Meet Smokey Odin Fay

Smokey Odin Fay

This is Smokey and he's the newest member of the outdoors team! He's a good boy who loves the outdoors and spending time with dad!

Gin Lake Late September 2017

Gin Lake September 2017

My first time Kayak Camping.

My friends and I went camping up on Gin Lake, we wanted to see if we'd be able to load the kayaks with what we needed to camp for three nights and as it turns out we could! We had a great time though the last couple days were a little cool. My one friend lost his kayak and had to go search for it... hopefully he takes my advice and learns some proper knots. Worst of all though, would be me. Yep this guy right here! After finding out my friends kayak was missing I went to go down the hill to see if we could spot it. I ended up sliding, trying to catch myself and then into the water up to my waist. Got out, changed into some dry socks, shorts and tshirt then hung out in the hammock for the next 14 hours while my pants dried (It was evening time). The next morning my pants were dry but my shoes were still wet so I dried them by the fire. Once they were dry we decided it was time to pack up and leave so I wandered down to my kayak to get the water out of it. Unfortunately I wasn't too careful getting in and it rolled on me sending my into the lake up to my neck. Luckily it was warm in the sun. We paddled back to the truck, unloaded our stuff and then went home. Not much happened this trip except for some much needed rest and relaxation which we three needed. 

We listened to The Hobbit and first one and a half Lord of the Rings audiobooks (They're way better than the movies), Sat around the fire and chilled (Sometimes quite literally..) The last day was really windy and we were worried about it at first with all the gear we had but it seems mother nature loves us because as soon as we were ready to leave the wind stopped and the sun came out in full! Man was it nice (Especially for me since I was soaked from the neck down)

Canada Day 2017 A night at Buckhorn Locks

Canada Day 2017  A Night at Buckhorn Locks.

 I was driving the boat so couldn't take many pictures.

So I left Young's Point in my boat and went through a few sets of locks before ending up on Chemong Lake. I was there to visit my grandparents, my aunt and my uncle who had rented a cottage on the lake. After a nice visit with my family I headed back out in the boat and motored my way back to the locks hoping to get through in time before the last lockage at 5:30 PM. I arrived two minutes to late and couldn't get through. That was fine, the fella at the locks told me that I could set up camp for free as long as I was up and ready to go through the locks when they opened. He even gave me the number for the keypad for the bathroom! I set up my hammock and relaxed on a picnic table near the water for the evening, snacking on watermelon and other treats compliments of my Nana. As night dawned I crawled into my hammock and listened to a book from the Legend of Drizzt series until falling sleep. I woke up the next morning, took down my hammock and made sure I wasn't leaving anything behind as I loaded my boat. When 9:00 rolled around I was ready and waiting to start my journey home.

The French River (Holy Cow 21 Pictures?!?)

This was my trip to the French River

Didn't catch too many fish but seen lots of nice scenery!

So I went to the French River and stayed at Bear's Den Lodge. It was about 2km away by boat from where we parked the truck and launched the boats. It was a beautiful cabin that we stayed in and the people were very nice. My friend Kyle and I spent a lot of time in the little aluminum boat exploring all the nooks and crannies. The little 8hp motor had plenty of power to get us where we were going in a reasonable amount of time. We had a great time and I can't wait to go back for another week next summer!

My EDC Knife!

My EDC Knife

KaBar Becker Necker (BK 11)

 This is my KaBar Becker Necker! I bought it a few months ago and it's a pretty decent little knife. I have used it for cutting cardboard, paracord, rope, carpet and such. It opens my mail and it keeps an edge pretty good from what I can tell. I keep it sharp with my Lansky sharpening kit. I carry it on piece of red paracord around my neck and unless it is getting in the way then I tuck it into my shirt. Come to think of it, I've pried baseboards from my cousins wall with it as well. It takes a beating and asks for more, I love my little EDC.

My Portable Power Box!

When left to my own devices... I sometimes build devices...

An ammo can, some wire, a battery, a fuse panel and a few other things can make quite the portable power box.

 All closed up and waterproof! It's heavy-ish..

Inside View - Turned off. It looks like a jumbled mess but there's a method to the madness. Lots of extra wire because everything is on it's own fuse and the 500w inverter is on it's own breaker. I have a 100 amp circuit breaker acting as a main power switch that I use to turn the power on or off to the entire system.

 This is it powered on! I only need to figure out how to make a removable mount for the USB/12v panel.

Off to Gin Lake!

Off to Gin Lake!

Or so we thought...

So, it's late spring 2017 and my friends and I have decided to go check out one of our favorite spots. It was beautiful and warm when we arrived so we launched our kayaks and a canoe for another friend and headed through the narrows. It was a beautiful paddle until we got to the end of the narrows...

The lake was still frozen over! The ice was thin and for the most part we could easily break through it but when we got closer to the edges of the lake the ice got thicker. In the picture above we see a friend of mine on top of the ice in the canoe. You can see the broken ice between him and my other friend who is just barely on camera.