We are over the moon with joy and pride! Both the Whitney and Brent trips arrived back at camp today’s safe, smiling, and in incredible time!
Everyone is so impressed with their incredible achievement. 130 km for Whitney and 170 km for Brent, gruelling paddling and portaging since yesterday at first light. What an amazing feat to take on, especially for a bunch of teenagers. They have been training before breakfast all summer long to get in physical and mental shape for this unbelievably difficult challenge. When we saw them paddle onto the lake we had to do a double take as it seemed to early for them to return, but when we realized it was really them, the entire camp ran down to the waterfront screaming and cheering to give them the most well-deserved hero’s welcome.
It was fitting to end the night with their tripper Jonah’s 10 year speech, in which he spoke about the power of challenges. Here’s an excerpt from it:
Here we are deliberate about creating opportunities for people to experience things they couldn’t experience anywhere else. And there is nowhere I see that more clearly than on canoe trips.Trips are hard. The days are long. The portages are brutal. Things break. Plans change. You get thrown obstacles that you couldn’t have possibly prepared for. And unlike almost anywhere else, you can’t just leave. You have to figure it out. But that’s what makes it so special. On paper, the difficult moments aren’t supposed to be the good ones. On my most recent 24-day trip down the Missinaibi River, our car broke down in the middle of nowhere on the drive in. We had to spend the night there while trying to figure out how we were going to get a mechanic to us. On paper, that was terrible. In reality, it became one of the most memorable nights of the entire trip. That’s what discomfort can do. It forces you to improvise. It forces you to be present. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you find yourself smiling while you’re doing something that you thought was going to be miserable. And that’s probably my favourite thing to see in a camper: that moment when they’re doing something hard, and they suddenly realize they’re actually enjoying it.
In other news, last night we were so excited to finally see the amazing Senior play (Mama Mia) performed outside on the front lawn of the Main Lodge for a special treat. The cast looked like they were having as much fun as we were watching it, and everyone walked away with full hearts and ABBA ear worms stuck in their heads.
The weather today was perfect for our last day of activities, and I loved watching the campers savour each moment of it together.
I’m going to bed thinking how lucky I am to get to spend my summer in this incredible utopia doing the most important work of helping children find confidence, embrace challenge, and have so much fun.
