From a concealed position in the woods I look out over the parking lot behind the hotel. Nobody’s around. Earlier in the day a man had been doing maintenance work on the swing set and I had to call off my morning attempt. I do a quick scan of the patios that back the hotel rooms and see that these too are empty. Perfect. I doubt the boozy layabouts of these patios would bother setting down their cocktails to report me to the hotel staff, but it’s better not to chance it.

Wearing only swim shorts and flip flops, a towel draped over my shoulder, I saunter across the parking lot. I find it best to look and act as though I belong, as though I’m a guest of the hotel, although most guests access the pool through the hallway rather than by using a stack of chairs to climb onto the sun deck. Having a nimble climbing physique is helpful to make this somewhat conspicuous part of the process go quickly and smoothly. Less than five minutes after leaving my dirtbag locale on the far side of the woods, I’m getting my sweat on in this small resort town just east of the prairies.

During the last year of my degree, I took a self-directed course in applied sweatology in the sauna and steam room of the UBC Aquatic Centre. I knew going from a twice-a-week sauna habit to a life on the road was going to pose some challenges. But challenges are good for us, they push us out of our comfort zone and help us grow. For instance, I have a great admiration for my uncle having to spend most nights this summer sleeping on the ground after not having camped since his childhood (he tells me that he wasn’t a big fan of it then, either). He has undoubtedly gained a deeper appreciation for his queen-sized bed than he had before transcontinental tenting. For myself, I do not take sauna access for granted now as I did before the trip.

There were entire provinces through which sauna going was out of the question (P.E.I. had no public saunas, and Quebec would have pushed me perhaps just a bit too far out of my comfort zone). But there has been a rich assortment of sweat opportunities across the nation, and my seeking of saunas no doubt made me more familiar with the people and places that I visited. At the time of writing this, at Laurie Provincial Park about 30 kilometres north of our final destination of Halifax, I’ve been to a total of 15 saunas and steam rooms since setting out in May. A full list of these is at the end of the blog.

Perhaps you’re Finnish, and I no more need to explain my love of saunas to you than I would need to explain what beer is for. Perhaps you’re like many people in our culture who don’t give much thought to saunas, who have a been in the odd sauna on occasion and have found them to be little more than an uncomfortably hot room with hard seating. Maybe after reading this you’ll head to your local aquatic centre and have yourself a little sweat. Maybe you’re lucky enough to have your own sauna. Maybe you’re reading this in your sauna. So be it (though I’m personally against the use of electronic devices in saunas.) My purpose is to convey my affection for a sauna session, whether or not your opinion of saunas is swayed is of little importance.

In cold climates, saunas improve blood circulation to my extremities. In hot climates, they improve my ability to deal with the heat. They help to relax the muscle tension that I get from consecutive days of cycling for many hours. If I have a cold, a few trips to the sauna are sure to speed my recovery and clear my congested sinuses. If I’m stressed, the atmosphere of the sauna calms me. I’ve read they help the body excrete unwanted things, but I’m unqualified to say whether or not this is true. If it is true, and my pores are pushing out heavy metals, that’s great. If it’s just Big Sauna pushing its corporate agenda through new-age propaganda, I’ll still go sit in the sauna. I’ll sauna alone, I’ll sauna socially, I’ll sauna day and night, because I love to sauna.

Before getting into the sauna list, I’d like to thank my family in St. Albert for setting me up with a YMCA membership. The YMCA facilities I’ve visited have been some of the best of the trip, partly because the male and female change rooms each have their own sauna so one may sauna in the nude, which has always been my preference. I’m greatly looking forward to many visits to the YMCA during our stay in Halifax next week.

Now for my personal favourites. The award for best view goes to the sauna at the Log Inn Pub in Avola, B.C., from which you can look down the Thompson River Valley and watch the trains as they go by. The award for most unique goes to the infrared sauna at the home of the massage therapist who I received treatment from in Edmonton, which was a half-tube just big enough to lay under as it gently cooked my body (with my head sticking out of the end of the tube). Best overall facility goes to the YMCA in St. Albert, which has a towel service and a very nice steam room in a gender-specific space. And, drum roll please, the best sauna goes to the YMCA in Ottawa, also gender specific, nice and hot, allows water on the stove, and for which I didn’t pay a dime thanks to my Northern Alberta YMCA membership.

Brod on the road saunas Summer 2016:

Merritt, B.C. – Public pool sauna

Kamloops, B.C. – Public pool sauna

Avola, B.C. – Log Inn Pub sauna *Awarded Best View*

Jasper, Alta. – Public pool steam room

Hinton, Alta. – Public pool steam room

Edson, Alta. – Public pool sauna

St. Albert, Alta. – YMCA steam room *Awarded Best Overall Facility*

Edmonton, Alta. – Massage therapist’s infrared sauna *Awarded Most Unique Sauna*

Undisclosed Location – Hotel sauna

Kenora, Ont. – Public pool sauna

Sioux Lookout, Ont. – Rec. centre sauna

Sturgeon Falls, Ont. – Public pool sauna

Ottawa, Ont. – YMCA sauna *Awarded Best Sauna*

Dalhousie, N.B. – Public pool sauna

Truro, N.S. – Public pool sauna