The Wild Islander Podcast

The Tyee Pool in Campbell River, here on Vancouver Island, has a tradition & history spanning lifetimes of Island folk in the sport of fishing for some of the biggest Chinook Salmon the coast has to offer. Finding it’s roots in 1924, The Tyee Club holds a world famous tournament that brings people from all over the globe to compete under very specific circumstances & conditions during the months of July, August & September to attempt to catch a Chinook Salmon of 30lbs or greater, completely on their own. No motors. No assistance from their rower guide. Just you and the salmon you hopefully convince to snap at your lure that can weigh up 70lbs +! Join me as I attempt to join this prestigious club with my friend & guide Rick Janzen as we dive into the history of one of the most unique places here on Vancouver Island.

It’s the Season 2 finale and we’re ending it with a bang as Benj wraps things up with the story that made the season a reality… and that may or may not have been an encounter with one of the most dangerous & wild predators in all of North America. We hope you enjoyed Season 2 and we look forward to Season 3 coming this Fall (2022). A huge thank you to our sponsors Imagine Camping, Van Isle HNTR, and Ridge Wilderness for helping make this season a reality! Be sure to check out all their offerings for your next adventure. If you have suggestions for future guests on the show, send us an email to [email protected].

AdventureSmart is a national program dedicated to encouraging Canadians and visitors to Canada to “get informed and go outdoors”. Through education programs, community outreach, special events and media, they help reduce the number and severity of search and rescue incidents in the country. Much of this is thanks to this weeks guest, Sandra Riches: Executive Director of BC AdventureSmart and her incredible team. They have just recently launched a series of educational videos to compliment their diverse outdoor education programs, which include our very own Juan de Fuca trail and Mt Albert Edward here on the Island. We’ll talk about what it took to build AdventureSmart from the ground up, safety/training resources for adventure seekers, Van Isle resources & connection points within their programs and much more. Be sure to check them out at www.AdventureSmart.ca or follow them online @bcadvsmart on FB, Twitter and Instagram.

First aid is one of those essential training tools we would all love to have when adventuring in the outdoors, but if your like me, you don’t jump at the chance to sit in a classroom watching slide after slide of safety protocols as your ‘exciting weekend plans’. Enter Dave Wooldridge and the Ridge Wilderness team. They have made this often onerous task to essential safety training fun, engaging and unique in almost every way they can. Partners with the Red Cross, Dave and his team offer some of the best programs in the province in not only First Aid, but in the world of canoeing as well. This week, we’ll chat about what it took to build a successful outdoor business, crazy first aid response scenarios, owning Canada’s largest canoe and how we can all be better leaders in the outdoors by preparing ourselves to be our best selves through adventure companies like Ridge Wilderness. Be sure to check out all they have to offer you and your adventure companions at: www.ridgewilderness.com

If you’ve ever driven north of Courtenay here on VI, you might have noticed the wilderness around you becomes a little more… well, Wild. You see more open hillsides up into the mountains and remote logging roads that seem to carry on forever in every direction. It’s hard to know where to begin when seeking your next adventure, so this week we’re joined by my longtime outdoor adventure companion, Shawn Quinton, as we share some of our favourite places to explore on the North end of Vancouver Island. We talk about places to rock climb, portage routes, the elusive Grizzly Bears that have swam over from the mainland, abandoned youth correctional facilities, places to take the family, places to take only the most adventurous folks, and so much more. Shawn is a longtime wilderness guide here on VI, working at places like Strathcona Park Lodge, Mt. Washington, and Camp Bob. Shawn has extensive training & experience in rock climbing, sea-kayaking, outdoor leadership, wilderness first aid, navigation and so much more. You can follow him @shawn_of_the_cave_13 and all of the amazing places he guides with mentioned above!

One of the most asked questions we get is: where can we go to explore new Vancouver Island outdoor gems? Where are all the cool places we see online and how do we get there?? Well y’all are in luck because you asked and we answered: we invited our friend of the show, Dylan Benson from the GTFO Company to help find some absolutely gorgeous spots to explore, specifically from Victoria to Naniamo on VI. We talk about stunning beaches, chasing waterfalls and places so accessible, kids can come with you! And don’t worry, our next episode will have all the spots for those looking a little farther North as well. And if you’re looking for even more locations, follow us online to find new places to explore for every age or skill set!

Strathcona Provincial Park, designated in 1911, is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia. Located almost in the dead centre of Vancouver Island, Strathcona Park is a rugged mountain wilderness comprising more than 250,000 hectares. Visited by tens of thousands of people, it takes a certain amount of care, structure and strategy to make the park goers experience amazing each year. Enter, the Park Rangers: the stewards of these incredible habitats and places we get to experience the Wild in the safest way possible. This week, we’re joined by Strathcona’s Sr Park Ranger, Mattias Morrison, as he shares his journey of growing up in downtown Vancouver to becoming a wilderness guru that has a fierce love for the Vancouver Island wilderness and beyond. We talk about encounters with bears, learning the ways of the wilderness, what’s involved with preserving a park and opportunities to volunteer in Strathcona itself! If you have questions and would like to connect with Mattias, email him at [email protected]. You can also follow him online @ranger_mash and of course, follow @yourbcparks to find info on all the incredible places our province has preserved and has available for you to enjoy this summer! For Croteau Lake opportunities mentioned in the show, head to https://bcparks.ca/volunteers/opportunities/volunteer-host/strathcona/ ✌🏼

The story tellers of Vancouver Island are many, and there really isn’t any one form or another that has more value… but from time out of mind, it’s people have told it’s stories for generations and the imprint it’s shores, peaks and valleys have had on each one. Today, we’re joined by Caleb Harding who has been telling the life story of his connection with this place through venues like social media, documenting his real life experiences primarily in the heart of the west coast in the community of Tofino. We chat about free-diving, eating sea cucumbers, restoring wildlife habitats, raising families in the wilderness, harvesting wild foods, exploring the West Coast and hear about his Call to the Coastline of our beloved Island. Be sure to follow Caleb’s journey @_vanisland_ . This episode is brought to by our friends at Van Isle HNTR, apparel for the huntsman or woman right here on Van Isle. Check out their website vanislehunter.ca for their hats, shirts and decals designed right here on VI.

For any of us that choose the outdoors as our playground and live & play in the wild, it’s astounding to know that there are teams of men & women that voluntarily train year round to save us when we need it most… it’s nothing but humbling when you stop to think about it. This weeks episode, we have the honour of hearing from the Comox Valley Ground Search & Rescue’s own search manager & society president, Paul Berry. Over the last 25yrs that he’s chosen to serve the communities of the Island and beyond, he has accrued a lifetime of experience that he has graciously taken the time to share a small sliver of on this weeks Wild Islander Podcast episode. Be sure to check out there fundraising efforts for their Roofs for Rescuers campaign at cvgsar.com and also the resources available at adventuresmart.ca for all of your backcountry experiences.

We continue on to the second part of Derek’s time on the Wild Islander Podcast as he unpacks the learning curve of fly-fishing, where to look for advice/tip/tricks and become a better angler here on Van Isle. We talk about fish species, specifically trout, here on the Island and the never ending cycle of success and failures in our attempts to land them. If you love a good story, than Derek will be a real treat to listen to as he promotes his first novel “The Last Summer on the Sage” and his writings in Fly Fusion magazine. Be sure to follow along with his journey @derekrbird on Instagram. This episode is brought to you once again by Imagine Camping located with here on the Island: check out their pages on FB & Instagram where they have the Fireside Fork available for all your outdoor cooking needs. My family’s been using them for years and we love ‘em! Rust free, lightweight and supercooling: the perfect combo for any fireside meal ✌🏼