Publisher’s Letter

DAVE BROWN

PUBLISHER

Editor-in-chief Ottawa Outdoors ottawaoutdoors.ca

SHOW OWNER

The Outdoor & Adventure Travel Show adventureottawa.com

SPRING

Yes spring has arrived, so a warm welcome (pun intended) to Ottawa Outdoors readers after a long cold winter. What matters for us is what this season represents.

It’s is the beginning of six months of outdoor pursuits and there are so many choices! We can hike our Greenbelt and Gatineau Park, or head to the Adirondacks or far off lands. If cycling is your passion then Ottawa’s the city to be in. With so many taking to our new cycling paths or tackling the workout fun of mountain biking, there are big hills, thrills and dirt paths all around the city to get your fix.

And if paddling is your vice, you get to choose from canoeing any of 300 nearby lakes, kayaking in cottage country, the Ottawa or Rideau rivers, or heading off to paddle with the whales on the Atlantic ocean. If you’re joining in on the popular sport of stand-up paddleboarding, do the research and find the right board for you. It’s an amazing activity not only for the obvious physical benefits but because it changes your perspective on Mother Nature, and that’s always exciting.

The list of activities – whether sticking to what you know or branching out into something new – is endless. Outdoor businesses are shifting gears or opening up for the summer rush. Ski hills have summer activities for a great summer vacation. And in-city Wilderness Tours is in its second year of whitewater rafting on the Ottawa River between Ottawa and Gatineau. What fun!

I also have to give a shout-out to all the outdoor enthusiasts and exhibitors who made our fourth annual outdoor and adventure travel show a huge success. With more than 20 stage presenters giving talks, and experts performing canoe, kayak and SUP demonstrations in our demo pool, it was a great March weekend.

To get started on the season, here’s a whopping 64 pages of articles and photos to take in. We’ve covered how to buy a bike, build a proper fire pit, get rid of leeches on a portage, prepare your canoe for the season, and how to survive in a backwoods emergency. And there are tips on whether to rent or buy outdoor gear, how to plant healthy veggies, and our big cool gear and hot clothing section.

We’ve beefed up our coverage of adventure travel – from Ontario to Thailand and out west – and for a day off, what are the backyard options (think barbecuing) and how to get an urban outdoor escape. All of this against the background of Katharine Fletcher’s thoughts on the environment, to remind us of the natural world we play in.

THE TEAM OUTDOORS OTTAWA & MAGAZINE

MAR 19-20, 2016

PUBLISHER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

DAVE BROWN

EDITOR

ROGER BIRD

WRITERS

ALLEN MACARTNEY, JENNA THOMPSON, LESLIE FOSTER, WIKIHOW, GRAHAM ACREMAN, MELISSA MARQUARDT, KATHARINE FLETCHER, SHEILA ASCROFT, FRASER MOFFAT, PETER MCKINNON, TIM ALLARD, TIM MORCH, GORD PERCY, MARYAM GETZ, NEWS CANADA, KEVIN WILLIS

PHOTOGRAPHERS & ILLUSTRATORS

CLINTON EMERSON, RIVERGLEN FARM, PERTH KILT RUN, TREVOR LUSH & BORCA, ERIC FLETCHER, KATHARINE FLETCHER, JUSTINE SANDERSON, MATT SURCH, KEITH MILNE, GORD COULTHART, LARISA GARRETT, MARIECLAUDE CHARRON, TIM ALLARD, TIM MORCH, DAVE BROWN, RICK KENT

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES

Dave Brown, Publisher | Ottawa Outdoors Magazine is an independent publication published seasonally every four months and distributed FREE at sports stores and a hundred other locations around the region.

E-mail: Advertising@OttawaOutdoors.ca Publisher: editor@ottawaoutdoors.ca Tel: 613-860-8687 or 888-228-2918 Fax: 613-482-4997

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Ottawa Outdoors welcomes story and photo contributions. Publisher may publish any and all communications with Ottawa Outdoors, and may edit for clarity and style. Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index ISSN No. 1204-69556. © Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any materialspublished in Ottawa Outdoors Magazine is expressly forbidden without consent of the publisher.