Contest Giveaway!!! River Adventures: Paddling Ontario's Grand Experiences.

Ever dreamed of leaving your day job to pursue adventure full-time? Adam Merrifield did exactly that when he became the new owner of Grand Experiences Outdoor Adventure Outfitters in Paris, Ontario. His journey from occasional paddler to outfitting company owner perfectly embodies the transformative power of following your passion for the outdoors.

The Grand River flows through the heart of this conversation, described by Adam as "one of the best and longest continuous waterways in Ontario." While many of us might drive past this stunning river system without a second thought, Adam reveals its hidden potential as a playground for paddlers of all skill levels. From gentle family-friendly floats to adrenaline-pumping spring rapids, Grand Experiences has spent 28 years helping people discover this natural treasure.

Adam shares fascinating insights into the operations of an adventure outfitter – from managing a fleet of distinctive yellow canoes to ensuring safety with Paddle Canada certified guides. He explains how most adventures range from 2.5-4 hours, with options for multi-day trips complete with riverside camping. Whether you're looking to try kayaking, canoeing, rafting or tubing, there's an experience perfectly suited to your comfort level.

Want to experience "the Amazon of Ontario" for yourself? Listen to the end for details on how to enter our contest and win a guided adventure with Grand Experiences. Send an email to hi@supergoodcamping.com with three types of watercraft they offer for your chance to paddle one of Ontario's most magnificent waterways with expert guidance.

https://grand-experiences.com/

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and good day. Welcome to the Super Good Camping Podcast. My name is Pamela.

Speaker 2: 0:04

I'm Tim.

Speaker 1: 0:04

And we are from supergoodcampingcom. We're here because we're on a mission to inspire other people to get outside and enjoy camping adventures such as we have as a family. Today's guest is the new owner of an outdoor adventure company based in Paris, ontario. They cover all the bases paddling, hiking, camping and instruction. They provide guided and self-guided adventures, shuttles and instructors when required. Please welcome Adam Merrifield from Grand Experiences Outdoor Adventure Outfitters.

Speaker 3: 0:31

Yay, welcome. Thank you so much. Thank you, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Thanks for joining us after your day, yeah.

Speaker 3: 0:40

I was down in Big Creek today doing a trip for a couple. From when were they from? Somewhere around. London. It was good, it was a beautiful day.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Also London Ontario, london Ontario.

Speaker 3: 0:53

Yeah, not like Tim and Ade London. Yeah, so it was a beautiful day, beautiful trip out in Big Creek. It's like the Amazon of Ontario. It's such a wonderful trip, but it was a long day. By the time I drive back from there like an hour and a half.

Speaker 1: 1:09

Uh, yeah, I was pretty tired I imagine man, you look like you got some sun too, yeah yeah, yeah, lots of sun so I have to say that I I know of you, you or or your company.

Speaker 1: 1:22

Um, our youngest goes to university in Brantford and we were going down about two years ago Now. We went down to Brantford just to check the place out, because that was he was before his first year, and so we wandered around Brantford a little bit. We wandered down by the Grand River and we saw people in those little like inflatable kayak type of things floating down the Grand and as we were standing there watching it looked like they were having a blast and I was like I need to check out, like how do we do that? We haven't yet done it, but I feel like it's on the bucket list of things that we would like to do, but it looked like it was so much fun.

Speaker 3: 2:00

Yeah, the Grand River in Ontario is such an amazing resource that we have I mean it's you know, from a water sport type of body of water. It's probably, you know, one of the best and longest that we have in Ontario. That's sort of continuous and unbroken, so you can actually paddle it probably from Elora all the way down to Lake Erie. You know at certain times of year like the more northern parts get a little bit skinnier, but yeah, it's such a phenomenal resource and I want to say you know, probably thousands upon thousands per year enjoy a little run down the river.

Speaker 3: 2:46

There's a number of outfitting companies that operate in various locations and it is like it's one of the most treasured assets that we have in the area. So you'll see lots of people in Brantford. You'll see lots of people in Paris and Kitchener, cambridge, all taking advantage of the Grand River. And it's such a short window of time that we have to make use of this resource and people, especially on the weekends and holidays, just love to float down the river, either in a tube, you know, canoe kayaks, and I mean that's why we're here. I mean that's you know the company was founded, like 28 years ago by Jamie Kent and you know, has been in continuous operation that whole time. So yeah, lots of people.

Speaker 1: 3:43

You've just recently taken it over.

Speaker 3: 3:44

Yeah, so, um, I I want to say a number of months ago, um, you know, sort of coming through some life changes at the time, Like my mom, I knew she was getting kind of older, Um, she's been sick for a while. So, you know, I was starting to question life, you know, question what I'm doing. And, you know, one thing led to another and I reached out to, you know, Jamie Kent, and I just asked him. I said you know, do you have any succession plans? And he said I don't, as a matter of fact, and my wife would like me to retire. So, you know, let's start talking. So fact, and my wife would like me to retire. So, you know, let's start talking. So.

Speaker 3: 4:26

So we did, you know, I spent a little bit of time, kind of volunteering for him, going out on the odd, you know, trip here and there, you know, just to see if it was something that I was into. You know, of course I love paddling, I love being on the water, I love the Grand River, but do I want to do it for a day job, Right? So, um, so I spent a bit of time with them and, uh, you know, we did a couple of school trips and a couple of scout groups, uh, did some hiking here and some paddling there and, uh, you know, I really enjoyed what was going on and I could feel myself, you know, getting happier. Um, you know, getting lighter and uh, you know getting lighter and uh, you know, one thing led to another and here we are very cool so did you have like previous instructor experience or how did you?

Speaker 1: 5:12

what was your background at pilot?

Speaker 3: 5:13

so uh, that's sort of a circuitous path there. Um, so we used to do and you know this is to tie it back into super good camping, um, when I was a kid, uh, we camped all the time. We did a lot of car camping, right? Um, that usually involved a canoe, an old, had to be late 70s orange coleman canoe, with the, you know the, the tube running down the middle and the, you know the post from the seats, and the thing probably weighed as much as a volkswagen beetle. So we, so we would go camping. My dad would take my brother and I camping, um, you know, several times a summer and, uh, we would always make an attempt to portage that canoe, you know, from one lake to another, right, yeah, so thankfully, you know, thankfully it was mostly car camping, but we did, for day trips, try to portage.

Speaker 3: 6:14

And yeah, I mean I you know, I remember, you know, early on, like probably in my early teens, when my dad started making me, you know, start doing the portaging as well, grab a handle and portage, and it was, uh, you know, a miserable experience for somebody who was probably a hundred pounds soaking wet at the time soaking- wet yeah so, um, you know so, but my love of camping continued, my love of paddling, that particular canoe did not.

Speaker 3: 6:48

So so I, eventually, you know, as I had kids, you know, I, I took them camping and, you know, eventually got into boats and started chasing, you know, bigger boats, better boats, you know. But then, always looking for simplicity, I came back to, you know, canoes and kayaks, kayaks in particular, and so.

Speaker 3: 7:11

I had been kayaking for, I guess, probably the better part of 10 years, and then, maybe about five, six years ago, canoeing was always in the back of my head and I was like I really got to get back to canoeing. And, uh, and Jamie Kent again actually at Grand Experiences I reached out to him, he had some boats for sale and so, uh, I bought a canoe from him and and I haven't looked back since then. Right, so it's so, instead of collecting youboats, I started collecting canoes. So now I own a company that owns a whole lot of canoes.

Speaker 1: 7:50

So how many canoes have you got? Because we've got two hanging in the garage, but he's got a company that has a gazillion of them, but I wonder personally how many he's got he doesn't have to.

Speaker 2: 8:02

It's all company stuff, not mine. It's not my illness yeah, what one of the events.

Speaker 3: 8:08

So yeah, expensive. I mean that was uh. That was one of the advantages when I was putting in my order at novacraft is uh you know, I had a certain target that I was going to hit for a you know fleet of boats. And uh, and then of course I was like, ah, you know what, take out two of those fleet models, we'll put in a couple of personal boats. There I mean company boats, exactly.

Speaker 2: 8:30

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 8:34

So I do have still on order. If Chris and or Steve are listening from Novacraft, I'm still waiting for my fourth Patiently waiting Patiently waiting, yeah, yeah. So I've got one of the flagship canoes on order coming in, so in Expedition Tough Stuff, so 16-foot Prospector flagship, and then I have a 14-foot solo in Tough Stuff Expedition coming as well. So those would be my tripping canoes when I have time.

Speaker 2: 9:08

I don't know if I'll ever have time yeah, well, I mean, it's been, it's been an adventure to get set up so that we could actually get together to do this podcast, right, yeah?

Speaker 1: 9:18

I missed it well, your work season overlaps with the tripping season exactly yeah which, yeah, which is that's a tough one man.

Speaker 2: 9:26

So it's not only has it cost me money to go out and do this trip, but I'm losing money because I'm not at home doing my job.

Speaker 3: 9:32

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:34

That's a tough one, man.

Speaker 3: 9:35

Yeah yeah, this was the season too, like I had done a couple like over the last couple of years. I've done a couple like over the last couple of years. I've done a couple of backwoods camping trips, but not nearly as many as I would like to, and I had one in particular in October last year and I was like that's it. Enough excuses, I've got to get out there. I've got to set my calendar to make that happen. So I actually had a bunch of weekends picked this year, um, you know, to do like, say, three and four day trips, um, you know, on as many as many crown land camping. You know sort of routes as I could pick out and uh, and then, and then this happened, it was like, ah, okay, I'm canoeing in every day. I can't, I can't really complain, right?

Speaker 2: 10:26

So this is true, yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:29

So, adam, are there different levels of difficulty with the different experiences that you offer?

Speaker 3: 10:33

I would say most of them are manageable by just about everybody, um, but we do have, uh some routes that we run, uh in early spring or after a you know heavy rainfall, uh, where we can get some you know whitewater in there, uh, for the folks that are interested in doing that. So we actually just had an experience.

Speaker 3: 10:52

Um we had a massive rainfall, localized rainfall, here in, in, uh the sort of area, um, you know, a couple of Saturdays ago and that actually was too dangerous for us to run uh anybody through, uh, you know, through the company, right. So we shut down operations but we took advantage of that and took all the staff out for a whitewater run, which was which was great, um, you know cause it? Yeah, cause it can actually get, uh, you know, pretty intense. So we do have, we do have folks that, uh, you know they come on a waiting list for us, um, so that they can run that as well when, uh, when the opportunity arises, but during normal, uh, summer flows, uh, we've got a couple of routes that have you know the odd, uh rapid or you know steep decline here and there. You know the odd rapid or you know steep decline here and there, but really anybody of any skill set you know is probably comfortable running those. You know you do get. You know the odd person you know that may dump a canoe, but you know it's in the summer and they have a great time doing it and it's a story to to talk about.

Speaker 3: 12:04

But but there are certainly lazier sections that we have. You know we have a section uh up in, uh, kitchener, uh, at Bingaman's Park, uh, we intentionally call it the lazy river, simply because you know you hop in a tube and you just kind of float down the river and there's really nothing to stress about, worry about at all. Some of our runs, say, from Paris to Brand, for instance, you know the first 40 minutes you may have a couple of rapids, here and there, a couple of swifts, and then after that it's pretty casual, just go with the flow and then we have. One of my favorite runs is actually Glen Morris to Paris, and that actually has a decent number of I don't want to call them rapids, but you know faster moving water and you know a little bit more technical and you know the odd rock to avoid here and there, um, but uh, we haven't. You know it's. It's rare, um, you know when, when we wouldn't consider a run. You know safe for you know most people to do so.

Speaker 1: 13:12

Is there a best time of year to to do the Grand?

Speaker 3: 13:17

Um, I think the Grand River is. You know, for me, like I'll, I'll start in April, as you know, as soon as, as soon as the ice breaks off. You know, for the, like I'll start in April, as you know, as soon as, as soon as the ice breaks off. You know, for the, for some of the slower moving sections, you know I'll be out in April and I'll I'll go right up until November myself, personally. So, yeah, it's, it's pretty much all season, and this year I would actually like to offer because there's a lot of sections of the Nith and the Grand that don't freeze over and have decent access on the shores, like, there's a lot of times, you know, where the shore, ice gets out a little bit too far, but there's some spots that remain open. So I'd actually like to consider offering some winter paddling, for you know the adventurous you know, this season. We'll see, we'll see if there's any takers on it.

Speaker 2: 14:11

That'd be interesting. So I've done, we've. Thomas and I literally just started what I suspect will be an adventure down the whitewater stream, for lack of a better term. So we did those in wetsuits, but you're going to be in dry suits for the winter stuff. Yeah, is that not a little, is it? How is it? Cumbersome is the word that comes to mind right out of the gate.

Speaker 3: 14:40

I haven't worn one, but yeah, I mean, cumbersome is sort of less of the problem, it's more the cost, right? So you know, to bring on, you know, as an outfitter, to bring on a bunch of wetsuits that would accommodate, you know, a number of different people, shapes and sizes, you know, is probably going to be my biggest hurdle, so that may stop me this season from offering it. So that may stop me this season from offering it. We do have a bunch of wetsuits because we do a lot of April, march and April.

Speaker 3: 15:12

You know spring runs when the water flows are super high. So we get a lot of thrill seekers that want to come out and run the rivers like that. So we throw them in wetsuits because, you know, because the accessible, um, and has lots of areas to get out and stop, like if you fell in with a wetsuit, um, you know you can pull over on the side, set up a fire, um, but you're not more than you know a 20 minute trip away from you know civilization, so you know it's not too risky or scary, um, you know, if somebody got wet, but I'd love to do it properly and and get dry suits, um, but yeah, I mean that may be cost prohibitive.

Speaker 2: 15:54

Yeah, crazy expenses is what somebody termed it as.

Speaker 1: 15:58

Yes.

Speaker 3: 15:59

Yeah, yeah, that they are.

Speaker 1: 16:01

And what's the duration of most of your experiences, Adam?

Speaker 3: 16:09

of most of your experiences, adam, I would say most of them run between, say, two and a half to four hours, and it, you know, it depends on the flow rates we have. You know, our signature trip is Paris to Brandt. That's the one that people know us most for. We have people that can, you know, crush that in two hours if the flows are a little bit higher. And then we've got a lot of people who want to take that easy and they want to stretch that out to four hours.

Speaker 3: 16:37

Stop on the shore for a picnic, stop on the shore and, you know, go for a swim. And it also depends on, you know, if you've gone in a raft, for instance, versus going in a kayak, right? So the folks in the kayaks, you know they, they tend to, you know, top out at two and a half, three hours. You know, folks in the rafts, you know, if they're really pushing it, they'll hit three hours, but oftentimes they'll do, you know, four, especially if you get a headwind. They'll do, you know four, especially if you get a headwind, um, you know, going against you.

Speaker 2: 17:10

We do have trips that go, um, as as long as five hours as well um, and I think I saw yeah, maybe I'm not 100 I thought I saw something about three three day, two night guided trips yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 17:24

So we've got a number of packages um where you can either, you know, set up an accommodation through a hotel some of our partnering hotels or you can actually we can book a campsite for you down at Brandt Park. So Brandt Conservation Area has got some beautiful campsites right along the water. So we book a campsite for you and then we pick you up there first thing in the morning, we take you up to our 150-year-old historic shop in Paris, ontario, we launch you right off of our dock in Paris and send you down the river and you end up right back at Brandt Park where you get out, finish the rest of your day, have your campfire, do your camping and then the very next morning we launch you out of Brandt Park and then we pick you up down at Cockshut Bridge later on in the day, and we can do that as self-guided or guided as well.

Speaker 1: 18:28

So when you say self-guided like, I just see you like pushing somebody off from the shore and say yeah with a map, what else do you do?

Speaker 3: 18:40

Well, so we do have a list of maps in our sort of back catalog. I haven't, uh, had the time to put them up on our website yet, um, but I mean, the beautiful part about a river is it goes one direction. Um, it's hard to get, it's hard to get lost that way yeah if you're going, if you're going the wrong way, then all the power to you. You're, you know, um, but um yeah, instruct people.

Speaker 3: 19:10

You know what they're looking for. You know Paris to Brandt, for instance, you know we tell them there's count four bridges. You know, once you see the fourth bridge, give us a call, we'll come down and pick you up. So there's features and landmarks that we have people look for. A lot of the public launches that we end up landing at they're hard to miss, right. So you know Cockshut Bridge is hard to miss. You know Brandt Park is hard to miss. And then you know Penman's Dam, for instance. That's the end point for, you know, glenn Morris trip. It's hard to miss Penman's dam because there's a giant train bridge there and a dam and big warning signs say go no farther, right. So, um. So yeah, I mean, in my experience, in my limited experience so far, um, you know it hasn't really been, uh, too much of a concern, you know, sending people on their way, right.

Speaker 1: 20:03

So I haven't lost anybody so far.

Speaker 3: 20:05

No, haven't lost anybody so far. Um, you know, and it's, it's you know it's the grand river is such a friendly yeah, such a friendly river, right.

Speaker 2: 20:14

So uh, so something that it feels, it feels like an important thing. If you're paying attention out there in the audience, um, what, uh, what are the modes of transport that that you, that you do do like kayaking, canoeing?

Speaker 3: 20:33

Yeah, so we offer rentals for kayaks, canoes, rafts and tubes. The tubes are strictly up in our kitchen area right now, but, yeah, we offer those four modes of transport for water and plus we also do guided hiking trips as well.

Speaker 1: 20:51

When do people sometimes bring their own canoe and say just I'd like you guys to guide me in my canoe.

Speaker 3: 20:58

Yeah, so we've got bring your own boat guided adventures. So, and that's actually. We did a trip down a big creek today and they actually brought their own boat. So they, they had a couple of older pelicans actually that were, you know, not the thin pelicans like like you have these days, but, um, a little bit more sturdy. So, uh, they've hung on to those for a while and, uh, but yeah, they were the perfect boat for, uh, you know, for big creek and yeah. So we allow that. Um, you know, people bring their own canoes.

Speaker 3: 21:36

We've had a couple of those this season as well and we also offer, like, a shuttle service. You know, if you do want to launch in your own area but you want to be picked up by us, that is an option as well. We don't list it, we just ask that you call us, because we have to have it make sense with a trip that we're already doing right, so we won't just kind of go out of our way to pick somebody up, unless it just happens to work out. So I dropped off somebody at their you know, vehicle the other day because I was doing a launch and they just happened to catch me and say, hey, do you run a guiding service. I'm like, yeah, would you mind driving me back to my truck at the end of the day? I'm like, absolutely so, if it works out, we're more than happy to do that as well.

Speaker 1: 22:24

Awesome.

Speaker 3: 22:25

Cool.

Speaker 1: 22:26

And on your guided trips, do you guys feed, feed people.

Speaker 3: 22:30

Uh, so the previous owner, jamie Kent, um, uh, always used to do, uh, you know his famous chili, or you know catered lunches, et cetera. Um, all I can do this year, uh, we'll get into the fun topic of liability insurance. So all I can do this year is is, uh, supply the resources to get yourself a catered lunch. Uh, so I can't actually do any of the cooking like, uh, like Jamie Kent used to. That's apparently something that liability insurance isn't willing to cover these days, not cheaply anyway. So I'm learning all of the ins and outs about liability insurance this year.

Speaker 1: 23:19

So just too much risk of somebody getting salmonella or what's the yeah, a lot of questions.

Speaker 2: 23:25

Yeah, yeah, are yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 23:27

Yeah, allergies are the big one. And then food prep. Um, they need to know that you're sort of following, you know, the appropriate ontario guidelines for food prep etc. So, um, you know, makes sense yeah yeah, yeah, no safety.

Speaker 1: 23:42

Safety first it's a shame it is. It is a shame right chili seems like it would be great yeah, yeah, and that's.

Speaker 3: 23:50

You know that that was definitely a popular feature. Um, you know he did a maple maple chili. I can't remember exactly what he called. It was an old family recipe and it was so good and we get the stoves out. So halfway through the trip, get on the shores, get the stoves out. So halfway through the trip, get on the shores, get the stoves out. So, um, I can still offer something similar where I can provide the cookware and we can, you know, engage in, in eating, but I, I can't, I can't bring the food or prepare the food.

Speaker 2: 24:21

Well, you know, early, early, early bumps and stuff as you're as you're working towards the end of the season would be fabulous, Next season would be even better. You know, blah, blah, blah it's what they call growing pains.

Speaker 3: 24:37

That's it. Growing pains. Yes, absolutely yeah, I've got a lot of those growing pains. This year.

Speaker 2: 24:43

Yeah, that probably adds to the tiredness a little bit yeah.

Speaker 1: 24:47

Yeah, it does, I hear you, hear you, man. So how big a crew have you got, adam?

Speaker 3: 24:51

uh. So we've got, um, I want to say four part-time, uh, seasonal staff, uh, and then we've got about four, four or five guides. Um, you know that are, you know, a lot of the guides are actually school teachers. So as soon as they're off for the summer, they're looking for something to do and you know so a couple of them are Paddle Canada instructor certified. All of them, even our part time staff, they're all Paddle Canada certified so that they can Paddle Canada certified so that they can actually partake in some of the guided trips. So we take safety, you know, to the nth degree, right. So we've got a, you know, flawless safety record over the last 28 years. Jamie reminds me of that every day, so I don't want to let him down. So Jamie's still on, by the way, like he's, he's going to stick around for a couple of years, I mean you know, 28 years of, uh, you know, of running this business. He's. He's come to learn a thing or two.

Speaker 3: 26:02

Um, logistics, logistics, uh, being one of them, like scheduling and logistics, uh, you know where to be at what time and and you know how to get boats there, people back, et cetera, you know so anyway, yeah so he's sticking around for a couple of years and you know kind of showing me the ropes and yeah, I mean it's really critical for him that you know safety comes first and you know I have to agree, right, I don't want to lose anybody, I don't want anybody getting hurt.

Speaker 3: 26:32

And you know, for as easy as it is to run the Grand River, I mean you know a lack of experience and you know getting pinned on a rock and you know somebody getting a little bit overexcited. I mean you know that, can you know that can cause, you know, issues and people getting into trouble. So I'd like to avoid that when I can. So so yeah, we have, you know those, like I said, the, you know the four or five guides and you know the four part-time staff and you know that, I think, keeps us going. You know through throughout the season, as far as I can tell. So we'll find out. Maybe next year I grow and expand, We'll see.

Speaker 2: 27:13

Yeah, wow, I keep thinking about the boats because I'm a canoe guy.

Speaker 3: 27:35

Are they all like tough stuff T4, maxax type deals. So my fleet boats are all 15 foot SPS or SP3 Nova crafts, right, so a little bit thicker. They lay them up a little bit thicker than your typical.

Speaker 2: 27:43

Yeah, it's a heavier plastic sort of deal, right?

Speaker 3: 27:45

Yeah, and it's a heavier boat. I'm not going to lie.

Speaker 2: 27:49

Yes, I know, I looked at them.

Speaker 3: 27:57

Yeah, which is why I went with the 15s, just to shave off a little bit of weight, and I got them all in yellow. So I don't know if you've noticed on the social media I decided to go with a fleet color, so I got, got all my fleet done in yellow and uh, yeah, so and it was great.

Speaker 3: 28:10

I mean, uh, you know, previously we'd worked with uh, uh, paluski canoes and kayaks and uh, so they're out of. I want to say lake field, um, okay, it's about six hours. Um, okay, it's about six hours, you know, east of here, right, or east of me anyway, and uh, and I was just, you know, I was considering timing, you know, especially a time of acquisition, and it just seemed for me to run six hours out that way and run, or sorry, three hours that way.

Speaker 3: 28:45

Yeah, six hours round trip. Three hours that way, three hours back. I, you know, made more sense to you know, work with novacraft and well, novacraft is london right, so they're like beside you.

Speaker 3: 28:56

Yeah, yeah so round trip, it's like an hour and a half. So, yeah, you know, so, yeah, I, uh, you know, talked to, uh, you know, chris and steve there, and I said, you know, so, yeah, I, you know, talked to you know, chris and Steve there, and I said, you know, thinking of buying a fleet here. Here's what I'm thinking of. And, and you know, and you know, next year I'll probably do their aqua fusion kayaks as well. So this year, in a pinch I just had to buy a whole whack of you know Pelican kayaks, just to, you know, get them in the water as quick as possible. But I think next year I'll probably put in an order for aquafusions. They seem to seem to be the right balance of, you know, weight and sturdiness, but they also have, like, built in ballast in them, so I don't ever have to worry about them sinking, which is great.

Speaker 2: 29:49

Yeah, back to that safety thing.

Speaker 3: 29:50

Yeah, yeah, Not as maneuverable as as, uh, as the spirit uh Poluski kayaks that we've been getting, but yeah, but they're super sharp looking kayak cool, I've done zero kayaking, like ever oh really yeah, none I I canoe periods.

Speaker 2: 30:13

Uh, actually I think last year the year before is the first time I ever paddled a solo canoe, is probably the first time I ever paddled that wasn't tandem really yeah, I hadn't really thought about it until it was like, oh, this is different. Oh, because you've never done it before oh interesting.

Speaker 3: 30:30

This is my thing, man, I'm actually a little bit the opposite, where I spend all my time solo canoeing and every time you get me tandem, I'm just like wait, I don't understand the mechanics of this. So, especially when the bow paddler I was, uh, I was doing some training the other day and uh, so I had a bow paddler, one of my staff, um, big guy, six foot four, lots of muscle, and he just he'd get in there and he would dig and he would dig and like I could not, I had to sweep out wide every stroke. I'm just sweeping out wide just to counteract how much power he had up there. So you know, it's definitely different for me. I'm actually I'm getting used to the bow, I'm liking the bow, especially when we're going through whitewater, because that's where all the action is, that's.

Speaker 3: 31:32

That's a lot of fun up there. You know getting all the you know gems and your prize and your you know cross draws and you know avoiding all the rocks. That's where I feel like I'm I'm really engaged. But otherwise, yeah, solo paddling, it's like I like, I like doing the ballet of you know just pivots and swirling around and you know just moving where I want to move. Uh, you know, I use a giant paddle as well, Right, so?

Speaker 3: 32:02

not efficient for tripping at all, but uh, but just great for moving a lot of water and moving the boat around cool.

Speaker 2: 32:10

Yeah, it's, I don't. I haven't racked up enough time. I I know that I have to be way more cognizant of the reactivity of the boat when I'm soloing, because otherwise I try to step in and I find myself on the other side in the water so numerous times seen that happen yeah, yeah, it's okay, very low, very slow, get in there oh my goodness but I did find uh, it was kind of.

Speaker 2: 32:40

It was kind of this same thing, but I could move faster. So so I I initially did did a single blade and went out and paddled like you know, whatever the normal way, I guess. But I also had a, a double, like a kayak paddle and man can, can you, you can just fly with that as like holding macro mackerel I was.

Speaker 3: 33:04

I was stunned at the speed difference I could pick up by having two blades yeah, yeah, and I spend a lot of time going up river as well, like you know, when I'm not guiding or sending people down the river, I spend a lot of time fishing, and so I'll put in at one spot, but then I'll want to make my way back up to where I put in, so so I bring a double bladed paddle for that reason and also for standing up. I stand up and paddle my canoe a lot and I and instead of having like a dedicated sup paddle, I'll actually use, um, you know, a double-bladed kayak paddle, uh, and then it's, it's the perfect length and I can reach right up to the bow and I can pull back to my hip and it's great yeah this, this is the stare of a guy that's like, yeah, no, I wouldn't.

Speaker 2: 33:57

I wouldn't even get to fully standing up before I'd be in the water every time.

Speaker 3: 34:01

Yeah, yeah, it's just something I've always done. Um, you know, I just I I'll do it in a, in a kayak, every once in a while too. It's a lot more hairy in a kayak like, but in a canoe I'll do it, okay, yeah, it's all a core, core muscles.

Speaker 2: 34:22

I don't have any, so, so that could be part of the problem. Love you too, honey. All right. So for those of you watching at home, you've seen our camera just change. I don't know. I'm technologically challenged and I have no children here to troubleshoot for me, so we're stuck with the crappy, crappy camera that's on my laptop to finish this out, but this is the exciting part of the show. I got to say we're about to do a draw. Hopefully you were paying attention earlier. Adam, tell us what the draw is for and I'll tell people how they can enter.

Speaker 3: 35:02

Yeah, yeah. So we can do a number of different things, but I would certainly love the opportunity to provide a guided experience for one of your lucky listeners.

Speaker 3: 35:17

I think one of the more popular ones is our Big Creek Echo Adventure, which is down towards Long Point. You know it's been celebrated by Ontario Southwest, you know their tourism board and Destination Ontario, so it's definitely a spectacular trip. But if that's too far out of the way for folks, we're more than willing to, you know, offer something a little closer to paris or a little closer to kitchener. So, um, you know we'll, we'll give out, uh, a guided trip, um, you know, for up to four hours, and uh give you the experience, uh, hopefully, of a lifetime very cool, very cool.

Speaker 2: 36:08

I mean, we're not allowed to enter. Yes, this is the problem. Uh, okay, so how you enter is same as we did the last time we did a draw. Send us an email with the answer to the skill testing question, which is name three types of watercraft offered by grand experiences outdoor adventure outfitters. There are four. Go back and listen. Give me three of them. You'll probably pull them off the top of your head. Yeah, send us an email to hi at supergoodcampingcom. That's hi at supergoodcampingcom. I'm doing your job now. Yeah, and we'll do a draw. So this is now airing on July 7th 2025. We will do the draw on July 21st 2025. We'll send you, we'll hook, we'll hook. Make sure, when you send it the information to us, you give us your contact information, we'll get Adam to hook up with you and you guys will be off to the races.

Speaker 1: 37:10

How's that sound? Sounds good. All right to you, young. That's it for us for today.

Speaker 2: 37:13

Thank you so much for watching and listening and putting up with our crappy camera man.

Speaker 1: 37:16

We will talk to you again soon. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime. We are at hi at super good campingcom, that's hi at super good campingcom and that's hi at super good campingcom. And we are on all the social media and you can check out Adam at grand experiences, outdoor adventure outfitters and we'll talk to you again soon. Bye, bye.