Chasing Her Passion
- Camper Christina
How a BearVault Helped Fuel Camper Christina’s Solo Adventures
Something we have truly loved about social media this past year is its ability to connect us to like-minded individuals from around the world. We especially appreciate being able to see a little glimpse into their lives, adventures, and personalities. We recently were introduced to Christina of Camper Christina, and were excited to speak with her and start browsing her Instagram and YouTube channel!
Camper Christina lives in Muskoka, Ontario, where she works full-time as a bookkeeper and office manager for a property management company. She also takes full advantage of her weekends, and publishes a minimum of one YouTube video each week (and has done so for the last 5 years!). Christina has become an expert in backcountry camping, cooking, and bear safety, and “was officially addicted” after her first 5 day backcountry canoe trip. (As “The Adventure Addicts”, we completely understand this feeling!)
Becoming Camper Christina
Christina’s love for the outdoors started when she was very young. She was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, and was always spending as much time outdoors as possible, even camping in her backyard (quite the foreshadowing of her future!).
She reminisced, “When I was a small child, my family took me ‘up north,’ as we call it here, and I fell in love with the forests, the rocks, and the crystal clear lakes. Not to mention the smell of the air up there. I was under ten at the time, but I never forgot it and throughout my life it continuously called me.”
In July of 2002, at the age of 32, Christina went on her first backcountry canoe trip in Algonquin Park with her boyfriend at the time. She fell in love with the backcountry and those trips, and was going back as much as she could after that. Once they broke up, trips fell few and far in between.
In 2015, Christina applied for her dream job to spend 5 months exploring the Trans Canada Trail. After not being chosen, she was inspired to share her own adventures on social media, and keep doing these trips she held so close to her heart.
Chasing Her Passion
Something we quickly picked up from Christina’s personality is her love for life and passion for adventure. Her excitement for the backcountry, camping, and cooking is easily recognizable and infectious.
When she wasn’t chosen for the job on the trail, she decided to start her blog.
“Starting the blog held me accountable to publish a post on an adventure every single week year-round and in doing so I changed my life.”
In the Summer of 2015, she realized that if she wanted to spend more time in the backcountry, she would need to go alone. She was scared and afraid of the dark, but she made it happen, and solo trips quickly became more frequent. This opened up more and more opportunities for her to continue pursuing her love for the backcountry.
Spending time alone in bear country, not to mention other predatory animals that are out there, I purchased a BearVault for my very first solo trip. It was one of the greatest purchases I have ever made.
-Christina
Christina’s Take on Bear Safety
Bear safety has been a crucial part of Christina’s trip planning since the very beginning.
“Spending time alone in bear country, not to mention other predatory animals that are out there, I purchased a BearVault for my very first solo trip. It was one of the greatest purchases I have ever made.”
Especially because she was just learning to spend time in the backcountry on her own, one of her biggest initial concerns were bears in the area. Christina began using her BearVault on numerous trips, and never had any animal encounters or issues. This allowed her to build confidence to go on more challenging solo trips that were further into the forest, without worry or fear.
Not only has the BearVault protected her, but we completely agreed when she mentioned how important it is for the bears and other humans visiting the area:
Christina stated, “Protecting your food, not only for your own benefit, so you are able to consume it while out on your trip, but also to protect the animals from consequences if they obtain your food, is something that is extremely important to me. It not only protects you and the animals, but anyone that is camping in that area once you have left it. If an animal is attracted to your camp, lured by your food, and they receive the reward of getting it, they will continue to visit that area looking for food over and over again. This puts everyone, including the animals, in danger.”
Why Christina Loves Her BearVault
It makes me feel safe, because after using it for almost 7 years now, I have never, not once, ever, had an incident with an animal obtaining my food.
-Christina
Since her very first solo backcountry trip, Christina has been incredibly grateful for her BearVault. It has become an essential part of her gear collection.
“It is compact enough to fit in a small backpack, which I am able to carry while portaging my canoe, but it is also large enough to hold a week’s worth of food. It makes me feel safe, because after using it for almost 7 years now, I have never, not once, ever, had an incident with an animal obtaining my food.”
If that isn’t convincing enough, Christina added:
“What I love the most about it, however, is that I don’t have to hang it. I have gone into some areas, where the right tree just doesn’t exist. I have been in other areas that are extremely popular, and that special tree is the one that everyone uses, so that is where the animals go looking for food.”
Placing her BearVault nestled in a bush somewhere else keeps her confident that she will be able to find her food in the morning, untouched by animals.
We have also seen many people nearby us hang food, have it taken by a bear in the middle of the night, and leave the next morning because of it. We completely agree with Christina in the confidence the BearVault gives us, and are always grateful to wake up to food in the morning because of it!
One more thing we agreed on was when we asked Christina, “What is one item you can guarantee is always in your BearVault?” and she responded “chocolate.” Enough said.
Where Christina Adventures
Christina often canoes in very remote areas of Temagami, Algonquin Park, and Killarney in Canada. She described these areas to us:
“Temagami is a remote area Northwest of Algonquin Park. Only 15% of Temagami is protected by conservation reserves and provincial parks. The remainder is what most people consider crown land, however, in reality, it is the home of the indigenous people, mainly comprised of the Teme-Augama Anishnabai.”
Christina has encountered quite a bit of wildlife over the years, and most recently came face to face with a lynx! Watch her youtube video experience here! At first, the lynx was unaware of her presence, but it was soon scared off when it ran right past her canoe (where her BearVault was sitting). She mentioned:
“I was incredibly grateful the lynx did not tear up my canoe, in pursuit of obtaining my food. The lynx didn’t even pause for the briefest of moments to examine it, or its contents. I feel quite confident that if my food was stored in a less efficient container or device, that might not have been the case. This would’ve left me stranded, most likely, in the middle of the remote Canadian wilderness, making me grateful, once again, for utilizing this incredible food storage container.”
Christina strongly emphasizes that anyone who wants to spend time in these areas should definitely consider using a BearVault to protect yourself, your food, the wildlife, and any future visitors.
How You Can Follow Christina’s Adventures
The best way to stay up-to-date with Christina’s adventures is to head over to her YouTube and subscribe to her channel to be notified when a new video comes out! We have already been really enjoying Christina’s videos, and her camp cooking may be better than our at-home cooking!
Christina has also created courses on backcountry camping and winter camping to help teach others how to execute successful adventures.
For more information on Christina, as well as access to her blogs, gear she loves, and social media, visit her website at camperchristina.com.
Guest Author:
Adventure Addicts
Hey! We are Kelby and Zoe: two adventure addicted, outdoor loving, adrenaline seeking, gear junkies. We are on a mission to inspire more people to get outside, provide them with quality gear reviews and recommendations, and show them why we have fallen in love with the outdoors!
We spend all of our free time backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, climbing, or trying to find ways to combine all of the above. We absolutely love BearVault and are excited to be helping with some informational content regarding bear canister use and conservation! You can follow along with our adventures on Instagram at @the_adventureaddicts and our blog www.theadventureaddicts.com!
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