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By David Gonczol, The Ottawa Citizen
A small group of young Ottawa adventurers are setting off from Westboro beach Saturday afternoon on an epic six-month, 7,000-kilometre race against time to reach the Arctic Ocean before winter.
The eight friends, nine if you include Yebo the dog, will retrace the overland route taken by 16th-century fur traders from Central Canada through the upper Great Lakes, prairies and Canada’s remote northlands before descending the treacherous Arctic basin to Inuvik.
The CanEAUda Expedition is an environmentally concerned group of bilingual current or former University of Ottawa students who hail from Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. All are between the ages of 22 and 24.
“Some of us went to high school together, some of us went to university together, some of us worked at camps together, were in bands together and we all sort of gravitated in the last two or three years on the corner of dream and ambition,” said Xavier Giroux-Bougard.
“It was now or never (to make this trip) in our lives,” said Giroux-Bougard, a native of Mayo, Que., about 50 kilometres northeast of Ottawa.
“We are going to paddle as far as we can get before the ice freezes over and blocks our passage. On a trip like this you are very vulnerable to the weather … chance will guide us through the journey and hopefully we can make it on time,” said Giroux-Bougard.
He said the close-knit group of friends has been working on the project for at least two years, deciding finally in September to go ahead as an opportunity to raise awareness of watershed conservation in Canada. The journey will raise funds for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Ottawa Riverkeeper.
Only one of the group is considered an excellent canoeist, with whitewater level credentials, but Giroux-Bougard said the entire group has backcountry canoeing experience and is “at ease” in an outdoor setting.
“Everyone has been in even more remote areas than this but the challenge will be the length of time in a remote area,” he said.
Jay Morrison, a well-known Ottawa canoeist who made the same trip solo in 2006-07, is acting as a mentor to the group and planned their route. He said what the group lacks in canoeing skills they make up for in “perseverance and physical fitness.”
“You need some basic (canoeing) skills but they are all in good shape. I think they have the skills and experience necessary and they will gain a great deal of experience,” said Morrison.
He calls the six-month timetable “ambitious” but thinks they will succeed.
“I believe it could be done but that requires one to abandon all other interests. There is no time to stop and talk to people and find out what’s going on in the community,” he said.
Morrison said the biggest challenge in the first month will be the physical demands of canoeing all day for days on end so early in the season.
“We’re coming off the winter. They haven’t had a chance to get out and paddle. Even though they have been exercising it will be difficult to adapt their backs and shoulders and necks and hands to the fact that they are going to be holding a paddle and paddling for 10 or 12 hours a day,” he said.
He said the most difficult portion of the trip could be Lake Superior if bad weather produces Superior’s notorious mid-ocean conditions. Later, the Sturgeon-Weir river in Saskatchewan will require them to wade into the water upstream for two or three days through small rapids. Then they will face 500 kilometres of canoeing upstream on the Churchill River to the 20-kilometre Methye portage on the lip of the Arctic watershed.
“After that there is one extremely hazardous section on the Slave River, which my advice is to get a ride around. It’s essentially waterfalls,” said Morrison. The area has names like Rapids of the Drowned.
Karine Houde, from Kanata, said she was happy they were finally leaving. “I’m looking forward to being in a canoe and paddling. It’s been such a long time of preparation.”
Ellorie McKnight, a Franco-Albertan from Calgary, agreed they are all eager to get started. “I’m super looking forward to hanging out with these beautiful people and talking about things other than planning — just chatting about life and other cool stuff.”
Dalal Hanna, who grew up in Toronto and Manor Park, said she’s looking forward to “exploring new Canadian landscapes.”
McKnight said she is worried that one of those landscapes, near Fort McMurray, Alta., and the giant tarsands operations, will have them travelling through polluted waters.
At a gathering of the most of the team at Westboro Beach this week, Morrison conducted an Algonquin ceremony where he placed tobacco into the Ottawa River, telling the expedition members that they should put tobacco into every new waterway they enter so the spirits will protect them.
The team is departing from Westboro Beach today at 4 p.m. and hope to reach Inuvik by October. Their journey can be followed on their website, www.transcaneauda.ca. Donations can be made via their website.
Other members of the team include Nicolas Desrochers, from Limbour, Que., now a part of Gatineau, Katya Saulnier Jutras, from Aylmer, Louis-Philippe Robillard, from Crabtree, Que., near Montreal, and Alexandre Bevington, from Ottawa.
Yebo, a four year old husky-lab mix, belongs to Giroux-Bougard, who says the “country” dog will be good for morale and an early warning system to the presence of bears.
The group has been supported with more than $20,000 in donated equipment from 23 sponsors including Trailhead and Eureka. They have been given a satellite phone, which will allow them to provide frequent progress updates on their website.
Ellen Adelberg, of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, said they were thrilled the expedition chose to raise funds for CPAWS to support its conservation work in Canada. CPAWS works to ensure that natural parks are well maintained and to protect Canada’s public land and water to ensure wildlife have appropriate habitat. Only 10 per cent of Canada’s land and one per cent of Canada’s water is permanently protected.
“They are a very dedicated group of young folks and this is an incredibly ambitious mission that they are on,” said Adelberg.
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