Portage To 2018
Each year we give a yearly rundown of some of the biggest news while looking ahead to the next year. Join us as we portage to 2018...
Top 10 Most Read Articles in 2017
While last year we saw articles about our paddling Prime Minister, the Canoe Emoji and the death of Royalex... this year at Traversing.ca, the most read articles were...
#10 - How Do You Celebrate Mother's Day For a 91 Year Old? Take Her Canoeing!
Wonderful guest blog by Geoff Micks about celebrating Mother's Day in style
#9 - Gear Review: Woolpower Baselayers
Best way to get outdoors in the Winter? Dress for the occasion!
#8 - Garmin Announces The inReach SE+ and inReach Explorer+
Pretty big news this year from Garmin and their acquisition of Delorme.
#7 - Watch Goh Iromoto's New Movie, "The Canoe"
The 150th anniversary of our great country really brought the canoe to the forefront this year. Goh Iromoto's series of videos really focused on that with The Canoe being shown across the globe online and at film festivals.
#6 - Gear Review: Helle Utvær
Knives are kind of a reflection of their owner and a very personal choice. Fantastic to see so many people curious about the Helle brand.
#5 - Watch Canoe: Icon of the North For Free!
A great film from Trailguide Pictures features interviews with many great people such as Kevin Callan and Becky Mason and looks at our iconic piece of Canadiana... the canoe.
#4 - 2017 Canoeing Photo Contest
So many great photos (or ideas for 2018 trips)!
#3 - Gear Review: MSR Access Four-Season Tent
If you're looking to "cold-tent" camp, this is the tent for you!
#2 - Two Important Things About Free Admission To Parks Canada Locations In 2017
Parks Canada sure launched the Canada 150 celebrations in style by offering everyone free admission to their parks... only with a few minor strings attached. We wrote an article to hopefully make it a little more clear as to what "free" means.
#1 - Ash Paddles and Canoes Banned In Provincial & National Parks
Our article sure caught everyone's attention until they realized it was April Fools Day. #SorryNotSorry.
In the headlines in 2017...
Canada's 150th sure brought the canoeing community together! Lock 'n Paddle broke the record for the most canoes & kayaks in the Peterborough Lift Lock (328, and we were part of the fun too), and 150 for 150 saw 150 canoes link together in Algonquin Provincial Park. Other celebrations were held across Canada in Canoes to help commemorate this special year.
Canoeroots sadly is no longer being printed, but its content has been merged into a bigger and better Paddling Magazine.
Last year we lost Le Baron as a place to buy camping gear, and sadly this year we lost the Europe Bound stores in Toronto (at least they still have Hiker's Haven) and 3 Vets in Vancouver (after 70 years!)
Handcrafted Canoes also closed after 12 great years.
Hap Wilson released a great new book, Lake Superior to Manitoba by Canoe
The mystery of the canoe route this canoe paddle is depicting is still unknown... although it did spark another canoeist to create their own canoe route map paddle!
We made our very first "tips" video! Thanks for all the great feedback on Facebook, we'll be sure to make some more videos this year while out on our trips. Subscribe to us on YouTube and stay tuned!
Swift Canoe came out with some really cool new colours for their canoes this year, and both Nova Craft and Clipper Canoes came out with a new solo canoe.
Axes have been quite a popular item this year, and in the news. Swedish Axe companies Wetterlings Axe Forge & Gränsfors Bruk merged, and Hudson's Bay commissioned an axe to be made for Canada's 150th.
We made our first trek to Canoecopia this year and loved it!
B.C. Parks opened 350 new campsites this year (and reservations for 2018 campsites open soon)!
Ontario Parks added a whole new section to their website to help you plan your next backcountry camping trip and online permitting for 8 backcountry parks.
Jeff McMurtrie had us worried about the state of canoeing maps after leaving Jeff's Maps (who also released two new maps this year) but then revealed that he was joining Unlostify in making a whole new set of canoeing maps from the ground up. We're looking forward to what Deki and Jeff will bring on March 1st, 2018!
How to deal with "Drunk canoeing" caused quite a stir in the headlines.
Interest for Winter Camping is on the rise with a brand new book by Kevin Callan, and the inaugural Ontario Winter Camping Symposium.
Not only did the Trans-Canada-Trail complete in time for the Canada 150 celebrations to kick off but the 1,200km water trail from North-Western Ontario to Manitoba also opened.
A successful campaign to mark Canada's 150th and launch a hashtag "#PaddleOn" really helped to highlight the fantastic canoeing locales here in Ontario. Have a look here on Instagram for some examples! (Above photo by @NorthernScavenger)
If you haven't already downloaded an episode of Paddling Adventures Radio, now is a great time as they will hit episode #100 in January! That gives you lots of time to head over to iTunes and catch up.
It looked like there was a lot to celebrate in 2017, so here's to 2018 and all of the fun adventures it will bring as well!
