Row, Row, Row your Boat, Gently Down the Stream, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Life is but a Dream!

As the song says so well, it’s our first day on the water and it’s time to paddle. Time for adventure and wild islands. We settle in Voyageur canoes, grab our paddles and this is an opportunity to test our arm muscles. We discover some which we did not even know existed. The weather is nice; the weather is good. Everyone is in a good mood and we leave the shelter to paddle without stopping for an hour and fifteen minutes. Having left around 11 a.m., we already stop on an island for lunch. The smell of good tomato soup and noodles flows in the air. We then eat our sandwiches with appetite and a delicious cake that is Louis’s secret recipe, one of our dynamic logisticians and managers at Roxanne Café! After lunch, we are taught a very strange dance! The Ali Baba dance! General laughter and a little chaos, but hey, we had to be there to understand…

We pick up our paddles! Hop on the water! The landscapes are more and more stunning as we progress, without too much difficulty because with a good wind in the back, on the Poisson Blanc Reservoir. High rocky walls, sandy beaches, forests. Another hour and a half or so and we reach our campsite on an island. All aboard, freshwater pirates! We must carry our equipment, our barrels to the top of a small hill 30 seconds from the beach. The installation of the tents took another two hours, while chatting and evaluating of the ground and trees around. Everything had to be strategically placed to have maximum comfort, protection against rain, winds and tree branches. The site is amazing. The tents are placed on a bed of pine needles under these beautiful large evergreens.

Young people are even more in tune with one another than yesterday. They discovered common links, not only under the aegis of the disease, but also in their life paths and traits. After a dinner worthy of a very good Italian restaurant, the sharing around the campfire stirred a lot of emotions, positive. All are so inspiring. But no camping party is worthy of the name without the famous Grilled S’Mores. Here, a version with strawberries. Something to make the bears jealous… But there are no bears, so we ate everything, without leaving any!

The weather was perfect today, not too hot, not too cold, nice sun. But tomorrow, as the rain seems to be coming, there is a chance of experiencing an adventure, a little more thrilling and wet in our Voyageur canoes!

Text: Janylène Boucher

Photos: Catherine Tétreault