Add the matching online module and the expedition becomes your field component. You are assessed on the water and earn your ORCKA Kayak Tripping certification. Do the module before your trip or after, whatever suits you.
What each level asks for
KT1 is where you start, no logged distance required. The levels above it ask for logged tripping experience, distance, nights, and leadership trips, and these expeditions are how you build all of it.
| KT1 |
Kayak Ontario Level 1 is our prerequisite. No logged distance required, just come and start. |
| KT2 |
KT1, plus logged tripping experience: 500 km, 25 nights, six trips where you shared the organizing and leading, and one near-wilderness trip of five days or more. Our expeditions cover much of this, and they are worth taking just to build your logbook. |
KT3, the capstone
COMING SOON
KT3 is where you cross from skilled tripper to trip leader. The logged experience carries over from KT2, 500 km, 25 nights, six trips sharing the organizing and leading, and a near-wilderness trip of five days or more, but the responsibility changes. You will lead scenarios in bigger, more committing water. Pass it and you hold an ORCKA trip leader designation, qualified to plan, lead, and guide multi-day expeditions of your own. This is the credential the whole pathway builds toward.
How the pairing works
The on-water expedition and the online module are two halves of one certification. For example:
Logged prerequisites + a qualifying expedition + Kayak Tripping Level 3 module COMING SOON = KT3 certification
Browse the online modules → Each expedition page shows which levels that trip counts toward. Some count for KT1 only, others count further.
How that adds up. One Lake Superior expedition logs roughly 60 to 100 km over five to eight nights, and it counts as a near-wilderness trip of five days or more. That single trip clears the wilderness-trip requirement outright and takes a real bite out of the distance and nights KT2 asks for. A few more across a season or two and the rest falls into place.
Touring now and deciding later works too. If you certify down the road, the kilometres and nights you log on these trips count toward the requirement. Nothing you paddle is wasted.
