Hello outside world! I haven’t written anything in quite some time but I am back! As I’m typing this Nox and I are unbelievably sick but what I experienced last weekend was totally worth it.

This summer I discovered a place called Kanatha-Aki in the Laurentides where I stayed in a teepee with the kids and we loved it so much I decided to come back for their survival weekend, gift to myself for my birthday.

I didn’t bring as much as I usually do but I wasn’t too worried as we would have a kit check over there. I left Montreal pretty early, but stuck in traffic in St-Jerome I realized I forgot my frontal lamp, batteries, biodegradable soap and a few small items. I stopped at Ste-Agathe-Des-Monts for those and ended up also buying a compact camera to take pictures once my phone die (I didn’t want to bring my Canon Rebel T7i, it’s bulky and annoying to carry, also I didn’t want to break it if I tripped and fell).

From there I headed towards Val-Des-Lacs and decided to stop at River Archambault to fish as I was too early – timing was 1800. The forest was beautiful, the lake was filled with perches and that’s what I wanted for supper but those little white fish were way faster than the perches. I have no idea what they are, can someone help me identify them?

I was the first one of the group to get there so I picked my spot, pitched my tent and was good to go. Oreo (her real name is Poopy I think) was back to beg for food! But sorry girl, I had nothing this time, I came empty handed.

For the first night we were allowed our tent, sleeping bag, food, anything we wanted. We had our briefing then went back to our camp, to get to know the other people of the group before going to bed. I crashed first, as I wake up pretty early most days.

Next morning, time to pack up, then coffee (tea for me) before theory then another briefing. We were allowed one granola bar for the day (I still brought 4 and a pack of beef jerky). At noon we started our hike, which started with day navigation and was packed with info and nature observation, and we reached our location around 1400. It was getting pretty hot, I was really sweaty, and by then I had only 1 granola bar left. We started building our shelter and I picked a spot where I couldn’t see my neighbours.

During one of our briefings one of the guy’s shelter burned down… And so did all his stuff. He ended up moving in with a father and son duo, Pascal and Greg, who built a Palais de Versailles. At the end of the day my shelter was still not entirely done as I had a real issue with staying hydrated. I kept spilling my water by dropping it and kicking it and my head was started to spin. I ended up skipping night navigation because I just wanted to boil the most water I could.

Starting a fire with a ferro rod was actually a lot easier than I thought, now that I knew the technique (I tried before…. Never worked). I had to move the pit away from my shelter because even though I kept it small all the work, hiking and carrying stuff + hot fire was dehydrating me rapidely.

I stayed in for the night to write in my journal, and just enjoy the howling and forest noise. I was ready to fight the Wendigo when everyone was away. Even though the Wendigo would’ve killed me instantly as I couldn’t see more than 30 cms in front of me without light. The little salamanders were everywhere and they were pretty cute (have you see the way they wiggle?! Adorable).

On Sunday morning it was time for a nice fish breakfast! I was so happy to get to fish and to help other people with their catch. That one dad who came with his two teenagers was having the time of his life, a real Papa Bear trying to catch salmon, it was pretty funny.

We got back to camp and we cooked our fish before packing up. After that, little – big – hike to go to the rock wall to repel. I love repelling, I had so much fun. We then slowly made our way back and stopped to see the Bison before the end of our weekend.

I had SO MUCH FUN. It was one of the best weekend I ever had and I’m pretty pumped about coming back already. No only with the kids, but also for Winter Survival and for trapping.

This weekend concludes my Summer adventures, and now that Fall is rolling in, so is Hunting season! I decided to start making YouTube videos again, so I’m pretty excited about documenting my next weekend. Small game it is, and it’ll be my first time. I don’t expect to catch anything but an adventure is always an adventure. Until then, I’ll keep learning stuff and craft things.