Trail Mix: Canoeing Tattoos
I snapped a photo of this tattoo from an employee at the Portage Store in Algonquin Park. He mentioned that he had worked there for numerous years, so he got the tattoo to commemorate his time in nature and involvement with paddling. Pretty cool!
Corry Morrow has a canoe as part of his Marquesan tattoo. Just above the two multi-ringed circles. In the marquesan culture, the canoe represents one's journey through life.
Janice Stauttener’s tattoo is a reminder of all the good things they have done exploring Canada and a place she calls home.
Camper Christina got a portager as her very first tattoo to celebrate her passion.
Léa Gagnon-Labrosse has this well detailed canoe tattoo on her ankle.
“I did it myself stick and poke style because I love canoeing. I learned to canoe at a young age and now I teach some kids every Summer.”
Randy Epp's epic portaging tattoo
Doug Morrison got this tattoo (his first of three on that arm) as a tribute to camping. The next one will display a canoe at a portage, and the third tattoo will be about fishing. The 150 sign is to celebrate Canada as well.
“It started on a solo trip 4 years ago, I came to a portage and had such great feeling about where I was in my life and the sight of the trail marker clicked a thought that “Life is a Journey, don’t forget your Paddle”. In February of this year I decided I wanted that marker to be a daily reminder so I put the question to my friends whether I should go with the traditional design or the newer version I’d been seeing. The new design was chosen and then my friend Fionna at Badger Paddles wrote to let me know how excited she was that I had chosen her design and asked if I would be interested in putting the Badger paw on the paddle, and since I love my own Badger paddle, I quickly agreed. Now it was time to find an artist to do the ink work. I discovered that my nephew had his own studio (Ink.By.Zac, I.B.Z Studio) and after seeing his amazing work I quickly put him to the task. After struggling to fit the paw on the paddle he decided to draw a different idea hoping I would like it. I took one look at it and it was even better than I ever imagined. I’m currently on a search for a landscape photo op that would make a perfect cover-up of an existing arm tattoo.”
“This tattoo represents direction in life (and canoe) as well as a passion for the outdoors”
“Originally it had two canoe paddles crossed over eachother, but then decided to cover it up with an actual canoe. This tattoo holds special memories for me, as I was paddling in Algonquin Park with our graduate program back in September 2001. We came out of the portage from Joe Lake to Canoe Lake and someone told us of the events of 9-11which had happened the day before....”
Here's a canoe tattoo from Matt Olsen at Paddle In.
Here's a nice one from Bretton Matthew Clark from The Land Canadian Adventures of a windswept pine.
“The moose has always made a special appearance one way or another in all of my epic journeys. Weather it be face to face, or hearty food to keep me going strong. I wanted to honour the all mighty moose as my spirit guide, and the King of the forest.”
Tattoo sent in from Erika Amero
“There’s a story to my canoe tattoo too; “life is a journey, don’t forget your paddle”
Tattoo belonging to @RunThisTrail on Twitter.
“The picture of the canoe is a picture I took last year in the Boundary waters. The compass and quote are symbols of the way I live my life. I’m am a bone marrow transplant survivor and live my life one day at a time and to the fullest.””
Reddit user Strange-Ad9546 has this new tattoo inspired by his many backcountry trips to various Ontario parks. The artist is Jen Blackwood out of Forest City Tattoo, London, Ontario!
Have a canoeing tattoo? We would love to see it. Snap a photo and send it in to us!
Trail Mix is an assortment of outdoors related blog posts that can be fun, quirky or just thought provoking.
