Ross has over five years of experience with backcountry canoe tripping and winter hot tent camping.
Along with his wife Elise, he’s traveled thousands of kilometres of freshwater shorelines and rivers, spending about one full month on average out of the year camping in the wilderness.
As avid gear guy, Ross has spent countless hours researching, acquiring, and testing top-of-the-line products on multiple camping trips.
When he’s not working his day job as the owner of a kitchen cabinetry business, he’s looking at one (or multiple) maps from his large Ontario backcountry collection, planning new trip ideas and building routes.
Ross is also an amateur wildlife and nature photographer and videographer.
He has completed a whitewater canoe clinic, certification for Whitewater Rescue (WWR) I & II and Wilderness First Aid (WFA), and is a member of the Wilderness Canoe Association.
The morning fog was still lifting off Lake Temagami when a sudden downpour tested my newly purchased Sea to Summit Telos TR3 tent in grey (also available in green). As water drummed against the rainfly, I lay inside, perfectly dry, wondering if this three-person tent...
After drinking questionable water from Algonquin Park lakes for years using chemical treatments, I decided to test the Katadyn BeFree 1.0L filter during my spring canoe trip through the Kawartha Highlands. Within minutes, it completely changed how I approach water...
After five days of portaging through Algonquin Provincial Park last October – when temperatures swung from 18°C during the day to -5°C overnight – I'm ready to share my honest assessment of the MSR WindBurner stove system. This compact cooking setup has become my...
After 500+ kilometers of canoe tripping across three seasons and dozens of Ontario's provincial parks, I've put the Helinox Chair Zero through far more abuse than its designers likely intended. This isn't just another camping chair review – it's a field report from...
After spending three frigid nights at -25°C during a February hot tent expedition in Temagami, I can confidently say the new Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm NXT is a genuine game-changer for cold-weather camping. When my regular winter sleeping pad developed a mysterious...
When I'm not out exploring the wilderness on one of our epic canoe trips, I'm often inside reading books featuring the stories, experiences, and lessons from other adventurers. I read almost every night, finding inspiration in these tales of perseverance and self...
Winter camping can be a thrilling experience, but it can also be a freezing one if you don't have the right gear. You can get away with using a four-season or five-season tent in the winter, but our first choice is always a hot tent. We bought our hot tent two years...
I’m a traditional tent camper when it comes to my sleep system, but I can also appreciate a really good camping hammock. For me, a hammock is one of those luxury items I’ll bring if I plan on base-camping for at least a couple of days. There’s nothing quite like...
As someone who camps in the Canadian wilderness four seasons of the year, I can tell you that one of the most important pieces of outdoor clothing is your mid layer. Mid layers go between your base layer and your outer layer, and are typically made of fleece, wool, or...
Contact lenses are easy enough to apply and remove when you have access to modern amenities like a full-sized mirror, indoor lighting, and running water and soap. But when you're out backpacking or camping, it can be a lot trickier. I often wear my glasses just out of...
If I had it my way, I'd go camping a lot more than I do now. But alas, real life doesn't work that way. Besides having to actually maintain a job to make a living, planning and preparing for camping trips also takes a lot of time and energy. How often we go camping As...
The best thing about camping is you get to camp in all sorts of different environments. New environments often mean new terrain, including a more solid ground that isn't as easy to stake a tent into compared to a softer ground like grass, sand, or dirt. Your standard...
Sleeping bag liners are an optional piece of sleep gear that can be added to a sleeping bag. They basically look like a thin sheet of fabric in the same shape of a sleeping bag so that they can fit right inside. Once placed inside your sleeping bag, you can get in and...
Camping gear can be expensive. If you're planning to camp on a budget, you'll want to know when the best time of year to buy camping gear is, and ideally when it goes on sale. Elise and I have spent far more money on gear than we'd like to admit, but we've gotten...
A canoe is an incredible vessel that can take you places you never thought possible. But when your journey takes you beyond the reach of the water, you'll need to know how to portage your canoe. What does it mean to "portage" a canoe? Portaging is the act of carrying...
You might already know about four-season tents, but what in the world is a five-season tent? Five-season tents, explained A five-season tent is basically designed to withstand more extreme winter weather conditions than a four-season tent. Four-season tents are ideal...
For most people who get into camping, one of the first things to figure out is a tent and sleep system But understanding the difference between a three-season vs. four-season tent can be confusing when you start getting into the details. What is a 3-season tent vs. a...
You’ve heard of three-season tents… but what is a four-season tent? And do you really need one? “Four-season” suggests that it can be used no matter what time of the year it is. But what does that actually mean? What makes a tent 4-season? A four-season tent is...
There are lots of different tents out there. If you’ve been led to believe that you need a three-season tent for your camping trips, you may be wondering… what is a three-season tent, anyway? The term implies that it can be used for three out of the four...
Whether you’re camping in the shoulder seasons (spring or fall), braving winter’s chill, or even just experiencing below normal temperatures in the summer, having an extra heat source in your tent can make all the difference. But is it safe to use a heater...
Cooking enough backcountry camping meals will make you realize how much you take certain things for granted—like keeping hot water or food hot after bringing it to a boil. Luckily for us camping enthusiasts, a DIY pot cozy is a quick and inexpensive way to solve that...
We used to think that our 16-foot fibreglass Prospector was the best canoe for a camping trip. And it was… until it wasn’t. There are a lot of different types of canoes out there—all of which are designed for different purposes. As our canoe tripping style changed and...
We’ve had our 16-foot fibreglass Prospector for two years now. In that time, we’ve put as many as 10 cracks and holes in it. You could say that we’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out how to repair fibreglass canoes—both temporarily while we’re still out canoe...
When Elise and I were just starting out, we had no idea how to set up a tarp for camping in the backcountry. Our tarp set-ups would always end up lopsided, with at least one loose side that we could never figure out how to keep taut. The set-up process was always such...
The first time Elise and I went on a canoe camping trip, we didn’t even know what a canoe camping food barrel was. We did, however, notice several other canoe campers carrying them. We didn’t even have waterproof packs. Needless to say, everything got soaked once...
Knowing how to choose a sleeping bag with the right temperature rating can mean the difference between a good night’s sleep or a bad night’s sleep—and in extreme cases, it can even mean the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, you can’t always take a...
Once we decided to try backcountry camping, we knew we wanted to do everything in our power to be as safe as possible, which meant investing in a personal locator beacon or satellite messenger in case we ever found ourselves in trouble. After a fair amount of research...
When Elise and I started camping, we decided to get a fuel canister stove since it seemed like the most practical option. It wasn’t until we noticed someone in a YouTube video using what they called a “twig stove” that led to do a little bit more research into stove...