Table of contents for Fall 2024 in Explore Magazine

Outdoor swimming. That’s the only thing summer has over fall. Every other “summertime” activity is actually better post-Labour Day. I’ll die on that hill. Take camping. By mid-September, many of the campfire bans have ended—meaning you can again add crackling wood to your campsite motif. Nights are a little longer, sure, but it’s also nice to not be cooked like a sausage inside your tent by 7 a.m. And I’ll take a quiet fall campground over a stuffed-to-the-gills summertime party-site any day. Plus, no bugs! Cycling? I puffed through a 50-kilometre ride last July and finished with heat exhaustion. No joke—I thought I had the flu, but I’d just pushed it too hard when it was too hot. I don’t usually have these problems in October. Paddling? OK, maybe we’re…

It can be overwhelming for a weekend warrior who has only headed out on two- or three-day trips to suddenly decide to step it up a notch and plan a one- or two-week canoe excursion. There’s a lot to consider before taking the leap. But being out longer is worth the effort. By day five, you’ll become less paranoid over things like bears and bugs. By day 10 you won’t even know, or care, what day it is. You’ll be connected to your wild surroundings and you won’t want the experience to end. Food Matters It’s obvious—you’ll need to pack more food for a longer trip, and you won’t be able to pack fresh veggies and juicy steaks for every day of the trip, either. You could purchase prepackaged dehydrated…

WILD SIDE In the early 1980s, British travel writer Bruce Chatwin visited the Australian outback to try to understand how Aboriginal people navigated vast distances across a seemingly barren and harsh territory. Aboriginal Australians memorized and sung what are known as “songlines.” These narratives were packed with information: what foods were safe to eat, places to avoid and landmarks and features that would enable them to know they were travelling in the right direction. These were songs with a function, much deeper than entertainment. Songlines became the title of Chatwin’s bestselling 1987 book that blended fiction and non-fiction to explore an ancient way of understanding, interpreting and navigating through landscape. Modern technology has placed GPS-powered digital maps at our fingertips. Consequently, I would argue, our navigational brains have atrophied. "THERE’S…

After 45 minutes of easy hiking along an unremarkable path, the Towab Trail delivers a sudden sensory overload at Burnt Rock Pool. Here, the Agawa River’s root beer-coloured flow ricochets off a slab of polished granite and casts galaxies of foamy tannins in the eddying currents. The mesmerizing waters, the feel of sunbaked rock and the panoply of reds, oranges and purples of maples erupting on the towering canyon walls upstream urge me to pause and take it all in. I drop my pack and linger, thinking about the thousands of tourists who come to my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie each year to sit for 10 hours on a passenger train to see the Agawa Canyon. I’ve never ridden the Agawa Canyon Tour Train, though I’m sure it’s a…

For many people living with a disability, barriers can slow or even stop them from experiencing the profound joys and freedom found in outdoor adventure. These organizations are working to make outdoor adventure accessible to all, to share a love for the outdoors and knock down barriers and misconceptions—because adventures are better together, and we all deserve to have access to nature. Community Recreational Initiatives Society (CRIS) Kelowna, BC From rock climbing in the Bugaboos to backpacking on the Rockwall Trail, CRIS provides both single-day adventures and multi-day backcountry trips adapted for people with disabilities to experience the wonders of the wilderness. CRIS has supported participants who have cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries and visual impairments. Each trip provides participants with the adaptive equipment they need, while trained medical professionals…

PROFILES Picking up the trail from Tanzania and the crescendo of their last trip to Africa in 2016, Quebec adventurers Janick Lemieux and Pierre Bouchard are back in the saddle for another year-long bikepacking expedition. “We’ll enter Mozambique south of Lake Malawi and curve to the Eswatini border,” outlined Bouchard from the comfort of their cabin in Charlevoix, Quebec days before departing Canada on June 6, 2024. “South Africa will come next, interspersed with a sojourn on Madagascar—on a return flight from Johannesburg—and a crossing of the Kingdom of Lesotho. From there we should reach the Indian Ocean and follow the coastline to Cape Aghulhas, from there the only way is north! Atlantic coast, Kalahari Desert in Botswana and Namibia, then a crossing of Angola and transit through the Congos…

Gravel riding, wing-foiling, pickleball—who would have predicted these sports’ popularity even 10 years ago. Even more of a mystery are the new activities that didn’t make it. To ensure we adopt the next “It” sport, we’ve consulted futurists, cutting edge athletes and psychics. Read the following brief for bragging rights that you were there at the beginning. The Sport: Off-Road Disc Golf A sober and fast-paced spin on disc golf that adds orienteering and trail running to the frisbee fun. What’s Not to Love: Get a sweat on while exploring a new forested area. The virtual baskets reduce the environmental impact. Haters’ Gonna Hate: No time to drink beer or hang with friends. Plus, it’s impossible to run with a disc caddy. Blow Up Potential: Medium. Hipsters, frustrated that the sport…

BRIGHT BOLD COLOURS Attribute it to the retro revival, an antidote to the heaviness of life or just a celebration of our outdoor passion. Whatever the reason, more and more brands are highlighting all over earth tones with cheerful yellows, pinks and greens. A colourful palate is Cotopaxi’s (cotopaxi.com) branding, and their new Bacano Fleece Jacket ($230) follows suit. The furry and warm, hoodless fleece comes in fun colour combos, like a purple with orange zipper accents. Pingora (pingora-gear.com), a new pack brand, uses re-purposed fabric, which means they sew together a bunch of different fabrics and bright colours into their Lucid 20 ($168), an aerobic-focused day pack. CIRCULARITY It’s one thing to use recycled content. It’s another to make a product that can be recycled at the end of…

GADD’S TRUTH “It’s a hike on Alltrails. I downloaded it, we’re good.” The youngish man telling me this was absolutely confident that he and his party of older “hikers” were on an established trail with some, “scrambling well within our abilities.” I’d just come down the same route, where we’d done two roped-rappels I would not comfortably climb without a rope and proper gear. I tried to politely engage, as I do often in the mountains while guiding or climbing on my own, “I just came down this ridge, and it has some real rock climbing above us. Have you been up here before?” But Mr. Confidence was not deterred, and promptly showed his non-impressive climbing abilities by latching onto the steepest piece of rock in the immediate area, indiscriminately…

MEC Fireside Fleece Snap Pullover $99.95; mec.ca Our favourite fleece just got better. The MEC Fireside collection has been updated with a more relaxed fit and more sustainability. Made from 100 percent recycled polyester fleece, this jacket is useful year-round, from cutting the chill after the summer sun turns in, to layered under your shell on winter adventures. Tourism Golden’s Golden Shuttle Price varies; goldenshuttle.ca Leave the car and your winter driving worries behind and use the daily winter shuttle service to get from Calgary Airport to Golden and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in British Columbia. Once you’re here, a regular shuttle service makes it easy to move between downtown and the resort. Mustang Survival Quadra Dry Suit $999; mustangsurvival.ca Designed and tested in BC, the new Quadra Dry Suit…