So last Friday we at the LGBTQ Youth Group went on a wild camping adventure at the Cap St. Jacques Nature Park in Pierrefonds. We had reserved the tents, got hot dogs and marshmallows for roasting over a nice camp fire, had lots of activities in mind – it was perfect. Then Mother Nature decided to literally rain on our parade. Not only did she rain, it was a down pour with high winds and low visibility. And if that wasn’t enough trees were falling right and left…. Ok, I am being over dramatic about the trees. But the fact remained that the weather really was not camping weather.

My car was the first to arrive and I met Myriam (the park’s coordinator) at the lodge where I was to give her the balancing owing and clear up any other last minute details. She quickly explained that a tree had fallen down and knocked out all the power to her office and the camp ground – that was fine with me, we were “roughin’it”. However Myriam was nice enough to offer us the big chalet that could accommodate 40+ people. It was like getting to the gate late for your flight and then being offered a free upgrade to first class! I took a moment to think about it – you know for dramatic effect. I did not want to seem too anxious to get out of sleeping in a tent with eleven ravenous 15-19 year olds. I finally agreed and she showed us to our castle. The castle had no power due to the fallen tree, but it was our castle for that one night – power or no power.

It was really hot and humid inside so a few youths and I helped open up any window we could. When we were done Jess and Krissy still had not arrived with their entourage so I tried to text and call them. Even though we were still on the island of Montreal the signal was pretty bad. I ended up finding out that they were lost so I drove out to meet them at the front entrance and have them follow me back in to the wilderness.

Once everyone was there, we all chose our places to sleep. Some chose to sleep in the large room with 20 or so bunk beds. Other chose to put up their own tents in the main room near the fireplace – not too close I made sure! After we settled in, I started a fire with the firewood that Myriam was so kind to bring in from outside for us. We ate hot dogs, veggie dogs, marshmallows, gummy bears and chips. It was not very healthy and I know I definitely had too much.

As darkness set in the clouds went away and the flash lights came out. It was not as hot as it was before the storm and it was nice enough for some to set their tents outside. We started off by playing some card games like Fluxx and Phase 10, then we moved to glow in the dark bubbles. There was music and candles and just an all-around good time.

I am not sure what time it was but I eventually went to bed as a few others decided to go out exploring. It was not exactly a great sleep since we had left the doors open for a good part of the night, some pesky mosquitos has joined the party and decided to get drunk off of my blood. Not only that but the explorers had come back from their adventure and were still not tired. They were loud but I did not mind as long as they were enjoying themselves.

Morning came all too soon but nature was calling and I knew there were going to be some hungry teenagers lurking about so I forced myself to get up. When I checked on the food that we put in the chalet’s freezer – we did that in order to try and keep it cold – everything was warm. From the milk to the cheese and deli-meats, we had to throw it all out just in case. So it was peanut butter and jelly time for everyone.

At one point I had an idea to get revenge on those insomniacs that helped the mosquitos keep me awake. We had balloons, no power, running water and it was a beautiful day outside –water balloons! Gabriel and I filled about 15 balloons and prepared for battle. For the most part it was an epic fail. We under filled them so instead of popping they would just bounce.

Just around noon we started making tie-dye t-shirts. I had not made a tie-dye t-shirt since I was 5 or 6 years old – It was a blast. We all made awesome tie-dye t-shirts for the Pride parade in August.

Since it was getting to be around 1:30 (ish), for our last activity we went to the private beach. It was just a short trek from the chalet. We passed the tents and out houses we were supposed to use and came upon this nice, sandy, abandoned beach. We spent the next hour playing Jack-pot and frolicking in the water and along the beach. Besides the stupid horse fly that was desperate to make a meal of me, it was a perfect day. We then went back to clean and pack up.

I truly enjoyed myself and I know many others did too. We finished our trip with a few group photos and an overall agreement that this would not be the last time we did something like this – perhaps winter camp?

I would just like to take a moment to thank Myriam, the other Cap St. Jacques Nature Park staff and the City of Montreal for allowing us to spend time together away from the stresses many of us “queers” face in our everyday lives.  Thank you!