It’s easy to be cynical about YouTube and those who create videos for the platform to make money. Chasing clicks and making videos that make you feel good after having watched them seems to be incompatible.
However, there are some channels that redeem the platform. The self-videoing adventurers I admire the most are Tori and Jim Baird.
Last summer, they took their two small sons on a monthlong trip from Canada to Alaska that as a crowning touch included a 10 day canoe trip down the Stikine River. The Stikine is known for being remote and fast flowing and it clearly wasn’t an easy trip. At one point, they experienced a sudden rainstorm that had them scramble to secure their tent in the middle of the night, only to discover in the morning that their canoe had been swept away, leaving them without transport.
Throughout, they find time to capture their adventures and the wild-wild-wild landscapes around them on video. The quality of their footage is equal to that of professional documentaries. The whole time they also take care of their two sons. The younger one is a toddler who’s still in diapers and only just started talking, and the other one has a developmental disorder, leaving him unable to walk or eat without help, which they don’t make any fuss about. Oh, and there’s a dog they have to look after too.
Here is a two minute trailer of their trip and here is the glorious 3 hour video of the whole thing.
Nehaveigur 