Ben Beauchamp tells us about the Huge Pike That Got Away, and more reasons to get back out there!

Meet Ben Beauchamp - an amazing backcountry camper and YouTube video creator. 
He made Kevin Callan's Favourite lesser Known Paddling YouTubers list in 2023!
He lives about a 3 km portage from us & drops by for a chat about camping with family, when to not take all the video gear on a trip & a very cool experience with a couple of Ontario Parks Superintendents.

https://www.instagram.com/benbeauchamp/

https://www.youtube.com/@benbeauchamp16

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=ben%20beauchamp

https://www.tiktok.com/@ben.beauchamp

Transcript

00:00 - 00:04
Hello and good day, eh? Welcome to the Super Good Camping podcast. My name is Pamela.

00:04 - 00:08
I'm Tim and we are from supergoodcamping.com. we are here because we're on a mission to inspire

00:08 - 00:11
other families to enjoy camping adventures such as we have with our kids.

00:11 - 00:15
Today's guest is a social media content creator.

00:15 - 00:19
He loves exploring the outdoors is pretty much in any form.

00:19 - 00:27
Canoeing, hiking in the snow, sometimes solo, sometimes with pals, always epic. Please welcome Ben Beauchamp. Welcome, Ben.

00:27 - 00:29
Hello. Hello, hello, hello.

00:29 - 00:30
Thanks for coming out.

00:30 - 00:32
Yeah, I'm fantastic. How are you guys doing?

00:32 - 00:37
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, we're just, we're just commenting beforehand that we have some

00:37 - 00:40
blue sky here in Toronto which is amazing in the.

00:40 - 00:42
Middle of winter, but yeah, it is. It's.

00:42 - 00:46
I keep looking out the window like it's blue sky. The sun is out. Are you kidding me?

00:46 - 00:47
Hopefully by the time so little of.

00:47 - 00:56
It this, by the time this airs, we'll all be nicely sun kissed and very, very full of vitamin D. There you go.

00:56 - 01:00
And hopefully, hopefully some of us you are out getting eaten alive by bugs.

01:01 - 01:04
You have plans to be eaten alive by bugs in the next little while?

01:04 - 01:06
I do. I always have plans to get.

01:06 - 01:10
Yeah, that's, that's one of my favorite hobbies.

01:10 - 01:12
What are your upcoming trips?

01:13 - 01:16
So I'm actually going to be.

01:17 - 01:22
My February is looking a little too busy just with some life stuff and then the outdoor adventure show.

01:22 - 01:27
So I don't have anything. Oh no, sorry. I completely lied.

01:27 - 01:30
The week before the outdoor adventure show.

01:30 - 01:37
I was just building my calendar earlier yesterday and I was, I was kind of just roughly getting

01:37 - 01:39
together some, some tripping ideas.

01:39 - 01:45
But the mid February, so I think the week before the adventure show, my brother and I are gonna

01:45 - 01:50
try and get out and do some winter camping which will be a lot of fun because I love my brother.

01:50 - 01:53
But this will be his first time ever camping in the winter.

01:54 - 01:56
So I'm gonna actually lend him my hot tent.

01:56 - 02:02
I just have a one man hot tent and he'll stay nice and toasty in there and I'm gonna sleep under

02:02 - 02:05
a tart next to a campfire kind of, kind of next to him there.

02:05 - 02:08
We haven't really decided on a location, but we're super pumped.

02:08 - 02:12
We're probably gonna try to center the trip around ice fishing.

02:12 - 02:16
We're both like crazy into fishing, of course, so I don't know where we're going to go.

02:16 - 02:21
It would be really cool to get into some trout through the ice, but that's kind of up in the air.

02:21 - 02:24
But that will be my next trip for sure.

02:24 - 02:25
Cool. Are you going to go out?

02:25 - 02:27
Sorry, I didn't catch how long you're going to go for.

02:27 - 02:28
Just like a weekend or.

02:28 - 02:34
Yeah. We were looking at family day weekend so hopefully I'm pretty flexible with my schedule.

02:34 - 02:41
But he works, he's an H vac so he's like working a ton of hours all through the week.

02:41 - 02:48
But he's hoping to get the Friday off and then with family day weekend the Monday he should have off too.

02:48 - 02:54
So hoping for like a four day trip and then the day after family day unrelated is actually my birthday.

02:55 - 02:57
So it'll be, it'll be nice.

02:57 - 03:01
Like I think we'll, we'll do that trip and then come home and have a night like you know that

03:01 - 03:03
first meal back after a, after a camping trip.

03:03 - 03:07
That'll be my birthday dinner. So.

03:07 - 03:10
Excellent. That's a, that's a good one. Yeah.

03:10 - 03:11
Big juicy steak.

03:11 - 03:12
Exactly.

03:12 - 03:20
So Thomas our, our eldest and I when we, when we go we make a point of stopping at somewhere. It doesn't matter. Yeah.

03:20 - 03:24
And just eat some big juicy dripping with grease burger and. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

03:25 - 03:34
We, when I was. This was one of my first like major canoe trips back when I was much younger I think this was.

03:34 - 03:36
I may have been 13 or 14.

03:36 - 03:44
I went, we, we did a, like a father son trip with myself, my dad and then two other father son

03:44 - 03:49
duos and we did Killarney and it was like it was an epic trip.

03:49 - 03:52
But on the way back it was just like the craziest storm.

03:52 - 03:55
It felt like we were in like some shipwreck movie. Right.

03:55 - 04:00
And like we see lightning pull off the shore, get drenched, would clear up a little bit.

04:00 - 04:04
We'd paddle a little bit longer and there's more lightning and we'd have to pull off.

04:04 - 04:09
It was just like that kind of day and we were, that was like still to this date probably like

04:09 - 04:12
one of the longest like most exhausting paddles ever.

04:12 - 04:15
We didn't hit the shore until like 9pm that night.

04:15 - 04:19
Got on the road and I don't know if you guys are familiar with.

04:19 - 04:21
It's the, Is it the French River?

04:21 - 04:23
Trading Post with, with the Hungry Bear?

04:23 - 04:24
Yeah.

04:24 - 04:24
Yeah.

04:25 - 04:27
Thomas and I have been there when we did our French River.

04:27 - 04:27
Oh nice.

04:27 - 04:28
That was awesome.

04:28 - 04:30
I would, I would love to know how, how good that.

04:31 - 04:33
Because it was closed when we came through.

04:34 - 04:39
We were like talking about it for four days straight going like oh the ribs of the Hungry Bear.

04:39 - 04:41
Like it's going to be so good.

04:41 - 04:45
And when we passed through it was it was like completely closed.

04:45 - 04:48
Mind you, it was 10 or 11 at night at that point.

04:48 - 04:50
But we were so, so hungry.

04:50 - 04:53
We ended up stopping in Parry sound for McDonald's or something.

04:53 - 04:56
Ordered like three meals each and cleaned up.

04:56 - 05:00
It was like 2am at that point, but.

05:00 - 05:01
Oh, that's poopy, man.

05:01 - 05:06
Oh yeah, yeah. But like we, we still, my friends and I still talk about those memories.

05:06 - 05:09
It's like, like looking back there, it's always so funny. Right?

05:10 - 05:14
I'm sure we've eaten at that same McDonald's on oh yeah. Before.

05:14 - 05:15
That's fun.

05:15 - 05:17
Yeah. Anyone with a canoe has.

05:20 - 05:24
There. Well, there's a good, a good tweak in my tiny brain. What.

05:24 - 05:26
How did you get into camping stuff?

05:26 - 05:28
Have you always done it? Is it a. Is it a.

05:28 - 05:30
Your parents did it and dragged you out? How did that play?

05:31 - 05:35
Yeah, so I've always been like super into the outdoors.

05:35 - 05:37
Just ever since I was a little kid.

05:38 - 05:43
My family, like both sides of my family, mom and dad, they come from very adventurous families.

05:43 - 05:49
Always like they always camped as, as kids and kind of if they like.

05:49 - 05:52
I think both my parents as kids did like cross country road trips.

05:52 - 05:57
Whether it was like east to like Vancouver or west to like the east coast or.

05:57 - 05:59
Sorry, I got that backwards.

06:01 - 06:03
You gotta go a long way to go east to Vancouver.

06:05 - 06:10
No, they do like east coast, west coast trips and they would always camp along the way as a family. Right.

06:10 - 06:15
Like rather than stay in a hotel, you go set up at a campground for a fraction of the price and.

06:15 - 06:18
And it's so much more fun that way, in my opinion.

06:18 - 06:21
And so that was kind of the way that we were raised.

06:21 - 06:23
We're just always camping as a family.

06:23 - 06:27
We do these annual trips to a Wenda Provincial park.

06:27 - 06:29
Have you guys ever been there? Yeah.

06:29 - 06:29
Nope.

06:29 - 06:29
Oh no.

06:29 - 06:30
I've read a lot about it.

06:30 - 06:35
Yeah. Beautiful spot. I, I haven't been there in forever, but would highly recommend it just

06:35 - 06:38
for like a car camping weekend. The beaches are stunning.

06:39 - 06:41
It's like right on Georgian Bay, so you can't go wrong.

06:41 - 06:43
But we, we do that kind of stuff.

06:43 - 06:45
And, and my dad's from Northern Ontario.

06:46 - 06:49
He's from way up in Kappa Skating, north of Timmins.

06:50 - 06:54
And so that's where my grandparents lived when I was growing up.

06:54 - 06:59
So we would always do like two weeks in the winter around Christmas time and then two weeks

07:00 - 07:02
in the summer for like a big fishing trip.

07:02 - 07:09
And so like my idea of going to visit my grandparents was just like always playing out in the bush.

07:09 - 07:15
Like, like we'd go up there and if we were there for 14 days, like 10 of them would be on some dirt road.

07:15 - 07:22
Like just whether it was like fishing or we didn't do too much hunting until I was like early

07:22 - 07:24
teens and then I never really did again.

07:24 - 07:30
It just didn't have the opportunity but just always being out in the bush and, and that was

07:30 - 07:33
very much like the norm for me. It was.

07:33 - 07:38
I always had so much fun with it and I loved it so much, but it wasn't, I don't remember being

07:38 - 07:42
like crazy about it until I stopped doing it so much.

07:42 - 07:47
And like when we got to high school and kind of life started getting a little busier, we started

07:47 - 07:49
doing like camping as a family.

07:49 - 07:53
I missed it so much and I was like, okay, like I need to get back into this.

07:53 - 08:03
Like, and so then I didn't camp it from like maybe age 18 to like 21 and I just kind of got away from it.

08:04 - 08:10
And my cousin who, he actually lives out in B.C. now, like living the dream.

08:10 - 08:21
He's, he's sending me all these photos of like skiing in the powder and he's in Canmore or. No, no, no, that's. He moved Alberta.

08:21 - 08:23
I can't remember where it is in, in bc.

08:23 - 08:25
He's going to kill me for this.

08:25 - 08:31
But he, he lived in Canmore, Alberta, but then, oh, Cranbrook, that's where he is in, in B.C. now.

08:32 - 08:35
So beautiful area anywhere you are out there.

08:35 - 08:41
But he was bugging me for, for like three summers saying like we got to go camping. Like we got to.

08:41 - 08:46
He, he hiked a lot of the Bruce Trail and a couple, they live in Aurelia.

08:46 - 08:50
So pretty much easy access to so much good camping area.

08:50 - 08:52
Just like within an hour of Orillia.

08:52 - 08:55
And he was bugging me and bugging me and I, I always wanted to.

08:55 - 08:58
There was never a reason that I, I didn't go with him.

08:58 - 09:03
I was just like working in the summers and then I got busy and then there was pandemic and all

09:03 - 09:09
this kind of stuff and then we finally got out and we just, we did like a three day hike in

09:09 - 09:14
Queen Elizabeth Wildlands and it was like just life changing for me. It was.

09:14 - 09:22
I, I just like a, a switch flicked in my brain and I was like, wow, like why, why did I stop doing this? And I.

09:22 - 09:27
All the credit to him for finally like dragging me out there and we had so much fun.

09:27 - 09:33
And then I like from then on I, I did a trip with my brother after that and then I did a solo

09:33 - 09:36
trip and then I actually, I filmed that Solo trip.

09:36 - 09:41
I just wanted to kind of capture, like, the experience and then decided to share it on YouTube.

09:41 - 09:43
And I never looked back. I just.

09:43 - 09:47
Every camping trip I've done, I just kept filming it and sharing it.

09:47 - 09:52
And I'm always trying to get better and better with how I share the story.

09:52 - 09:57
And basically everything I do now revolves around camping.

09:57 - 10:01
Like, how can I make this next camping trip happen?

10:01 - 10:05
How can I make enough money to cover my rent and food just so I can go camping for a week at

10:05 - 10:09
the end of the month? So, yep, it's. And I.

10:09 - 10:10
I love it so much. It's.

10:10 - 10:13
It's really kind of given me a sense of purpose.

10:14 - 10:21
And like, this may sound too dramatic, but, like, it's a reason to get up in the morning.

10:21 - 10:22
It's like, okay, like, I wanna.

10:22 - 10:23
I want to be healthy.

10:23 - 10:27
I want to be in my best shape so that I can continue doing this for.

10:27 - 10:29
For a very long time. Right.

10:29 - 10:30
That's nice.

10:30 - 10:30
1.

10:30 - 10:35
Other content creators have said sometimes that they felt that always filming and always trying

10:35 - 10:42
to capture things took away a little bit from their experience of the actual adventure of the camping.

10:42 - 10:43
Do you find that as well?

10:43 - 10:47
Or do you kind of step away sometimes and just enjoy the experience?

10:47 - 10:49
And then other times you're. You're about the filming.

10:49 - 10:55
You know what? I want to talk about both sides of that, because first, firstly, I'll say I love,

10:55 - 10:57
like, the filmmaking aspect of it.

10:57 - 11:02
I love videography so much, and that's always been something that I've loved just as much as the outdoors.

11:03 - 11:05
Always, like, making little videos in my backyard.

11:06 - 11:08
When I was like, 8 years old, even I would.

11:08 - 11:18
We actually, my childhood home backed onto a, like, series of, like, six corn fields. So big, big cornfields. And there was.

11:18 - 11:21
In between the fields, there were like, these little, like, forested areas.

11:21 - 11:24
And so we would always, like, build forts in there.

11:24 - 11:26
And like, that was always kind of our.

11:26 - 11:32
Like, that felt like that may as well have been as wild as Wabakimi or something to me at that time. Right. Like, we.

11:32 - 11:34
We felt like we were in the back country.

11:34 - 11:41
And meanwhile, like, there was like a highway like, 100ft away. But we.

11:41 - 11:42
There was a hill there.

11:42 - 11:44
And so we were always snowboarding back there.

11:44 - 11:46
And just no matter what we were doing back there, I was always filming it.

11:46 - 11:53
And I would always, like, make these little edits to music and stuff. And so I. I've. That.

11:53 - 11:55
That videography aspect has always been with me.

11:55 - 11:56
And then I went to school for it.

11:56 - 12:00
We were talking a little bit before this about Humber.

12:00 - 12:06
I went to like a media program in school and that was like kind of a multifaceted program with

12:06 - 12:11
all aspects of media with like video, photography, graphic design, web design.

12:12 - 12:17
There was a little bit of marketing in there which were all useful tools in, in what I do now.

12:17 - 12:24
But video has always been like my main thing and it's always been a big passion of mine.

12:25 - 12:33
So like when I go out on these trips, it, it is very fulfilling for me to be filming and creating and like that.

12:33 - 12:39
I always find that maybe it'll, it'll take a day or two, but I always enter this like flow state

12:39 - 12:42
of creation and I just like totally get in the zone.

12:42 - 12:48
Even doesn't matter if it's like a weekend trip or, or a two week long trip, I like just feel

12:48 - 12:54
like that's when I'm most focused and it's kind of like when, when I'm filming out there, it's,

12:54 - 12:58
it's like everything I'm shooting is like, oh my gosh, this is going to be so good. Like.

12:58 - 13:01
But I will say that that's huge.

13:01 - 13:04
Especially when I'm doing these solo trips because it's something for me to do.

13:04 - 13:09
Like, like there's anyone that camps, especially like backcountry camping, there is a lot of

13:09 - 13:17
work that goes into the day, like getting food ready and setting your tent up or if you're moving cancer. Yeah, yeah.

13:18 - 13:25
And, and I find when I'm solo camping, like if I'm, if I'm not dragging my butt that day and

13:25 - 13:28
I get all that done, it's almost like, okay, what not.

13:28 - 13:30
I shouldn't say like what now?

13:30 - 13:32
Because there's still a lot, like lots you can do to stay entertained.

13:32 - 13:36
But I just find I love putting my time into this video creation.

13:37 - 13:43
But looking at the other side of that, when I'm with other people, whether it be like a trip

13:43 - 13:50
with my girlfriend or I've done a trip with my brother or this doesn't really apply to other

13:50 - 13:53
content creators because they're in the same video creation mode.

13:54 - 13:58
It does get in the way when I'm, when I'm with my girlfriend, especially like nothing and she's

13:58 - 14:02
super cool with me like creating and filming everything.

14:02 - 14:06
But that's when I mostly want to just like, I just want to like relax.

14:06 - 14:13
I just want to like spend time with, with my loved ones and that's when I do just want to enjoy my time camping.

14:13 - 14:24
So I, I wouldn't say that takes away from the experience, but I did a trip this past summer

14:24 - 14:27
with my girlfriend where I didn't bring the camera at all.

14:27 - 14:28
And that was, it was fantastic.

14:28 - 14:31
And I think that's where you need to find that. That balance.

14:32 - 14:36
So I do like, set time aside to, to just focus on.

14:36 - 14:40
On hanging out rather than worrying about the video.

14:41 - 14:45
But it is nice afterwards too, to look back on the experience. It. It's so cool.

14:45 - 14:52
Like my brother and I did killarney in 2022 and like, whenever we get together, like, we still

14:52 - 15:00
throw that video on just to relive the trip. Right. So much fun. But yeah, I. I don't know.

15:00 - 15:02
I think there's definitely a balance. But.

15:02 - 15:05
But for solo trips, I love the creation side. That's.

15:05 - 15:05
That's all I want to say.

15:05 - 15:11
I don't want to ramble on too much about this, but I, I do love the video and, and I think that

15:11 - 15:13
is part of the experience rather than taking away from it.

15:13 - 15:18
Cool. Well, yeah, and I, I hear you about, about having those, those memories.

15:18 - 15:23
Like, you know anybody that goes to our YouTube channel? We.

15:23 - 15:31
I've only got a half a dozen maybe videos of, you know, us, wherever, doing whatever. I have dozens.

15:32 - 15:36
I've got a massive hard drive that's just chalk full of it.

15:36 - 15:38
I watch them once in a while. I'm also lazy.

15:38 - 15:44
I don't want to edit them, but I've got those, like, I can go back and look and, and see when,

15:44 - 15:50
you know, our kids were, were much, much shorter and, you know, missing their two front teeth

15:50 - 15:52
and stuff like that while we were out camping at wherever.

15:52 - 15:54
So that's, it's, it's cool stuff.

15:55 - 16:05
Question for you in, in the con, in the creation of, of your content. I've heard something.

16:05 - 16:11
I don't, I don't know for sure, but I think it's something that has happened very seldom. So.

16:11 - 16:15
So flying a drone over Ontario Provincial parks is a no. No.

16:15 - 16:19
Unless you have permission from the park superintendent.

16:20 - 16:23
Literally, you're the only person I've ever heard of that got that permission.

16:24 - 16:25
How the heck did you do that?

16:25 - 16:26
I may edit this out.

16:26 - 16:30
I may not share this secret with anybody else, but just for myself, if.

16:30 - 16:32
I tell you, I will have to kill you.

16:35 - 16:39
Yeah. Actually, so I've done that twice now.

16:39 - 16:44
The first one was at nagogam Assist Provincial park, which is way, way up north.

16:44 - 16:50
That's kind of between Hearst and Long Lack. And so that's.

16:50 - 16:51
That's way, way up north.

16:51 - 16:56
Oh, yes. Yeah. So my, my dad, like I said, is from Kappa Skating, so he's got a buddy that has

16:56 - 17:00
a cabin out there that my dad has been going to since high school.

17:00 - 17:04
And so that's where we've, we've gone to.

17:04 - 17:08
I don't know if you saw my, the video where I had that super blue water.

17:09 - 17:10
Yes.

17:10 - 17:17
Yeah. And then so in we, we did a. 10 days or 14 days up at that cabin and while we were there

17:17 - 17:23
I, I did like a four day trip and then I came back to the cabin and then another four day trip. Sorry.

17:23 - 17:26
Like a remote, like my dad dropped me off in the woods. Right.

17:27 - 17:32
And so before that I reached out to. So that's on.

17:32 - 17:37
The cabin is on Nagogamus Lake, which is part of Nagamus Provincial Park.

17:37 - 17:45
And I had actually wanted to paddle into like a little section of the park to film a trip, but

17:45 - 17:51
unfortunately I never even got to because the water was like the ice had just come off and the

17:51 - 17:57
water was like super high and the section that I wanted to paddle was like whatever, like Class 4 rapids.

17:57 - 17:59
And I just couldn't even get the canoe in there.

17:59 - 18:00
It was like too intense.

18:02 - 18:06
But beforehand I, this is, this is so nice.

18:06 - 18:08
Like just such a wholesome moment.

18:08 - 18:15
I remember I emailed the park just saying like, hey, is there any chance I can get in contact with the superintendent?

18:15 - 18:22
I've, I would love to, to fly the drone and kind of proposed a deal to them that if I, if they

18:22 - 18:25
gave me permission to fly it that they could have the footage.

18:25 - 18:29
They could like put it on their website if they want and like no money involved, they can just

18:29 - 18:31
like one for one trade.

18:31 - 18:34
And I got an email back.

18:34 - 18:39
I, I can't remember exactly how it went, but I think he emailed me back just saying like, I'm

18:40 - 18:41
sorry, there's, there's not really much I can do.

18:41 - 18:46
Like you would need like a permit. And like.

18:46 - 18:49
And I, oh, I, I told him that's what it was.

18:49 - 18:56
I told him that I was, I wanted to go into these certain lakes and where it was there was a

18:56 - 18:59
road that washes out every springtime or, or every other spring.

19:00 - 19:05
And just the way that the creek runs through the culvert, it's just like such a susceptible area.

19:06 - 19:11
And I remember he emailed me back saying like, I'd love to give you permission, but there's

19:11 - 19:13
a little bit of a process that we have to go through.

19:13 - 19:17
And that lake that you want to go to, that there's no way you're getting in there.

19:17 - 19:22
And so I emailed him back saying like, oh, I would, I'd be interested to hear like the process,

19:22 - 19:23
like whatever we can do.

19:23 - 19:26
And, and I want this to Be like a win for both parties.

19:27 - 19:29
And we also have like ATVs.

19:29 - 19:32
We're going to be staying at a cabin on Nagamis Lake.

19:32 - 19:35
I basically explained to him that like I'm familiar with the area.

19:35 - 19:38
And he called me right after I said, like, please call me if you want to hear any details.

19:38 - 19:40
He's like, oh you, you should have said you had ATVs.

19:40 - 19:42
Like you're getting in there, like you'll be fine.

19:43 - 19:49
And it was almost like he, he was like a little bit concerned that I was just like some random

19:49 - 19:55
dude just wanting to come up and like just explore like this, this super remote wilderness and

19:55 - 20:04
really, really nice guy over the phone and he actually sent me like the official. There's, there's a.

20:05 - 20:10
Oh man, I can't remember the term for it, but it's basically like a permit that like gives me

20:10 - 20:14
access to fly my aircraft in, in within the park boundary.

20:14 - 20:19
So this would be, I assume what would be similar to if you wanted to land a float plane like

20:19 - 20:22
in one of the lakes parks or sorry, the parks lakes.

20:23 - 20:33
And it was so he, so I did that and he actually wanted footage of this certain waterfall that was in the area.

20:33 - 20:38
He said, like, I haven't been in there in forever and if you could, I'll give you permission

20:38 - 20:40
as long as you send me this footage of this waterfall.

20:40 - 20:49
So I did that and, and then I filmed my camping video and I, and I sent it all to him and then

20:49 - 20:53
he got back to me like about a week later saying awesome footage, thank you so much.

20:54 - 21:01
I've sent your video to the Ontario Parks Superintendent group chat.

21:01 - 21:06
So he said if, if you ever need to reach out to any other parks, there's a good chance they'll

21:06 - 21:07
be familiar with your name.

21:07 - 21:09
And when I saw that I was like freaking out.

21:09 - 21:11
I was going like, come on, you didn't have to do that.

21:12 - 21:17
And I was still, I'm still like to this day still like I consider myself to be starting out.

21:17 - 21:23
Like I'm a beginner at all of this, but I was so fresh and like I'm, I'm just like trying to

21:23 - 21:29
network, trying to, trying to get my name out there and this guy's like sending me out to like all of the parks.

21:29 - 21:31
And so I was like totally freaking out over that.

21:31 - 21:33
So I'd actually reached it.

21:33 - 21:36
So fast forward about a month and a half I was.

21:36 - 21:43
Had this tomogamy trip planned and I reached out to the uh, tomogamy. Like there's, there's.

21:43 - 21:46
It's kind of complicated how tomogamy works, but there's like a cluster of all these different

21:46 - 21:50
parks, but I think they were all run by this same superintendent.

21:50 - 21:54
And I emailed him and totally name dropped the guy from nagogam Assist.

21:54 - 22:00
And I said, hey, like so and so may have shared this video with you, blah, blah, blah.

22:00 - 22:03
And so I emailed him and he called me.

22:03 - 22:06
He's like, oh, no way. You talked to Dave? Like, I love Dave. Great guy.

22:07 - 22:12
And so it was like, kind of like I was so nervous about, about like talking like these, these

22:12 - 22:15
are like big names, like superintendents of these big parks. And, and.

22:15 - 22:19
But when they called me, it just felt so human and so wholesome.

22:19 - 22:21
Like they were just like, oh, yeah, Dave sent you over here.

22:21 - 22:23
And so I was able to say same deal.

22:23 - 22:30
So I got had to like, fill out this, this form for their marketing team saying that I'm a videographer

22:30 - 22:35
coming into the park with my aircraft and they, they can have all rights to the footage.

22:35 - 22:45
So, so I sent it to the superintendent in Tomogamy and I don't know if they're ever going to use it. I haven't seen anything.

22:45 - 22:52
But they have full rights to that footage, which that deal at the time still made sense to do.

22:52 - 22:58
But I'm like totally waiting to see like my footage in, in Ontario parks commercial.

22:58 - 23:00
And I wouldn't have any credit.

23:00 - 23:01
They wouldn't even have to name drop me, so.

23:02 - 23:02
Which would kind of suck.

23:02 - 23:04
But it was worth it at the time.

23:04 - 23:09
But at the end of the day, I'm, I'm super grateful for all of that because at least I have those connections now.

23:09 - 23:13
And, and it's, it's just, it's just nice.

23:13 - 23:17
Even if it's not this summer or next summer or maybe it's not even for.

23:17 - 23:18
From five years from now.

23:18 - 23:25
I, at least I can be like a familiar face to them if I ever want to try and like, collab with, with Ontario parks.

23:26 - 23:28
Like, I just feel, feel like that's more possible now.

23:28 - 23:34
So I, I wanted to, I said this, and we talked a little bit about this on Canoe Hounds, but,

23:35 - 23:40
and I, I wanted to make it clear that I don't know if they like pulled strings for me or if

23:40 - 23:42
they, if that's like standard protocol.

23:42 - 23:48
So I don't, I wouldn't like, recommend that to people, but what I will recommend is that if,

23:49 - 23:53
if you want to try and do something, like, all you got to do is ask, like, just like reach out to people.

23:53 - 23:55
I think that doesn't hurt.

23:55 - 23:57
And the worst they can say is no.

23:57 - 24:01
So I think that's, there's, there's something to be said about just like, see what you can do.

24:01 - 24:03
Yeah, well, yeah, you're right. It's.

24:03 - 24:08
It's funny because it wasn't until, until after I'd heard you'd got permission that I went back

24:08 - 24:11
and reread the, the Ontario parks.

24:11 - 24:17
I, I'm, I'm a bit of a nut and I, and I do stuff like read the rules and that sort of jazz and

24:17 - 24:18
see what the updates are. Right.

24:18 - 24:19
Yeah.

24:19 - 24:24
So, so it, it, the way that it's worded, it's very, it's very put offish.

24:24 - 24:28
Like, it's like they're trying to keep you from bugging them. Don't. Don't bring the drone. Don't ask us.

24:29 - 24:34
We're going to make life difficult and you're going to hear no in the end anyhow. So it's.

24:34 - 24:40
And I mean, I totally get it because they'd be just inundated if somebody went, hey, it's really

24:40 - 24:43
easy to do and no problems. Like, oh, okay.

24:43 - 24:47
There'd be just drones everywhere, which would make everybody insane as well, that buzzing and stuff.

24:47 - 24:52
And that's not even like my, My goal has always been to, to promote the outdoors and, and I

24:52 - 24:53
want to share the camping experience.

24:54 - 24:58
I definitely do not want to like, promote drone usage or anything.

24:58 - 25:02
That's just kind of a tool that I use to, to give perspective of the area that I'm in.

25:02 - 25:04
But you're right, like, if.

25:04 - 25:08
Could you imagine like some of those, like, main corridors in Algonquin or there's like 500

25:08 - 25:10
people on a campsite or on a.

25:10 - 25:11
On lake and they're just.

25:11 - 25:13
Everyone has a drone corner.

25:13 - 25:16
It's everywhere. Yeah, no, there's, well, there's plenty of, there's plenty of drone footage

25:17 - 25:21
of Ontario parks out there. They. There and they're.

25:22 - 25:24
I'm trying to use a word that's.

25:24 - 25:25
I'm not going to have to edit out.

25:26 - 25:28
They're, they're dupes about it, you know what I mean?

25:28 - 25:30
Like, like, they're, they're right there. There's.

25:30 - 25:33
They're over top of other people that are paddling through. It's like.

25:33 - 25:36
And you know that they didn't ask them if that was cool and stuff.

25:36 - 25:37
It's like, come on, man.

25:38 - 25:43
People are trying to be outside enjoying the, Enjoying nature. Just. Yeah, bugger off.

25:43 - 25:49
And as chill as the superintendents were with me, both of them, in both cases were very, very

25:49 - 25:52
clear with me with like, the conditions that I had to follow.

25:52 - 25:58
Like, you Film, like, only film your own campsite.

25:58 - 26:02
Only, like, film your own area. Do not harass wildlife.

26:02 - 26:05
Do not go near anyone else that you see in the bush.

26:05 - 26:08
And like, that was like a contract that I had to sign.

26:08 - 26:10
I could have, like, if I broke any of those rules.

26:10 - 26:12
There were big charges and.

26:12 - 26:14
Yeah, I'm sure there were.

26:14 - 26:21
And, and, and the fact that probably the fact that you're in fairly remote areas, like, even

26:21 - 26:26
much as everybody has heard of tomogamy, there's not a lot of traffic through there. Right.

26:26 - 26:34
So you, you would be, you would be interfering in other people's trips, much less regardless of what you did.

26:34 - 26:40
Yeah, yeah, but, yeah, again, like, I, I would be so upset if I was just sitting at a campsite

26:40 - 26:43
and a freaking drone comes down. Like, imagine that.

26:44 - 26:46
Yeah, they just start throwing rocks and sticks.

26:49 - 26:51
I know how much that drone costs.

26:51 - 26:54
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Hopefully you got the warranty.

26:56 - 26:59
How do you like me now? Cool.

26:59 - 27:00
Well, I'm glad you did.

27:00 - 27:06
And I hope everybody listening is, is getting the fact that it's.

27:07 - 27:14
It's to show the beauty of the things not to be making people or animals crazy. Right. Just saying.

27:14 - 27:17
Just let's put that disclaimer in there.

27:17 - 27:18
I want to circle back.

27:18 - 27:23
You were talking about fishing. What's. Tell us.

27:23 - 27:24
Tell us a fishing story.

27:24 - 27:25
Just, just pull one out of your butt.

27:26 - 27:27
Oh, my goodness.

27:27 - 27:29
One of the coolest fishing stories you've ever had.

27:29 - 27:31
Oh, okay.

27:32 - 27:36
Photographic evidence of you with a massive pike on Spanish river trip. Whistle.

27:36 - 27:38
Yes. Yes.

27:38 - 27:40
That was huge fish. My goodness.

27:41 - 27:43
You know, I'm, I'm thinking here because I don't.

27:43 - 27:46
I'm not trying to find a fishing story.

27:46 - 27:49
I'm trying to decide which of the hundreds I want to tell.

27:51 - 27:58
But that, that hike on the Spanish river was, was like a crazy one that was with Tosh, self

27:58 - 28:03
propelled, who I did that trip with, who's also a fellow YouTuber for, for those of you who

28:04 - 28:11
don't know, but probably everyone has heard of him at this point, but that day, like, we were both, we.

28:11 - 28:15
That night we were sitting next to the campfire, just chatting away, going, like, what did we deserve?

28:16 - 28:18
Like, what did we do to deserve a day like that?

28:18 - 28:24
We, we had like spent the entire morning running these beautiful rapids and there was like no slip ups at all.

28:24 - 28:27
Like, we were just cruising through like perfectly through the rapids.

28:28 - 28:31
And then at the end of the day, we, we decided to do some fishing.

28:31 - 28:35
And like, instantly, I think I caught like two or three bass.

28:35 - 28:38
I got a walleye and then he was paddling.

28:38 - 28:41
We had gotten to this lake that we were gonna camp at that night.

28:42 - 28:46
And he was, like, way, way up ahead of me, like, probably, like, 500 yards ahead.

28:46 - 28:50
And it was, like, dead silent glass lake.

28:50 - 28:53
And the sun was just starting to set. And I was.

28:53 - 28:57
I could hear his drag going, like, like, that far away.

28:57 - 29:02
He was just, like, really something crazy. And he.

29:02 - 29:04
He, like, I could tell that he.

29:04 - 29:07
So he was paddling, like, ahead of me, like, like, straight.

29:07 - 29:11
And then I could hear his drag and his canoe did this. And I.

29:11 - 29:17
So I could tell that he was, like, reeling in something that was, like, pulling him around. And so as I.

29:17 - 29:23
I, like, pulled up, like, probably maybe like 250 yards away from him, I yelled to him. I was like, hey.

29:23 - 29:25
Like, was that a big fish?

29:25 - 29:28
And all I hear, he goes, it was effing huge.

29:29 - 29:31
He's at this huge bass.

29:31 - 29:33
So then we get to the campsite.

29:33 - 29:39
It's this gorgeous spot, and we're all excited, like, we've got this fish dinner. We're clean. We had two bass.

29:39 - 29:41
One of them was his, his massive one.

29:42 - 29:47
And then we had a nice walleye, and we were cleaning them up and just, like, chatting away about

29:47 - 29:50
how magnificent that day was. And I was.

29:50 - 29:53
I was cleaning these fish, like, right on the shoreline.

29:53 - 29:58
And as I was cleaning them, I was throwing the guts in the water, and there was, like, a little

29:58 - 30:01
weed bed right off the rock that we were camped on.

30:01 - 30:03
And I was, like, kind of tossed them into the weed bed.

30:03 - 30:08
And all of a sudden, as I'm, like, cleaning these fish, there was, like, a huge swirl in the

30:08 - 30:10
water, and then a big splash.

30:10 - 30:13
And I, like, started freaking out. It scared me.

30:13 - 30:17
And turns out I knew instantly it was a big pike that was, like.

30:17 - 30:20
Like eating all these guts that I was throwing in the water.

30:20 - 30:26
And I want to clarify, I don't think that chumming the water is legal in Canada, but I wasn't.

30:26 - 30:27
I wasn't, like, intentionally chumming.

30:27 - 30:28
I was just tossing the guts.

30:28 - 30:30
I wanted them away from the campsite.

30:30 - 30:36
And as soon as I saw that, I grabbed my rod and tossed it in and. And instantly the.

30:37 - 30:42
The pike took it and just dragged my line out like, a hundred feet.

30:42 - 30:45
And, like, there's, like, the.

30:45 - 30:48
The footage is all on YouTube from my Spanish river trip.

30:48 - 30:51
But you could see, like, Tosh running to me with his camera.

30:51 - 30:54
The footage is all janky. He's like. And.

30:54 - 30:57
And I'm just, like, giggling like a little girl, like, reeling this thing in.

30:57 - 31:01
And finally we got it up, and it was just huge and, like.

31:01 - 31:08
Like, Again we were just so like, like baffled by the fact that like we had already had this amazing fishing day.

31:08 - 31:09
We already had fish to eat.

31:10 - 31:11
We did not deserve this.

31:11 - 31:13
It was just such a cherry on top of the day.

31:14 - 31:17
And then it ended up like being one of the most beautiful nights.

31:17 - 31:23
We woke up the next morning and it was like it actually, a storm was rolling in.

31:23 - 31:28
But right before it was like the sky was super dark but the sun was shining through and it was

31:28 - 31:32
just this like golden contrast on like a super dark sky.

31:32 - 31:39
And that it was peak fall colors like that, that 48 hours was like some of my best like all summer.

31:39 - 31:40
It was just so much fun.

31:41 - 31:48
Like I still can't get over that, that, that huge bike and like this summer.

31:48 - 31:50
So I, I fished my entire life.

31:50 - 31:53
Like I think I caught my first fish when I was three years old.

31:53 - 31:57
That was another thing that was talked a little bit about on, on Canoe Hound.

31:58 - 32:04
And then from then on like, like I said, we did two weeks every summer up in Northern Ontario

32:04 - 32:07
and that's like world class walleye fishing up there.

32:07 - 32:13
And so I was always spoiled with fishing as a little kid and always like just obsessed with it.

32:14 - 32:20
And I remember actually, well, I don't actually remember this happening, but my dad was telling

32:21 - 32:27
me that when I was about six or seven years old it was like January or February and I was in

32:27 - 32:32
the basement and I came upstairs crying and my dad's like, oh, what's wrong? What's wrong?

32:32 - 32:37
And I was like all teary eyed going, I don't know if I like fishing anymore.

32:38 - 32:41
He was like, what, where, where did this come. It's February.

32:41 - 32:44
You don't have to, you don't have to love fishing right now.

32:44 - 32:50
And I just like, like got all like worked up because I, I wasn't like craving fishing at that time and.

32:50 - 32:53
But I was always like just so crazy about.

32:53 - 32:57
I don't know where that, that came from but.

32:57 - 33:05
But then like this past year I just spent so much like I had a total shift where all of my time

33:05 - 33:11
like, like I said, everything was going into camping and, and a big part of my camping experiences is always fishing.

33:11 - 33:18
I like, I like very often will base my trips around fishing and where the best fishing spots are and stuff.

33:18 - 33:24
So this past year I, I put more time into fishing than I ever have and it totally paid off.

33:24 - 33:28
Like I, this, this summer I caught my first lake trout.

33:29 - 33:34
I caught like I had never done too much trout fishing, but this past summer I caught a bunch

33:34 - 33:38
of brook trout when we were up north, which I had never caught before.

33:38 - 33:39
I caught my first splake.

33:40 - 33:46
I caught like my top 10 biggest pike ever, bunch of walleye.

33:46 - 33:50
It, like, it just totally spoiled this past summer.

33:50 - 33:54
And I, I still like, I, I don't know if I've gotten my fix yet.

33:55 - 33:58
Like I said, in February, my brother and I are going ice fishing.

33:58 - 34:00
But yeah, I just love it so much.

34:01 - 34:05
Yeah, I'm trying to think like, what's another good fishing story? We.

34:05 - 34:07
I'll send you guys a video.

34:07 - 34:10
I'm not, I'm not quite sure if I want to share it to the public just yet.

34:10 - 34:15
Maybe by the time that it's this, this podcast airs, maybe I'll share it.

34:15 - 34:24
But we have footage of when I think I was like 7 or 8 years old and my brother was, well, he

34:24 - 34:26
would have been like five or six at the time.

34:26 - 34:33
And he was, we were fishing with my dad in this, this little boat that our friend had at their cottage.

34:33 - 34:37
And, and we had caught like, there's one of the, we're just going for sunfish and like little

34:37 - 34:39
perch and rock bass and stuff.

34:39 - 34:42
And he, he hooked into like a pretty nice smallmouth.

34:42 - 34:48
And we, it's all on footage where he is reeling this thing in.

34:48 - 34:55
And like my, my dad is like commentating, saying, like, oh, like, does it feel big, buddy? And he's like, yep.

34:55 - 34:57
He's like, I think it's a big one.

34:57 - 35:01
And, and then he pulls it in and it was like it was a decent sized smallmouth.

35:01 - 35:05
Like, it was like, we figured it was like 15 inches.

35:05 - 35:12
And as he pulled it over, we all like had our reactions and I, I, for whatever reason, I always

35:12 - 35:13
comment on like the size of the fish.

35:13 - 35:16
I was like, oh, I think, I think that's a 15 incher.

35:16 - 35:19
And my dad was like, good job, buddy.

35:19 - 35:21
And my brother had his reaction.

35:21 - 35:25
And then so I created this video where fast forward like 10 years.

35:25 - 35:31
We were in our boat out on Lake Simcoe and my brother hooked into a five pound smallmouth.

35:31 - 35:36
This is like for people that don't swam out fish. So that's a lunker.

35:36 - 35:41
And I did a comparison video where when he caught this little fish when he was a little kid.

35:41 - 35:45
And then fast forward to when we were teenagers and he caught this five pounder.

35:45 - 35:49
All of our reactions were bang on. They never changed.

35:49 - 35:51
I was like, oh, it's a five pounder.

35:51 - 35:53
And my dad was like, good job, buddy.

35:54 - 35:55
It was the exact same.

35:55 - 36:01
So that's on, on an old YouTube channel that I think I've got 100 subscribers on that, that

36:01 - 36:03
I had in high school.

36:03 - 36:05
I, like, I said I'll send you guys the video, but.

36:05 - 36:07
And I'll share it to the public at some point.

36:08 - 36:14
But that was a pretty cool video that just kind of captures the, the essence of our.

36:14 - 36:22
Like, I would love to say too that the, the fishing is also like a huge thing for family time too.

36:22 - 36:27
Like, like, that's one thing that, like, I spend a ton of time with my, my brother and my dad

36:27 - 36:29
in the boat and my mom too.

36:29 - 36:33
Like, she, she loves, she's not as big into the fishing, but she loves the family time.

36:34 - 36:41
But we would, like when I would go fishing with my dad, it would start off like we'd just be

36:41 - 36:42
chatting away in the boat or whatever.

36:42 - 36:46
And then we'd get tell, like, start telling old stories and stuff.

36:46 - 36:51
And then like a lot of times it would be like a Tuesday night, we'd be out on Lake Simcoe and

36:51 - 36:53
it would turn into like a full blown therapy session.

36:53 - 36:56
And, and like, that's when we would like, most connect. Right?

36:56 - 37:03
And it's funny, like my, it got to the point where like, if in high school, like, if I would

37:03 - 37:09
be going through something, maybe I'm feeling down or whatever, feeling stressed out and like

37:09 - 37:15
my mom would be trying to like, help me out and just say like, hey, like, like, what's going on, buddy? Like, is everything okay?

37:15 - 37:17
And like, yeah, fine, I'm fine, whatever.

37:17 - 37:21
And then it gets to the point where she would just say to my dad, okay, like, something's bugging him.

37:21 - 37:22
You gotta take him fishing.

37:24 - 37:26
We'd go fishing and everything would be okay.

37:26 - 37:30
And it was just like, what happens in the boat stays in the boat.

37:30 - 37:36
So I can't tell you what, what we talked about, but it's, that's, that's a big portion of it

37:36 - 37:37
is the family time too.

37:37 - 37:42
And that's something I would love to, to pass on to my kids too, as well.

37:42 - 37:46
Like the thing that's, that's also camping as well.

37:46 - 37:47
You guys camp as a family.

37:47 - 37:48
You know what it is?

37:48 - 37:50
Yeah. Well, that's. I have to agree.

37:50 - 37:56
That's some of the, Some of the coolest, coolest times is that all four of us jump in the boat

37:56 - 38:01
up at the cottage or whatever and, and, and bug out at, you know, crack of dawn, spend an hour

38:01 - 38:07
and a half catching diddly squats and. But hanging out.

38:07 - 38:09
It's, you know, it's nice, it's quiet. It's.

38:09 - 38:09
Yep.

38:10 - 38:12
Back home for a breakfast, you know, it's. Yeah.

38:12 - 38:12
Oh yeah.

38:12 - 38:17
That and sitting around the campfire at the End of the day, just like watching the fire, you know that it's.

38:17 - 38:19
It'S actually, I saw it somewhere.

38:19 - 38:20
I got to look it up again.

38:20 - 38:26
But there's, there's like scientific studies about how campfires, like sitting around a campfire.

38:26 - 38:31
Like, I don't know exactly what percentage it is, but it's like you're like 50% more likely

38:31 - 38:34
to have a deeper conversation around a campfire.

38:34 - 38:38
There's something psychological about it, which totally makes sense to me.

38:38 - 38:43
Like I, I feel like sitting around a campfire, it doesn't matter if it's with friends or family, whatever.

38:43 - 38:45
Like the conversation gets pretty wild.

38:45 - 38:50
Yeah, well, and you're, you're all sort of sharing an experience regardless of whether, whether

38:50 - 38:52
again, it's at the cottage front country, back country.

38:52 - 38:53
It doesn't, doesn't really matter.

38:53 - 38:55
It's in your backyard, whatever.

38:55 - 38:58
Yeah, it's a, it's the communing with nature thing.

38:58 - 39:00
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

39:00 - 39:01
That's it for us for today.

39:01 - 39:04
Thank you so much to our special guest, Ben Beauchamp for joining us.

39:04 - 39:06
Please do check him out. He.

39:06 - 39:07
Check out his YouTube channel.

39:07 - 39:10
He's Ben Beauchamp, which is Ben.

39:10 - 39:16
B E A U C H A M P For the non French speakers, Ben Beauchamp.

39:16 - 39:19
And also on Instagram, he's got some awesome pictures.

39:19 - 39:24
Check out the the White Phase Gray Wolf on Instagram. It's pretty cool picture.

39:24 - 39:27
And we will talk to you again soon. I'm Pamela.

39:27 - 39:28
I'm Tim.

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And we are from supergoodcamping.com you can reach out to us anytime at hi supergoodcamping.com

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we would love to hear feedback one way or the other if there's something we could be doing better.

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If there's something that you love, we'd love to hear either way.

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And also check us out on all the, all the social.

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We're on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and we have a YouTube channel.

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We'd love it if you subscribe.

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We'll talk to you again soon. Bye.