Alone & Alive
Greg Ovens ran away into the B.C. wilds when he was a kid. He told his parents not to look for him. He’d be happy, he said. Half a century later, he’s still out there. Just him. And 900,000 followers.
Master Bushcrafter — Bushcraft refers to the skills and techniques for surviving and thriving in the wilderness with minimal equipment, emphasizing self-sufficiency and a deep understanding of natural environments. It involves using traditional tools, such as a fixed-blade knife for carving and food prep, an axe, a saw, and fire starters like ferro rods or flint and steel. Additional tools include a tarp or emergency blanket for shelter, a pot or cooking gear for preparing food, and a multi-tool for various tasks. Practitioners work harmoniously with nature while building shelters, finding and purifying water, and foraging for edible plants. Kari Medig Photo
When Greg Ovens was thirteen, he gazed outside his classroom window toward the Coast Mountains’ snow-capped summits of Golden Ears Park, 11 kilometres north of Maple Ridge, B.C. Struggling to focus, he daydreamed about following in the footsteps of his pioneering survivalist heroes. He studied Bradford Angier’s classic How to Stay Alive in the Woods and Larry Dean Olsen’s Outdoor Survival Skills. He idolized Robert Redford’s portrayal of mountain-man Jeremiah Johnson, and followed Dick Proenneke’s adventures building a log cabin by hand in the remote Alaskan wilderness.
That summer, he ran away from home, heading for the backcountry of Golden Ears Park. At dawn, before leaving, he wrote his parents a note: “Going to the bush. Don’t bother looking for me. I’ll be happy.” He took a knife, fishing line, supplies, and the family dog. He followed a creek leading to the Fraser River, fished, and set camp. He cooked two small trout for himself and the dog, laid six minnows on a rock to dry, and built a debris shelter of ferns and maple leaves.
Almost half a century later, Ovens’ passion for bushcraft remains. Now 61, Ovens has lived and worked in B.C.’s Rocky Mountain Trench since 1993. In 2016, he secured a spot on season 3 of the History Channel's Alone — which took place in Patagonia — after a rigorous North American application process. Ten contestants were dropped off in the remote Patagonian wilderness, vying to outlast each other to win the $500,000 US prize. Ovens survived 51 days before falling ill with hypothermia and tapping out.
In the years that followed, Ovens amassed a wildly successful social media following. In 2019, he quit his drywalling career to promote Ovens Rocky Mountain Bushcraft, where he now has over 200 YouTube videos, some receiving as many as 18 million views.
From his Canal Flats bushcamp, where he’s squatted the last three years, he laments on his first adventure in the wild to his 880,000 YouTube fans. “As it turns out, just before dark, I got discovered by dad. He kinda figured out where I might go. I was devastated.”
I stumbled upon Ovens on a YouTube reel in 2023 and, like most of his fans, I was captivated by his gentle demeanour, gravelly voice, and no-nonsense approach to teaching bushcraft. I tried to place him in time: a ‘70s rock star who hasn’t slept in days? A bushman thawing in ice? A 19th-century goldminer? A fan commented he was the embodiment of Western Canada. There’s something rugged and primitive about Ovens, yet something sweetly innocent. In one episode, he bundles horsetail stems and rubs his teeth. “It’s working,” he says smiling. “Cleans them right off, though ya gotta spit the little pieces out.”
He trims nose hairs with a tiny stick lit on fire and makes beds out of moss in the cradle of tree stumps, using woven grass blankets and hot rocks from the fire. He prepares meals from foraged plants, concocting stews from cow parsnips, wild onions, nettles, and fireweed. He traps gophers and fishes for trout and salmon. “I got caught out in the rain,” he says to viewers while taking a brush out of his pack. “Good time to wash my hair.” When his hair becomes dishevelled, he tells viewers he’s starting to look like Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant.
In November 2023, I emailed Ovens after realizing his camp was only a short drive north of Kimberley, B.C. where I live. We attempted to schedule an interview, which proved challenging due to Ovens’ busy schedule. He had several trips booked throughout the year: road trips to Maine and Boston to fish and work with his production team, boar hunting in Oklahoma, and working with a Quebec film crew on Vancouver Island. Over the phone, he informed me, “This guy that watches my channel said, ‘I’ve got 1,200 acres and it’s full of pigs,’ so naturally, I have to go visit.”
I shared my Ovens’ obsession with acclaimed Nelson, B.C. photographer Kari Medig, whose work embodies his curiosity for the world, shooting for clients such as National Geographic, Outside, and Patagonia. Intrigued by Ovens’ adventures, Medig began following him on social media. Two months later, we journeyed up the Rocky Mountain Trench to meet, interview, and photograph Ovens. “I’m driving across the mountains ‘cause I like the guy’s face,” Medig remarked in the car. “He’s quite tender. There’s something super likeable about him.”
Sipping coffees in the truck, we pondered the renewed interest in bushcraft. “I feel we’ve been mourning something we used to have in terms of survival,” Medig said from the passenger seat. “I think it’s a deeper feeling of evolution of tens of thousands of years. So instinctual. We ended up with so much comfort in our lives and there’s this purpose we’ve lost.” After a quiet pause, Medig mused, “We’re constantly seeking fire. I’ve got a heated floor in my bathroom for God’s sake.”
Dining Out — Ovens often cooks for two — himself and his German Shepherd, Finn. “He’s my best buddy. If I cook a steak, he gets a steak.” Zachary Fowler Photo
We met Ovens at a turnout in Southeastern B.C., a few kilometres from his camp. His truck’s driver window was covered with plastic sheeting. “I had to smash it yesterday,” he said, smiling. “I carry a spare key in my pocket now.” We followed Ovens through a maze of forest service roads and arrived at his camp.
A tarp was strung above a sleeping bag and hammock suspended between two trees. A fire smouldered in a pit assembled from rocks and concrete bricks he’d salvaged from the dump. Beside the fire was an uneaten yam from last night’s dinner and some potatoes wrapped in foil. Cast iron pans, coffee cups, and an oven grate hung from surrounding trees. He offered us a damp camp seat around the fire. “People find it hard to believe that this is how I live, but I’ve been in the bush for fifteen years,” he said sipping coffee. He told us, if need be, there are other places he can go in the area. “It only takes me an hour to pack up and go.”
Last winter, when temperatures plummeted to -35℃, Ovens was forced into a motel to keep his German Shepherd, Finn, warm. “I wasn’t going to stay in the hammock at -35,” he explained. “I’ve got good gear, but it’s not enough for the dog. He doesn’t like it when it gets that cold.”
We sat around the fire while Ovens speculated about the recent surge in bushcraft. “I think a lot of people are panicked about what they see happening in the world,” he told us. “They realize they might have to homestead to raise and grow their food. I think people are relying on technology too much. What happens if it all crashes? People want to know that they can survive if things get bad.”
Ovens reached into his woodpile and split a log with a hatchet. He reflected on his time in Patagonia. “Unfortunately, I got to the stage where I wasn’t thinking straight. I couldn’t warm up. You think you’re all rugged and macho until you find yourself developing hypothermia, but I had a great time. It was life-altering.”
Though he’s serious about his bushcraft, he always appears to be having fun. Ovens became a fan favourite on Alone. He’d comb his long hair with a bundle of sticks. “It’s important to keep your hair clean when ya got no shampoo,” he said. “Ya gotta look good for the camera, but doesn’t really matter what I look like out here I guess. I’m not going to the mall.”
Zack Fowler, the winner of Alone: Season 3, manages Ovens' social media and YouTube account. On a Zoom call last spring, he mused about Ovens’ appeal, while two video editors worked on Oven’s content in the background of his barn attic studio. “When you show up for Alone boot camp, 20 people are eyeballing each other to see who they might be competing against,” Fowler reflected. “Then it works its way down to ten. Everybody breaks up into cliques — Navy Seal tough guys, all pushy — then there was the outdoors and bushcraft folk. Greg was just so friendly. At the hotel, we started talking about building traps with restaurant forks. It was an instant friendship. We spent a lot of time looking at leaves and plants and discussing what we’d do if we won. Greg’s just that guy you want to be your best friend.”
Following the show, the two became close friends. Fowler — who had developed a successful social media business — offered to manage and expand Ovens’ YouTube channel. “It’s his soft-spoken gentleness,” Fowler suggested to explain part of Ovens’ appeal. “He's got nothing but his genuineness. He's there, alone in the bush, just him and his dog. When he talks to the camera, it’s probably the only person he's talked to in days. It's like everybody is his best friend. You can't help but feel the intimacy of time with him while watching his videos.”
While Medig rigged his lighting and took test shots, Ovens was at ease in front of the camera. “I washed my hair in a puddle this morning,” he said, chuckling. “A nice, clear puddle.”
Despite the irony of living with a camera in the bush, it hasn’t changed how Ovens lives. He films his adventures, bushcraft demonstrations, and fireside chats then sends them to Fowler’s team to create the episodes. “People think I’m down to earth. They know this is how I live. Many bushcraft guys live in a house and go out for a weekend to demonstrate their skills.”
Handmade Tale — Despite numerous sponsorships, Ovens makes many of his own tools of the trade, including this ferro rod, left, for starting fires. His best advice for wilderness ignition solutions? Carry a lot of Bic lighters. Kari Medig Photo
Although Ovens predicts he’ll reach a million YouTube subscribers by 2025, he’s never taken his popularity for granted. He responds to fans through email probably far more than most influencers, whether it’s the preppers canning and building bunkers, the adoring female fans, or the people who just want to camp, fish, and learn how to start a fire. “I’m always thanking people for subscribing,” he reflected. “It’s important.”
Kimberley’s Luke Dearden, 14 — a huge Ovens fan, having watched Alone and countless Ovens’ videos — is well aware of how gracious a celebrity Ovens is. When family friends spotted Ovens pulling out of a burger place, they followed him up a dirt road and caught up to him. They explained what huge fans they were and told him about Luke.
Ovens contacted Luke’s mom and before long, he was having coffee at Luke’s house with his family. “We met Finn,” Luke said, “and Greg gave me his bow drill. I just listened to him talk and tell bushcraft stories, and about the time he lifted weights with Arnold Schwarzenegger.” Months later, during hunting season, Ovens dropped off a ferro rod with Luke’s name engraved on the handle.
Ovens’ celebrity status hasn’t always come without its challenges. In 2019, Fowler and Ovens filmed part of a 30-day survival challenge in Banff National Park. They obtained fishing licenses but didn’t realize that mountain lakes in Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks had switched to catch and release a few years ago, due to whirling disease.
“I ended up with six charges,” Ovens said. “It cost me $60,000 to fight and I ended up pleading guilty to one charge, which was illegal fishing under the Canada National Parks Act. I’ve been going there for 35 years and you were always allowed to keep the fish. We phoned back to Maine so the production guys could obtain our park permits. In retrospect, we should have asked them to check the regs, but we assumed we were good.” In handing down his decision, Justice Eric Tolppanend said he didn’t find the offence intentional or contemptuous but found the conduct to be “reckless.”
In his introduction video for Alone, Ovens reflected on when things don’t always go your way. “Things just go wrong. They don’t always go smooth,” he stated. “I’d say, fifty percent of the time things work out, if that. Just as long as you don’t get injured. In the situations I’ve been in, I shoulda been dead ten times over.”
And, when things don’t work out, Ovens hopes people possess some basic bushcraft survival skills. “That way, you’re not going to panic,” he said. “I’ve been lost a few times when I’ve known I won’t get out before dark, so I start a fire. Fire’s always number one. It’s all glory til nighttime. When the bush starts coming alive, you don’t know if it’s a cougar, a grizzly, or a bucktail deer.” On Alone, Ovens kept his fire going for forty days. Once, he was lost on a backcountry road for a week. “Always stay with your vehicle. Never venture far,” he warned. “I’ve spent a week in a broken-down vehicle. I had food and beer so that sure was helpful.”
In his Fireside Chat with Greg, Episode 7, he advised viewers to stay positive. “It's easy to get discouraged in life,” he counselled, “but just remember, sometimes things turn around and are totally different. You can go from the worst low to the greatest high all in the same day. So keep the faith. Be patient. Don't get depressed. Don't get discouraged.”
Late into the afternoon, Medig and I prepared to head home. Finn, Ovens’ beloved German Shepherd and YouTube icon, became antsy for a walk. Ovens quieted him firmly, yet gently. “Finn loves the bush. If I have to take a motel ‘cause it gets too cold, he gets bored. He just can’t wait to get back to camp,” he said, chuckling. “He’s my best buddy. Finn eats better than most humans. If I cook a steak, he gets a steak. But, he’s no freeloader. He pulls his weight around here. He’s got his own merch, t-shirts, and coffee cups, so I think he deserves a steak every now and then.”
“I’m not getting any younger,” Ovens said softly, standing by my truck. “It can be tough: the cold, the dampness, but I’m just going to keep plugging away. I’ve still got a lot of years of bushcraft left.” Along with producing further social media content — which, according to Fowler, might include Spanish translations — future plans involve writing a book on survival, buying a gold claim, and building a house on an acreage. “I’m in my 60s,” he said. “I don’t envision living in a hammock when I’m 80. Who knows, next week I might go to Hawaii.”
~ Jeff Pew
Find this full-length story and more in The Trench’s Winter 2024/25 edition: