Summer 2025 Grand Expedition | On the Tip of the Toes

Free
participation!

There are only 131 days! Apply

Date of the Expedition

From July 15 to July 24, 2025

Registration Deadline

31 May 2025

Activity

Canoe-camping

Place

Réserve Faunique La Vérendrye, Qc

Age Group

30 to 39 years old

In remission

Number of Participants

14 maximum

Description

This expedition will offer 14 young adults aged 30 to 39 in cancer remission the chance to experience an extraordinary summer adventure alongside a group of peers from across the country.

In the summer of 2025, the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation is offering a ten-day stay in Québec, in a remote wilderness area. This experience will allow you to meet other young adults with similar life experiences and share moments of joy and challenge through an eight-day canoe-camping expedition.

Our expedition will begin in Montréal, where the group will gather before setting off on the big adventure. On July 15, we will travel by bus to Domaine Pine Grove to meet our guides, begin learning technical canoeing skills, and prepare for our expedition. For this first evening, we will stay in a cabin.

The next day, after finalizing our expedition preparation, we will take a bus to our launch point at the entrance of the La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve. From there, we will begin our eight-day canoe-camping journey. During the expedition, we will paddle between two and ten kilometers per day, covering a total of approximately 50 kilometers. To move from one lake to another, we will sometimes need to portage our canoes and gear along portage trails. This will add a level of challenge to our adventure and allow us to explore even more of the territory.

We will camp in tents, setting up a new campsite each evening. On-site, group members will share tasks such as cooking, building fires, and cleaning. For the duration of the expedition, we’ll live in the great outdoors, but we’ll still enjoy hearty meals cooked over the fire. On July 22, we will wrap up our water journey and enjoy a final evening of celebration. The following day, we will head back to Montréal.

Throughout the expedition, group discussions and special activities will provide opportunities to build unique connections with other participants as well as with the exceptional natural environment surrounding us.

In pictures

Expedition Members

On each expedition team there are two adventure facilitators whose role is to ensure the smooth running of all the activities. They are supported by a medical team – composed of a doctor, a nurse and a psychosocial professional – whose shared mission is to ensure the good health of all members of the expedition. In addition to these experts, ourh team includes professional guides with extensive knowledge of the area covered by the expedition, and a photographer-blogger responsible for capturing every moment of this great adventure in words and images.

Geography and History

The La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve spans the regions of Outaouais and Abitibi-Témiscamingue. It is located 300 kilometers from the city of Montréal. With more than 4,000 lakes, water is an incredible treasure of the La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve. It includes Grand Lake Victoria and two massive reservoirs, Dozois and Cabonga, fed by rivers with names evocative of local cultures: Chochocouane, Capitachouane, des Outaouais, and Gens de Terre.

This location is a paradise for canoe campers and anglers, offering over 800 km of developed navigable routes. Its lakes and rivers teem with fish, while the mixed forest is home to nearly forty mammal species and hundreds of bird species.

Two Algonquin communities, Kitcisakik (or Grand Lake Victoria) and Lac-Rapide, are located within the boundaries of the wildlife reserve. These territories have never been ceded throughout history.

Schedule

July 14

July 15

July 16

July 17 to January 22

July 23

July 24

Transport to Montreal

Transport and equipement preparation

Bus ride to Domaine Pine Grove
Meeting with the guides
Introduction to lake canoeing and gear preparation
Sleeping in cabins

Expedition departure

Shuttle to the put-in
Begining of our canoe-camping expedition in the Réserve faunique La Vérendrye
Night under the tents

Expedition

Canoe-camping expedition in the Réserve faunique La Vérendrye
Approximate distance of between two and ten kilometers per day
Camping under the tents on a new campsite every night

End of the expedition

Last day on the water
End of our canoe-camping trip
Shuttle

Return home

Bus ride to Montreal
Transport to go back home

I’m interested!

Are you interested in this expedition? Complete the registration form here.

Apply