4 Day Canoe Camp Through the Haunting Deadlands

We explore the burnt out remains of the the Tatachikapika River forest by canoe. The river is raging from the icy spring meltwaters and is under an active flood warning, making for a challenging whitewater adventure.
Jon ‪@LostLakes‬
Xander ‪@XanderBudnick‬
My 2018 trip down the Tatachikapika River: • Tatachikapika River ‘L...
0:00 Day 1
8:43 Day 2
27:50 Day 3
41:49 Day 4
45:49 MTV River Ed. Outro
Music licensed from Artlist.io
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[@XanderBudnick]

Loved this!!!! hit me with the action, sentimental bits, good vibes, laughs and nostalgia. good stuff my man :D

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Thanks my dude! Such a fun trip! Let's do it again!

[@LostLakes]

Hahah what a shitshow. I will never tire of hearing your whitewater screams of joy. Excellent edit buddy. After zero whitewater in 2023 I'm looking forward to another humiliation in 2024 in a new boat

[@MustardTigerFan42]

That patch was something else! Should have invited them both to you’re wedding lol would have been epic

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Can't wait for the next one man! We'll make sure to give that new canoe a proper baptism; hopefully open side up all the way!

[@Martin_G]

I think Brad just screams for the camera 😆. What boat were you paddling on this river? It has really nice lines and looks pretty responsive. I'm also guessing by the red interior it was made by Rob Haslam.

[@LostLakes]

@@Martin_G lol it was indeed! It's a 15' raven

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Lolol can't help it 🤣 Get a bit too excited

[@CAMP_KITCH]

Awesome trip with a solid group! Black bean burgers look dope! Cool river! Thanks for bringing us along for the ride!

[@jaysway2346]

Yesssss!!!! another video already, Brad should take the kid's out more often.

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Haha, good crew, and they're eager to learn!

[@TheOutdoorSeeker]

You are becoming a whitewater specialist! I also like your knowledge about the places you paddle.

[@trishaharrison6183]

Awesome trip with my three favourites. I’m with Jon with the Brad whitewater screams. Worth watching the vid just for that. Pretty cool scenery also going through the burn. You’s all did great paddling and played safe.❤️

[@user-hk7ol9ls1e]

What a thrilling heart thumping adventure. Super trio together. Awesome John and Zander got to share your excitement and experience

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

was a blast. Those two were great company!

[@michaelbroyer3918]

Thoroughly enjoyed this white water canoe camping video. Well done!!

[@AndrewHill_OzarkRoots]

Great group of guys, and an awesome run!

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Got that right! Great crew here. Super enjoyable to paddle with!

[@Mike_the_Machine]

Paddle it every June, first week been doing it for the years now, love that river, great video

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

It's a great river to have in our backyard! Really glad to see it gets continued use despite the forest fire.

[@Barret-paddles]

So fun! Felt like I was in the boat 🙌🏻🙌🏻 Great group, amazing editing, and so many thanks for the ride 💜🙌🏻👊🏻

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Glad you enjoyed it! One of those trips you don't want to end as you're having too much fun!

[@jimburns6528]

Ug, winter has just started and I NEED to go run this river. Nice video. Can’t what for the next one to get me through winter to ice out.

[@bendrixbailey1430]

Killer spring trip. NO BUGS, NO BUGS, NO BUGS! I’ll take the cold over bugs any day. Why no fishing? I saw the rods! It would kill me to go down that river, have those campfires, and not roast some fish….

[@Canoejerry]

Great edit.

[@michaelschuetz2427]

What an erie landscape. I love the whitewater it looks like so much fun even with the bumps and, bangs. Nice to see the skill you've aquired with so many years experience. Title reminds me of one the scenes from a favorite movie of mine. Nice to see some decent regrowth there must be some actual soil in that area. Thanks for sharing, really like your perspective.

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Thanks! Yeah, the soil is thin, but patchy. The jack pine do well on thin, fast draining sandy soils. I am always amazed at how some of them cling to life in the littlest crack or thinnest of top soils. Of course all that dead standing timber will start to decay and add much needed nutrients. The forest is always in a constant state of change, just impressive how fast it rebounds following a disturbance too. Thanks for watching!

[@michaelschuetz2427]

It's always seems that burned areas do so much better than the big clear cuts I've seen. I'm assuming it's bc the fire/heat gets cones ready to germinate, is that right? I'm asking bc I know with your forestry knowledge you could give me the lowdown. Burns here, Michigan seem more erratic. I think bc so much of area is a sand box. BTW I worked my thru Uni planting all kinds of conifers, trees + etc in the grosse pointes, I loved that job.

[@jimhanson7476]

A great run….., enjoyed

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Many thanks Jim!

[@CanadianSledDog]

Awesome! Those guys are lucky to have you to teach them a thing or two 😂

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Haha, they we're eager to learn. Initially, I was a bit worried about making it all the way down after how the first run went for Jon but he took everything in stride. Great river to build skills on!

[@backcountrylakes]

Awesome Vid!! really enjoyed...

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Awesome! Thanks!!

[@pamalvestad3848]

Epic!!!

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

So many nice runs on this route!

[@Canoejerry]

Any tips on the black bean burger mix or recipie, storing, cooking ?

[@downeastprimitiveskills7688]

I seems like John is usually sitting to far forward in his boat for down stream travel. Looks like super high water Have you run this in lower water conditions?

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Yes, good eye. We caught this on day 3. He had quite a bit more stability and control after moving back to center. I ran the upper when it was a little lower after ice out in 2018. I've run the lower stretch quite a few times in June. You don't want to go after July or during a summer drought as you'll undoubtedly be walking more through bony riffles. The summer whitewater is much more tame. If you search Tatachikapika, there's a few other videos online from different conditions worth checking out for an idea of levels and flow.

[@user-ik4fd9ny4b]

Where's Leah??? Great first 2:30 minutes Brad. You are an expert! Looking forward to watching the rest! EXCELLENT VID!

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Just a boys trip for this one, but she came out for the Onaping river which was just a week or so later! Have a bunch of videos form our trips for later this winter/spring.

[@user-ik4fd9ny4b]

I’m looking forward to watching them. Merry Christmas.

[@jeffarthur322]

Curious as to the layup of the red solo canoe?

[@ndginpq]

Great video! When was this run?

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Thanks! First week of May 2022.

[@ndginpq]

@@ExploreTheBackcountry wow early!

[@NikonF5user]

What make and model is the red canoe? Cool looking ship!

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Not 100% sure. It's Jon's, so he'd have better insight. Was a pretty cool vintage ride though!

[@ChapSinclair]

Bell Canoe works , Yellowstone solo.... I believe. The other two were Nova Craft Prospector 17's.

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

Ah, looks a lot like that Bell! The Prospectors are 16's. Yellow is Tuffstuff Exp, the Blue is an older Royalex

[@ChapSinclair]

27:57 wait a second where did the Yellow boat come from? I thought Trip leader paddled a red Nova Craft in the last video! But it is good to have more than 1 canoe !

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

@@ChapSinclair I have a few canoes in the fleet. Yellow and oxblood prospectors, green Moisie, red Cronje and a few others that I don't think I've shown in a video before. Different boats for different trips. Never such a thing as too many canoes!!

[@sdHansy]

When was this, beginning of the year?

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

May 2022, just days after ice out.

[@flyinacircle6398]

PRE-BUG, PRE-BUG, PRE-BUG!!!

[@ExploreTheBackcountry]

The most magical time of the year, haha! Always a good feeling, having a lighter pack when you leave the bug shelter and jackets at home.

[@kevinharding2099]

The music is a distraction.

[@ChapSinclair]

Ok Karen, We'll notify the manager for you.