Dan Rubinstein – Author of Water Borne: A 1,200-Mile Paddleboarding Pilgrimage

In June 2023, writer Dan Rubinstein lashed camping gear to his
stand-up paddleboard and embarked on an improbable solo voyage
from Ottawa to Montreal, New York City, Toronto, and back to
Ottawa along the rivers, lakes, and canals of a landlocked
region. A historic and symbolic voyage along the same inland
waterways used by Indigenous peoples, settlers, soldiers, and
voyageurs for centuries.


Part physical challenge, part historical pilgrimage, and part
personal reckoning, Water Borne reflects Dan’s deep curiosity
about how water shapes not only our landscapes but also our
culture, politics, and personal lives. A former editor at
Canadian Geographic and author of Born to Walk, Dan has spent his
career exploring the relationship between movement and meaning—on
land and now, on water. This episode dives into what he
discovered about history, anxiety, midlife, solitude, and what it
really means to travel with and through nature's blue and green
spaces.