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< May/June 2005
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A River Journey from Paraplegia Paddler solos Mackenzie

Imagine canoeing 1,300 miles into the Canadian Arctic, solo. Now imagine doing the trip as a paraplegic. Greg Allen already has canoed Canada’s mighty MacKenzie River once, and the 57 year-old paraplegic will paddle the river again this summer, searching for ideal camping spots for others with similar handicaps.

Allen lost most of the use of his legs in 1999 when he was thrown from a burro. He wallowed in self-pity for years, and then decided to do something about it. Against the advice of everyone he knew, Allen embarked on what he dubbed the Still Me Voyage: a 1,300-mile canoe trek from Ft. Providence to Inuvik, Northwest Territories.

"Everyone is equal in a canoe," Allen explains. "Buoyancy isn't any different for someone who is crippled."

During his first trek down the Mac, Allen decided his calling was to help others with disabilities experience paddlesports. He plans to travel to various rehabilitation centers throughout the United States to demonstrate to disabled people that they can paddle comfortably and embark on their own wilderness paddling adventures.

Six years ago, when Allen was bed-bound in a New Mexico hospital with cervical cord contusions, doctors told him he would never walk again. Depression overtook his waking hours. "It's the physical suffering, not being able to do the things you used to and watching your dreams disappear in a flash," Allen says. He lay in bed feeling sorry for himself until one day his wife gave him a tape entitled "Still Me" by the late Christopher Reeve. Allen played the tape over and over, and it helped him to change his world from within.

Years of hard work and therapy allowed Allen to regain some use of his legs. "I can walk again, but I fall down a lot," he says. With the help of a wheelchair and cane Allen began to gain sight of many of his long-lost dreams. Ever since his youth as a guide in Ontario’s Algonquin Park, one of those dreams was to paddle the Canadian Arctic.

In 2004 he decided to make that dream a reality, despite his partial paralysis. Allen's family and friends thought he was crazy to canoe the MacKenzie, especially alone. "It seemed totally impossible to me. I couldn’t envision him handling the many details of paddling, setting up camp, or any of the countless tasks involved," says Joe Hebrst, a long-time friend who Allen asked to join him on the trip. Herbst refused. He didn’t want to contribute to Allen’s demise.

Allen's journey proved challenging. High winds nearly swamped and destroyed his canoe on several occasions. Bears wandered through his camp in search of food, and his canoe drifted away after he failed to tie it up while on shore. (Locals recovered the craft a few miles downstream.) Despite the risk and hardships, Allen will soon depart once again down the Mackenzie. "What I learned on the river, and what I want to pass on to others, is that you cannot give up—ever—on anything you want to do." Info: www.stillmevoyage.com. —Norman Miller