One Winnipeg high school student is getting ready to swap papers for a paddle.
Alex Martin is planning a solo kayak trip around Lake Winnipeg starting on June 27.
Part of the goal is to promote water stewardship.
“I want to help with its protection,” he said. “We’re all part of a huge watershed so we should all help to do our part to protect Lake Winnipeg for future generations.”
Lake Winnipeg has been struggling with algae blooms and zebra mussels, and Martin hopes he can draw attention to protecting the lake. Part of what moved Martin to take on this adventure was a recent trip down Poplar River.
“The water in Poplar River is amazing, it’s very clear. It’s the type where you can see right to the bottom. We came out onto Lake Winnipeg and were hit with gross smelling water and not clear water and the group I was with, there was a lot of dismay about it smelling and not wanting to be there,” he said.
The lake is very special to Martin as he has been paddling it since he was a child.
“I come from a family of paddlers, so I have a baby photo of me when I was six months old in a kayak, but I really started paddling when I was 8-years-old.”
The trip is expected to last two months and cover 1,750 km of shoreline around Lake Winnipeg. The long adventure means it’s hard to pack.
“If you think about your house and everything you use in your house for two months, now take that and put it in an 18-foot sea kayak. Of course some changes have to be made so there’s some things that can’t be brought,” he said.
Martin is planning on making a few pit stops to get food to fuel his journey and will be mostly camping along the shoreline.
He’s also going to have a GPS tracker following him along to keep him safer.
“There’s definitely some parts with a lot of risk, especially since I’m paddling alone it does increase the danger a little bit, so there’s some risk mitigation steps I need to take just to be alone but generally on Lake Winnipeg, it’s the storms or the waves that will come up with little warning,” he said.
This past spring Martin and the Lake Winnipeg Foundation have been touring schools to talk about the health of the lake. Those presentations will also take place in the fall after Martin’s adventure.
You can follow Martin’s journey online.