By John Dinner, Faculty, Foundation Years & Student Success

Reaching back and touching the roots of our being is what an outtrip is all about. Connecting to nature in a way that allows us to connect with ourselves much more authentically is the goal; even if it takes a couple of years, this is a good beginning. But it also provides glimpses of our futures. And on this trip, that could be said both figuratively, and literally.

The Foundation Years trip, as has become tradition, ventured into Massasauga Provincial Park, a relatively new provincial park having been protected back in 1989 (right around the time I was in my own Grade 8 year!?!). It is certainly young when compared to the grand daddy of Provincial Parks, Algonquin Park just to the east.

To say we are blessed in this area of the world is a true understatement.

And for the Foundation Years students, it is a wonderful place to begin this next phase of life. A foundational experience that as it always does, begins with nervousness and anxiousness, and more than a few questions of, "Why are we doing this?" and “When can I go home?”

We were fortunate to have perfect paddling and portaging weather for our first day, and that nervousness quickly gave way to excitement and curiosity as we forged through our first portage and got to our neighbouring sites with some zest that wouldn't be seen again for a few days. We gathered as group for our first meal and prepared for what we knew was coming.

And in came the rain.

It rained through the night on the first night, but we got to marvel in the fact that Mr. Smith was right! "There is no bad weather, only bad equipment." Or to paraphrase, there is no bad weather, only poor preparation. But we were ready and tents were tied securely, and other than the strangeness of falling asleep with rain falling less than a metre from our faces yet staying dry, we slept well.

Day Two brought more rain and paddling and portaging, and portaging; and as it turned out, not because of many more portages but an inability to really lean into the experience as a group, more portaging, and then some more portaging. But it became apparent on Day Two what it means to work together and to be prepared for all aspects of the trip. For as the rain began to let up through Day Three, we were ready for our biggest challenge yet—an unfamiliar portage and our longest day of paddling. But things were beginning to click—on the portage, in the boats, and quite clearly in the demeanours of everyone. Confidence was on the rise, and not just for the excitement that we were now closer to getting home than we were to when we left.

A night where the boys clearly got the better of the two sites, but the girls sat family style and shared soup and rice and warmth and s'mores, the connections we were making with ourselves were allowing us to make connections with each other. So Day Four came, and with it the sun confidently shone as brightly as the sheepish smiles that were having a harder time concealing the enjoyment being had. The wind was up, spirits were high, and what was supposed to be our longest day on the water quite literally turned into a sail down a couple of bays and to our campsites well over an hour ahead of schedule. With time on our hands we jumped, we swam, we canoe'd, we collected wood, we built a fire, we explored - all done with the freedom of knowing things were done well and we were ready for anything, including having some genuine fun around a campfire.

That last night ended under a cascade of stars - with the occasional plane, some space junk, a shooting star or three, the International Space Station ... and Starlink!?! A 'take-your-breath-away' visual that immediately thrust us back into the present, modern-day world, and then straight into the future where the possibilities, while laying on a billion year old rock, seemed as many and as wonderful as the stars above.

Not a bad foundation to start the year.

PS - I am particularly sentimental on this, my third trip with RLC into Massasauga Bay Provincial, but also my 25th year of canoe tripping. Making it even more special is that I get to celebrate these 25 years in the same place and with the same person who was with me on that very first experience all those years ago. I am so very lucky.

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