• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 7 to 12

Northern Saskatchewan has a wide variety of canoeing experiences from paddling lake to lake in the Precambrian Shield to steering the rapids of a whitewater river. It has both mountainous canyons and Caribbean-like beaches. You can paddle through marsh land or past sand dunes. Paddling Northern Saskatchewan provides a descriptive overview of 80 different canoe routes, rivers, and canoeing areas to help you understand the experience of paddling in Northern Saskatchewan.

Ric Driediger started guiding canoe trips in Northern Saskatchewan in 1973. If he hasn’t been on a canoe route in Saskatchewan, he has talked with several groups who have. His stories and information are an asset to any canoe trip in these parts. In 1976, Ric started a non-profit company called Wilderness Trails, which primarily took church youth groups on canoe trips. While guiding a canoe trip in the summer of 1978, Ric met his future partner, Theresa, and they were married in 1979. That same year, Ric began a for-profit company called Horizons Unlimited. Horizons worked alongside Wilderness Trails to offer canoe trips to the public. In 1986, Horizons Unlimited purchased Churchill River Canoe Outfitters. Ric is still there. Up until the early 1990s, Ric spent most of his summer days guiding. Since then, he has spent more of his time in Missinipe, meeting hundreds of people as they start and finish canoe trips. He loves hearing their stories and telling a few of his own. Most of all he longs to be out on the water in his canoe, retracing favourite routes or exploring those he has yet to paddle. During the winter, Ric works as a pastor in the Mennonite Church. His sermons are full of references to a lifetime spent in the wilderness.

Ric Driediger's profile page