We are excited to share our interview with Martin of Paddle Atlas. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!
1. How did you get into paddling and multi-day trips?
I grew up in a canoe, been on the water for as long as I can remember. My father was an avid canoeist, fisherman and duck hunter and passed that passion to my brother and I.
I've always been drawn to the idea of exploring what lies beyond the next bend in the river or the next portage.
For me, paddling has never really been about covering distances or reaching destinations. It's about the journey itself, the freedom to explore, and the sense of discovery that comes from travelling through places that haven't changed much in generations.
Over time, multi-day trips became a natural extension of that curiosity. Spending several days, sometimes weeks, in the backcountry gives you something that a day trip rarely can. You begin to settle into a different rhythm. Your priorities become simpler, and you start paying attention to things you might otherwise overlook.
There's something about waking up beside a quiet lake, knowing that the day's direction is yours to choose, that never seems to lose its appeal.
That's a big part of why I keep going back.
2. Tell us about your recent trip.
Rather than focus entirely on one particular expedition, I'd like to look back at the past four years I've spent exploring with my MRS Nomad.
When I first started travelling with a packraft, I was intrigued by the possibilities. Here was a boat that could carry me and my equipment across lakes and rivers, yet could be deflated, rolled up and carried on my back.
That changes the way you approach a route.
Suddenly, a long portage becomes less intimidating. A remote lake that requires several kilometres of portaging to reach becomes a realistic destination.
And sometimes, you don't even need to deflate the raft. Being able to simply pick it up and carry it across a short portage is one of those small conveniences that you come to appreciate more and more with experience. For me personally, anything under 600 meters I don’t deflate, anything more, I take the extra 5 minutes to deflate, roll and secure the raft on my pack. There are always the exceptions, like the very harsh unmaintained bushwhacking trails, you know, the one you need both hands to push your way through, can’t see your feet because it is so dense.
I learned that the hard way a few years back; a 1.4km trail was marked as unmaintained on the map, the day was early, I was full of energy and ready for anything, so I thought. Turned out to be one of the most difficult portage I have ever crossed, with chest high pack brush, fallen trees in every direction criss-crossing the trail, with hidden mud holes and slippery rocks and roots every second steps. I would take a 5 km portage instead of that any day.
All that to say, doesn’t matter the distance, it is the terrain that dictate the course of action.
3. The Canadian Shield is notorious for sharp granite, exposed rock shelves and severe whitewater. Has your packraft taken a beating, and how has it handled repeated contact with rocky terrain?
Anyone who has paddled extensively across the Canadian Shield knows that the landscape isn't particularly forgiving.
There are shallow passages, submerged rocks, granite shorelines and plenty of places where even the most careful paddler will eventually make contact with something solid.
Then there are the beaver dams.
I've lost count of how many times I've approached what looked like a perfectly manageable little obstruction, only to discover that the local engineers had built something considerably more ambitious.
Sometimes you can slide over, in that nice little water ‘’V’’ going over, always such a great feeling when you make through with dry feet! Sometimes you have to get out and drag the boat across. And sometimes you find yourself standing knee-deep in muddy water, negotiating with a pile of pointy sticks while wondering whether the beavers are somewhere nearby watching the whole performance.
It's all part of the experience.
Packrafts may look delicate to someone unfamiliar with them, especially compared with a traditional canoe, but their construction and flexibility make them surprisingly capable of dealing with the occasional impacts and abrasions that come with backcountry travel.
Unlike a rigid hull, an inflatable packraft has a certain amount of give when it encounters an obstacle. That doesn't make it indestructible, of course, but it's a characteristic I've come to appreciate when navigating shallow, rocky waterways.
You still have to respect the material, choose your lines carefully and use good judgment, especially when approaching beaver dams, treat them as a wall of pointy sticks aiming at you; same goes for a canoe, but extra caution in an inflatable boat is advised.
4. What were some of the highlights of your expeditions?
Looking back over my years of exploring, some of my favourite moments aren't necessarily the most dramatic ones.
They're often the quieter discoveries.
Reaching a remote lake after a long portage, paddling on a remote lake and realizing there's nobody else around for miles. Following a narrow river simply to see where it goes. Finding a campsite you hadn't planned on, but that turns out to be exactly where you want to spend the evening.
Those are the experiences that stay with me.
With Paddle Atlas, I am sharing some of those special moments, from the lenses of an explorer and deep reflections about life and nature.
5. What were the biggest challenges you faced?
Over the years, I've encountered my share of challenges, but many of them have less to do with the packraft itself than with the realities of wilderness travel.
Route planning is a particularly interesting challenge to me. A route that looks straightforward on a map can turn into something entirely different when you're standing in front of a marsh, never ending twisting creeks, a tangled shoreline or yet another beaver dam. No paper map or blog can ever prepare you for the reality of the moment. You can have a good idea, but water levels fluctuate, beavers build new dams, the 1 km creek is overgrown or dried up.
On one of my solo expedition, I made the decision to deviate from my planned route to go explore a small lake via a quick portage and I could bushwhack my way over from the far side of that lake back into the next lake where I was supposed to go. Turned out that through stubbornness, self-labelled as ‘’sense of adventure’’, I paddled over the dried up lake/pond in a murky 3-4 inch of muddy water until I couldn’t move any further, I was stuck. I found myself waist deep in sticky muck, trying to not sink deeper while pushing my packraft to the closest shore, just under 100 meters away. An hour later, on shore, nowhere close to the portage or the bushwhack trail I intended, I was exhausted, dirty like I’ve never been, and now facing a difficult choice; finding a way back to the portage or continue pushing towards the next lake. At that point there were no more ‘’sense of adventure’’ in me, so I made the safe decision of backtracking. Going back to a known location, to the planned route I had, not only me, but my wife at home. Going of the plan wasn’t a bad idea at first and didn’t seem risky until I got stuck in the muck. We all have our own level of risk and what we can live with. I had reach mine for the day and making my way back was the smartest decision at that point with the information I had at the time. I knew the distance was shorter to the next lake, but that was the only information I had. Going back took another 2 hours following the shore in the tall grass. It gave me time to think about the day and by the time I got back to the portage, my boots were almost dried. That black mud never washed off my pants.
6. Was there anything you encountered that you felt unprepared for?
I think one of the most valuable lessons from years of backcountry travelling is that experience doesn't eliminate surprises. It simply changes how you respond to them.
You can study maps, check weather forecasts, research water levels and prepare your equipment carefully, but there will always be something you didn't anticipate.
Those moments have taught me to remain flexible, to be patient and, perhaps most importantly, to maintain a sense of humour.
On one of the most recent expedition, the water level was so low that the entire river felt like a boulder field labyrinth, adding considerable travel time to our already long days of paddling, more than doubling the distance on multiple stretches of the river. Add in the fact that it rained every single day in the morning and evening, just long enough to get everything wet and keep everything wet. We were not prepared for the added physical and mental difficulties this presented. We had to review our entire travel plan, set an alarm to start our days earlier to ensure extra daylight travel time for the unknown ahead and try to beat the morning rain, trading it for cold and frost. I was lucky to be with another experienced adventurer on that one. We encouraged each other’s, took turns in the lead, helped out at camp, checked on one another and most importantly, we listen and respected the decision to stop when one of us needed it.
I can tell you that that sense of humour came in handy many times on that expedition!
7. You will be releasing a feature film about your recent adventure. Tell us more about that.
2026 has been a particularly busy year for me, with several backcountry expeditions, including opportunities to travel and collaborate with some talented YouTube creators who share the same passion for wilderness exploration.
One of the highlights was a two-week, self-supported expedition down the Missinaibi River in Northern Ontario, travelling approximately 315 kilometres from Mattice to Moosonee.
The expedition was undertaken in partnership with Camping Hiking Adventures and MRS Packraft, alongside fellow explorer and filmmaker Martin Durocher of Aventure'Heure.
After four years of exploring with the MRS Nomad, this journey represented another chapter in my experience with packrafts and an opportunity to take on a longer, more demanding northern river expedition.
We documented the journey along the way, capturing not only the landscapes and the challenges of travelling through this remote wilderness, but also the everyday moments that make an expedition memorable.
A feature-length documentary is currently in production and is scheduled for release in spring 2027 on the Aventure'Heure YouTube channel.
There is much more to this adventure than I want to reveal just yet, but I'm looking forward to sharing the experience when the film is released.
For those interested in seeing how I have been travelling with my packraft, here is a list of YouTube videos where I am featured:
ENTRE HUARDS, PORTAGES ET ORIGNAL | 4 jours dans Algonquin
L’ULTIME TRAVERSÉE | NOTRE EXPÉDITION LA PLUS DIFFICILE DANS ALGONQUIN
Canot-camping au Parc Algonquin : Oublier le temps pendant 4 jours
4 jours de canot camping dans le parc Algonquin 2026
8. Now that you have completed this season of packrafting, what is next for you?
Although the paddling season is coming to an end, the planning and preparation never really stop.
Over the past few years, I've been developing several projects related to backcountry exploration and expeditions. This winter, I'll finally have the opportunity to dedicate more time to bringing some of those ideas to life. I'm not quite ready to share the details just yet, but if you're curious about what's coming next, follow me on Instagram at @PaddleAtlas. I'll be sharing more as these projects begin to take shape.
I'm also starting to plan another Ice-Out backcountry expedition for a group of YouTube creators next spring. We had a great experience bringing people together through these expeditions, and I'd like to build on that. This time, however, I have something slightly different in mind. I won't give away too much just yet, but it should make for a particularly interesting adventure.
I'm also looking forward to something a little more personal. After several years of exploring with my packraft, I'll be returning to canoeing next season.
I grew up in a canoe, and although I haven't owned one for quite a few years, that connection has never really disappeared. There's something about travelling in a traditional canoe that I've missed, and I'm genuinely looking forward to experiencing that again.
That doesn't mean the packraft is going anywhere. Both have their advantages, and I see them as complementary tools for different types of journeys.
I'll continue exploring ways to travel lighter in the backcountry, within the practical limits of extended wilderness expeditions. Reducing unnecessary weight can make a tremendous difference, but never at the expense of safety, reliability or being properly equipped for the conditions.
Ultimately, it's not about the boat or how little equipment I can carry. It's about where the journey takes me, the people I share it with and what I discover along the way.
There's still a lot of country out there I haven't seen.
9. How can our readers connect with you?
You can find me on Instagram at @PaddleAtlas, where I share stories, photographs and reflections from my backcountry adventures, along with updates on upcoming expeditions and projects.
Paddle Atlas is an evolving project inspired by a lifelong curiosity about wilderness exploration and what we discover along the way.
I'm always interested in connecting with fellow paddlers, explorers and anyone who shares that curiosity about what lies beyond the next portage.
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