Time to slow down
Tomorrow morning we will leave at… In fact, we have no idea, because while the country was switching to daylight saving time, we were leaving our phones and watches behind for the entire week. Our mission is therefore to let ourselves be carried by the adventure, our biological clock, and nature.
Mario took the time to talk to us about it this afternoon. Mario Bilodeau is a great adventurer and also one of the co-founders of the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation, exactly 30 years ago. We had stopped in the heart of the forest that borders Lac Emmuraillé. The temperature was really pleasant, barely around zero, and the snow was thick and soft. “In the city, sensations hit us all at once, but here we can take the time to embrace them slowly,” he told us. So we took the opportunity to breathe deeply.
Teamwork
The Lac Emmuraillé trail was our first real contact with nature since leaving Quebec City. The ice prevented us from reaching the Monts-Valin, but here we are in L’Anse-Saint-Jean, south of the Saguenay River, thanks to our team of guides from Saguenay Aventure, locals who know this part of the country well and who prepared a great backup plan for us.
So let’s take the opportunity to introduce this team. On the foundation’s side, we have the indispensable Mario, along with Catherine and Marie-Michelle, two highly experienced facilitators. We are four volunteers: Isabelle, our physician, Lucie, the nurse, Laurie, a social worker, and myself, Valérian, blogger and photographer. On the guides’ side, let me introduce Andréanne, Simon, Phil, Camille and Xavier, who know the terrain and the equipment and ensure the logistics (and the food!).
At the same pace
Lac Emmuraillé was also the perfect playground to discover our mode of transportation for the next five days: the ski-hok. As Phil explained to us, the ski-hok is a cross between cross-country skis and snowshoes, an ideal tool for moving through deep snow, and above all relatively easy to use.
After a brief introduction, we headed into the forest to test our equipment in real conditions. A few falls (including mine), but also several successful “first runs” for Ian, Ryder and Hannah, who had never had the opportunity to ski before. In the end, the image that stays with me from those two kilometers through the forest is that of a long smiling and united line moving at the same pace.
As evening came, once gathered in the Abri chalet where we will sleep tonight, everyone shared their wishes and their limits for living together as a group over the coming days. Between the lentil soup and the pudding chômeur, everyone shared their expectations: helping one another, respecting others and their own limits, but above all being together…
