Explore Magazine Spring 2024

Print magazines invite us to slow down. Lean back. Unplug. So, fittingly, they take a proportionally lengthy amount of time to produce—conversely to the fast-paced publishing cycle of the digital world. As such, I’m required to write these seasonal editorials decidedly out of season. Winter editorials are written in fall; spring editorials are typed in winter. Sometimes I find myself looking so far forward I forget—if only for a moment—which season we’re in. I suddenly feel like skiing is on the menu in October or that it’s already over in February. Well, I’m writing this in February. And while the ski season isn’t “over,” it’s on life support. January saw temperatures cresting to more than 18 C in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland; a dearth of snow across the Western mountains…

The powerful current pushes us down the muddy, overgrown chute, which is barely wider than our heavily laden canoes. We use our paddles to push us off the banks while fending off overhanging willow branches that tear at our arms and faces. At any minute, I am sure we will hit the bank and flip, but there is no room to turn back. We are committed. Moments later though, we shoot out into placid Fry Lake with whoops of pleasure. There are six of us—all in our mid 60s—in three canoes. It is day five of our seven-day adventure on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The 47-kilometre-long Sayward Forest Canoe Route is the choice freshwater paddling adventure on Vancouver Island. Twelve lakes are joined by a series of portages with more…

Canyoneering is the sport of exploring a steep canyon using scrambling, rappelling and swimming skills. It’s popular in the southwestern U.S. and Europe but hasn’t taken off in Canada. François-Xavier Gagnon wants to change that. The veteran mountain guide started West Coast Canyoning and applied for permits to run trips on two creeks near Vancouver, British Columbia. That was more than five years ago. He’s still waiting for the provincial government to grant him tenure, which gives him official permission to guide on the rivers. “There are no other tenures in the area,” he says. “The delay really doesn’t make sense.” But it is not surprising to Gagnon or anyone else involved in adventure tourism in BC or the rest of Canada. From coast-to-coast, nature- and outdoor-focused guiding businesses face…

Think you know Canadian geography? It’s possible that you don’t know much about the island of Anticosti, which lies smack dab in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, seemingly suspended between the west coast of Newfoundland and the Gaspé Peninsula. The island’s population hovers around 200. Chances are you will be hearing more about this huge, hitherto unknown island, as it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in September 2023. Billions of fossils have the scientific world talking, hence why the island recently secured this designation. You could be forgiven for not knowing much about the largest island in Québec, as it rarely makes the news. The last time it made national news was in 1937, when German ‘investors’ visited, hoping to buy the entire island. Its…

A student’s life can feel like walking on a tightrope. The persistent dread of drowning in deadlines, papers and exams can seem endless at times. But students don’t have to live this high-stakes existence. Imagine if, instead of a challenging balancing act, their path resembled a serene, forested trail. The biggest decision to make is whether to turn left or right at a fork in the road, transforming the academic journey into an exploration of possibilities rather than a constant battle against the fear of failing. The call for incorporating nature into an educational journey is not just a nostalgic yearning for the bygone days of carefree, childish outdoor exploration. It is rooted in a growing body of research that shows positive correlations between students’ health and taking time to…

The moment the river current first took hold of the bow of my canoe and began dragging me along with it, I was completely hooked. Canoe tripping down a wild river is completely different from paddling a chain of lakes. A river takes you on a journey, gently floating you on its back one minute and then thrashing like an unbridled horse the next. Running whitewater in a canoe can be tricky and it’s not something you simply jump into. Skills need to be gathered, confidence gained and, more importantly, you need to have the know-how to get out of the canoe and have a look at what lies ahead before running down the rapids. Thankfully, I’ve learned from my past misadventures. Gone are the days when I blindly rounded…