Teens Invited to Take Month-Long Canoe Expedition in Canada

SARTELL (WJON News) -- For over 50 years groups of teenagers from central Minnesota have been taking trips to the remote wilderness in Canada.

Les Voyageurs is hosting a series of informational meetings at its base camp in Sartell for this summer's trips.

Program Director Jack Grabinski says they've had over 3,000 alumni go through the program since it was founded in 1971. There are two 26-day trips with four crews of up to nine people in each trip.

Grabinski says the kids come back with a life-changing experience.

It's a nomadic lifestyle, crews travel about 10 to 15 miles a day, putting distance behind them, and going through remote wilderness.  There aren't well-maintained trails, there aren't campsites, they are just making their own route.  Every day they are on the move, they get up when the sun rises, make their breakfast over a fire, canoe 10 to 15 miles, and repeat.

Boys and girls who have just completed 10th, 11th, or 12th grade are eligible to participate.

Grabinksi says the trip brings a lot out of the students.

It can be a really empowering thing to realize what you're capable of when you get away from the distractions and technology and realize what you have inside you.  It's definitely a life-changing thing.  It builds a lot of confidence in these young people and builds leadership skills.

Grabinksi says many past campers have also developed lifelong friendships.

He says multiple generations of families have taken the experience, which has been happening annually since 1971.

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Les Voyageurs provides most of the equipment.

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