Dana Meise has spent portions of the last six years hiking across Canada on the Trans Canada Trail, but after an unfortunate encounter in northwest Saskatchewan Meise thought his journey had come to an end.
Meise's pack and belongings were stolen from him while visiting Onion Lake and when he finally found them they were burned and completely unusable. Meise, who got a ride with RCMP officers to Lloydminster, thought he would have to call his quest quits but then a Saskatoon business stepped in to donate replacement gear.
“I just want him to continue his journey and finish it off on a good note. And you know, it’s unfortunate when bad things happen, but you just kind of keep moving forward and hopefully us sending out some gear will help put a positive light on it as well,” said Cynthia Fagnou of Outter Limits, the store that donated the gear.
Thanks to social media sharing his story, Meise has had plenty of support from Saskatchewan.
“Since then it’s been outstanding. Outter Limits is going to replace all of my gear. In fact, they were going to give me more, but I only took what I needed,” Meise said on the phone from Lloydminster.
Since the story hit Twitter and Facebook, Meise has been accused of being racist towards the people of Onion Lake but he stressed that is not the case. He said throughout his travels he’s been treated with nothing but respect from First Nations communities, and that what happened to his backpack was likely a case of “kids being kids."
