It's shaping up to be an adventurous summer for the RCMP Venturers and Rovers.
Starting today, the crew of about a dozen young people will embark on a backpacking trip from Ispah Lake in the Buckhorn area to Barkerville, a 120-kilometre, seven day trek along dog sled trails and decommissioned logging roads.
They'll each be carrying 30 to 45 pounds worth of gear - food caches have been established ahead of time to lessen the load - along with a letter inviting Barkerville officials to participate in the PGX, Aug. 8-12.
"Up over hills and down through swamps and around lakes and over creeks and into Barkerville we'll go," summarized Davy Greenlees, who overseas the program.
And that comes on top of a two-day Mantracker event held in late June.
ATVs replaced the horses, but other than that, they got about as close to experiencing an episode without actually appearing on the popular television show.
The nine "prey" set out in groups of two and three, each equipped with nothing but a map, a compass and whatever they wanted to carry in their backpacks making their way through 26 kilometres of wilderness.
And to add to the excitement, local members of the ATV Association of BC were on their tails.
Barely a half-hour into the event, Spencer Tibbo, 17, and Stan Gordy, 20, found themselves wading through a swamp to evade the trackers. Indeed, they spent the majority of their first day bushwhacking.
"It made navigating by just a map and compass very difficult," Gordy said. "If you got off track by just a little bit, it was quite a bit harder to find where you were."
The riders, meanwhile, worked in teams and relied on the roads and trails that spider webbed throughout a designated area marked out for the event to track down their quarry.
RCMP and Prince George Search and Rescue Association members provided a safety team throughout the event and the prey had had to check into a designated spot near the end of the first day, to ensure they were OK.
Although no hand radios or GPS units were allowed for navigation, all teams carried them for safety purposes.
One team got disoriented on the second day, Greenlees said, but the safety team got them back on track. In the end, all teams made it to the finish line safely and avoided capture.
Tibbo, Gordy and Gordy's sister, Hannah, were the first to cross the finish line.
Last summer, they canoed down the Stuart River and they're planning another canoeing trip for next month along a still-to-be-determined route.
"We're always looking for something new to do," Greenlees said.
The RCMP Venturers and Rovers is a partnership between Scouts Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and is one of only a few of its kind in the country.
It means they not only pursue traditional outdoor activities but also get access to RCMP programming for youth - from defence training to learning about identification and casting.
It's open to youth ages 14 to 26 years old. For more information contact Greenlees at 250-561-3366 or drop by the community policing office located at 575 Brunswick Street.
