By Marney Blunt, Kenora Daily Miner and News
August 2013

Going back to school early is providing a lot of benefits for a group of teenagers at Beaver Brae Secondary School. This summer Beaver Brae is running the Strive program for students beginning in Grade 9. The students spend two weeks prior to the start of classes learning beneficial outdoor education and skills. The students even get a full high school credit for a two-week program.

“It’s basically a two-week Outdoor Ed class that’s geared towards learning skills such as organization, initiative, teamwork, and responsibility,” said Beaver Brae teacher Martin Straight, who has been running the Strive program along with fellow teacher and Green Adventures owner-operator, Scott Green. “It’s a two-week program here at Beaver Brae. We’re going to be out in the canoes (this week) and we’ll have an overnight camping trip at the end of it.”

Not only does this program provide a fun, interactive way to get a high school credit, it also develops beneficial wilderness skills and helps students make new friends as they go into Grade 9.

“It’s basically getting them familiar with Beaver Brae and the surroundings and their classmates coming in,” said Straight. “And it gives them learning skills that are going to help them become successful students.”

Throughout the two weeks, the students partake in meal planning and cooking, geocaching, building lean-to structures, setting up and taking down tents, camp setups, fire building, mapping, canoeing and more.

At the end of the program the students will go on an overnight canoe trip guided by Green. The group will leave from Green Adventures and will paddle past Coney Island and past the Lake of the Woods Discovery Centre and then portage to the Winnipeg River, which is where they will be camping.

Straight said that since the Strive program has been so successful this year, they are planning on running it every summer with Beaver Brae.

By Garett Williams, Kenora Daily Miner & News
May 2012

Green Adventures is looking to take Kenora into uncharted waters.

From kayaks to canoes, peddle boats to paddleboards, organizer Scott Green is looking to amass as many non-motorized boats as he can into a flotilla in Safety Bay June 24 to set the benchmark for a potential record bid.

River Air will take a photographer down for an aerial photo, setting the baseline for the annual event which Green said will hopefully be documented growing year over year in photos until motorboats can be included and Kenora can take a stab at the record of some 1,600 boats collected.

“In a couple years, once we get the non-motorized down, we’ll find a spot to do all boats, including motorized, and try to beat the Guiness Book of Records,” he said. “With Kenora now branded a boating destination, I think that would be a pretty good record to hold.”

The event is also a fundraiser for the Fellowship Centre and participants can collect pledges for the cause. Following the photo – scheduled for around 2 p.m. – everyone is invited back to Green Adventures on Laurenson’s Creek for a barbecue. Anyone who raised money for the Fellowship Centre eats for free, while other participants can kick in $3 for burgers, which will also go to the centre.

The event is planned around the same time the Harbourfront Flea Market is set to let out, which Green said should draw some attention to the 100 paddlers he is hoping to band together for the inaugural effort.

“I’m just thinking everybody can dust off their canoes or kayaks they haven’t got going yet,” he said. “It will be a pretty good family event and might revive their love for boating.”

Anyone interested in signing on can check out Kenora’s Largest Non-Motorized Flash Mob on Facebook or pre-register at Green Adventures or the Fellowship Centre.

www.cybf.ca

Business Profile: Green Adventures runs nature-based programs for people of all ages and levels of experience. Unique programming is created for each client and all of the necessary gear is provided. If clients only need help with a route plan, that can be accommodated as well. Green Adventures’ programs include kayaking, canoeing, camping, rock-climbing, fishing, and scuba diving and more activities in northwestern Ontario are added on a regular basis.

His Story: Inspired by his grandfather who focused on life’s solutions rather than life’s problems, Scott Green took that approach and brought it into his business, Green Adventures.

As an avid outdoorsman reinforced by an education in recreation and tourism, Scott combined his love for trying new things with his background in the great outdoors and decided to embark on his own adventure as an entrepreneur.

To do that, Scott sought the financial assistance of CYBF and the business support of the Northwest Business Centre, which services the Kenora and Rainy River District in Ontario. This was the spring-board to starting his business and his CYBF mentor, Bob Parker, added the business guidance needed to round out the business mix.

As an entrepreneur, Scott loves being in control of his own destiny and that he has the ability to build a legacy for his children. He also enjoys creating jobs for other people who love the outdoors like he does and that he can contribute to his community. Although no business is without its challenges, since participating in the CYBF program, Scott is capable of navigating roadblocks that may arise. He especially appreciates the mentorship of Bob who encourages Scott to make tough decisions rather than taking the easy way out.

The great outdoors is Scott’s favorite place to be and now, as an entrepreneur, he can chart his own adventure into the future.

“Having a mentor is a rich experience which is priceless. The transfer of knowledge gained from my mentor has been my greatest asset of this process and far more important than the cash loan.”
– Scott Green, Green Adventures

Impact Awards — Nov 2009 

The Green Entrepreneur of the Year award is given to an entrepreneur who has created a business around socially conscious or eco-friendly problems/issues. They show this through their dedication to providing a product or service in the surrounding communities by eco-friendly means. This award was meant to showcase individuals that are taking a responsible approach to the environment in light of the growing global epidemic. This entrepreneur has created a positive impact on the environment by changing conditions in order to let this happen or by revising previous practices that were harmful to the environment.

2009 Green Entrepreneurs of the Year:

• Scott Green
• Eden Full 
• Tara Longo 
• Thomas Kineshanko 
• Mike Morrice

LEARN MORE: www.conference.impact.org

By Blair Cosgrove, Globe and Mail
August 2009

A desk jockey looking for a real adventure tour – not solar showers and champagne at sunset – got more than he bargained for in northern Ontario.

We call it “the look.” Half revulsion and half pity, it crosses the faces of our middle-aged friends when they learn that my partner and I, two Calgary city slickers, spent our past two Canada Days on backcountry canoe trips in the realm of our iconic moose, loons and beavers.

“No spa, no hot tub, no bison carpaccio?” friends ask. Afraid not. It’s remote, rough and raw, we confess. But we don’t tell them that on these trips we also indulge in luxuries like hot stone treatments (lying on a piece of sun-baked three-billion-year-old granite), aromatherapy (breathing the scent of pine and wood smoke) and revitalizing hydration therapy (a sunset swim in the warm waters of an untouched lake).

Scott Green knows about nature’s full-service spa. He runs Green Adventures, a Kenora, Ont., company that has a lock on local guided vacations by canoe and kayak. Unlike other “adventure” tours, Green’s aren’t padded with amenities like solar showers or champagne at sunset. He lets nature do the pampering. In the Lake-of-the-Woods region, Green Adventures offers something different from the hundreds of fishing lodges that have kept the local economy afloat for generations. Though the number of lodges is declining, many still cater exclusively to the hook-and-bullet fraternity who come to view their wildlife from inside a bass boat stocked with cold Budweiser.

Seven years ago, Green saw an opportunity and began marketing affordable hands-on holidays for those who want a human-powered excursion into the forests, water and wildlife that extend for hundreds of kilometres in all directions. For us, he planned a five-day, 76-kilometre paddle along the Confusion and Sturgeon rivers, about 200 kilometres north of Kenora. We would canoe and Green would kayak through five lakes and three placid rivers long known by the Ojibwa and rediscovered about 350 years ago by voyageurs.

The magic began when our truck reached the “put in” point beside Confusion River. As if placed there by central casting, a massive moose was on location, its head underwater as it fed about 200 metres away. Into the 17-foot aluminum canoe we went, along with our dry bags, and into Green’s hands went our fate. We began paddling quietly, gliding past lily pads and serenaded by a symphony of birdsong. The moose lifted its head and looked at us. Its sheer bulk was impressive, but so was the sound made by the torrent of water running off its rack. I swear it was enough to run a hydro generator. It made for the shore, its powerful chest creating a wake that would have swamped us had it turned our way, and strode into the forest.

Over the next five hours and eight kilometres, we encountered four more moose and the limit of our personal comfort zones. We negotiated rapids, logjams, rocks and rarely-used portage routes. We waded chest-deep in a river to push our canoe past a troublesome patch of whitewater. We unloaded and loaded our boats several times, once using a rope to lower them down a 20-foot rock face. We experienced fear, giddiness and pride. And we owed it all to our thirst for an unequivocal outdoor experience, and to this man who kept us safe while we quenched it. At our camp that night on Roger Lake, we reflected on this while Green fed us vegetable stir-fry, apple pie and tea.

Green said that each year his business grows as more people seek the experience we were having. “Everyone has an innate longing to be in nature,” he explained while cleaning our dishes. “I want to be the medium that brings them to it. It’s so good for the soul and we can’t replicate it in any form, so we come out here.”

Green spent years as a fishing guide at local fly-in lodges. Now, with an honours degree in outdoor recreation and geography from Lakehead University, plus wilderness, food safety, first aid and paddling certifications, he said Green Adventures will be his life’s work. Clearly this strapping 29-year-old is in his element.

By morning, our nervousness was replaced with confidence and camaraderie. Green piled into our canoe with us and we paddled five kilometres to witness Right Lake’s spectacular falls, a thundering wall of whitewater stretching 15 metres high and 30 metres across. It’s a sight few people have seen. On our return to camp, we collected driftwood as campfire fuel. Then, on a gently turbulent chute of water that we had easily navigated the day before, the now-overloaded boat’s front dipped. In a heartbeat, our canoe was underwater and the three of us, the firewood and the canoe drifted apart. The warm water (I later coined it “boreal bathwater”) had a calming effect, but fear flashed through my mind. Were we safe? Could we get the boat back?

I waited for Green to shout the directions that would save us, but he did something better: He raised his waterproof camera and snapped pictures of his flummoxed, floating guests. We burst out laughing. Then, as Green retrieved the canoe and drained it on a rocky shoreline, we bobbed in the lake and frolicked like middle-aged kids at camp.

By day three, we felt like we had lived out there our whole lives. Fueled by a swagger you just don’t get from strategic planning sessions or PowerPoints, we paddled along Sturgeon River past the sagging remains of a trapper’s cabin, and under Fletcher Lake’s 30-metre rock walls. We made camp on an unnamed island and enjoyed an orange and violet sunset reflected on a lake whose smooth surface began rippling with jumping fish for as far as the eye could see. All through the starry night, a loon and whippoorwill called, their duet punctuated by the tail slaps of a curious beaver circling our island. About 2 a.m., I looked about the campsite, and saw hundreds of brilliant fireflies floating silently, like helpful spirits. A look crossed my face: half bliss, half wonder, it was the expression of someone who has become a regular at the world’s most laughably affordable luxury spa.

Green Adventures nature-based tour company: Lake of the Woods, Kenora, Ont.; 807-407-8683

How to get there 
By air: Fly to Winnipeg on most major airlines, and take a connecting flight to Kenora through Bearskin Airlines (1-800-465-2327; www.bearskinairlines.com). Bearskin departs from many northern towns in Manitoba and Ontario, including Ottawa. 
By train: Via Rail does not stop in Kenora, but you can disembark in Redditt or Minaki and take a taxi to Kenora. 
By special arrangement Green Adventures will provide transport from Winnipeg.

What to bring: Each trip is tailored to the customers’ abilities, but in all cases Green Adventures supplies tents, canoes or kayaks, paddles, life jackets, sleeping bags, dry bags, satellite phone, first aid kit, etc. Customers must bring clothing and personal items sufficient for a range of weather and terrain.

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Finding opportunity in Northwestern Ontario   

By Sarah Brose
Kenora Holidayer — 2008 

“There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” With Scott Green’s attitude, it would be impossible for anyone to do anything but embrace Northwestern Ontario’s extreme climate, and as he stated, “I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else,” I didn’t doubt him for a second.

A born and raised Kenoraite, Scott Green is sticking to his roots by making a career that encompasses everything he grew up with. “There are so many opportunities that can come from staying around Kenora and Northwestern Ontario and making a go at it,” he states With his self-titled company Green Adventures, Green is offering kayaking and canoe trips, rock climbing day adventures, fishing trips, personal kayak lessons and rentals and children’s camps and wilderness first aid courses. Green founded the company eight years ago after working at an out-of-town resort camp. Realizing it was more than plausible to do the same thing in Kenora, Green slowly transformed his passions into a business that quickly became a great success.

“It’s been great meeting so many interesting people and having the opportunity to see this amazing country every summer.” Green is an incredibly knowledgeable CRCA level 1 flatwater instructor who has just finished up a joint four-year degree in Outside Recreation, Parks and Tourism and Geography from Lakehead University. As the only one of its kind in Canada, Lakehead’s program offers a unique integration of theoretical and applied perspectives which emphasize the study of recreational activities and leisure pursuits related to and dependent upon the natural environment.’

Literally located within minutes of world class recreational resources, Green was able to enhance his knowledge and perfect his skills on an array of outdoor activities unique to Northern Ontario. With a home-base in Kenora, Green Adventures offers top of the line equipment for daily kayak rentals. Spontaneity is encouraged as rentals require no heavy planning. With a quick phone call, kayaks can be delivered and picked up on site, complete with life jacket, paddles and any other necessary safety gear.

Never paddled before? Green offers beginner, intermediate and advanced lessons in kayaking. Embark on a day trip to Coney Island and receive a safe instructional lesson on the shallow shores of Anicinabe Beach followed by a trip out to Coney. The trip has been popular, especially among high school students.

Take a little more time off and embark on one of Green’s deluxe all-inclusive guided trips. From family excursions to bachelor parties to an adventure with friends, Green will carefully plan an experience entirely unique to his group. “Usually people come to me and tell me what they want and I create something based on that. I work hard to personalize every adventure.”

Although no trip is the same and Green has guided people from all walks of life — from celebrities, locals, business millionaires and children — Green has noticed how quickly everyday labels become irrelevant. “It’s an equal playing field out in the bush. You really get to know people out there. The land really does bring people together.” Trips can be as relaxed and luxurious or as daring and venturesome as you like. All equipment needed for your trip is provided. Green will take care of sleeping bags, mattresses, tents and food, although if you want to bring any of your own equipment, you’re more than welcome. “You could literally just show up,” Green ensures. If it’s comfort you’re after, sit back and enjoy the landscape — Green is happy to take care of any transportation of equipment, setting up of camp and meal preparation. “They’re on vacation, I’m working!” Green points out with an enthusiasm that follows a “live to work” rather than a “work to live” train of thought. Midst all the fun, Green is highly aware of the responsibility he holds, maintaining a firm grasp of his number one priority.

“The key concern in safety,” Green ensures as he points out he must adhere to a strict ratio of one certified instructor for every six campers. Most recently Green took a group from Calgary out on a 5-day trek where they paddled 76 kilometres catching countless fish, spotting five moose, foxes, eagles and just about every other native critter you could think of along the way. “These guys wanted adventure, so I gave it to them,” Green said with a smile. Thanks to Kenora and tourism centres across Canada, Green has been able to get his name out there and speak to people outside of Northwestern Ontario.

Take your adventure to all new heights with a day of unforgettable rockclimbing. Green takes out a maximum of six people at a time for an experience like no other. Green encourages anyone and everyone to get out and experience a fun, safe, and convenient way for people of all abilities to experience the unique qualities of Northwestern Ontario, and more specifically, Kenora. With a solid understanding of Kenora’s potential, Green foresees much room for change in the future. “Kenora is going to be the next tourism hotspot, so people should start getting out there now, before it gets too busy,” Green states.

Future aspirations include breaking the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest raft-up. “If anyone wants to help organize it, contact me!” With over 14,000 islands and 65,000 miles of shoreline, the Lake of the Woods vacation area continues to provide countless adventures for everyone. Whether you’re interested in pumping some adrenaline or basking in the sun, Green Adventures will cater to your every need with an experience that will last a lifetime. Visit www.GreenAdventures.ca or join Green Adventures Facebook group for more information.

By Shelly Bujold
Kenora Holidayer — 2004

What’s better than a day at the beach? A day kayaking followed by a day at the beach. Green Adventures, a new tour group in Kenora, offers some fun in the sun on a kayak for people of all skill levels. A beginner course takes adventurerers from Anicinabe Park over to Coney Island in an individual kayak. “Kenora’s the best place to be in the world in the summer.” said owner Scott Green. “I just want everybody else to get out and explore it.”

Green is a certified sea kayak instructor and keeps up to date with his wilderness first aid training. He grew up in Kenora and runs the tour group in the summer wile pursuing a university degree during the school year. The kayaking course offered, according to Green, are pretty easy going and keep everyone out for the day involved in all the activities.

In a quiet bay at Anicinabe Park adventurers are taught how to get in and out of a kayak. They are also shown how to stable on of these seemingly unstable boards are by having them rocked back and forth quite a lot before the sitting compartment even touches the waters edge. Some basic paddle strokes are gone over and participants are shown how to steer as well. After a 45 minute paddle to Coney Island, some beach activities keep everyone going during the afternoon. During my tour, a game of baseball broke out, as well as some frisbee games.

Bring your bathing suit on this adventure not only if you fall in the water, but also to jump in the lake in the hot summer heat. Water games played included volleyball, ultimate frisbee, and 500-Up. If all you wanted to do was jump off the dock like one participant, Remy Crandall, that was all good, too.

Green also has a number of overnight trips available for those looking to go out on a longer adventure. Camping out on Keys Lake and paddling that day is one of the featured trips. These longer trips offer the beginner of novice kayaker a lot more instruction, said Free, and a lot more practice time. He said Keys Lake is also a great spot to see nature at it’s best, almost entirely untouched.

“There’s so much to do,” he said. For the advanced kayakers, a five day trip is offered based on an adequate number of people. There is also a scuba diving package for those who want to explore the bottom of the lake.

All food and equipment is included with the price of the trip and Green will instruct adventurers on what else should be brought. More information can be obtained by visiting www.greenadventures.ca

By Don Cameron

It is my conviction that most of us are entrenched in the things that we have always done at the lake. We spend weekends puttering. Or we fish the hours away, to the exclusion of all else. We are missing some of the best things the area has to offer.

We’re all missing the boat. Some of the words best fly-in fishing experiences starting right at the plane dock in Kenora harbour. And how many of us have tried it?

Eco-tourism is a “natural” for the Kenora area, but it has taken a long time to catch on here. Yet you can put a kayak in at Anicinabe Park and spend the day sightseeing within city limits. We take our area for granted and it’s time to settle back and appreciate it. Here’s one, for instance.

When I heard that a young local entrepreneur was doing some neat things in eco-tourism I was delighted. Scott Green, son of Steve Green, the man who pioneered TV fishing shoes in this area, spent most of his early days paddling and exploring on the waters north of Kenora and has developed an unquenchable thirst for the outdoors. Today he has taken his passion for kayaking and outdoor adventure and is offering them for hire.

Green Adventure is the moniker on Scott’s operation and he has developed kayaking packages that range from day time excursionis to Coney Island to week long treks into the wilderness. And he provides the kayak, the safety gear, the food and any recreation equipment that’s required.

The Coney Island outing seems so simple, yet it ought to have wide appeal for parents with kids on their hands in the summer. Included is a paddling lesson, an orientating lesson, a tour of the Kenora Harbourfront, a paddle to the beach and it’s environs, and an outing on the grassy park at Coney Beach. Intended as a one day escape it can be taken as an orientation session for people who are new to kayaking. Might be a good idea to send the kids for a day.

On Scott’s 1 night excursion he can take from 3 – 8 people. Adventurers put the kayaks in at Silver Lake on the Jones Road and they will explore the wonders of this great lake. Silver Lake and Keys Lake are some of the clearest lakes in the area with up to thirty feet of clarity in the water. Readers who are stuck to cottages or live on their own lakes owe it to themselves to get to know some of these lakes north of Kenora, and Silver is a particular favourite with trout fishermen. Its not far away, but is remove enough for skinny-dipping and it has a fabulous beach that kayakers really like.

Green Adventurers’ two night trip will take trekkers into the Minaki area and they will participate in the Yurt experience there; hiking in the big rock area near Minaki, rock climbing if that tickles your fancy, and wilderness biking is also an option. Day 2 features a trip into secluded Vermillion Lake northeast of Minaki. This is another big lake not far from Kenora, and it’s amazing how remote you can be just a short distance from town.

The 5 day excursion is for the experienced trekker. This one is a 52km paddle over 8 portages and participants will do what kayakers do on these wilderness treks: fish, swim and explore. Photo opportunities abound with a guide you can snap some of those hard to get photos. It’s hard to make wild animals preform on demand, but they are habitual and photo buffs can improve the odds by working with a guide on those things.

I’ve just given you one idea here, but here are many more. What about a float plane cruise over the area? People who think there’s nothing to do have the blinkers on real tight. This summer let’s give our limits a stretch. Let’s see what the area has to offer and do something different. Just for fun! You can find out about doing something different by going to www.greenadventures.ca