Ottawa River – Kate Monahan Outdoors

Wordless Wednesdays: Spring Equinox in the Ottawa Valley

River Touring: Sea Kayaking

Day One: Thursday started off chilly, close to the freezing mark but with warmer temperatures on the way. We sat shivering in our stinky, damp borrowed wetsuits in the amphitheater at WT, listening to Greg introduce his co-instructors Steve and Eric and watching a few short videos on ocean kayaking to give us some perspective.Continue reading “River Touring: Sea Kayaking”

River Touring: Whitewater Rafting

For our third week of skills, we learned how to guide a whitewater raft down Class I rapids. This was week one of two weeks of “river touring” instruction.

Reflections from the Canadian Shield

…I’m an American on the Canadian Shield And I’m putting down roots in your frozen fields… Sam Roberts Band’s An American Draft Dodger in Thunder Bay (Chemical City, 2011)

Swiftwater Rescue

Skills days at Wilderness Tours (WT) happen on Thursdays and Fridays in the first term. Otherwise I sit in academic classes Monday to Wednesday and bounce back and forth between Pembroke and Toronto on the weekends.

Fall Camp

Contrary to popular belief, summer does not end with the Labo(u)r Day weekend. I re-discovered this the hard way, sweating buckets overnight in my brand new MEC TGV 2 tent and slapping at imaginary insects crawling up my arms. Welcome to your new program, career change, and new life! Air conditioning? Long gone. Showers? ForgetContinue reading “Fall Camp”