in seeing the interview, it is quite humorous, and can be found by clicking here.

While I was chatting off-camera with Kevin after our interview, Alex,  from Northern Scavenger arrived. I filmed a short clip of him and Kevin talking about how Alex has renamed Kevin,  Uncle Kevin, and it is quite funny. The clip along with the full interview I did with Alex later in the day, have been made into a separate youtube videos which can be found on my YouTube channel by clicking here.  Northern scavenger has a great youtube channel and they do some really crazy trips which almost always involves catching extremely large fish. You can find them on YouTube here.

After that, I ran into Jon, the owner of Backcountry Custom Canoes.  We also did an interview which will be in my video, (link at the bottom of the post!!)   and talked a bit about what he was up to for the day.  Yesterday, Jon arrived at the show very early to bring one of his skin on frame canoes similar to the one I used for my trips last year on stage for my presentation.  I am super excited to see the canoe that he builds for me for this season.  Thanks to Jon for being there at the show for me, and for everything he’s done for me in the past year.  Next to the photo of Jon and I,  is a picture of Alan Drummond and myself. Alan owns Kingdom Outdoor Products and was kind enough to donate some Keynoes for me to give out at my presentation.  Thanks Alan!

Right across from where we had been gathering, was the Friends of Temagami booth.  My friends Tierney and Andrew were manning the booth and I spoke on camera with Tierney for a bit about the area and what they do. The friends of Temagami is a nonprofit o organization who Advocates for promotion and protection of the 16000 square kilometres of wilderness area.  I had absolutely no idea that it was that big! I’m going to have to speak to Tierney and get some help on planning a trip there very soon, as I have not yet been to the area and it is a place that I have been wanting to go.

Then I wandered into one of my favourite booths at the show every year, Ontario‘s highlands.  I was greeted by bright smiles and hugs from Melissa and Carly.  I waited my turn to get photographed in the giant Muskoka chair and then Carly told me about what they were doing this weekend.  They were getting people to check off photos that resonate with them to determine if they were a memory maker,  a rustic roamer, a creative cruiser, a freedom finder or a serenity seeker. I am a serenity seeker!   I love exploring the beautiful places in Ontario’s Highlands and I’m looking forward to exploring some new areas this year.

While leaving the Ontario‘s Highlands booth, I literally almost ran right into David Bain.   He had just finished his presentation on solo camping and was gracious enough to take the time to let me interview him about upcoming events. To see the interview you can click here.  David not only presented this year at the Outdoor Adventure Show as he has many years before, but is also the organizer of the Ontario Backcountry Canoe Symposium and the Ontario Winter Camping Symposium.  I actually spoke at the Ontario back country canoe symposium last year and I’m looking forward to attending this year. If you have not gotten your tickets yet, you should do so soon as the event sells out every year,  and is packed with great speakers! Here is the link to get tickets for this years symposium on April 7th, if interested.

I visited the Northeastern Ontario Tourism’s booth next. I enjoy exploring in many parks in this area and was lucky enough to be able to get a quick interview with Rod,  who was manning the booth. It will be in my day 2 video publishing on Thursday. I hope you check it out. (it’s also at the bottom of the page! lol)

I took some time to walk around the Paddleshack‘s  booth and drooled over some boats. I then did the same at Souris River Canoes. So many beautiful boats, so little time.

I spent some time watching Preston Ciere, Portageur.ca ,  and Gayle Labuz, along with Nancy doing their presentation in the pool.   There was a huge audience in attendance and it was a pretty cool show.  Nancy seemed to enjoy it the most I think! 🙂  What a cutie!

I headed over to the Paddling Adventure stage as Adam Shoalts was about to speak on his solo adventure across the Arctic.  Adam is an incredible speaker and an accomplished explorer. His presentation was inspiring and I sat listening intently to his entertaining description of his journey.  While at Adams presentation, I met up with my friend Jen Wirch and got to take a quick photo. Always good to see you Jen!

 As I turned behind me to take a photo of the schedule to find out what time my friend Brad Jennings and his father were speaking, I caught this image of Shawn James from My Self Reliance.  Unfortunately,  I didn’t notice him standing there until I was editing my photos several days later back at home. Shawn is a great inspiration and has been building a log cabin without power tools and it is quite incredible to see. Here is a link to his YouTube channel if you’re interested in checking it out.

In between Adams and Brad’s presentations, I snuck in a quick chat with my friend Evan from Traversing. He’s a busy guy,  but I managed to get our quick annual selfie and congratulate him on his recent marriage. Evan is also the Content Development Specialist with Ontario Parks.

Brad Jennings and his father from Explore The Backcountry did an excellent presentation on the Everglades. It was very interesting to me as it’s an area I would never think to explore, but now, thanks to Brad and his dad, Wayne, it’s been added to my bucket list. Unfortunately,  my phone was acting up and I wasn’t able to get any pictures of the presentation but if you ever get a chance to hear Brad Jennings speak,  either with Leah,  or his father, Wayne,  you will not be disappointed.   You can check them out here as well.

By this time it was 2 PM and I was pretty wiped out. I had not given my concussion the rest it required and I knew it was time for me to say goodbye and head home. I walked around and said my final goodbyes and then headed up to the booth to say goodbye to Mona and thank her for organizing such a wonderful event.

I had an easy quick drive home to Muskoka and back to the snow where I crashed hard with a smile on my face. It was an excellent weekend filled with so many highlights and wonderful people. I’m already looking forward to next year’s show !

I hope you enjoyed my recap of day two of the Outdoor Adventure Show! If you have any questions or would like to talk to me about anything please leave a comment.

Happy adventuring!

Camper Christina

Can’t wait to see the video?  Click here for the video on Day 2!