heard voices in camp and dressed for the day. It had rained at least a couple of times in the night and was cooler than the day before. We had short rain showers during the first part of the day
with patches of bright sunshine so we started the day wearing our rain gear.
Breakfast was the same every day, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, maple syrup, peanut butter,
jelly, fruit, coffee, juice, cereal and milk. A couple of days later, I learned from Guillome that
they were having an issue because some of our group were early risers who got up before the
guides did and needed their coffee. It was worked out satisfactorily, and the guides were
relieved that even if I woke up early, I stayed in my tent until they were all up, which was awfully early anyway.
Because the mouth of the Bernard River was so far away that we couldn’t possibly walk there
carrying all of the testing materials and supplies, it was arranged that the canoe people would
transport us and that they would stay with us to help. There were so few of us, and so much to be done, that I don’t see how we could have done it ourselves without their help.
Fran was one of the canoe people who is a part of Alliance Romaine had been accompanying
Alexis and Nicholas on their 48-day canoe trip down the river. She had been on the river since
July 11 and had actually canoed the Romaine last summer as well. Steve, a very pleasant young
man, was her canoeing partner. Anne-Marie decided that Roy would ride in their canoe, and then assigned me to the canoe between Roy and Fran. When I was introduced to Fran, she realized that we had met before, and although neither of us could remember exactly when, it had been at some event in Montreal in the year before.
It was so beautiful and quiet canoeing across the widest part of the river–my first time in a canoe. When we turned to go from the Romaine into the Bernard River, the river became very narrow and shallow, lots of rocks, and tree branches, and fallen trees in the river. Some of the other canoes were getting stuck on the rocks and branches as we went down the river, so Roy got a paddle and started helping Fran and Steve. We bumped along a little, but were able to keep moving. The others extricated themselves, usually by someone getting out and pulling the canoe
along, and then we all arrived at the extremely muddy place on the bank where we were to go
into the woods.
There were several groups once again. Daniel had a GPS with coordinates so Fran set out with
it and one group who were to find the place for the first dig. Others were once again hacking a
way for us through the forest and marking the way. Once the three testing locations were found,
a hole big enough for Daniel to sit in had to be dug at each, which wasn’t easy because the woods
were so dense and there were so many tree roots and buried rocks.
The lead parties went on, most of the men, and the rest of us stayed with Daniel so that he could
divide the equipment and supplies into a separate group for each dig. Annie, Amy and George
were with us, as were Jessica, Hugo and Anne-Marie. The testing required a lot of stuff, and it
was bulky, heavy and hard to maneuver in the space available. Amy was from Holland and was a big strong woman, who insisted on carrying one of the heaviest loads. Annie was one of the
younger ones in both groups; she had a very wry, very funny sense of humor, and we had a lot of fun together.
The mosquitoes, black flies and no-see-ums were in clouds all around us, and we were covered
with deet and insect repellants. The woods were the same as yesterday, but more difficult because we were gradually moving further up the mountain, and as we moved along the steep path, we could sometimes see through the trees how far up we were, and how far down it was.
When we got to the place for the first dig, Daniel and Anne-Marie set up the area around the hole for the testing, and Annie and I with Anne-Marie became, as Annie called us, the “dishwasher
girls.” Jessica had the clipboard to keep track of each sample as it was taken, to make labels and
to record the time. Fran handled the sample jars and labels. We washed the tools in a
complicated procedure so that they were clean for Daniel’s testing.
After we finished with the testing on the first site, we flipped over the blue mat we had been
working on and spread our pita sandwich lunch on it. Everyone was really hungry–and we were
all dirty from climbing, pulling ourselves up on trees, rocks and dirt, and then digging in dirt,
chopping trees, or whatever our jobs were. But, there was no place to wash, we were very
occupied, and I don’t think anyone gave it a thought. What’s a little deet among friends?
The second and third holes were increasingly harder climbs but our efficiency level had increased a lot, and we were all moving and working faster. The women in our group were having a good time, at one point discussing the pros and cons of various insect repellants, and tongue-in-cheek proposing commercials that could be used to raise money for Fondation Rivieres. We also discussed how awful we felt we looked by day 2 and composed a list of fashion statements that we found perfectly acceptable on an extended camping trip, but that we wouldn’t be caught dead n anywhere else: sandals with black socks, tights under athletic shorts; mosquito veils, flannel pants rolled up to the knee; bucket hats; and so on.
When we were finished, the testing group cleaned everything up, packed it up to move and filled
in the hole before we started moving back down to the river. We were making good time going
back down the mountain, although it seemed like–and was–quite a distance. Once I was
walking across a dead tree bridging a ravine, slipped and fell into the ravine. I fell flat on my
back and smacked my head, but fortunately the hole was only about 6 feet deep and did not have water or sharp rocks at the bottom. Steve was behind me and he pulled me out of the hole and back onto the log.
Before dinner a seaplane flew in and landed on the river immediately in front of our camp. The
plane had come to take the soil samples away for mercury testing and also brought Alex, the
journalist. The plane brought my tent as well, which had been located at the seaplane airport,
resolving what could have been a serious dilemma. Alex opted to use my new tent, allowing me
to keep the little green tent that had become my home.
The plane also took Charles-Antoine away; because of a situation at home, he couldn’t go with
us on the rafting trip, and we were fortunate that he had been able to get away to come with us
for the testing phase. I was so sorry to see him go.
Alex was outgoing, and immediately came into the group and started talking to everyone. He is
a New Yorker but lives in Montreal now. He was interested in everything and everyone, and
over the trip spent a good deal of time discussing our lives, our jobs, our ancestry and our
opinions. He talked to Roy a lot.
Early in the evening Jessica, Roy and I were sitting by the campfire site, and Alex along. As he
sat down he said conversationally, “Roy, now which town do you live in outside Montreal?
There was a long pause before Roy said in a measured, but pleasant tone, “I don’t usually tell
journalists where I live.” Jessica and I laughed so hard, and I’m sure Alex wondered what on
earth.
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