The beginning (for real) of the expedition

So this morning, we gave up for good the comfort of running water, shower and toilet, at-fingertips light switch and for myself, the cellular network allowing me to send this blog quickly without having to use the heavy equipment to capture the waves of distant satellites. In short, the start is always the most difficult time. There’s the unknown of where we will sleep, what we will eat, and the outhouse… And there are also a lot of energy and logistic efforts that must be made not to forget anything.

However, it is not the motivation in the participants nor the dogs that was missing this morning; we even managed to get ahead of schedule. At the time of harnessing the dogs, the participants were much more experienced than the day before, so it was much faster and fluid. And as always, once on the way, the feeling is so nice, and this departure was as such particularly.

Sunbathing to tan our faces and get extra vitamin D, the always enchanting mountains contrasting with a blue sky winningcontests, and a few graceful falls of the sleds without getting hurt, just enough to make participants laugh. It was simply a delightful day.

We arrived at the camp in the early afternoon;but, the day was far from being over. After tying the dogs along the trail, we unpacked the material and fed the animals. They were particularly pleased with their snack—no participant envied them—some of them greedily gobbled their portion of meat in no time! Finally, we distributed straw to each dog—their bed for the night— and, for this as well, participants were not particularly envious. However, a prospector tent was installed near the cabin and 7 young braves will sleep there tonight and will have the privilege of being treated like royalty by Mario Bilodeau who will feed the stove throughout the night.

And then, the remaining fears disappeared resolutely. It smells like spaghetti that we are preparing while the participants discuss, play cards, eat candy that they subtly hid in their luggage. There are participants roaming all over the cabin, over two floors, there is laughter everywhere and how joyful it is! Ah! What a nice expedition! Seeyoutomorrow!

Isabelle Robinson, Blogger andPhotographerfor the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation