Jon from the Lost Lakes youtube channel and Xander Budnick another youtuber did an adventurous trip in solo boats. This is part one of Xander's trip report. I'm posting here because both these guys put out great content and have become tripping partners sometimes.

This first part of a series scares the daylights out of me and there's a situation with food that is pretty crazy as well. I think this series is one all us soloists will enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATLemL6xlmA

Thank you! Probably the best canoe video I've seen since Bill Mason movies. Strainers looked dangerous, but what really scared the hell out of me is watching paddlers wading kilometers of rapids in strong current in more than knee deep water. They risked potentially deadly foot entrapment.

Thanks for the link. Looking forward to watching this. I was able to spend a week backpacking in Pukaskwa all along the coast and that is a Canadian National Park I would return to at a moments notice. Amazing remote scenery and all along the best of the great lakes.

EddyTurn: "Thank you! Probably the best canoe video I've seen since Bill Mason movies. Strainers looked dangerous, but what really scared the hell out of me is watching paddlers wading kilometers of rapids in strong current in more than knee deep water. They risked potentially deadly foot entrapment."

That's exactly what I kept thinking about!

When I was young and green I went down a flooded creek with similar water flow and ended up wrapping my lightweight solo on a rock. So watching this really brought back the memories.

Canoeing the coast appeals to me though. I look forward to the rest of this.

And what about forgetting 1/3 of your food? I’ve forgotten things but man! It’s a good thing Jon is a really great fisherman.

Thanks, TomT! I'll definitely check it out.

Minnesotian: "
Thanks for the link. Looking forward to watching this. I was able to spend a week backpacking in Pukaskwa all along the coast and that is a Canadian National Park I would return to at a moments notice. Amazing remote scenery and all along the best of the Great Lakes. "

Hey Minnesotian, did you by chance do a write up of this trip? I’ve been thinking I want to get back into backpacking. That’s a place I would love to go to.

Great video. Definitely intimidating rapids on this trip.

Wally13: "Great video. Definitely intimidating rapids on this trip."

A little “bony” as they say. No thanks, I get anxiety just watching. How about that sweeper sweeping Jon right into the water? lol

EddyTurn: "Thank you! Probably the best canoe video I've seen since Bill Mason movies. Strainers looked dangerous, but what really scared the hell out of me is watching paddlers wading kilometers of rapids in strong current in more than knee deep water. They risked potentially deadly foot entrapment."

Agree, but sometimes there really aren't better options....

I really enjoy Jon's videos. I have not watched as much of Xander, but was enjoyable to see the other side of a trip. Always enjoy a good paddling video.

Xander and Jon Part 2

This is another trip report by Lost Lakes in northern Pukaskwa Park. It's really wild in there and some spectacular walleye fishing with a few brookies also.

I'm going to have to go there.

5 day world class walleye and trout trip

TomT: "

Minnesotian: "
Thanks for the link. Looking forward to watching this. I was able to spend a week backpacking in Pukaskwa all along the coast and that is a Canadian National Park I would return to at a moments notice. Amazing remote scenery and all along the best of the Great Lakes. "

Hey Minnesotian, did you by chance do a write up of this trip? I’ve been thinking I want to get back into backpacking. That’s a place I would love to go to. "

Yep, I did a mini one in the On Foot group. Pukaskwa Backpacking trip

Thanks Minnesotian, I look forward to checking that out! That park intrigues me, especially the coast. It’s something I’m going to look into as I want to explore other areas besides the BW and Quetico. Thanks for the link.

This is a good video report of just paddling the coast of the park. It's a tandem couple and they have a really good you tube channel. Brad Jennings is extremely knowledgeable. He and his wife Leah make a great team. It's not a solo video but more for people wanting to check out this particular park in Ontario.

Explore The Backcountry

Interesting video on the Puk. River. We did the river 3 times in the 70's. We flew in the 1st time to Widgeon Lake, portaged to the Fox River and then down the Puk. The next 2 times we paddled from highway 17, down the White River to Pokei Lake, then up Pokei Creek and some lakes to the Puk., and got picked up on Lake Superior by Horst Anderson in his fish tug. Lots of runnable rapids. We caught some monster trout, but oddly enough only about 2 fish in each spot we fished. I've heard they put a road part way in there now. It was wild in those days. They were just starting to mark the portages then.

Voyager: "Interesting video on the Puk. River. We did the river 3 times in the 70's. We flew in the 1st time to Widgeon Lake, portaged to the Fox River and then down the Puk. The next 2 times we paddled from highway 17, down the White River to Pokei Lake, then up Pokei Creek and some lakes to the Puk., and got picked up on Lake Superior by Horst Anderson in his fish tug. Lots of runnable rapids. We caught some monster trout, but oddly enough only about 2 fish in each spot we fished. I've heard they put a road part way in there now. It was wild in those days. They were just starting to mark the portages then."

That's really cool and a long time ago. It still seems very wild, and they only showed one portage sign. There could have been more and they werent on the video.

This is Jon's video report. Much longer than Xander's and very different. Jon IMO is one of the best out there as far as putting out great video content. If only he'd stop showing so much fish bonking. LOL

13 nights Pukaskwa Park

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This is Jon's video report. Much longer than Xander's and very different. Jon IMO is one of the best out there as far as putting out great video content. If only he'd stop showing so much fish bonking. LOL

I've been really enjoying Jon and Xander's videos, but I have to disagree on the fish bonking. When I was first learning to fish I didn't have anyone to teach me. Dispatching a fish humanely was one of the most intimidating parts, and I remember searching youtube for a video of how to do it and just couldn't come up with one because nobody would show it. I appreciate that he's willing to show one of the more controversial aspects.

lionman: "

...
This is Jon's video report. Much longer than Xander's and very different. Jon IMO is one of the best out there as far as putting out great video content. If only he'd stop showing so much fish bonking. LOL

I've been really enjoying Jon and Xander's videos, but I have to disagree on the fish bonking. When I was first learning to fish I didn't have anyone to teach me. Dispatching a fish humanely was one of the most intimidating parts, and I remember searching youtube for a video of how to do it and just couldn't come up with one because nobody would show it. I appreciate that he's willing to show one of the more controversial aspects."

I agree with you and I've actually done it that way for many years. I just think explaining it and showing it one time per trip report is suffice.

Jon is the absolute best when it comes to teaching ethics in the wilderness. I really admire the guy and think he's going to do great things in the future for wilderness areas. He could be a modern day Sig Olson, time will tell.

Accidentally stumbling on to one of Jon’s (Lost Lakes) old videos while killing time on YouTube a couple years ago was the catalyst for me to try backcountry canoeing and solo camping. I still feel like a novice in the canoe, but I’m very grateful to have found a new way to connect with a wilderness environment.

Sunburn: "Accidentally stumbling on to one of Jon’s (Lost Lakes) old videos while killing time on YouTube a couple years ago was the catalyst for me to try backcountry canoeing and solo camping. I still feel like a novice in the canoe, but I’m very grateful to have found a new way to connect with a wilderness environment."

Jon's really gotten good in a short time making videos. He just released a couple solo winter trips in a hot tent. He was just out camped on a wilderness lake with his hot tent in -40 below temps with big snow and wind before the cold.

At this stage of my life, I prefer a cabin to a hot tent. :)

It's a well put together video. But how can you forget one-third of your food? I think it's great that they openly included their forgotten food crisis in the video (I would have been too embarassed to include it)...so I applaud them for doing so.

Mike

I like Jon's Lost Lakes channel as well as Xander's. He/they have also done trips with Xander's brother Maxim, Keenan from Canoe the North, and Brad from Explore the Backcountry. All have channels with good content, solo trips, couples trips, a few groups like mentioned. I also like Jim Baird's solos, especially the really remote trips, one with his brother Ted. The Dutch Explorer has some good videos solo and couple in WCPP. There's also Joe Robinet, Justin Barbour, Northern Scavenger among others if your looking for more content for winter viewing.

boonie: "I like Jon's Lost Lakes channel as well as Xander's. He/they have also done trips with Xander's brother Maxim, Keenan from Canoe the North, and Brad from Explore the Backcountry. All have channels with good content, solo trips, couples trips, a few groups like mentioned. I also like Jim Baird's solos, especially the really remote trips, one with his brother Ted. The Dutch Explorer has some good videos solo and couple in WCPP. There's also Joe Robinet, Justin Barbour, Northern Scavenger among others if your looking for more content for winter viewing."

I saw a couple days ago that Xander and Maxim (Budnick brothers) are hooking up with Jim Baird and another fellow you tuber for a 10-12 night winter trek through Temagami. That should be entertaining.

MikeinMpls: "It's a well put together video. But how can you forget one-third of your food? I think it's great that they openly included their forgotten food crisis in the video (I would have been too embarrassed to include it)...so I applaud them for doing so.

Mike"

It's what I love about Jon, he's just real. He knows we all mess up from time to time. Heck, in 2008 I got a tow across huge Snowbank Lake to start an 8 day loop. I shuttled my truck over to Lake One for our take out.

As we unloaded from the towboat the map case was nowhere to be found. I left my 16 year old son (on his first trip) with the gear and rode the boat back to Smittys resort. Looked in our bunk room, not there.

It had to be in my truck hopefully.... I paid for a ride to the truck on Lake one. My map sat in the bed of the pickup. Got a ride back, paid for another tow and my son was not amused.

Live and learn. These days I'm big on checklists and looking everywhere to make sure we have everything.

I'm not really a winter camper, but that could be interesting - Xander is a loose cannon, Jim gets a loopy sometimes, Maxim is the straight man.

I just saw a preview on Northern Scavenger of a 30-day trip across the Barrens coming up in the future. I really enjoyed their long Boreal to Barrenlands trip.