by Ben Sehnert
news@thenewsleaders.com
Early on the morning of Aug. 10, friends and family gathered at Perkins restaurant in Sartell to welcome back several canoe crews from their expedition into Canada.
The crew members, primarily high school-age students from central Minnesota, had spent nearly a month canoeing across Manitoba and Ontario in teams of nine people (including the trained guides). What otherwise would have been a silent Perkins parking lot at 6 a.m. was filled with voices as the canoers related what they had experienced and learned.
“I really enjoyed how much confidence I gained through the experience,” said McKenzie Stanley, 18, of Sartell. “I never would have guessed I would be able to portage 120 pounds through mud up to my hips . . . I just never thought I could do something like that.”
None of this would have been possible, however, without the vision of one St. Cloud man. Fred Rupp, a biology teacher at Cathedral High School, is the executive director and founder of Les-Voyageurs Inc., the program that provides young men and women with the chance to develop leadership skills through canoe expeditions. Rupp founded Les-Voyageurs in 1971 after having been on a wilderness trek with Boy Scouts in Alaska. He named Les-Voyageurs after the French fur traders who traveled through Canada and the Great Lakes region long ago.
“That expedition was an extremely difficult thing for me,” Rupp said. “When I got back, I realized how much that stress and difficulty had affected me, as much as I didn’t like it sometimes. In the end, I realized how it changed the way I think about things and changed the direction of my life.”
Rupp decided to offer young people the same chance for adventure and personal growth in a skill with which he was more familiar – canoeing. Although the expedition itself is the centerpiece of the program, the canoe crews spend at least two months in preparation for their trips. Not only do they practice portaging and paddling, but they learn to sew their own gear, plan their routes, and freeze-dry fruits and vegetables. Most of this takes place at the base camp on Pine Point Road, north of Sartell in Brockway Township. Rupp says the preparation period is one aspect of the program that distinguishes it from similar canoe-expeditionary programs.
“In most programs, you show up and then you go,” he said. “Our kids are involved from the beginning of the process. Our program is also set up to make it affordable for every kid who wants to go, so we don’t charge what some other programs are charging.”
Nonetheless, however important the preparation might be, the expedition is the place where all the acquired skills are put into practice. William Carlson, 18, was among those who returned Aug. 10 and spoke to both the physical strain and personal development he experienced.
“The hardest thing for me was the portaging where we would carry the canoe through a lot of mud, especially on really hot days,” Carlson said. “However, it was just a lot of fun making so many new friends among people who I thought I would never be friends with. That was definitely one of my favorite things.”
As was the case with Rupp in his trip to Alaska, both Stanley and Carlson have come away from the canoe expedition with a new perspective on life. Stanley said she learned to value the importance of selflessness in working alongside her peers. Carlson noted how he hopes to appreciate more the small, seemingly insignificant acts of kindness of other people.
“There was one day when a fisherman gave us pineapple and bread,” he said. “It just reminded me the little things in life really matter. They really count and can change a person’s attitude almost instantly.”
More information on Les-Voyageurs Inc. can be found at www.les-voyageurs.org.
Will Carlson (left) and Mitch Lochner (right) paddle while Jon Hall (center) takes a break.
Connor Schad carries his canoe on a portage.
A typical nine-person canoe crew is (from left to right) Arne Kvaal, Mitch Lochner, Connor Schad, Austin Mareck (guide), Will Carlson, Jon Hall, Elliot Christen, Kevin Hayward and Alex Math.
Will Carlson, 18, was among those who returned Aug. 10 and spoke about both the physical strain and personal development he experienced.
McKenzie Stanley rests on the Little Sas portage. The portage stretches over a mile and can take hours to complete. Strenuous portages like Little Sas challenge voyageurs both physically and mentally.
Sophie Harris (left), Kayla Vait (center) and McKenzie Stanley (right) prepare Alfredo pasta, hamburger and mixed vegetables on camp stoves.
Reeve Kluempke (left) portages a canoe through a bush crash. A bush-crash portage occurs when canoers must forge their own trail through the wilderness.
