Laurel Archer

Writer
Outdoor Adventure Guide
Canoe, Kayak and Outdoor Leadership Instructor

Laurel Archer was born in the suburban wilds of Regina, Saskatchewan, a mythical place, with mythical beasts, and very little water.  Her first canoeing expeditions took in the wind and waves of Crooked Lake in the Qu'Appelle Valley at the tender age of seven.  The mighty Wascana kept her paddling during high school, but it was during her university years that she finally committed to the path of adventure, heading north to the big water of the Churchill River. 

Since then, she has paddled waterways from the Arctic to Honduras, Costa Rica, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Myanmar, Chile and Argentina.  She has paddled every kind of watercraft known to woman, including marathon racing shells, 400 lb. outrigger hulls, whitewater canoes and kayaks of all shapes and sizes, sea kayaks, dugout canoes and bamboo rafts.  She and her husband, Brad Koop,who is also her bush pilot and co-owner operator of Air Nootka, live in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.  Laurel is currently writing full time, teaching for the Canadian Outdoor Leadership Training (COLT) program at Strathcona Park Lodge, and racing with a competitive women's outrigger canoeing team.

Always reading, even as a child and while paddling, Laurel wrote her first book at the age of 34, her 267 page Masters thesis.  Lately she's been writing everything from poems to plays, and has a special talent for writing about her adventures (and misadventures) in the wilds.