Day 3 of the expedition, Day 2 in the woods… The knock knock knock of a woodpecker answers the knock knock knock of Marie-Hélène preparing fresh fruit. I’m sure the heavenly light shining over camp inspired Marie-Michelle and Eve-Marie this morning: “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” to gently wake the beautiful souls curled up in their sleeping bags. Ukuleles wander from tent to tent. The young participants emerge one by one and gather around the fire. Breakfast is a breakfast-wrap masterpiece worthy of the best brunch spots. Coffee or hot chocolate in hand, conversations slowly resume and the circle comes to life. Raphaël starts singing again and eventually gets everyone dancing. A lovely morning warm up for both body and soul. The atmosphere radiates joy, spontaneity, and the simple pleasure of being here together, laughing.
Tents come down, barrels are packed, and everything lying around gets picked up. Angelo is looking for his bag, Milla for her paddle, Loïs forgets two or three things… Nothing unusual apparently, it seems pretty typical for foundation expeditions.
New canoe crews today. The seat pairings change, but conversations start flowing just as quickly. Destination: Elephant Cliff. We now paddle with ease and efficiency. But in terms of navigation, while we did find a rocky cliff, there was definitely no elephant in sight… The place is officially renamed Amelia Bay. So before heading back in the right direction, the legend of Amelia absolutely has to be told! Naturally, Raph steps into the role of spontaneous storyteller and launches into an epic tale: forbidden love, a chase involving Bill the mobster, and a tragic ending. Let’s see if your young adventurers can retell the full version to you! We turn around and resume the search for the real cliff. A narrow passage between two islands brings us back on track. Right in the middle of the lake, Branwen reminds everyone that she has the expedition journal and it needs to be filled out… Perfect timing once again, just like yesterday, making everyone laugh.
Finally, the two stone elephants appear on the horizon. Once at the base of the cliff, the canoes are pulled tightly together so we can let out one huge liberating scream: “1, 2, 3 Wouaaaaaah!” from the depths of our lungs. Then silence for a few meditative minutes. But nature quickly returns: traditional Québec call and response songs, Loïs performing rap, and eventually a karaoke competition. The hits keep coming and before long, both teams are singing together.
Except the pink team’s canoe, led by Marie-Michelle, suddenly has to go hat fishing… Thankfully Angelo loses nothing, and the crew bravely fights the wind to recover it.
Lunch takes place at Fly Cape, officially named that upon arrival because of the overwhelming number of bugs.
Geneviève, Marie-Hélène, and Serge welcome us with an incredible meal and a wonderful shelter to hide in. Café de la Pointe serves us minestrone soup followed by a potato salad with dill and fresh lemon… plus unlimited flies! Huge thanks to Charles-Antoine, the magician behind every menu, from grocery shopping to meal prep.
Naïla the nurse has returned after making sure Mélanie was safely back with her family. That gives us the perfect reason to open the staff’s High & Low to celebrate her return. And the surprise is a good one: salmon candy generously offered by Raphaël’s father. A luxurious appetizer we happily devour later that evening.
Eve-Marie now invites everyone to choose a rock for a special activity before gathering inside the bug shelter. Eyes closed, hands tightly holding the stone, the idea is to load the rock with a difficult memory. Then, facing the lakes together, united in one loud cry, everyone throws their stone far into the water, letting go of a little piece of that burden.
To return to lightness and joy, it’s game time: cowboy style! Yeehaw here, yeehaw there, “Hey Barn,” “Barn Dance,” and “Pow Pow” send waves of laughter through the group. The circle slowly empties as brains get more and more tangled, leaving Branwen and Angelo victorious champions of the challenge. A serious bug attack seems to intensify during our departure. One look at the map and afternoon route: 3.5 km left before the final campsite. More singing, more of Branwen’s beautiful voice, more Eve-Marie and Raphaël duets, more islands to paddle around, campers to greet, fishermen to accidentally disturb, and finally we arrive at the Natjlem site not entirely sure about the spelling supposedly named after “Nath, je l’aime!” though I’m not entirely convinced by Serge’s story! All the barrels, tents, and expedition gear have already been unloaded onto a beautiful wooded point. Thanks Gen, MH, and Serge! All that’s left is carrying everything up a steep hill to the campsites. No problem though, energy is still high and camp is quickly set up. The fire circle welcomes everyone while tomato soup warms up and chicken burgers cook over the flames.
With full stomachs and tarps set up in case of rain (yeah… it’s apparently coming tonight), the singing continues once more: “Saskatchewan” by Les Trois Accords in honor of Branwen, the very first participant from there to join an expedition! Between songs, we hear repeated chants of “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit,” supposedly meant to redirect campfire smoke.
While some people make predictions about the Canadiens game, the foundation’s ritual activity quietly takes shape. Created by Mario Bilodeau, it involves finding one word that reflects our experience and sharing it during this final evening together. Truthfully, we’ve all been thinking about it since the afternoon, and it’s not easy to summarize so much in just one word. I’ll tell you about that powerful moment tomorrow… patience.
Meanwhile, dessert was served: brownie with raspberry coulis… nothing less!
And while I write these lines by headlamp, surrounded by the warm atmosphere of camp, Hayman and Loïk come to get me for s’mores… yes, really!
It must be said that when Geneviève asked, “dessert or s’mores?” Loïs answered with his usual philosophy:
“Well, it’s not the same thing; s’mores aren’t dessert, they’re a moment!”
Fabienne
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