For years, I’ve set my sights on tackling one of the most difficult trails in Ontario; The La Cloche Silhouette Trail in Killarney Provincial park. Clocking in at 80km, with 8000ft gain/loss of elevation, this challenging trail typically takes hikers 5-7 days to complete. However, I’ve always dreamed of running it - in 12hrs or less. I’ve tried to get the ball rolling on a group run for years, but the pieces finally fell into place the Halloween weekend of October of 2016.

This article originally appeared on Hammer Canada's Blog In May, my AR teammate Jess and I, headed down to Ottumwa Iowa to race the Happy Mutant Olmitz Miner, a ~500km, 72hrs non-stop expedition length adventure race. The name is seemingly appropriate, as you have to be some sort of mutant to attempt/endure a race like this. The race got underway with a fast paced prologue section that saw racers scramble around the city of Ottumwa in an urban Score-O. As we were hunting down

This article originally appeared on Hammer Canada's Blog Call it a misadventure, call it epic, call it unforgettable. One thing is for certain, our recent ‘Two Creeks Expedition’ did not go to plan. Envisioned as an exploratory canoe route linking two creeks flowing from the Algonquin Dome to the mighty Ottawa River, it seemed like quite the amazing adventure. A +13km ‘portage’ linking the creek systems was supposed to be one of the greatest challenges, but we would soon lear

This article originally appeared on Hammer Canada's Blog Always keen to paddle into the past, I spend a great deal of time researching long abandoned canoe routes, some of which were potentially traveled by my distant ancestors. Paddling is in my blood, as a Métis, my forbearers were some of the first peoples to explore the vast nation of Canada by canoe. Call it a historical longing, but I’m drawn to the waters to probe their mysteries by canoe or kayak. Fueling on the trail

This article originally appeared on Hammer Canada's Blog Trippers are a stubborn bunch. If they've paddled, trekked and explored for a good portion of their life, they tend to get stuck in a 'gear groove'. A gear groove tends to develop when one has become accustomed with brands and layups that they find work for them and are reluctant on branching out to try another brand. On a recent winter backcountry trip, I questioned my fellow trippers who were seemingly stuck in a nu

This article originally appeared on Hammer Canada's Blog Mid-January, I headed to Southern Indiana for some multi-day rogaining action with Ripkin AR team mate, Jessica Kuepfer, along with two AR newbie’s, Jonathan and Peter. For those unfamiliar with the sport, a rogaine (not the drug!) is a navigation based endurance race where competitors travel on and off trail to a series of checkpoints using only map and compass. Whereas pure adventure racing (not to be confused with ob