'I want to change my life'
Lanny Stewart says being lost in wilderness prompted a desire to be better
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Monday, October 10, 2016
TETLIT'ZHEH/FORT MCPHERSON
Lanny Stewart says one of the hardest things about being lost in the bush for nearly a week was hearing helicopters flying overhead looking for him - and then hearing them fly away.
The 37-year-old Fort McPherson man was lost in the wilderness from Sept. 5 to Sept. 10.
"Every day I heard them," Stewart said. "There was even one day, I think it was Wednesday, a chopper flew over me twice."
Stewart headed out on an ATV to go caribou hunting at about 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 5 from James Creek camp, which is about 60 kilometres south of the Dempster Highway.
He was wearing a hoodie and jacket, jeans, a ball cap and boots. Stewart told his hunting companions that he would be back by about supper time that evening, but he didn't return. His friends searched for him through the night and called the RCMP early the next morning.
"When I got way up, I got lost in the fog," Stewart said. "My four wheeler wouldn't start again and I started walking."
By the time the official search began, Stewart had already spent his first night in a makeshift shelter. He then abandoned his broken ATV and had started walking to where he believed the highway was located.
By then, both Stewart and the search and rescue teams looking for him were battling the weather, with blowing snow and strong winds dampening rescue efforts.
Though his rifle wasn't working, Stewart killed a caribou with his knife in the evening of the second day. But a grizzly bear appeared and took his catch.
"I got one, but a grizzly bear came and I had to climb a tree and he took my caribou," he said.
"I was hoping that I would have something to eat, but he took my caribou so I did not have anything to eat after that."
Thinking about his wife and children helped keep him focused, Stewart said.
"That's what kept me alive, wanting to see my kids again," he said. Finally, in the evening of Sept. 10, Stewart said he realized he had to push himself if he was going to be rescued.
"I was in my shelter and my legs, I couldn't walk," he said. "I just told myself, 'I'm getting out of here today'. I climbed up to the flats and I set the grass on fire."
A search and rescue helicopter saw his fire and landed.
He was flown back to to camp after declining medical assistance. Though his ordeal didn't cause any lasting physical damage, Stewart said it has impacted him mentally.
"The first couple nights I had a hard time sleeping," he said. "I kept getting up and thinking I was still out there."
The experience has changed his life, Stewart said. He has already begun counselling and said he plans to attend a treatment facility in Edmonton.
"It really made me think about what I've done in my past," he said. "I want to change my life for the better, for my kids and my family."
His advice to anyone heading out on the land is to bring extra clothing and supplies and to double check to make sure their equipment is in working order.
"I wish I'd had extra clothes, maybe a tent or something," he said. "My feet were wet for six days."
Stewart said he is grateful to everyone who participated in his search, which was comprised of members from the Civil Aviation Search and Rescue (CASARA), Canadian Helicopters, Gwich'in Helicopters and North-Wright Airways, in addition to Fort McPherson residents, search and rescue workers and hunters at James Creek Camp.
"I just want to thank every one of them and everybody that was there helping with the search, and the pilots and all my co-workers," he said.
