 Our Guides
Matt Howell – Director (aka Mateo, Matty)
A native of Hamilton, Ontario Matt spent the majority of his youth in the outodoors, hiking, swimming, canoeing, climbing anything he could find. He has been one of few lucky enough to continue doing all these things while being able to call it a 'profession'. As he 'grew up' Matt attended the University of Waterloo majoring in Recreation and Leisure as well as Tourism and Parks Management. Matt has a love for travel having spent time in Thailand, Laos, Taiwan, Nicaragua, New Zealand. He experienced many great and a few not so great trips on his travels and knows what it takes to make a trip 'GREAT'. With his love for the outdoors and friendly nature you can rest assured Matt will do all he can to provide you with a fantastic wilderness experience. Matt is also an instructor of wilderness medicine with Wilderness Medical Associates, a facilitator, consultant and builder with Adventureworks! Associates Inc. and a relief worker with Enviros Outdoors Centre in Nordegg, AB providing outdoor programming for recovering addicts.
Erin Pehar – General Manager (aka Pehar)
A native of Toronto Erin left the city life behind long ago in favour of rivers and trails. Erin brings more than a decade of experience working in the outdoors industry as a former director for YMCA Camp PineCrest and Lead Instructor and Coordinator for Outward Bound programs. Erin has guided canoe trips throughout Northern Ontario and Quebec while spending her winters guiding dog sledding trips in both Ontario's Algonquin Park as well as the Yukon. When Erin's paddle is not in the water you can be sure that her camera is in hand. A wonderful wilderness photographer you can check out some of Erin's work here. Erin also works in the Wilderness Medical Associates Head Office as well as coordinating winter programming for Outward Bound Canada and guiding dog sledding trips in Algonquin Park. Erin is an ORCKA paddling Instructor.
Fred Neegan – The Fred (aka Fredo)
If only we could all be lucky enough to spend some time on the river with Fred. Born beside the Missinaibi River Fred has easily spent more time on the Missinaibi than anyone else. He knows this river like the back of his hand. With two trapping cabins between Mattice and Thunderhouse Falls Fred prefers to spend his time watching the moose and eagles go by than staying in town and watching the cars go down the highway. A peaceful soul with a great sense of humour Fred is an absolute pleasure to travel with. When someone asks Fred how well he knows the river he usually responds with a laugh saying 'every stone'. This is not a joke. Fred knows every stone and every twist and turn of this river as if he himself placed them there. When the river is frozen over you can find Fred at the local arena watching or participating in a game of shinny. Did we mention that Fred will be turning 80 years young this coming spring? How does he plan to celebrate? Why with a trip down the Coal River of course (the Coal is Fred's favourite route, only runnable in the spring flood it by passes Thunder House Falls).
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 Philosophies
Environmental
Our environmental philosophy is quite simply to live as an equal party within the ecosystems in which we are travelling. We recognize that we, humans, are a part of the ecosystems we are visiting and will have an impact. Our goal is to make it a positive impact rather than a negative one. We also recognize that we as a race have developed a tendency to manipulate, devastate and destroy species and ecosystems upon our arrival. We will be responsible in how we travel through the wilderness and conscientious of our actions and their impact. Our goal is to live as 'one' with the environment. Our environment is of utmost importance to us and we do everything in our power to make sure that we do not compromise its integrity.
Cultural
We do a great deal of traveling through old and present native lands and travel routes. Our goal is to provide you with a greater understanding, and hopefully respect for, our native population and their cultural history while having a positive effect on the communities that we visit. Rivers such as the Missinaibi hold a great deal of history as an historic native waterway with multiple spiritual sites. As well, holding a place in Canadian history as a main trading route during the days of the Hudson's Bay fur trade. As a route that connected the Great Lakes with James Bay and to the old world the Missinaibi and many of its tributaries are steeped in history. We will do our best to convey this history to you.
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 Safety & Risk Management
All wilderness travel contains elements of risk. It is our intent to use our training and experience to calculate and minimize the risks that you are exposed to while in the wilderness with us. Though all of our guides are trained and certified in first-aid and swift water rescue, as detailed below, our preference and goal is to avoid any incidents by mitigating risks using our professional judgement and making good decisions.
Every MHO guide is certified in Wilderness Medical training. Lead guides at the Wilderness First-Responder level, assistant guides at the Wilderness Advanced First Aid level, or higher. As well, all of our guides for water trips are trained and certified in swift water rescue.
Each and every MHO trip is equipped with a first-aid kit, all necessary rescue gear, a satellite phone and a SPOT GPS device as well as an emergency action plan. |
 Meals and Menus
Missinaibi Headwaters Outfitters prides ourselves on serving top quality food to our guests. We are committed to providing you with a healthy, hearty and tasty menu. We put careful consideration into our menu planning to ensure proper nutrition each and every day of the trip. We make every attempt to use local produce for our menus and do much of our own dehydrating and smoking of meats and vegetables.
We have much experience in menu planning and will be glad to accommodate any dietary concerns or allergies. Please inform us of your needs when registering for a trip.
A typical MHO menu;
Breakfast
Coffee and tea, a homemade granola cereal with dried fruit or fresh baked muffins, some fresh fruit as well.
Lunch
We love high quality dried meats, cheeses, crackers and flat breads for lunch. PB&J is always available as well. If we have some anglers in our group a little Walleye or Small Mouth Bass is a nice treat as is a warm cup of soup on a chilly day.
Snacks
We make a fantastic GORP or Trail Mix. A highly nutritious snack perfect for canoe tripping!! Matt is also a huge fan of beef jerky and loves experimenting with new recipes so be prepared to be asked to test some out.
Dinner
This is where we get to show our 'flash'. Our guides love to eat well on trip and you will see this. With an ongoing friendly competition our guides are continually updating and improving on the dishes we serve. We are sure that your taste buds will be pleasantly surprised by the meals you are served.
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