The Loonies

Tracy Ellis

Sept. 1, 2017

            Last night I was lulled to sleep from the sweet but eerie sound of the Loons. Although I am sure the group thought it could have been me since I have mastered the Loon call. I was then woken a few times during the night from one of those falling dreams due to our tent being on a rather steep incline and close to an edge. But once I finally woke up, I had fresh biscuits made by our current number one baker, Austin, to motivate me. I was anxious for the long trip that I knew we would be making today and as it turned out leaving early paid off and we made it to Fairy Point by a good time and beat the potentially dangerous winds. All of us sat in our canoes in silence as Papa Jeff explained the history and importance of the pictographs that were seen on the tall walls before us at Fairy Point. They made my thoughts go back to a time that I wish I could see. Seeing things like this really help make the river come alive for us and tell its historic story. This gave all of us a whole new appreciation for the river and put in perspective the things that happened on the very ground we walk on every day. It is fun to think about how everything we see was once used by Native Americans and fur traders as their main roadway.

            After making it past the wall, Jeff informed us all of a waterfall and even though we knew we had a long trip ahead of us, there was no way we would miss out on seeing anything and everything we could while up in the big bad north. We crossed the lake a little early and took a slight detour down a small cove to see where the little Missinaibi roared out with a vengeance. This small detour was exactly the motivation needed to push forward and finish our long day of paddling. After endless hours of Ashley and I singing every single random song that popped into her head, including the classics like Oops I Did it Again, for quite some time, our destination was finally in sight. I was really proud of our group for making it to this camp site because as a leadership team this was our end goal and we were not sure if it would be met. Because this was an actual camp ground and not a back country hide away, we now have to remember what we are here for and stay in that back country mode as we stay here for the next two days. I think we will be fine, unless Emma keeps talking about McDonalds. Our long day ended with a much needed compass lesson and a little bit of group star gazing to remind us just how small we really are and how lucky we are to have each other on this journey.