From Algonquin To Scotland With Kevin Callan’s Ultimate Paddling Picks

A stranger walks up holding an old canoe book and says, “You signed this to my dad 35 years ago.” Minutes later, Kevin Callan signs it again for the next generation and the whole Hamilton Adventure Expo suddenly feels like a small world. That’s where our livestream chat begins, and it sets the tone for a conversation about how canoe camping stories stick, how outdoor skills get passed along, and why community is the real reason these shows matter.

We dig into Kevin’s idea of “ultimate canoe routes” and why he opens his talk by saying the best trip is the next one. Then we get specific: Algonquin’s Brent Run, a loop around Killarney, Lake Superior’s Bustard Islands, Kejimkujik in Nova Scotia, and even Scotland’s River Spey. If you’re looking for canoe route inspiration, paddling trip planning ideas, or just a reminder that repeat trips can still feel brand new, this one delivers.

We also go behind the scenes on outdoor writing and Canadian publishing. Kevin shares what it’s like to hit 20 books, how rewarding it is when kids show up already excited about what they learned, and how printing and shipping across the Canada US border can turn sales into losses overnight. We talk honest numbers on royalties, why self-publishing can make sense, and the simple advice that matters most: write the book first.

If you enjoy real talk about paddling, camping, and making a life around the outdoors, subscribe, share this with a friend who loves canoe trips, and leave a review so more Canadian campers can find the show.

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Transcript

Welcome From Hamilton Expo

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Good day. Hey, welcome to the Super Good Camping Podcast, the live stream edition. Uh, we're at the Hamilton Adventure Expo, day two, and we're sitting here with the famous Kevin Callan. How are you doing, man?

A Book Signed Across Generations

SPEAKER_00 0:13

I'm good. I'll tell you a fantastic thing that just happened five minutes ago.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

So I'm walking over there, and the young kid, maybe in mid-20s, comes up and he has my old book, Clarney, that I wrote it when I was 27 years old, my first book. Yep. And he goes, You signed this to my dad 35 years ago. And he goes, Can you sign it to me now? I just did that.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

How awesome is that?

SPEAKER_00 0:31

That is awesome. And my signature looks the same.

Kevin Callan’s Favourite Canoe Routes

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Mine's just scratchier than it used to be, it more illegible than it used to be. I'm too lazy to do it. You're what do you you're speaking today? What do you what nobody's going to know, so we're not letting out secrets. What's your what's your presentation?

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Uh my top uh ultimate canoe routes uh are trips I've done. Right. And which is not easy to figure out because I've you know I've done a lot of. I've done a few. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm opening it up by saying, well, my ultimate one is the next one I'm going on, which I don't know what it is. But then here's some I would do again. So I've got the Brent Run in Algonquin, um, I've got uh I've got the Spay River in Scotland, I've got uh Nova Scotia, Kedji, um, I've got the Lake Superior, the Bustard Islands, uh Klarney, all the way around Clarney, um, the Chinicucci uh station. Yep. They got that loop in there. Um whole bunch, actually. You get around.

Why This Expo Feels Like Home

SPEAKER_01 1:24

I've been around, baby. Cool. Well, I we're you're you're one of your travel buddies. We're gonna have Andy on the the regular podcast at some point down because he's busy with his barrels right now. Well, cool. How are you enjoying what's how what how what's your feeling of the like the vibe of the show and stuff? Because I've seen you here for for yesterday and today.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah, yeah. I mean it's it's longer uh this uh weekend than last year. It was only one day. Yep. Um we'll see if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I don't think it's a bad thing. Uh I mean the weather is terrible today, so no one's gonna go see my show. Um, but I I like the show. I I it it sells it sounds uh self-interest, whatever, but my sisters all live down here, my mom. Oh, cool. And my daughter literally lives up the road, right? So I visited her and visit I'm gonna visit my one sister tonight and going to present in London um next and going to see her, visit my mom uh when I went to the Toronto show nearby. Um so that's kind of cool. Uh instead of a hotel. And the other is um I grew up in Milton. Oh no kidding. Yeah, and my dad actually grew up on the mountain in Hamilton. So it's kind of cool to be here. And actually, you think about it, my dad grew up here. I grew up near here, and I just signed a book that I signed three to five years ago. It's separativity or whatever.

Shows, Teaching, And Growing Paddlers

SPEAKER_01 2:39

There is, yeah, yeah, absolutely. It feels like a whole bunch of dots are connecting there. That's that's pretty cool. I I'm sure that if nothing else, well, yeah, because you don't get to see them all that much because you're you're much farther east of here all the time.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Yeah, I live near Kingston now, and that's it, that's a longer drive. Yeah, I mean, if if I present in Ottawa, that's different or Montreal, but right it's a long drive. Um, and yeah, and I had a canoe on my vehicle, but that was crazy on that that windstorm uh driving here. But um, you think about it, uh I do other shows, I do a lot more shows now because I'm not teaching, so uh I'm taking gigs like this. I wouldn't call this a gig, this is uh a lifestyle, but I did the Toronto boat show uh last weekend. Right, I saw that, yeah. And I got paid to go into their big huge lake and show how to paddle, and I had about 25 people, um, not a big audience, but then those 25 people probably became cunus after that. Yeah, and then I was at the RV show and I loved it because the uh camping with the coles were there, Ben and Show, yeah, and they're big there, right? Yes, and so uh um they're everybody's surrounding them and they're like, Hey, come in, hey come in. I love that. And then they filmed it. Go to their uh um YouTube channel and watch watch the interview with me and uh they got me good. I loved it.

Writing Books And Border Headaches

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Excellent, yeah. They're sweeties. I I I dig them big time. So you're presenting like crazy, you're also at I don't know how many books now. Uh last time I counted was 18 or something. What are you working on a new book?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Yeah, so the kids' book is the 20th book, right? And I I fixed all that was their shoes, so it's uh it's Canadian now, and uh it's selling really well. The kids love it, and I found that out yesterday by all the kids coming. They had read the book and wanted to and they wanted to show me all the stuff that they learned through it, and uh that was ultimate.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

That's gotta be heartfelt, yeah. Cool, cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

But no, I am working on um uh another book actually. Uh the cliff uh wanted to um uh do another kid's book, right? I said we'll give it a break first because that was uh that was that was a spin. Um because um the the short of of it is is that it was printed in the United States and then shipped to Canada to be shipped to Canadians, but then the border thing happened and shut it all down. I was I was losing my shirt. Um every time someone here bought a book, I lost my because of tariffs and stuff?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's brutal, man.

Publishers, Self-Publishing, And Royalties

SPEAKER_00 4:56

So I got to switch that around. I did, and now I have a garage full of books, which is fine, and um, but no, so I'm I want to do another just story book. Uh so it started off to be uh river stories, but then I thought, well, there's more stories than just a river trip, and so it's just a bunch of short stories. Almost because my my favorite reads are Sigurd Olsen, Eric Morris, um, that sort of thing. And I love the storytelling, and you know, I really want to redo that. Um, I would love to do a book uh that I'm presenting on Toronto and presenting um uh portage free canoe routes. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but the publisher won't ever have anything to do with it. Um, because they're saying, well, you already have these guidebooks. Why would we do that? So I thought, well, I'll publish on my own again, but that's really expensive books. I don't think I could afford to do that.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Okay, well, but at the very least, I'm gonna come see you because I I know you talked about that before, and I went, Oh, that's really intriguing because I'm not a big fan of portages. I mean, I like the portages because it gets me farther away from people. My knees, my hips, they're not such big fans, right? So yeah, that's a cool idea. Well, that's a bummer you can't turn it into a book, though.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Well, I I can, and I just have to figure out another way to do it. Um, or I have to convince another publisher. But uh, I do have through Firefly, they've been publishers since the beginning. Um, well, Boston Mills was, and then they bought Boston Mills. Right. But uh, I'm under contract of first first refusal. So any idea I have, they look at it first.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

So even before you choose to self-publish, they get first refusal, then when they go no, then you can look at other options or what you do.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yeah, like once around Agonquin, I knew they wouldn't publish anyway. That's not their style.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

So honestly, that's my favorite book of yours. Like, I love that story. I I'm not Andy's pain, but I love that story, man. Like it just is. You hated that trip. I I'm aware.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Yeah, and uh my memoir that they wouldn't touch that either. It's not their style to do that. Um, but mine, mind you, I told them I was doing it and and you know, waited the 26 days, whatever it's with the contract, and move on. Um, the kids book I did try a whole bunch of publishers uh because they they didn't want it, and then they actually did look at it seriously, but but they moved on. So scholastic liked it, but said no way would a book about a high anxiety kid going to the wilderness and help him would sell.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

I would have thought scholastic would be all over it. Like that would be that's a perfect thing because it's different from a lot of I'm when my kids were going to school and we were buying scholastic books, you know, it's the that wouldn't wouldn't have been one of their ones, but which is why I think it would probably be a good seller because it's different from the other ones.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Yeah, yeah, it was different. So, but then again, I'm at the age, or not the age, the stage where see Sandy Mo at I at CBC Radio, he's probably Moet's uh son, and a good friend of mine, uh and I he used to be a producer there, and he finally said, start self-publishing if they don't want your idea, because you do all the work anyway. So, so you think about it a self when someone buys top 70 canoe routes, I make 8% royalty if I get that, because I have to chase them for their royalty, right? And if I self-publish, it's 40 to 70 percent I think because I own it.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

But it's got to be a bunch of outlay in the beginning, like it's gotta be.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Yeah, I know there's a lot of uh um people that would say I want to write a book, Kevin. And I went, well, first of all, write it.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Then worry about the other parts.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

All right, dude. Well, I know you've got a book signing to get to and we're getting tight on time. Okay, thank you for chat as always. Appreciate it, and keep doing what you do, man. You you're a rock star.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Well, so are you, sir. And I it was great to watch the video of um a country uh oh the Jay and Sherry one, and all of a sudden, hey, I know that person on the rock. It's you.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

That was a really fun trip. But it's weather aside, that was it so it's always so cool because you do it. It's always so cool to hang with like minded people, right? Like people that do this.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Yeah, that's why I like the show. Like I do the Toronto show and everything else, and that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

But to me, this is my my Oh, this is a concentrated version of all of that. These are all those people. Yeah, for sure. All right, man. All right, thanks. I appreciate it. Go do your bike, Simon.