About Lodestar Backcountry Provisions
Meet the founder
I'm Jason Nickerson - I grew up in the forests of New Brunswick, where hiking, camping, and cooking over a fire were regular parts of my life. Those early experiences of time spent with friends exploring trails and enjoying being outdoors shaped how I see and experience the world.
Today, I’m based in Ottawa, Ontario, but I still spend as much time as I can outdoors. I’m an avid hiker, trail runner, and cyclist, and I'm always looking for new backcountry routes, high peaks, and wild places that test my limits and recharge my spirit.
Professionally, I’ve spent a large part of my career in the humanitarian sector, working in some of the most remote and complex crisis zones around the world. I've spent a lot of time in places that are challenging to reach and difficult to describe to people who haven't been there, yet are impossible to forget.
I've often felt that being in the remote Canadian wilderness is a lot like that: It’s stunning, demanding, humbling, and often beyond words. It's difficult to describe what it's like to stand on a high peak or swim in a glacial lake or to scramble up a challenging hiking trail to someone who hasn't been there.
That's why I started Lodestar Backcountry Provisions: as a way to share those indescribable experiences that all of us who love the backcountry know and experience. That sense of awe of being somewhere remote and unfamiliar. Every sourdough that I create is a way of capturing that comforting feeling of being on trails and summits across Canada.
This project started as a way for me to bring the backcountry home, to find a unique way of sharing my adventures with friends and families while leveraging my science background and creative spirit.
Whether you're reliving a journey, gifting a taste of adventure, or discovering new destinations through bread and story, I hope you’ll find something here that helps you bring the trail home and continues to inspire you to go to beautiful, challenging places with wonderful people, and get out there and do cool things.