We’ve all heard stories about lazy teens who would prefer to sleep all day and party all night.
Aimless and directionless.
Maybe we even know a few of them.
This is the story of Zev Heuer, a 15-year-old Canadian boy who set out on a solo trip from Canmore, Alberta to northern Saskatchewan. Missinipe, Saskatchewan, to be exact. To drive this, it’s about 1,150 kms or 714 miles. According to CTVNews, by canoe, the trip is 2,100 kms, or 1,300 miles.
Why would he do this? For a few reasons. One, he had a summer job to get to, and two, he was bored.
The Canmore student had just finished the online classes he’d been forced to take due to Covid-19 and was looking for a little excitement.
His summer job is with Churchill River Canoe Outfitters, located on the Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. Since he’s clearly comfortable with canoes—he’s spent the last two summers working at the Outfitters—he thought it might be fun to paddle there instead of taking the ride he usually got.
Inspired by His Parents
Many parents would have a hard time letting their teenager set off on such an expedition, but Heuer says he was inspired by his parents. The two had been on several of their own wilderness journeys in the past.
He told CBC News,
“When I was two years old, they took me on this canoe trip from Canmore [Cape Breton] to meet the author Farley Mowat.”
He says he doesn’t remember the trip, but he’s heard the story of it many times. And the route he took to get to his job mirrored the route—at least part of it—he followed as a child.
He continues,
“I feel super comfortable in a canoe and I think all of that is because I was in one for five months at such a young age and have been on a lot since.”
Paddling Through Western Canada
For two months, young Heuer navigated north east. His route on the rivers took him through mountains, prairies, parkland, and a boreal forest. With just his dog Blaze for company.
On May 1st, with snow still on the ground, he set out from the Bow River in Canmore, a town in the Canadian Rockies. He started the journey with his father and a few friends. They saw him past white water rapids and into Calgary before he continued on his own.
He’d plotted his course before he left. He took the Bow River to Medicine Hat. In Medicine Hat the Old Man River joins the Bow and becomes the South Saskatchewan River, which flows into Lake Diefenbaker. It winds through Saskatoon and joins up with the north Saskatchewan River past Prince Albert.
He described what he saw during the trip as breathtaking. Eventually, his days became a routine he became accustomed to. Paddling, cooking, and erecting shelter for himself at the end of the day.
He told CBC,
“I just felt like I could be out for a lifetime just doing that.”
His father rejoined him for the last stretch of the journey and was with him when he reached his destination.
A Learning Experience
Heuer shares that he learned some very valuable lessons on his solo trip.
At one point, he nearly lost his canoe and all his gear. It was late in the day, and he was looking for a spot to camp for the night. He was tired, and when he felt he’d come upon a good spot, he hopped out of his canoe to check it out without pulling the boat up onto the shore first.
When he went back to it, it was gone. The canoe, and all his gear inside it, was drifting away from the shore.
“It was in this eddy that was just barely, almost going to be in the current and I had to run out way up to my waist and grab it.”
Despite potentially devastating occurrences such as this, he says he believes that it’s critical for people to spend time completely immersed in nature. And he realizes that tackling such a challenge as a young man will prepare him for some of the harsh realities of life.
He understands the kind of motivation it will provide for him in the future.
“You can say, ‘Oh this is nothing,'” he said. “You have to remember, that whatever, that portage that I did, it was way harder than this. I can do this.”
For now, he is happily settled into his job for the summer. Who knows what adventure next summer will bring!
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