Joanie and Gary McGuffin, Canada’s First Couple of canoeing

Explore: A Canadian Geographic podcast

We're thrilled that Gary and Joanie McGuffin are joining us for this last episode of our 2023 Summer Canoe series. Be sure to check out the previous two, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and RCGS Explorer-in-Residence Adam Shoalts.

Arguably no couple has paddled more of Canada's waterways than Gary and Joanie have together, and it all started just over 40 years ago when, as newlyweds, they turned their honeymoon into a canoe trip from the Atlantic Ocean, across Canada and up into the Arctic Ocean. That trip inspired the best-selling memoir Where Rivers Run, which was followed by many more paddling adventures and best-sellers. Their documentary, Painted Land: In Search of the Group of Seven, about their efforts to track down, by canoe, the exact sites of famous Group of Seven paintings in Northern Ontario, won a Canadian Screen Award. They are the founders of the Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy and their current project is a Smithsonian exhibit, traveling through Canada and the U.S., called Stories of the Boreal Forest.

Gary and Joanie have a lot of great stories from their many paddling adventures and there are a lot of great nuggets of advice in here for young explorers, including how to get started and how to canoe long distances as a couple, and then with a child, and then with a dog. It’s a fun and inspiring conversation. Enjoy!