Swifty Paddler. Meet an amazing outdoors photographer that spends a lot of time paddling his Swift canoe through the backcountry.

Exploring the Great Outdoors: Photography, Fat Biking, and Canoe Paddling

Today's guest, Ron Breault AKA Swifty Paddler, has been one of our favourite follows on Instagram for quite a while. He takes beautiful landscape shots, usually with the sun or moon in the shot and a canoe and paddle.

Mostly, he solo canoes through central and northern Ontario, with plenty of forays into some beautiful Quebec lakes.
That said, he also takes the occasional group and family trip—including an epic trip with a tent trailer from Ottawa to San Francisco! Look for that story in a future episode with Ron.

• Introduction: Overview of the episode’s focus on outdoor pursuits and a brief introduction to Swifty Paddler, an expert in outdoor activities and sports.
• Outdoor Photography: Capturing nature through the lens can enhance the outdoor experience. Tips for beginners on how to get started with outdoor photography, including the best times for lighting and suggestions for captivating subjects.
• Fat Tire Biking:
  • The Rise of Fat Biking: We discuss Swifty's experience and the increasing popularity of fat tire biking and what distinguishes it from traditional mountain biking.
  • Terrain and Adaptability: Insight into the versatility of fat bikes, able to handle snowy trails.
  • Challenges and Rewards: Ron shares personal anecdotes highlighting the unique challenges of fat biking and the unparalleled satisfaction it brings.
• Canoe Paddling:
  • Techniques and Equipment: Mastering paddling techniques and choosing the right equipment for different water conditions is significant.
  • Paddling as an Experience: A discussion on how canoe paddling offers a unique perspective on nature and the importance of preserving our waterways.

 Whether you’re out there to capture the perfect shot, glide across new terrains, or paddle through tranquil waters, this conversation has something for you.

Please check out Swifty Paddler:

https://www.instagram.com/swiftypaddler/#

https://www.facebook.com/SwiftyPaddler?__tn__=%2Cd

www.swiftypaddler.ca

Transcript

00:00 - 00:01
Hello and good day, eh?

00:01 - 00:03
Welcome to the Super Good Camping podcast.

00:03 - 00:04
My name is Pamela.

00:04 - 00:06
I'm Tim and we are from supergoodcamping.com.

00:07 - 00:10
We are here because we are on a mission to inspire other families to enjoy

00:10 - 00:12
camping adventures, such as we have with our kids.

00:12 - 00:16
Today's guest is the first in a new feature where we're highlighting

00:16 - 00:19
non-YouTube celebrities being that he's a non-YouTube celeb,

00:19 - 00:22
There's much less info to be gleaned from the interwebs.

00:22 - 00:27
What we do know is that he likes to solo canoe trip a lot and jump on a

00:27 - 00:29
fat tire bike to ride trails in the winter.

00:29 - 00:32
He's also an amazing outdoors nature photographer.

00:32 - 00:34
Please welcome Ron Breault.

00:34 - 00:36
Also known as Swifty Paddler.

00:37 - 00:38
Ooh, thank you.

00:38 - 00:39
Welcome.

00:39 - 00:39
Thank you.

00:40 - 00:40
Happy to be here.

00:42 - 00:42
Very cool.

00:43 - 00:47
I've been a fan for a while as we've, we've discussed because, because I

00:47 - 00:51
immediately, as soon as I, as soon as I started to follow you, it's like, oh

00:51 - 00:53
man, check out, all those are great shots.

00:53 - 00:54
All those are great shots.

00:54 - 00:55
Oh, that's awesome stuff.

00:55 - 00:59
I just, I, I fanboying, genuflecting.

00:59 - 01:04
So, so the first obvious question I have is why Swifty Paddler?

01:04 - 01:07
What, what gives you that moniker?

01:07 - 01:08
Very easy.

01:08 - 01:14
The first canoe I purchased was a Swift, a Swift Quetico model, which ignited in

01:14 - 01:20
me an interest in learning more about Quetico Provincial Park, and then it's a,

01:20 - 01:20
it's a long canoe.

01:20 - 01:26
It's, um, 17 foot, four inches, 17, four.

01:26 - 01:27
I think great for the family.

01:27 - 01:31
You know, I'm married, uh, with, with two daughters who are adults at this point,

01:31 - 01:37
but we still occasionally all get together, but it's, it's a heck of a job portaging.

01:37 - 01:40
It's when you try and get through narrow sections, that's

01:40 - 01:41
where you really notice it.

01:41 - 01:45
There's obviously the weight, but having a really long canoe and you're trying

01:45 - 01:47
to turn and you get stuck in the trees.

01:47 - 01:49
So I had it in my mind.

01:49 - 01:50
I wanted to get something smaller.

01:51 - 01:56
And then I found that, um, the person I typically traveled with, uh, my best

01:56 - 02:00
friend, his, his spouse has been quite ill for a number of years, so

02:00 - 02:01
he hasn't been able to travel.

02:02 - 02:04
So I decided to get a solo canoe.

02:05 - 02:09
And of course, you know, I, I gravitated towards Swift since

02:09 - 02:10
that's what I was familiar with.

02:11 - 02:14
I looked at some other models, but ultimately I really liked the Swift.

02:14 - 02:17
So I had two Swift canoes.

02:18 - 02:23
So Swift Paddler, Swifty Paddler, just sort of rolled off my tongue.

02:23 - 02:24
Excellent.

02:24 - 02:29
I learned afterwards actually that the, the, um, man that started

02:30 - 02:31
the company was called Swifty.

02:31 - 02:36
I felt a little bit bad about that because I didn't, wasn't intending to,

02:36 - 02:38
you know, kind of steal his name, steal the family moniker.

02:38 - 02:39
Yeah.

02:39 - 02:41
But he was Swifty, just Swifty.

02:41 - 02:43
So I can get by with that.

02:44 - 02:44
All right.

02:44 - 02:44
Cool.

02:45 - 02:48
But I'm, I'm assuming that they don't throw any money at you to use their

02:48 - 02:50
canoes or none whatsoever.

02:50 - 02:51
That would be great.

02:51 - 02:57
But, uh, no, occasionally they, it took them, uh, quite some time, but, uh, at

02:57 - 03:00
one point they republished one of my photos and it was like, yay, I've arrived

03:00 - 03:04
in life, that's it.

03:04 - 03:05
That's the pinnacle.

03:06 - 03:06
Yeah.

03:06 - 03:06
Yeah.

03:07 - 03:07
Same deal.

03:08 - 03:11
I've got a Swift and, uh, we've got a 17 foot.

03:11 - 03:12
Oh man.

03:14 - 03:14
Algonquin?

03:15 - 03:16
No, no.

03:16 - 03:25
Um, oh, they got in trouble for advertising for, uh, non vaccinated.

03:25 - 03:28
They wanted to, two assistants who were non-vaccinated shoot.

03:28 - 03:28
Oh yes.

03:28 - 03:29
Yes.

03:29 - 03:32
Um, I know exactly the one that you mean.

03:34 - 03:34
Yeah.

03:34 - 03:37
They're, they're out in Northwestern Ontario.

03:37 - 03:37
Yep.

03:37 - 03:43
Uh, yeah, we bought it from, uh, um, cripes, uh, Killarney Outfitters.

03:43 - 03:45
A refurb, a rental refurb.

03:46 - 03:51
Uh, although it's, it's half the weight of the 17 foot Scott fiber

03:51 - 03:53
glass that we had previous to that.

03:53 - 03:57
So I'm good with, I'm good with all the light stuff at this age.

03:57 - 03:57
Yes.

03:57 - 03:58
Yes, absolutely.

03:58 - 03:59
It does become more of an issue.

04:00 - 04:01
Yeah, absolutely.

04:02 - 04:07
Uh, and, and I get thumbs up for, for pointing out the, how, how difficult

04:07 - 04:12
it can be just that three feet of, of from a 14 foot solo to a 17 footer.

04:13 - 04:16
To, to turn that when you're, when you're doing a portage or something like that,

04:16 - 04:19
some of them are pretty tight and you know, there's that, Oh, that darn tree.

04:20 - 04:25
I know Thomas and I have done where we trekked off into the bush and, and sort

04:25 - 04:29
of bushwacked, not, not huge, but, but because we could see that there was going

04:29 - 04:34
to be more space to make that turn as opposed to trash and go around the corner.

04:34 - 04:35
Yeah.

04:35 - 04:35
No fun at all.

04:36 - 04:36
Oh yeah.

04:36 - 04:40
Especially if, if it's a portage that hasn't been well maintained, there's

04:40 - 04:44
trees down branches, you know, just stopping and moving those all the time.

04:44 - 04:45
It's, it can be exhausting.

04:45 - 04:46
Right.

04:46 - 04:47
So, okay.

04:47 - 04:48
There's a perfect segue.

04:48 - 04:54
Uh, you mentioned Quetico, uh, you're, you're up farther East from us here in

04:54 - 04:59
Toronto, what do you, I obviously, I'm sorry, obviously to me, because I look

04:59 - 05:03
at all your photos and stuff, Quetico is a great place to go.

05:03 - 05:07
What are, what are some of your, where, where do you, where do your regular haunts?

05:07 - 05:11
Well, being around Ottawa, one of the places I, I obviously

05:11 - 05:12
go quite a bit is Algonquin.

05:12 - 05:15
Algonquin, as you know, is, is, is huge, right?

05:15 - 05:17
There's different segments to it.

05:17 - 05:22
And I like to go to the, um, to the Eastern side, the Northeastern side.

05:22 - 05:26
It's a, an entirely different character of park than it is from

05:26 - 05:29
the, you know, the Highway 60 corridor.

05:30 - 05:31
A lot less people.

05:31 - 05:33
It's easier to get into backcountry.

05:33 - 05:34
So I go there quite a bit.

05:34 - 05:36
Been in Temagami multiple times.

05:36 - 05:40
Um, again, kind of the same general area, just further North.

05:40 - 05:43
On the Quebec side, there are a number of nice lakes there.

05:44 - 05:47
One of them, Lac du Poisson Blanc, very big reservoir, all sorts of islands.

05:48 - 05:49
I've done that for many, many years.

05:49 - 05:53
Actually, I started, I was getting tired of it because I'd, you know, seen pretty

05:53 - 05:55
much every, every, uh, place on the lake.

05:56 - 05:58
Um, even though it's a huge lake, but I varied it.

05:58 - 06:02
I mean, there's Charleston Lake, Thousand Islands, I've paddled

06:02 - 06:03
Thousand Islands a number of times.

06:04 - 06:07
Rideau lakes, the, uh, the Rideau river.

06:07 - 06:11
Ottawa is really a great place for all sorts of winter activities,

06:11 - 06:16
summer activities, hiking, and paddling, paddling all around within an hour or so.

06:16 - 06:17
Yeah.

06:17 - 06:17
Nice.

06:18 - 06:21
Weirdly, we discovered this past summer.

06:21 - 06:24
It was kind of like, Oh, because we've got Lake Ontario and

06:24 - 06:25
we've got the Toronto islands.

06:25 - 06:30
So Thomas and I took a, took a paddling course and, and it was like, Oh,

06:31 - 06:35
cause we, we usually track, you know, four or five, six hours to go and paddle.

06:35 - 06:41
It's like, I, 32 minutes and I can be in a canoe in water.

06:41 - 06:42
That's fantastic.

06:42 - 06:43
Yeah.

06:43 - 06:45
I've always wanted to paddle Toronto Islands too.

06:45 - 06:50
Just seeing that, that, you know, iconic backdrop and it's such big water.

06:50 - 06:53
Um, that must be quite memorable for your first time out there.

06:54 - 06:56
Well, in the islands, it's actually quite shallow.

06:56 - 07:00
So, so it's, it's gentle, like compared to, so our,

07:00 - 07:05
our first big water encounter was this past summer on the French river.

07:05 - 07:08
We got down to the Georgian bay and was like, Whoa, okay.

07:08 - 07:09
That's a totally different animal.

07:10 - 07:16
So, so, uh, so the islands is, I suppose, you know, you head out towards.

07:16 - 07:21
It's towards the, the big lake in between the islands and, uh, the,

07:21 - 07:23
the, whatever the cityscape.

07:23 - 07:24
Yes.

07:24 - 07:25
That's scary.

07:25 - 07:26
There's way too much traffic out there.

07:26 - 07:28
Like, yeah, not, not paddling that stuff.

07:28 - 07:29
You're just going to get run over.

07:30 - 07:34
You are pretty much guaranteed to get flattened by somebody, but the

07:34 - 07:36
islands themselves was, uh, it was amazing.

07:36 - 07:37
It was, it was so cool.

07:38 - 07:42
So just to, just to do, to do, to do, to do, you know, gentle, nice,

07:42 - 07:42
little, it was great.

07:42 - 07:43
It was awesome.

07:44 - 07:45
We're doing that stuff more.

07:45 - 07:47
Well, and a different perspective on the city for sure.

07:47 - 07:48
To be able to see from.

07:48 - 07:49
Yeah, absolutely.

07:50 - 07:53
I guess the closest for me would be the Ottawa river.

07:53 - 07:57
And, you know, last couple of years with, with COVID and whatnot, I've

07:57 - 08:00
been paddling more of the Ottawa river and discovering some absolutely

08:00 - 08:07
gorgeous places to go and, you know, within, you know, 25 minutes for me,

08:07 - 08:11
I can be down and in the water and into some of the quieter sections,

08:11 - 08:14
creeks, you know, once you start going up a Creek, you don't see anybody.

08:14 - 08:17
So lots of wildlife, a lot of interesting birds there.

08:17 - 08:21
So, you know, even, even a couple of eagles, bald eagles, which shocked me,

08:21 - 08:25
you know, so close to home, that was really something that's cool.

08:25 - 08:26
That's yeah.

08:26 - 08:28
Well, we, again, again, yeah.

08:28 - 08:29
We saw all kinds of wildlife.

08:29 - 08:30
We was like cormorants.

08:30 - 08:34
We saw turtles, blue heron, something else.

08:34 - 08:40
Like, yeah, that's like, it's right outside my, you know, that close.

08:40 - 08:43
That's, that's, that's amazing.

08:43 - 08:44
That's awesome.

08:44 - 08:45
Yay for nature.

08:45 - 08:45
Okay.

08:45 - 08:52
So do you, I obviously, sorry, from your Instagram account, you do, it would

08:52 - 08:55
appear you do largely solo trips.

08:55 - 08:59
You mentioned, you mentioned married and the two grownup daughters.

08:59 - 09:03
Do you guys actually get out and do canoe trips together as well?

09:04 - 09:06
Well, they're being there adults.

09:06 - 09:07
Now we don't do it as much.

09:07 - 09:10
We do like one family camping trip a year.

09:11 - 09:16
I usually get out once or twice with one or both of my daughters independently

09:16 - 09:21
going out for, you know, paddle, enjoy the fall or in the summer, but I haven't,

09:21 - 09:25
haven't done any, any real like backcountry trips with them for a few years.

09:25 - 09:28
Not since they were into their teen years and other things pulled them away.

09:29 - 09:33
Although with, with my eldest daughter, I think about four

09:33 - 09:35
years ago, we did Georgian Bay.

09:35 - 09:40
I love paddling Georgian Bay around Killarney and in the

09:40 - 09:42
Phillip Edward Island archipelago.

09:42 - 09:46
There's, there's millions of places to go camping there.

09:46 - 09:49
And I've been raving about it for years and I took her out there

09:49 - 09:51
and, you know, she just had a blast.

09:51 - 09:53
So it was a special thing.

09:53 - 09:56
I'd like to go out there again with her or with, with my other daughter

09:56 - 09:58
or my grandson that was born this year.

09:59 - 10:01
So that's, that's something new in my life.

10:02 - 10:02
Cool.

10:03 - 10:07
We're, we're waiting on, we're waiting on those, but since we have a 17 year old

10:07 - 10:09
and an almost 21 year old, we're not pushing yet.

10:10 - 10:10
Yes.

10:10 - 10:11
That's good.

10:11 - 10:15
And the older ones, not too sure if that's ever happening with us.

10:17 - 10:21
But, but while he doesn't have a son, therefore I don't have a grandson.

10:21 - 10:25
He's also my back country paddling partner.

10:25 - 10:27
So I have mixed feelings.

10:27 - 10:30
Sounds like you're doing well, especially that French river trip.

10:30 - 10:30
That's great.

10:31 - 10:32
It was awesome.

10:32 - 10:35
It was, it was a totally different thing than it was cool.

10:37 - 10:37
Go ahead.

10:37 - 10:39
Somewhere I have yet to go.

10:39 - 10:40
It's, it's been on my list.

10:40 - 10:45
I almost made it out to Nipissing in the start of the French river last year,

10:45 - 10:49
but I should say this past year, but just with my daughter was expecting

10:49 - 10:51
and the timing didn't work out that good.

10:52 - 10:55
So, um, it's, it's on my list of places to go.

10:55 - 10:57
Certainly being many times in Georgian Bay.

10:57 - 11:00
I have a sense of it and looking at the videos, the, some of the

11:00 - 11:02
amazing YouTubers that are out there.

11:02 - 11:06
The scenery is very similar, but it has a slightly different flavor,

11:06 - 11:09
especially with the, you know, the smaller size of the water

11:09 - 11:11
and whitewater in places.

11:11 - 11:13
So I look forward to seeing it.

11:13 - 11:16
It's it's yeah, we, we barely tasted it.

11:17 - 11:18
It's, it's cool.

11:18 - 11:19
I'm going back for sure.

11:20 - 11:22
And have you done whitewater canoeing?

11:22 - 11:27
Um, I've only done really one whitewater trip through, through Instagram.

11:27 - 11:28
I've met a number of different people.

11:28 - 11:31
One of them, um, being Tosh from Tosh Self-propelled.

11:32 - 11:32
Yep.

11:32 - 11:36
And we had talked about doing something and he's a big whitewater paddler.

11:36 - 11:37
I was interested.

11:37 - 11:42
And so, um, we did the Petawawa river in Algonquin last year.

11:42 - 11:46
And, uh, that was, you know, had a ball and enjoyed it quite a bit.

11:46 - 11:50
Um, learned how to read the water to a certain extent.

11:50 - 11:54
Um, you know, one trip you can only learn so much over three days, but it's amazing

11:54 - 11:59
how it, you know, you, you start to get a sense of it and then again, with, with

11:59 - 12:05
Tosh and Joe Robinette and Graham, I remember Graham's last name evades me at

12:05 - 12:09
the moment, um, we were trying to do the Spanish river this year that was in June,

12:09 - 12:11
but unfortunately the water levels weren't very good.

12:11 - 12:13
Um, they were lower than expected.

12:14 - 12:18
We ended up having to stop halfway and turn around, um, because Tosh had

12:19 - 12:22
encountered that once before and basically ended up dragging his

12:22 - 12:24
canoe for a lot of the distance.

12:24 - 12:28
And it was, you know, not something he said he would ever want to repeat.

12:28 - 12:33
So we turned it into basically just a, a mostly flat water canoe trip, a few

12:33 - 12:39
swifts, but we had a ball, um, you know, had some fantastic scenery, a lot of

12:39 - 12:41
laughs, you know, being out with two guys.

12:41 - 12:43
I haven't done that with three guys before.

12:43 - 12:44
I haven't done that for a while.

12:44 - 12:45
So it was, it was good.

12:45 - 12:46
Cool.

12:46 - 12:52
If so, so you get out a bit, what, what's an average year for you?

12:52 - 12:59
Day wise, uh, water wise, how many days do you get out canoeing or, or whatever?

12:59 - 13:03
Well, I left my full-time job coming up on two years ago.

13:03 - 13:08
So that has, as you can imagine, changed my, my opportunities quite a bit.

13:08 - 13:15
I'd say it's really difficult to, to pinpoint exactly, but probably every

13:15 - 13:21
month I get out at least three or four days every month, you know, a couple

13:21 - 13:26
of good trips, like I, I, my Quetico trips end up being three weeks to a month in

13:26 - 13:32
them just because driving this, this floored me driving from Ottawa to

13:32 - 13:37
Atikokan, which is, you know, uh, on the outskirts of Quetico, it's almost like

13:37 - 13:44
driving from Ottawa to Daytona beach, Florida, it's a long drive.

13:44 - 13:44
Yeah.

13:45 - 13:47
So you, you want to really make the most of it.

13:47 - 13:53
So my wife has been exceptionally accommodating and letting me go.

13:53 - 13:58
So because there's so much incredible scenery along the way, I use that as a

13:58 - 14:04
chance to go see Superior, Pukaskwa, uh, along the way, um, there are other, uh,

14:04 - 14:08
provincial parks that have always been on my sort of my one day list.

14:08 - 14:11
And this is a time of life where I, I intend to knock off as many of those as

14:11 - 14:12
possible.

14:12 - 14:13
So good for you.

14:13 - 14:14
That's awesome.

14:15 - 14:15
Okay.

14:15 - 14:20
So aside from the three or four week trips, so I would give a body part.

14:20 - 14:24
So, so mostly you're like three day ish, four day ish.

14:24 - 14:25
Yeah.

14:25 - 14:29
Typically when I go out by myself, I'd say, you know, it's, it's typically

14:29 - 14:33
three or four days, um, three or four nights, especially like winter camping

14:33 - 14:36
and whatnot, I'll, I'll do two nights.

14:36 - 14:40
Maybe last year, I had always wanted to do winter camping along the Superior

14:40 - 14:40
coast.

14:40 - 14:44
I've been winter camping for a long, long time, just the idea of being up in

14:44 - 14:45
Superior.

14:45 - 14:47
So I did that this past year.

14:47 - 14:49
I think I was either three or four nights.

14:49 - 14:54
I don't remember, but you get a bit squirrely after a while in really cold

14:54 - 14:58
temperatures, even in a hot tent, it just, I don't sleep as well.

14:58 - 15:00
And, you know, you're up putting wood in the fire a lot.

15:00 - 15:05
So that was about as much as I was comfortable with at any one time, at

15:05 - 15:08
least by myself, if I had somebody else who could do half the fire, that would

15:08 - 15:08
help.

15:09 - 15:09
Right.

15:09 - 15:09
Yeah.

15:09 - 15:10
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

15:11 - 15:12
Winter camping is so much work.

15:12 - 15:14
You know, it's, it's phenomenal.

15:14 - 15:16
There's, there's all sorts of things going for it.

15:16 - 15:17
There's no bugs.

15:17 - 15:19
There's no bears, generally no people.

15:20 - 15:22
Um, but it's a lot of work too.

15:22 - 15:26
You know, you get there and you're, you're pretty much harvesting wood, then

15:26 - 15:31
you're cutting wood and, uh, that goes on and on and going back and forth to

15:31 - 15:35
your tent, you know, depending upon where you're hiking or where you're

15:35 - 15:37
exploring, you're, you're on the go a lot.

15:37 - 15:39
Keeps the calories burning.

15:39 - 15:39
That's good.

15:39 - 15:40
Definitely.

15:40 - 15:40
Definitely.

15:40 - 15:42
And you got to take in more calories too.

15:42 - 15:43
Right.

15:43 - 15:43
Yeah.

15:43 - 15:47
Well, and I, and I imagine, you know, you're, you're wherever you're doing it,

15:47 - 15:52
whether, even if you're car camping and then, and the car winter hot tenting,

15:53 - 15:58
and it's still a lot of stuff to lug around, man, like, you know, the, the

15:58 - 16:03
tents heavier, the, all the extras of the stove, you've got extra, you know,

16:03 - 16:05
you've got another tarp you've got to put down on the floor.

16:05 - 16:07
You've got to put something on top of that.

16:08 - 16:08
Absolutely.

16:08 - 16:09
Yeah.

16:09 - 16:14
I've only been hot tent winter camping for, I guess, three years now, since I

16:14 - 16:19
got my snow tracker, it definitely adds a whole other level because all of

16:19 - 16:21
my winter camping is back country.

16:22 - 16:26
I use a sled, but now in addition to, you know, the usual stuff that you have to

16:26 - 16:31
bring, you've got a fairly large stove to put on there, the tents, snow tracker

16:31 - 16:36
tents are exceptional for a number of things, but lightness is not one of them.

16:37 - 16:40
So by the time you get to where you're going, you're, you're usually really,

16:41 - 16:41
really hot.

16:41 - 16:45
So managing your, your overall body temperature is very important.

16:46 - 16:48
You don't want to get soaked immediately.

16:49 - 16:54
And note to self, I just took Camper Christina's winter camping for beginners

16:54 - 16:56
course, and there's so many things.

16:56 - 16:57
It's like, Oh, I hadn't thought about that.

16:57 - 16:58
Oh, I hadn't thought about that.

16:58 - 16:59
Oh, I hadn't thought about that.

17:00 - 17:01
Oh, I don't think I thought about much of anything.

17:03 - 17:06
It's, it's, it's a completely different beast for sure.

17:06 - 17:09
I've been doing it for almost 23 years.

17:09 - 17:14
And, you know, when you think you know everything, you still realize, well, I

17:14 - 17:16
forgot that, or I should do this.

17:16 - 17:20
There's always opportunities to get better at it, but you know, got lots of years.

17:20 - 17:21
Okay.

17:21 - 17:26
So, so just giving some thought to the photography aspect, that's what drew me

17:26 - 17:31
to, to you, to your, your Instagram account in the first place, if you're only

17:32 - 17:37
spending three or four days, like I see that I'm, I'm, I'm not a great photographer.

17:37 - 17:41
I, I take some, I have a knack for being able to pull the camera out of my, and

17:41 - 17:46
just taking the snapshot that fits that I see in my eyes, you set your stuff up.

17:46 - 17:52
There's no way that looking at your, your planning somehow, whether, whether

17:52 - 17:56
it's just while you're there, but your, your framing and stuff is just,

17:56 - 17:59
it's, it's almost too perfect.

17:59 - 18:01
You, sorry, that's not the wrong way to go.

18:01 - 18:02
That's the wrong way.

18:02 - 18:03
I know what you mean.

18:03 - 18:03
Yeah.

18:04 - 18:08
Like, like it's, it's absolutely, you, you design that shot and then, and

18:08 - 18:10
then you make the element sort of fit it.

18:10 - 18:12
How do you go about doing that?

18:12 - 18:15
Like, like how much time do you spend setting up a typical,

18:15 - 18:16
because they're, they're fantastic.

18:16 - 18:18
They're literally perfect shots.

18:20 - 18:20
Well, thank you.

18:20 - 18:26
I, I don't think I would see them quite the same way, but it's like anything, right?

18:26 - 18:28
There's always people better than yourself.

18:28 - 18:29
Sure.

18:30 - 18:33
But in any case, I, I, I have been shooting for a long time.

18:33 - 18:36
So you, you tend to have an eye for certain things.

18:36 - 18:40
You, you, you, you train your eye for certain compositions.

18:40 - 18:45
You, you know what you like and you tend to put yourself into that position.

18:45 - 18:48
You know, obviously with something like Instagram, you're seeing my best shots.

18:49 - 18:49
Right.

18:49 - 18:52
I'm not posting all of the horrible shots that I take.

18:53 - 18:57
So, you know, my, my ratio may be slightly higher than yours, but these

18:57 - 19:03
days with digital photography, you know, I can go out and I can take 500 shots

19:03 - 19:07
over three days and then go through those and like, you know, trash, trash,

19:07 - 19:08
trash, oh, that one looks pretty good.

19:08 - 19:10
Trash, trash, trash, trash.

19:10 - 19:16
You know, there've been times where I've come back and, you know, if I get four or

19:16 - 19:21
five really great shots over a period of three or four days, I'm happy.

19:21 - 19:26
It's, it's all about like half the fun is just making the shot, taking the

19:26 - 19:30
pictures I really enjoy coming back, editing them, you know, straightening

19:30 - 19:32
them out, cropping it the way that I like.

19:33 - 19:34
There's a whole art to that.

19:34 - 19:38
And that's something that takes, you know, getting used to the tools

19:38 - 19:40
today, Lightroom or Photoshop.

19:40 - 19:43
That's, that's really a whole art in and of itself.

19:43 - 19:47
And it can be almost like painting.

19:47 - 19:50
I would imagine it's, it's, it can be fun, you know, trying to go through.

19:50 - 19:55
And I'm, I'm personally trying to explore more of that side, more of the

19:55 - 19:59
creative side, because you look at some people and some of their photos are just

19:59 - 20:04
spectacular and there's no way it came out of the camera like that, you know, you

20:04 - 20:07
can tell just the lighting, the, the sharpness, there's, there's a lot of

20:07 - 20:13
work that goes into these and I've watched some YouTubers who spend an hour on a

20:13 - 20:18
photo editing it and just the, the things that they do are phenomenal and it gets

20:18 - 20:23
down to how much time do you want to spend shooting and being outside versus

20:24 - 20:28
And to me, I like a certain balance and I don't want to go beyond that.

20:28 - 20:33
I would rather spend more time out than here in front of a camera or in front of

20:33 - 20:34
a lens, you know what I mean?

20:34 - 20:37
In front of the screen, a certain amount of it is fun.

20:37 - 20:37
Cool.

20:37 - 20:39
I hope that, that kind of gives you a sense.

20:40 - 20:41
What kind of equipment do you use, Ron?

20:41 - 20:43
I have Canon, Canon cameras.

20:43 - 20:46
I've got a variety of interchangeable lenses.

20:46 - 20:50
I tend to shoot, if I go back and I look at most of my work, wide angle.

20:50 - 20:56
I have a 16 to 24 lens that in terms of full frame that I use probably

20:56 - 20:57
for the majority of my photos.

20:57 - 21:02
I have some long lenses as well, which are great for wildlife, but they also

21:02 - 21:05
add a huge amount of weight to, to you.

21:06 - 21:11
Some of the, the larger professional lenses are, you know, massive and heavy.

21:11 - 21:15
And sometimes I kill myself on these portages where you're carrying all this

21:15 - 21:17
stuff and you think, why am I doing this?

21:18 - 21:23
But then when you see a moose and you see, you know, the calf next to it and

21:23 - 21:27
you're able to get in there and make that shot, it, it, it makes you feel good.

21:28 - 21:31
You know, I would, I would be frustrated with myself knowing that I'd spent all

21:31 - 21:33
that money for a lens that's sitting at home.

21:33 - 21:36
So not doing the thing you want it to be doing.

21:36 - 21:36
Exactly.

21:36 - 21:36
Yeah.

21:37 - 21:37
Right.

21:37 - 21:38
And moose are just spectacular.

21:38 - 21:41
So being able to capture that on film, it's just.

21:42 - 21:45
I have a number of blurry shots of moose because I didn't take the thing.

21:46 - 21:46
Yeah.

21:46 - 21:48
Well, most of mine are that way too.

21:48 - 21:48
All right.

21:48 - 21:53
So, so winter camping photography.

21:53 - 21:56
Oh, I saw you have, uh, you've got a, uh, what do they call them?

21:56 - 21:57
Fat tire bikes.

21:58 - 21:58
Yes.

21:59 - 22:00
Tell me about that.

22:00 - 22:04
Cause that's something I haven't, we bike, I bike here in Toronto, uh, on the

22:04 - 22:09
streets, very dangerously, uh, on a, like a mountain bike that I lower the tire

22:09 - 22:10
pressure, so I've got better grip.

22:11 - 22:12
I haven't died.

22:12 - 22:13
I have no one's run me over yet.

22:14 - 22:17
I would much rather do it out there with big tires.

22:17 - 22:22
Cause that seems like a very smart move to do explain how that whole thing

22:22 - 22:24
plays out and what, what it does for you.

22:24 - 22:27
Oh, I used to, um, cycle to work quite a bit.

22:27 - 22:32
I had a cycle commute, I guess, of about 15 kilometers per way.

22:32 - 22:33
So that was nice.

22:33 - 22:38
Great, great way to, you know, start your day early and enjoy the

22:38 - 22:40
sites and come home kind of relaxed.

22:41 - 22:45
And I wanted to kind of continue to have a way to enjoy the outside.

22:46 - 22:47
And I'd seen fat bikes.

22:47 - 22:51
I'd seen a number of my friends, um, had not, not close friends, or I

22:51 - 22:55
should say not physically close, but I've seen photos they had posted

22:55 - 22:59
of fat bikes and, um, just looked like it would be a lot of fun.

22:59 - 23:00
So I finally got the opportunity.

23:00 - 23:04
I went to a place in Ottawa that sells them and I took one for a ride and I was

23:04 - 23:07
hooked, it was just phenomenal.

23:07 - 23:10
It's almost like the equivalent, I guess, of when you, um, go from a

23:10 - 23:14
two wheel drive vehicle to a truck with four by four big wheels.

23:14 - 23:18
You know, when I was driving up, um, around the parking lot of the

23:18 - 23:19
place that I took it for a spin.

23:20 - 23:22
I just like go right up over the curb.

23:23 - 23:26
You, you can just drive over anything, drive over logs.

23:26 - 23:29
So it just opens up a lot more space to get out.

23:29 - 23:33
Like you don't need to have perfectly groomed paths.

23:33 - 23:36
And the biggest thing is winter because of the size of the tires,

23:36 - 23:39
you can get out there in two, three inches of snow.

23:39 - 23:43
Ottawa has a lot of trails, you know, just a huge number of trails.

23:44 - 23:47
Um, some of them semi-urban, many of them are very rural.

23:48 - 23:52
And, uh, with the fat bike, it's just another way to get out in the winter.

23:52 - 23:56
Um, I used to cross country ski a lot, then it started to get more

23:56 - 23:59
crowded and then you have to worry about parking and buying passes.

23:59 - 24:02
I kind of got more into snowshoeing, a lot of snowshoeing.

24:02 - 24:06
The fat bike has just sort of evolved from there as something I can

24:06 - 24:11
just whip out of the garage within five minutes, be on a trail and bring my camera.

24:11 - 24:15
It's just another way to, uh, you know, try and stay fit and

24:15 - 24:16
have a good time in the winter.

24:17 - 24:19
I, and I shouldn't just say the winter because I do it pretty

24:19 - 24:22
much on, um, three of the seasons.

24:22 - 24:24
Not so much in the summer, mostly because I'm not around.

24:24 - 24:29
So the tires obviously are quite wide and lots of tread around the side.

24:30 - 24:35
So that, so, so just to flip back to when I'm riding here in town, even in, on a

24:35 - 24:40
mountain bike with knobbies and stuff, I, the, the thing I learned the very

24:40 - 24:45
first season was upright when I turn corners and stuff, I'm not

24:45 - 24:47
leaning into corners and whatnot.

24:47 - 24:50
It, I don't know how it plays for the fat bike because it, because they do.

24:51 - 24:55
I can go in a lot more places and more snow, but the biggest danger is ice.

24:55 - 24:58
Um, there've been a number of times where I've driven on someplace

24:58 - 24:59
that's been completely flat.

24:59 - 25:04
And you know, when you get that really thin layer of snow over the top of ice

25:05 - 25:09
and it's hard to believe, but it's almost instantaneous that your front

25:09 - 25:12
wheel can just go out from under you and you fall down and then you're gone.

25:12 - 25:13
Yeah.

25:13 - 25:13
Yeah.

25:13 - 25:16
A couple of times, I'm sure I came close to like, you know, breaking an

25:16 - 25:19
elbow until I learned what to avoid.

25:19 - 25:20
Yeah.

25:20 - 25:24
So, um, I've thought about getting, um, studs on the tires.

25:24 - 25:27
Um, but with a fat bike, it's, it's very expensive.

25:27 - 25:32
Like we're talking upwards of $500 to get a pair of tires.

25:33 - 25:37
So at this point, you know, I would rather spend that money on a camera,

25:38 - 25:43
on a lens, um, than something I'm going to use or really need four or five times.

25:43 - 25:46
I'd just avoid the ice, but it would be nice to have, you know, all things being

25:46 - 25:50
equal, especially if I was on the road, studs would be a good investment.

25:50 - 25:54
That's one thing I've learned that, that, um, cars do not expect

25:54 - 25:56
to see bicycles on the street.

25:56 - 26:01
You know, often when I'm moving from one place to another, I will drive,

26:01 - 26:05
uh, right along the side of the road, but because you're, you're, you can't

26:05 - 26:08
go onto the curbs quite as much, you know, especially as the snow banks

26:08 - 26:10
build up, you have to be really careful.

26:11 - 26:15
Um, so I would, I would really encourage you to invest in some studs just

26:15 - 26:19
because you don't want to one day suddenly move to avoid something.

26:19 - 26:21
And then you fall where you want.

26:21 - 26:22
Yeah.

26:22 - 26:25
And it doesn't go or yeah, or you're down like right there, right in front of them.

26:25 - 26:26
Exactly.

26:26 - 26:27
No way to get around it.

26:27 - 26:30
Uh, most of the time I, I deek and dodge.

26:30 - 26:34
Most of the time I try to use alleys as much as I can, although for the sake

26:34 - 26:39
of argument, the crappier conditions that, but the potential for that thin

26:39 - 26:43
skim of snow over top of some nice ice is higher in the, in those, but as

26:43 - 26:47
long as I'm staying upright, you know, I just, it's, I'd say I'm probably

26:47 - 26:49
knock on wood, I'm probably about three years without a wipe out.

26:49 - 26:53
So yeah, well, but I, I spent three years previous to that.

26:54 - 26:58
Making up for, for all the ones I'm missing now, trust me.

26:58 - 26:59
I learned from experience.

27:00 - 27:01
Yeah, that's it.

27:01 - 27:01
Yeah.

27:02 - 27:03
It's very painful experience.

27:04 - 27:09
Uh, and so solo canoe tripping, we have a nice new, well, new to us solo canoe

27:09 - 27:10
hanging in the rafters in the garage.

27:11 - 27:15
Um, somebody is interested in maybe any tips you have about solo canoe tripping.

27:16 - 27:19
Well, in particular, so I would ask about paddling.

27:19 - 27:23
You're, you're a single blade guy, at least for what, what I see from the

27:23 - 27:27
pictures, um, me, I've got this, this one is, it has a very low seat.

27:27 - 27:29
Like it's, it's on the bottom of the boat.

27:29 - 27:31
Keewaydin.

27:31 - 27:32
Keewaydin.

27:32 - 27:32
Yes.

27:32 - 27:32
Yep.

27:33 - 27:34
Um, it's, it's on the bottom.

27:34 - 27:37
It has the two, the two pegs for the feet.

27:39 - 27:43
And so I keep thinking it should be a double paddle, like a, like a double blade.

27:43 - 27:44
Option.

27:44 - 27:51
I, when I, when I ordered my canoe, I, I went with the foot pedals and I didn't,

27:51 - 27:57
I chose not to use the multi height seat just because in talking to people, um,

27:57 - 28:04
generally most people didn't end up using it and I was not overly sold on, on

28:04 - 28:07
paddling, using my kayak paddle or a double blade.

28:07 - 28:11
I'm, I've, I've enjoyed, like if you're out in big wind, um, it

28:11 - 28:12
really does make a difference.

28:12 - 28:16
Having that, someone told me it's kind of like four wheel drive for your solo canoe.

28:17 - 28:19
Um, so I have brought it with me on a couple of trips.

28:19 - 28:24
Most of the time I just portage it around and use it as a backup, but I'm generally

28:24 - 28:26
just a single blade, one side.

28:26 - 28:29
I pretty much most of the time paddle on my right.

28:29 - 28:33
I need to keep switching it up so that I don't get tendinitis

28:33 - 28:34
and use up too much one side.

28:34 - 28:35
Yep.

28:35 - 28:36
Um, that's what I'm comfortable with.

28:36 - 28:39
And I'm usually, I'm, I'm not in a rush.

28:39 - 28:44
I'm just kind of enjoying things and looking for opportunities to stop and

28:45 - 28:48
take a picture of something, be on the lookout for animals, be quiet.

28:48 - 28:50
So that's, that's kind of my personal style.

28:51 - 28:51
All right, cool.

28:52 - 28:53
Oh, whatever you're comfortable with.

28:53 - 28:58
I would definitely suggest, you know, try, try both, you know, there's no

28:58 - 29:01
issue in bringing both of them and then you can, um, you know,

29:01 - 29:02
enjoy the best of both worlds.

29:03 - 29:03
Well, I'm not adverse yet.

29:04 - 29:09
I mean, it's a, certainly a thing that we do is, is to, to take that spare paddle.

29:09 - 29:14
Cause I've seen, I've seen the ones we, we, we have less paddles than we used to

29:14 - 29:18
have because I've had to hand them out to people who didn't take a spare paddle,

29:18 - 29:19
broke a paddle along the way.

29:19 - 29:21
And it's like, what are you going to do now?

29:21 - 29:21
Wow.

29:21 - 29:22
Oh, that's nice of you.

29:22 - 29:23
Wow.

29:23 - 29:24
We have the spare.

29:24 - 29:25
So that's cool.

29:25 - 29:27
Um, I don't know.

29:27 - 29:32
I keep, I keep thinking that the double blade thing, I'm old and creaky and stuff.

29:32 - 29:37
So just, I keep, and then, and paddling out the one side, tendonitis,

29:37 - 29:40
all that sort of jazz, the balance of it.

29:41 - 29:46
And I'm not adverse to maybe going, going a little faster than,

29:46 - 29:49
than just plodding along just, just for fun, just to, just to do that thing.

29:50 - 29:56
Somebody did mention that I need to do, I need to look at a longer lengths of the,

29:56 - 29:59
I don't know what it is shafts because, because you've got to reach over there.

29:59 - 29:59
Yeah.

29:59 - 30:04
You want at least 230 centimeters, I think is, is what I was looking

30:04 - 30:06
at, um, as a starting point.

30:07 - 30:13
I, my, my, uh, kayak paddle, um, snapped and I was able to, it, it works now

30:13 - 30:17
sort of stuck in one position as opposed to rotating, so I've been looking at,

30:17 - 30:21
at, at replacing it and I was trying to make sure I got something long enough.

30:21 - 30:24
And for me, I think 230 was, was the sweet spot because you,

30:24 - 30:26
you want to get the right angle.

30:26 - 30:27
You don't want to have to like really

30:27 - 30:28
reach up and over.

30:28 - 30:29
Yeah.

30:29 - 30:29
Yeah.

30:29 - 30:29
Yeah.

30:30 - 30:32
And plus then you get a lot less water pouring in on you.

30:33 - 30:35
Well, that was one of the other things, something about rings, the rings

30:35 - 30:37
that are supposed to drip rings.

30:37 - 30:40
They're supposed to stop it from ending up in the middle of your

30:40 - 30:41
The keyword in

30:41 - 30:41
there is supposed to.

30:43 - 30:43
Awesome.

30:44 - 30:47
Note, note to self drape, a garbage bag or something.

30:47 - 30:48
Okay, cool.

30:48 - 30:53
Uh, Ron, how cool, uh, this is, this is great.

30:54 - 30:57
So I, I've been following you for a long time and I, I can't tell you how

30:57 - 30:59
appreciative that you came and just yakked with us.

31:00 - 31:01
You're not

31:01 - 31:02
You make it so easy.

31:02 - 31:03
Wow.

31:03 - 31:08
It's, it's, uh, when watching, um, other videos of yours, you certainly

31:08 - 31:10
have an easy rapport with people.

31:10 - 31:12
And I could even get that out of your email.

31:12 - 31:14
You know, you're, you're the sort of person that I could just see

31:14 - 31:15
sitting down and talking with.

31:15 - 31:16
So this is great.

31:16 - 31:17
Cool.

31:17 - 31:21
At some point down the road, if you're ever interested, I would

31:21 - 31:23
love to have the yak again.

31:23 - 31:27
You, you are, you are great to just as, and I have, I have still have about

31:28 - 31:30
eight questions on here that we didn't get to.

31:30 - 31:34
So yeah, I could tell you a bit, my, uh, my family camping trip where we drove

31:34 - 31:36
from Ottawa to San Francisco at the.

31:37 - 31:39
So please do reach out to Swifty Paddler.

31:39 - 31:43
He's @Swiftypaddler at Vero.

31:43 - 31:48
He's Swifty Paddler Photo on Facebook and he's @Swiftypaddler on Instagram.

31:48 - 31:52
And thank you so much again to Ron Breault for joining us today.

31:52 - 31:54
And please do reach out to him.

31:54 - 31:55
Please do reach out to us.

31:56 - 31:58
We are hi@supergoodcamping.com.

31:58 - 32:01
That's H I at super good camping.com.

32:01 - 32:02
I'm Pamela.

32:02 - 32:03
I'm still Tim.

32:03 - 32:06
Thank you so much for listening and listen to us again.