Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Aug 25/00) - This was not a typical camp.

The 10 young people from Calgary, Alta., who took part in Camp Chief Hector, reached Inuvik last Friday. They set out from Fort Providence July 6 and canoed down the Mackenzie.

The 17- and 18-year-olds are members of a YMCA group, and were accompanied by leaders Chad White and Heather Wicksted.

White said the annual camp takes place in a different spot each year.

In fact, the first camp took place nine years ago, and also involved a journey from Fort Providence to here.

"This is the first trip on the Mackenzie for everybody. It's been pretty good. It's the first time in the NWT for lots of us," White said.

"The trip is also based on some wilderness aspect, like wilderness tripping, as well as meeting up and interacting with communities we come across on the way. So we've been stopping here and there. We had a great six days in Fort Good Hope. We stayed there for quite a while," White said.

"The Northern hospitality has been just amazing, like just amazing. I didn't really expect it would be this much. That's probably been the greatest thing for sure, is the way people just go out of their way to make us feel good," he said.

"The other thing we were talking about is the expansiveness of Canada, you get to really realize (that) when you're out there for two months, canoeing."

White revealed the campers had at least one rude awakening during the trip.

"We had a good morning wake up, a bear, a couple of days ago -- all the usual stuff campers find."

White will have plenty to remember from the voyage in terms of scenery.

"Midnight sunsets are quite unique," he said. "What was really amazing, actually, just the other day, pulling into the Delta and being able to see the snow on the mountains."

What stood out for Wicksted was the size of the Mackenzie.

"Sometimes you could barely see the shore," Wicksted said. "Then when we hit the Delta, it was nice to be back on something narrow, where you could paddle back and forth between the shores."

"I might have been bitten by the Northern bug. I was chatting with a friend of mine who lives here about life up in the North. It sounds like it's a pretty neat place to stay for a couple of years."

The group was planning to head for home last Saturday.