Our group of late risers wakes up to JF’s appropriate poetic recitation. « So make the best of this test and don’t ask why. It’s not a question but a lesson learned in time. It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right, I hope you have the time of your life”. The warm night indoors has worked wonders. The kids are fresh as daisies.

Adam is beaming. He can finally wear his jeans. Marie-Claude is declared the winner of the insect-bite contest: fifty-three on her back and twenty-five on her right hand only. The others gave up after that count. Poor Marie-Claude stuck to her convictions: she flatly refused to use insect repellent. I had hoped I would at least win that contest. I used insect repellent only once, half as much as JF, my closest competitor. No doubt, MC has thwarted JC’s efforts ‘bites down’.

This is relaxation and drying day. EVERYTHING is dripping wet after our last day on the river. The tents, the jackets, the sleeping bags, the sleeping pads and other objects are stretched out all over the place. Some of the kids too, a well-deserved rest. Some write in the group journal, others autograph the expedition t-shirts, some busy themselves making new necklaces, others scratch their insect bites while others strum the guitar, some float in the spa or in pure bliss.

After the best lasagna North of St-Leonard, laughter and shouts rise from the foggy river. The kids, comfortably encased in their flotation devices, are drifting down the current. A showing of expedition photos concludes the evening. What a beautiful river that Mistassini, what beautiful people those neo-Mistassins!

Photographs of Mistassini 2008 and other photos of the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation are available at the following URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pointedespieds