Bushcraft and Back: The Life of Joe Robinet

From concrete jungle to wilderness champion, Joe Robinet's story captivates with its raw honesty and powerful transformation. Our guest shares how a childhood fascination with nature shows like "Grizzly Adams" planted seeds that would eventually grow into a fulfilling career as a bushcraft expert and content creator.

Joe's path wasn't straightforward – learning bushcraft skills in a small patch of land between two factories in Windsor before eventually finding his way to northern wilderness. His YouTube journey began organically, uploading videos to prove his skills to an online forum community, never imagining it would become his livelihood. With refreshing candor, Joe dispels the myth that his appearance on History Channel's "Alone" launched his career – in fact, it temporarily derailed it when viewers reacted negatively to him losing his fire.

The conversation takes a profound turn as Joe recounts his life-altering dirt bike accident that resulted in a three-week coma and devastating nerve damage to his hand. Doctors prepared his family for the worst, yet Joe defied expectations in his recovery. The emotional weight of this experience permeates his reflections on mortality, family responsibility, and small joys like regaining the ability to peel a banana. "I never thought about how awesome it is that you can use your hands," he shares. "This is what separates us from the animals."

Now embracing life's second chance, Joe discusses his passion for canoe tripping, camping with his wilderness-loving dog, and his mission to teach his daughters self-reliance through annual wilderness trips. Looking ahead, he's planning ambitious adventures including a documentary about his comeback journey and potentially a 50-day solo canoe expedition. Through triumph and trauma, Joe's story reminds us that passion, perseverance, and perspective can transform even the darkest moments into opportunities for growth.

Want to experience the wilderness through Joe's eyes? Follow his adventures on YouTube and Instagram for authentic outdoor content that inspires connection with nature and appreciation for life's precious gifts.

https://www.youtube.com/@josephallen19

https://www.instagram.com/joerobinetbushcraft/

Chapters

• 0:00 Meeting Joe Robinette
• 0:57 From City Boy to Bushcrafter
• 6:29 YouTube Journey and Alone Show
• 13:49 The Life-Changing Accident
• 21:53 Recovery and New Perspectives
• 31:19 Camping with Family and Future Plans
• 39:08 Canoe Tripping and Camping with Dogs

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and good day. Welcome to the Super Good Camping podcast. My name is Pamela.

Speaker 2: 0:04

I'm Tim.

Speaker 1: 0:04

And we are from supergoodcampingcom. We're here because we have a mission to inspire other people to get outside and enjoy camping adventures such as we have as a family. Today's guest is big into bushcraft, backcountry, canoeing, hiking and camping, and he also loves being a dad and a husband. He creates fantastic, realistic content on YouTube and Instagram. He's been a contestant on the History Channel's TV show Alone. He has recently recovered from an absolutely horrific accident. Please welcome, youtuber.

Speaker 3: 0:34

Joe Robinette. Hey welcome, hey folks how are you Great?

Speaker 1: 0:36

thanks for coming out.

Speaker 2: 0:38

For those at home. We're recording this on Easter Sunday so hopefully, if you hear background noise, it's just Joe's kids running around jacked up on chocolate.

Speaker 1: 0:48

Yeah, he told us beforehand that they're full of chocolate already.

Speaker 2: 0:52

Yep, you know what. Let's do this chronologically. How did you become a bushcrafter? How did you get into doing this? I know that's not a short answer. It couldn't be, for where you're at now compared to you know, did you? Have you been? Were you an outdoor kid? Were you? You know, 12 years old and and hiking into the backwoods on your own sort of deal? How did that play out?

Speaker 3: 1:14

Man, the far, the farthest thing from that right. I was a city boy down in Windsor, raised, born and bred and zero connection with the outdoors, outdoors. I shouldn't say that my mom did take me car camping a few times. Uh, it was just me and my mom growing up for a long, big part of it and she did and and took me car camping. I remember really loving it. I have pictures of that. It brings back memories. But I also I really remember watching like little house on the prairie and grizzly adams and what have you and I'm a firm believer that, like you know, I mean you always want what you don't have. So it's like in Windsor we had factories, we had cement and we didn't have nature, and I saw that on those TV shows and my mom bringing me camping a little bit and here and there and it was something that resonated with me like crazy, camping a little bit and here and there, and it was something that resonated with me like crazy and uh, I remember survivor man coming out less stroud and that was a really, really, really big stepping stone for me, a big block, and I, uh, I just I just fell in love with it.

Speaker 3: 2:16

I bought his movie, snowshoes in solitude, the vhs of it, which is like super old, and and I joined a forum online, a Bushcraft USA, and it was. It was just a bunch of dudes, women too, everybody loving the outdoors and being part of it, and that was really the first that was early on in the internet and that was the first like experience I had with like-minded people, the first experience I had with a forum, and I fell in love and I became like one of the one of of the one of the big contributors to that forum and so, yeah, I just took off from there. I taught myself how to do the bow drill from Morris Kahansi's book bushcraft book and like that was before. You could go on online and see 4,500 people doing the bow drill. Yeah, and it was.

Speaker 3: 2:59

It was just a, it was a. It was a long time in the making and and I didn't really have any passions my whole life until this that's awesome, and I think that following your passions are what makes people happy definitely, yeah, I, I'm picturing, I, I do my.

Speaker 2: 3:17

My picture of windsor is, you know, car, plants and and, like you said, concrete and stuff, and it would, it would be, must've been, must've been tough to to find that nature.

Speaker 3: 3:28

Yeah, we had a spot me and my friend had a spot that was about the size of a football field big, and that was on Walker road, a very busy road, in between Glidden paints and ground effects car factory. Okay, literally it's sandwiched in between the two transports buzz a while. We built a log cabin in that thing, like we didn't know what we were doing. This is where I cut my teeth. I learned how to use an axe in there, did a bunch of stuff. My old dog scout my first dog scout used to come there all the time with me and, uh, to be honest with you, our log cabin got took over by a homeless person and it was a war war for a little while as well the joys of Windsor. But that's where I cut my teeth and that's where home was, and I learned a lot of stuff there and knew that I needed to get out of there in order to really test myself and really experience wilderness.

Speaker 1: 4:20

So from Windsor, where was your next? You moved just straight north from there.

Speaker 3: 4:24

Yeah. So my wife and I in 2007, we were just dating and we moved up to Sault Ste Marie and we lived there in the city proper and went to college, and then we ended up moving back down to Huntsville, back down to Windsor, for a while and then when YouTube took off for me and I was starting to actually make money and we were looking for a place, this was right before COVID hit I was living. I owned the house that my grandmother bought brand new in the 40s. It had been passed down. I bought it off my uncle and we were raising a family there and we started looking and someplace up here where we live now, we have this is crazy the neighbors that we had in Sault Ste Marie in a hotel or, sorry, sorry in an apartment.

Speaker 3: 5:09

In 2007 we stayed friends with those people and we moved here 2019 ish, and so from 2007 to 2019, we kind of kept a little bit of communication with them and where we are now, their neighbors which is this house exactly were American and they were selling this house. They were only in here this is the cottage home and they were. They were selling it and we got word from there, from them. So we came up and visited our, our old neighbors in that house next door. We visited this house and all kind of fell into play.

Speaker 3: 5:44

It seemed like it was supposed to happen and thank God we did this before COVID, because the price that it was it was half the price, you know what I mean. And uh, we lucked out and we love it here and uh, it's a way better place to raise the children. I could walk out my door and go camping. It's a. It's a different. It took a lot of getting used to when we could walk to three different corner stores in a matter of five minutes, and now it's a good, good drive. You know what I mean, and but it's worth it.

Speaker 1: 6:12

Yeah, it's great for the kids too. They can, they can be free range kids.

Speaker 3: 6:15

Yes, free range kids is right, exactly.

Speaker 2: 6:18

Good term. Yeah, I like that you mentioned. You mentioned YouTube taking off for you. How did? How did you get into?

Speaker 3: 6:30

YouTube in the first place. Like what were you doing? Yeah, so that forum, you guys, that forum was a big stepping stone for me. I uh, I was a skinny young Canadian on a military American owned bushcraft site Okay, there was Canadians all over it, but it was hardcore military American style and, uh, I felt like I needed to prove myself right. So there was there was um, competitions and challenges and things like that that people could send in pictures to compete in.

Speaker 3: 7:01

And I always thought you can cheat, pictures can be cheated and there's no real reason to do that. But I just thought you can cheat, pictures can be cheated and there's no real reason to do that. But I just feel like I wanted everyone to understand that I was legit and that I was really trying. And then I was a force and I started taking video. Because you couldn't cheat video, I thought I didn't know how to edit, so it's not even like I could take clips and like, oh, I just it was all. When I started it was a little flip camera about the size of his phone that was cheap, cheap, cheap and I would sit it on a stick and do a whole spiel five minutes, and if I had messed up anywhere in that, I would just start over again the whole project started again because I could not edit and I remember I was using like windows movie maker at the beginning because it was like the free thing and it would always crash and all this nonsense.

Speaker 3: 7:46

But yeah, so I would use video because I thought that I could not be taken lightly that way, I couldn't be faking things and the catalyst to put videos from my camera onto this forum was YouTube. That was the way you could not upload videos to the forum. You had to upload to YouTube then post the link was the way you could not upload videos to the forum. You had to upload to YouTube then post the link to the forum. That was the be all, end, all only reason I ever started YouTube. And after a little while I got excited about getting attaboys and congratulations and you did a good job, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah all this stuff not just on the forum but on YouTube through YouTube comments, because that was there, obviously, and I liked it, it felt good and that was way before you could monetize anything. You could not monetize YouTube at all. No one could. It was not a thing back then. This is 15 plus years and one day and this went on for a long time, probably a year or two before this happened. One day I saw this little thing button. It was like monetized video on youtube. This is a new thing. I was like I'll try. And I monetized one video and I think I made 50 bucks that month and I was like, oh snap, 50 bucks. Like all I was doing was putting money in for years you know what I mean. Like now I'm getting 50 bucks back, like, oh sweet, I can like pay gas to go somewhere or whatever. And there was another button that said hit, monetize all videos. So I was like, why not? And I hit it. In the next month I made 200 bucks and I really the the wheels started to turn right and, uh, for the longest time I just did instructional type stuff, little challenge type stuff or whatever. Blah, blah, blah. My first video that ever did anything for me, view wise, was me showing the experience of camping overnight with my dog, and that was the first time I ever did that. That was the first like, oh, here did that. That was the first like, oh, here's just what I'm doing, not like, oh, you need to sharpen your knives and whatever. You know what I'm saying. And that really again got the wheels going. So I think it took.

Speaker 3: 9:57

I know, when I went on Alone, when I went on a TV show Alone, I had 30,000 subscribers. I know this and there's a big misconception that alone was where I got my start, that I wasn't, that. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Alone hurt me big time. I got, I got reamed out, I, I, I. It was like I walked up to people and slapped their babies that's how upset they were with me for for losing my fire. Still, it's crazy and it was the first time I really, really, really experienced trolling like I had experienced it a bit before.

Speaker 3: 10:26

But this was extreme and uh, that that took its toll on me. And while signing the the contract to go on alone, I had to to agree to not put out youtube videos at all because no one could know I'm still around, nobody could know when I'm back. It would ruin the whole thing for alone, right? So in that time I think I didn't put out videos for like six months or whatever. And yeah, and in that time people who were beneath me in in in subscribers had far surpassed me.

Speaker 3: 10:56

Black owl, bushcraft you know what I mean Like TA outdoors, all these people who, who who've been around now, that were way, way, way younger than me as far as a YouTube channel, and so I saw that and I did not like that at all and I got a fire lit under my ass and I went hard for a long time. So from alone I can't remember how long it took me, but I only had 30,000 subscribers on alone and that took me years to get. And then from then I went to 100,000. It took me total seven years to get 100,000 subscribers Okay, not after alone, but total from the beginning. And one year after 100,000, I was at 500,000. So there was this crazy snowball effect and, um, yeah, I don't know it was from there. It just kept going for a long time for for a very, very long time.

Speaker 1: 11:47

No, people are really into what you do. Obviously I'm wanting to learn more from you. Yeah, that's.

Speaker 2: 11:52

I'm wanting to learn more from you. Yeah, that's. I've heard about the snowball effect.

Speaker 1: 11:59

We haven't experienced it. We have not. We're at like 200 subscribers.

Speaker 3: 12:03

Yeah, and it's harder these days, you guys. It's saturated, right? You got to remember when I'm talking, this is 10, 15 years ago and it's like I can name you off the top of my head the top five outdoor bushcraft channels then. Now there's too many to name and I don't know them yeah, yeah, I hear you.

Speaker 2: 12:26

Yeah, there's. I mean, I think we all social media wise like across the board, not just youtube, but I think we all have our favorite people that we like to follow. If it wasn't for the algorithm, I probably wouldn't wouldn't see any other ones, like I don't. I don't go looking for them because I'm getting, I'm getting my fix from the people that that I already watch.

Speaker 3: 12:47

Yeah, yeah, and I'm uh, I'm actually struggling right now to get views. You know what I mean. Things changed a lot after my accident and stuff and I took some time off and things have changed quite a bit. I have to switch things up if I want to keep this up. You know what I mean. I know that, but it's like a struggle because you have to bring the people in in order for them to watch the video, so that lends itself to titles and thumbnails, right, and if you don't get the titles and thumbnails spot on, nobody's even coming to check the video, no matter how quality the video is. So there's, there's a big learning, even for me. Even for me now, after doing it for so long. It's all different with ai and everything. Everything's changing all the time yeah, I know, perfect segue.

Speaker 2: 13:29

Your accident that was, that was. That was a brutal thing to watch, just that. Just that the the video you put out after you were out of the hospital. That was painful, man, like there was. A couple times I wanted to cry.

Speaker 3: 13:45

Tell us what the hell happened I wish I could remember it all. I can tell you what I know. So I, uh, we were here, it was springtime, I was looking forward to starting canoe trip and I had already gone on a couple of trips. I was feeling really good. We had some friends over, I was barbecuing, had a couple of beers and a stupidly looked over, saw my dirt bike, which is pretty new to me at the time Just just got the hang of it. I got the hang of it and uh, I was. I was going to rip down to the hang of it. And uh, I was. I was gonna rip down to the end of the street and come back and I did not wear a helmet. Like an idiot which I highly, highly, highly want to tell people. You have to wear a helmet period. Um, things can change in the blink of an eye and I'm proof of that. But I wasn't thinking and I, I had rid it all over the place that day with a helmet. I was just going to end the street and back. I just felt good, good, I was, I felt good and uh, I never came back. And, um, it had been about 20 minutes or whatever.

Speaker 3: 14:39

My buddy, who was at our house barbecuing with me, went inside and he's like, let me just hop, tell him what, my, what, my wife, let me just hop on the four wheeler, go. Look for Joe. I can't hear him, like whatever, it was Joe's doing his Joe things, whatever. But yeah, he, he had the intuition. He came, I was out just out and uh, he saw me like flat out on the ground, the bike. The bike had stopped running, the bike was mangled, it had, uh, ass over tea kettled and I guess what had happened was it was nighttime and it was getting dark. There was dew all over the ground and when you're on a snow machine, sometimes you go into a little bit of a ditch and you pop back out just for fun. And I think that's what. I think that's what I was doing with the dirt bike no snow, but do we wet long grass with big? I know the exact spot where it was. I went back and checked it out a bunch of times big boulders, big boulders, not rocks, boulders underneath this wet grass and I think I just hit it too hard and when I thought I was gonna pop down, come back out having fun, and I hit it too hard and I went over the handlebars like superman and I cracked my dome on another rock and I got split way up. I'm surprised I still have my eye. I got split way up, uh, stitches all up into my head, everything.

Speaker 3: 15:56

I had a traumatic brain injury and I was unconscious, uh, for three weeks. So they um, took, took the ambulance 40 minutes to get to me and I guess I was combative before that. I was kind of not awake but enough to try to get up and they were holding me down and I'm screaming at them. I have to pee, I have to pee, let me up. But uh, I guess that's what I was doing. And uh, will, my wife was laying there holding my body, so it wasn't cold until they got there. And uh, they, they, they air rushed me to to Sudbury.

Speaker 3: 16:34

They were giving me fentanyl, all sorts of crazy, crazy, crazy stuff, put me, induced my coma even more and I guess I had some crazy things happen in a coma. I can't really explain it all because it's crazy. I don't even know how to explain it, but I lived a whole other life and they thought I was they. They were the doctor was telling will my wife get it, getting her ready, like that I was gonna die. Um, they, they go home and get your shit in order and, uh, take care of your kids there's no point even being here type thing, which is crazy for a doctor to say. But, um, my mom's my mom was super religious, born-again christian and uh, did not, did not hear any of that, you know. I mean was just like praying the whole time and I really appreciate that and whatever your beliefs are, whatever my beliefs are, you know, I mean that can't be bad for you. So, anyways, I got out of it. I got out of it in three weeks. When they expected me to be in it for months, they said I was going to be a vegetable. Out of it in three weeks. When they expected me to be in it for months, they said I was going to be a vegetable. They said I was going to be very, very combative, like disruptive.

Speaker 3: 17:44

When I got up, like not even really know who my family was or anything like that, and I guess they were scaring everybody and I got up and I was pretty pretty okay right away, like I do have memory loss and I did think this was one thing that that happened about the anniversary of my one year anniversary of my little brother's death and that that really that really screwed me up big time and I and I think that's part of the reason I was drinking so much and stuff screwed me up big time and I and I think that's part of the reason I was drinking so much and stuff and, um, I didn't. My brain when I woke up didn't let me remember that my brother had passed. I was angry at people my wife, my mom, everybody for not letting me call my brother. All all I had in my head was I need to warn this guy, because I know how he is and he's just like me and he's even worse than I am, and everybody needs to be told right now. This is all in my head. Everybody I know needs to be told be careful with what you're doing. Everything can be changed in an instant and he was the most important person that I needed to tell that, because he was the most at risk and I knew that and I was upset with my mom and screaming at my wife and like let me call him. Why won't you? Let me call him? Blah, blah, blah. I thought I heard him in the hallway at the.

Speaker 3: 18:54

Anyways, they had to come in and tell me, and it was like reliving the whole damn thing again. It was so, so bad. But your brain you know what I mean your brain is it keeps you from shit you can't handle. I guess Like, uh, I needed to not handle that in the hospital, I needed some time to come out of it before, and, and I had a few days before they told me and it was horrible, but I it would have been worse before, you know. So I don't know.

Speaker 3: 19:21

Anyways, I had bad nerve damage in my hand. I could not use my hand for a long time. I thought I thought my life was over. I thought I couldn't protect my family, I couldn't provide for them, I couldn't play with my kids anymore. I thought it was over. I'm very self-sufficient. That's how I make my money. You know what I mean. I go into the wilderness for however long by myself and I thrive. I've walked away from shit all the time. I thought bigger than this, laughing, and this really put me in my place, right, and this really put me in my place right. So I lost use of my hand. It was extreme pain, forever, and my fingers were erect like this. I've lost mass in my hand like crazy but with Carrie Physio from Toronto reached out to me.

Speaker 3: 20:04

This physiotherapist reached out because I was going to physio and they were not giving me any homework to do. It was like they wanted money and they wanted me to come to them. It was once a week, twice a week type thing. It's like I'm at home living in in in, swallowing my own misery. At least I can do some exercises. You know what I mean. So this, this carry physio guy I cannot thank him enough came reach out to me and we would just do online things for free. He never asked for a penny and me all this stuff to do at home and it helped quite a bit and I just started using it more and more and more. I stopped taking the pain pills because those are no good for you.

Speaker 3: 20:38

And I can move my hand. I have complete dexterity of my hand. I probably have about 75% of the strength. I can canoe, I can pump a shotgun, I can tie my shoes. I can play with my kids. You know what I mean. There's nothing I can't. I can pump a shotgun, I can tie my shoes. I can play with my kids. You know what I mean. There's nothing I can't do.

Speaker 3: 20:52

There was a point where I could not peel an effing banana. I couldn't peel a banana. You know how disturbing that was to me. I broke down. I'm a 40-year-old man, very, very, very self-sustained. I can't peel a banana Changed my life.

Speaker 3: 21:09

But it gave me a whole other outlook too. And uh, and I'm back. You know what I mean and I'm never going to take shit for granted. Ever again in my life I never thought about how awesome it is that you can use your hands. We have. You know what I mean. This is what separates us from the animals. Folks we could. I lost that. It took, took away from me and, uh, my passion, canoeing and stuff. But it's all back and I'm gonna go hard this year and I'm never, ever, ever going to make an excuse again about this for any reason. It's not going to hold me back ever again. And in the mornings it's freezing, cold and it is the worst pain in the world. But I know that all I have to do is just warm it up and it goes away. And and I'm okay with that, I would have taken do is just warm it up and it goes away. And and I'm okay with that, I would have taken less. I would have taken 50% and I got about 75.

Speaker 1: 21:54

And you're alive.

Speaker 3: 21:56

I'm raring to go to like uh, imagine that, like I would have, I would have deserved to burn into hell if I left my family without a father and a husband. You know what I mean? That is the worst, most selfish damn thing I could have ever done in my life and I hate, I hate the fact that it happened. And every time I walk past that spot that it happened, I cringe. Every time I go in my garage to get something, I see that dirt bike. I want to smash it with a fricking sledge hammer. You know what I mean? Uh, it's my fault. It's not the dirt bikes fault, it's completely my fault. And every now and then I get, I get I get flashbacks of my coma too, and that's a wild thing and it keeps me grounded. It keeps me like oh yeah, smarten the F up bud.

Speaker 2: 22:38

Yeah, it'll certainly give you pause for thought. I literally got nothing to say, like that's such a wild, it was bad, I'm glad you're back from it, man.

Speaker 3: 22:51

Thank you, sir. Yeah, the picture speaks. You know the picture was bad. My kids seen it and it's bad, but I'm hoping that this was a lesson to them through me.

Speaker 3: 23:05

You know what I'm saying For a couple of different things. It's I always wanted to be a motorcycle rider. You know what I mean saying For a couple of different things. Uh, it's I always wanted to be a motorcycle rider. You know what I mean. And I could have done it responsibly and I didn't. And, uh, and I paid the price. Everything happens for a reason and uh, I am so very, yeah, exactly, it's kind of hard to see it sometimes. You know what I'm saying, but I do believe that, uh, even even losing my brother, as hard as that is, you know what I mean. Like there's reasons behind things and stuff like that, and it takes it takes a while to to understand it sometimes, and maybe you never will, but I do believe that and, uh, I'm a better person for it. It's, uh, I have to be responsible for my family like I never I grew up without a dad and if I would have left my girls without a dad, like I never even want to think about that.

Speaker 2: 23:55

Yep, I hear you, I hear you there.

Speaker 1: 23:57

So do your girls go go with you? Do they go camping with you?

Speaker 3: 24:00

Yeah, me and Emmy just got back from a winter camp. Um, up here in the blush, the snow is still up to my crotch. When I post-hauled through and she was a G, we snowshoed in with backpacks for about two hours. We lost the snowshoes halfway because we were staying on top and the snow was so firm. But it started to warm up as we were hiking still. So we started post-hauling like crazy and she kept up. Granted, her legs are as long as mine now. Okay, she's 13 years old. Crazy, but yeah, she's.

Speaker 3: 24:38

I told them this year this is a new tradition that we're going to do.

Speaker 3: 24:39

They have come camping with me in the past for sure my whole family has many times. But this is the new tradition Once a week, or sorry, one week for the year, one, one week a year every now. From now on, until I can't do it physically anymore, we are going camping together, one of them at a time, one for Emerald and me, one for Autumn and me, to teach them self-reliance, to teach them confidence, to teach them that just because a boy comes along one day, you don't have to follow him. You know what I mean. Like just if you can camp out in the middle of the wilderness for a week with bears and eating your catching your own food and fish and stuff, like you're going to have a little bit more confidence in your own day-to-day life. I know this, I know this and, uh, I want to create memories. That's the most important thing to me now is creating memories for them and for me, and, uh, that is worth more money than more than any money ever.

Speaker 2: 25:33

I think that's excellent and I think you're you're bang on with that. Self-sufficiency will give them so much more confidence in in their, in their their own abilities. Sorry, just stepped on my dog.

Speaker 3: 25:47

Yeah, I really wish that I had somebody to take me camping growing up and stuff and like. But that said, everything does happen for a reason. Maybe I would have lost interest in it if I would have been inundated with it when I was a kid. You know what I mean. It was all brand new to me when I started, so that's why and people pick up on the joy that I have when I'm out there and stuff it's it's, it's genuine, you know what I mean. It's not, it's not a farce, because it's like a lot of the stuff is new to me or was new to me, and I still have a big enjoyment for it, and that's part of the reason that I never really forced my kids before to do the camping thing. It was always when, whenever it's cool with you guys, we'll do it or whatever. But now it's like I do see, I do also see the other side and it's like, even if they don't do it later on in life, I want to instill these things with them right now a lot.

Speaker 2: 26:33

Obviously, camping with your family is a is a something you totally enjoy. What about what style do you prefer to do? Solo camping, or when you do stuff like you go with tosh or or whatever like is that which? What do you? Yeah, I'm sure you like it all, or else you wouldn't do it. What do you prefer to be on your own or do you like hanging out with the guys?

Speaker 3: 26:54

when it's always uh trip dependent. It's also always situational dependent. So if I go into it feeling and thinking like I need to make a really good video, I want to put a lot of time and effort into making a video. I'm going solo period. I'm going with the dog wolfie's amazing. Wolfie's a great canoe canoe buddy, but that don't get me wrong.

Speaker 3: 27:16

I love hanging with friends. I love hanging with buddies, of going camping with friends and stuff. Uh, tosh and I had a falling out. We don't camp together anymore, which sucks. Um, I do have some people me. Me and dog are still really good buddies. Uh, we will go camping again together. Doug's been walking around on a broken foot for six months not knowing it, so he's a bit of a hard head, that guy, but he'll get better. We'll go back out together and Joel Tremblay I camped with him last year. We're going to be going out together and this year, actually, I'll be going out with somebody I haven't made a video with yet. There's a dude, evan LaFave. Evan LaFave and we're going to do some whitewater on the Spanish. So I'm super excited about that. He's an awesome whitewater guy and I'll pick up a lot of stuff from him.

Speaker 2: 28:04

But he's just a super guy. Like he's just a super guy, he's just an absolute treat, salt of the earth, great dude.

Speaker 3: 28:12

Yeah, so his dad's coming the whole nine yards. It'll be a lot of fun, but yeah, no, I really do enjoy camping with people, but my best trips are always with me and the dog.

Speaker 1: 28:23

So what do you have planned? Besides 7 to 5 this year, what else do you have planned?

Speaker 3: 28:27

Oh man, so I'm going to be doing, uh, this this long? Yeah, exactly, we're. There's a bunch of things that I'm not a hundred percent on. I'm about 99 on, but uh, we're gonna finish, we're gonna do a documentary. So, about me, about my accident, about me kind of just dropping off the face of the earth and then trying to come back, my, my comeback, and that is going to be up north I can't give away the exact place, but very far up north and uh, we're gonna canoe in, we're gonna fly in canoe, build a shelter, live out there for like a week ish. And uh, right from there I'm driving to thunder bay to pick up buddy kyle, my American friend, who is from Ohio, lives in California now. We haven't seen each other in two years because of my accident Last year. We had a Wabakimi trip planned and I never even was able to call him to tell him I was out. I had my wife had to call him and tell him, and so we're going to do that trip. I'm going to not come home after the documentary. I'm going to go pick him up in Thunder Bay from the airport, drive right to Bruce's in Wabakimi. We're going to do another week flying there, cannot wait. Love Kyle. We're really good buddies.

Speaker 3: 29:38

Complete opposites that seems to be how it is. Me and Doug are complete opposites too, but that, and then there's this section of the Trans-Canada Trail called the Path of the Paddle and the Trans-Canada Trail. It's a hiking, it's a paddling, it's a biking trail. This section of the trail is paddling and it's called the Path of the Paddle and it goes from Thunder Bay over to Manitoba or vice versa, and I am 99% sure I'm going to do that. I already have everything worked out. The film crew that are going to come up and film the documentary are going to come up and be my support team, so I don't have to carry 50 days of food with me. You know what I mean. So they'll meet up with me at Rhodes film a little bit. Come with me for a couple days here and there, have my supply of have wolfie supply of food. They're my rescue team if I need them in reach, in reach, and uh, yeah, that'll be epic, that will be epic, so that'll be all of july. If I do that, that'll be about 50 days solo. That will be by far the biggest undertaking I have ever done, and these aren't well established routes you know what I'm saying like some of it's in the middle of nowhere. So that will be very, very cool, a big bonding experience for Wolfie and I as well.

Speaker 3: 30:56

And then after that it's family stuff. It's gotta be all family stuff because I've I've been gone for spring, all through summer at that point and uh, but last year I did, I did not do anything. You know what I mean. I've been home more than I have ever been home since my kids have been alive. For this stint we went to florida, disney went to north carolina, tons and tons of family time. So I don't feel overly bad about being gone for so long. We were all used to it. We were, this was, this was normal for us for for as long as anybody could remember. And this now, this past year, two years, has been completely abnormal yeah, I can see the kid.

Speaker 2: 31:33

Well, I could see our kids. If. If roles were reversed here, our kids would be like love you, dad, but get out.

Speaker 3: 31:41

It's exactly right you need to go now, yeah, for everybody's well-being exactly exactly what.

Speaker 2: 31:50

What style of camping do you like to do? Most Like build a shelter, do a tarp, take a tent.

Speaker 1: 31:58

Hammock.

Speaker 2: 31:59

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 32:00

By far my favorite type of camping is canoe tripping Period Bar none, there's nothing that comes close. I love the fact and there's multiple types of canoe tripping that I like too Like there's so many different variations of it that I have done and that I enjoy, for example, in the spring no, yes, in the spring I like to get out and go focus on trout, focus on catching trout, so whatever that that means. If that's a big trip in algonquin where I'm crossing the whole park through the petawawa river and catching trout on the way, you know what I'm saying big logistic thing, cool, whatever. Or I'll go in somewhere around my house here where I know it's like I can get in within like half a day to to a spot where I can base, camp, leave all my stuff there and then just take my canoe to lakes from there. That takes only maybe an hour, whatever the case may be, and fish all day, have a shore lunch over there, bring the fish back if I want, whatever the case may be. That is my favorite type of spring trout fishing. That's what I love to do in the spring.

Speaker 3: 33:08

Then summer comes. I really like to put it more towards tripping, where the focus is moving and seeing more land, more water, more landmarks, pictographs, what have you Burn into not burn? If you go up far enough north, it's been burned, all burned, and then sometimes you paddle out of that into the old growth and it it's like you know what I mean, like thoracic park type stuff, um, or there's other other other trips where sometimes I wait till the fall, where I have my sea legs, my canoe legs under me and I'll do this hardcore, long distance, like minimal gear, quick trip, just for like an endurance thing, right. So I remember was it last two springs ago I did kevin callan's northwest loop in in calarney and he says it takes six days. I did it in one night and, uh, that that was not not an enjoyable trip where you're like taking in the experience and stuff that was head down, bust your ass, go single, carry everything like 14 pounds on my back, including food type thing. Now, in that case I liken that to backpacking.

Speaker 3: 34:20

I I take the same mentality for lightweight, ultra light backpacking to canoe tripping, because not only do I have that weight on my back, I have a canoe on my head right, so you really have to take, take that into consideration, but um, all those things, and then. And then there's even just taking my kid into to a certain uh spot. That's one portage that I know is our favorite lake. There's bass to catch, it's crystal clear water to swim in. Summertime. Living's easy type stuff.

Speaker 2: 34:48

So yeah, canoe tripping by far yeah, I'm, I'm totally with you there. I mean, I like, I like doing front country. Our youngest and pamela are fans of doing front country just compared to doing back country although pamela does do some back country with me. But yeah, it like. Anytime anybody asks me what are you doing this summer, I'm getting in the canoe and going away from people.

Speaker 3: 35:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and don't get me wrong, I like front country as well, like there's nothing nicer than pulling up to a really nice site. Just set your tent up. You know what I mean. It's luxury. I like that. Cook a steak on the grill that they provide, it's all good, yeah, but for me, personally, it's backcountry canoe champion period. Yeah, no, I'm with you, man.

Speaker 2: 35:30

Camping with your dog, yeah. So what's the appeal specifically to bringing a dog along?

Speaker 3: 35:42

It might be different for certain people, but for me growing up, old yeller, rintin tin, littlest hobo, right, just like Grizzly Adams Little House on the Prairie, it was just something in my head, it was romantic, it was a romanticized thing. It's like a mad boy and his dog, you know, and anybody and their dog. But growing up it was always a boy and their dog Lassie, all that stuff and all that stuff and, uh, dogs don't complain, I can go. And here's the thing too when I'm camping with another person, there's only certain amount of tent spots and stuff like that, and I pride myself in being a very a person who thinks a lot about that type of stuff. So I'm not going to just go and drop my gear and set up a tent in the best, my tent in the best spot period. I'm going to stop. I'm going to say, hey, buddy, try to find a spot, let's see what we can do. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now I want that spot, don't get me wrong. I want that fricking flat spot. I love a flat, nice spot. But there's etiquette. When I'm with a dog, I get that spot. Now that dog can come in the tent with me if he wants to. That dog sleeps outside, not tied up. If he wants to, which he most likely does it's wolfy, he's a husky leave me alone type thing. He's very aloof, but there's times when there's hail and there's raining and lightning and stuff, he wants to come in with me and I love that. I love that. I love that.

Speaker 3: 37:08

The best time for me with the dog is like I have visions of it I'm canoeing and the dog's just running along the shore. I'm in a river and the dog's just running along the shore keeping up with me, I, I. He hops out because there's a rapid that I want to paddle through and then, as soon as the rapid's done, I just pull over and he's waiting for me on a little peninsula. He hops in. You know what I mean or like, or, or, or or. There's frogs jumping around and he's just all super interested in jumping in the long grass like a, like a Fox. I just get so much enjoyment out of it. I really do.

Speaker 3: 37:39

Dogs don't complain. They don't say no, I want to go for longer. They don't say I want to stop earlier. They don't. You know what I mean. It's just it's a good companion and I feel it's a friend. It's a good friend. It's a good friend. I had a very good friend in Scout. Scout was my best friend bar none. I say that without any kind of I'm not joking. I really sorry, I really do mean it. We had a good bond and I've always looked for that. Since him and Wolfie is I I catch myself calling him scout every now and then. Uh, and he, he's not the same. You know what I mean, but he's, he's very, very, very similar. I have that same kind of feeling towards him. Uh, it's a dog, belongs in the outdoors. If I'm, if I'm gonna be going solo a lot, which I normally do I I like to have the companion of a dog yeah, it's, we don't, we're we?

Speaker 2: 38:33

we, our previous pupper hated camping with us, like he was just bored out of his skull. He, just, he just lay in the middle of the dirt if we're front country, just like just looking at us. Oh, you'd want to sit in the car? Yeah, I'm in the car. Yeah, I'm in the car.

Speaker 1: 38:52

Although we did take him on a back country trip when he was on his last legs and I kind of regretted that we hadn't taken him on more back country stuff.

Speaker 3: 39:01

What kind of dog was that?

Speaker 2: 39:03

He was a cockapoo. Oh yeah, yeah, just a little guy Didn't, didn't paddle't, paddle. So it's, it's kind of like, yeah, you're not carrying your weight.

Speaker 1: 39:12

I couldn't understand why you couldn't just drink while we're paddling. It's like why can't I just stick my head over the side? There's water right there.

Speaker 3: 39:17

That's a tip I remember, uh, one of the first canoe trips. So I was not really able to take scout on very many canoe trips at all. He he liked to chase the lure like tripper did and he didn't really sit well in the boat and stuff. So my wife, will, and I took him on a couple trips in 2008 or so when we lived up in the Sioux, up in Lake Superior Park in this Lake, midgetamunction. Highly recommend it if you guys are in the area or whatever driving by. It's right off the road, it's awesome, but anybody. But we went in there and we were camping and I remember it was morning, we were paddling and the lake was glass. You know how in the morning sometimes it's just and Scout thought that it was like he could step on it. It was so, so glass and we really did it Almost tipped us and then the whole nine yards was quite amusing. We still talk about it. We will.

Speaker 2: 40:09

Yeah it. It was quite amusing. We still talk about it. We will. Yeah, it's hard enough to keep people from tipping you A dog that doesn't get it. Don't grab the gunnels, Exactly.

Speaker 1: 40:19

All right, that's it for us for today. Thank you so much to our special guest, joe Robinette. Please check him out on YouTube and on Instagram, and the links will be in the show notes, so please click through and check us out while you're there, and we would love to hear from you If you want to reach out to us. We are at hi at supergoodcampingcom. That's hi at supergoodcampingcom, and we'll talk to you again soon. Bye, bye.