Dear Jim:
The Chic Chocs….. Who Knew?
I think you
would agree that I am not a bushwhacking, rugged, outdoorsy, nature loving, jock.
Can you see me being happy traipsing through Moose trails by the day saying
softly “oooooooh look there’s one”?
I have been accurately described as delicate,
maybe even fragile. When we are thinking of going somewhere I’m looking for the
location of the nearest Ritz or Four Seasons .
Turns out
there are a whole lot of outwardly sane looking tree huggers who love nothing
better than going off in to the woods without phone or Wi-Fi to sop up the call
of nature. I think if electric shock theory isn’t working for you here is a
plan that might work.
I have just
finished a 3 night journey to the Chic Choc Mountains in Northern Quebec.
Staying in a small remote first class lodge with 19 rooms, our group of 10 guys took over the entire
lodge with a staff of 10 .
Getting
there was advertised as a snap. Lets see…one and half-hours in a private plane
built during the war (I’m referring to WW1). This followed by a one and a half
hour ride in a 10-seater bus with 10 people, some of who would normally be
asked to shift their seat position to balance an aircraft. Then just when you
think you aren’t going to live another 10 minutes you turn on to a gravel road
to go up to the lodge…another one hour and 15 minutes! Arrival consists of
falling out of the Van with all of your teeth loosely rolling around in your
jaw and being picked up and straightened out by one of the courteous staff.
Normally walking posture returned within 2 hours so it wasn’t as bad as it may
have sounded.
Now let me
day right away that this is a great place, planned and conceived by one member
of our group over 10 years ago and it currently is fully booked by guests from
around the world who even come back for several visits!! It is a beautiful
facility, first class in every way and brilliantly located with views that
can’t be captured on camera.
The food was
loved by almost everyone. The menu included Red Deer, Elk, Caribou, Rabbit,
Sturgeon, Rabbit livers and Duck. When they asked if there were any dietary
considerations the group had I wasn’t smart enough to realize what items might
be found in the forest where Bambi and Thumper live.
Small error
on my part. The four pounds that I lost on main courses were quickly gained
back by unlimited slices of sugar pie and cookies.
The Chef used to work at the Beaver Club in Montreal,
a very high-end restaurant. How did he get to the Chic Chocs you say? Well His resume goes like this: T rained as a
sous chef in France, working his way up all the big name restaurants here there
and everywhere and now (drumroll) a career toping stint as the head chef at the
19 room Chic Choc lodge located Nowhere.
I’m thinking he must have food poisoned the
Sultan of Brunei or something and fled in to the bush ending up at the Lodge.
He did have a nervous tick that indicated that maybe he is in hiding. Never the
less he and his small staff performed beautifully and there was one standing ovation
after another as each course of some animal part or another was placed in front
of us.
I know you
want to hear about the Moose search. Well we all dressed up in warm clothes
including gloves and tuques and headed down a trail in to the valley below us
looking for Moose. I can’t answer the question “Do Bears poop in the woods”
conclusively but I can say without any doubt that Moose do poop in the woods non-stop
and not in the most convenient places.
Our guide
holds some antlers in his hand and a bottle of Moose Urine in a spray bottle in
the other hand. (Don’t ask how he comes by the Moose Urine but I’m sure you can
see why I’m thinking this guy deserves a big tip).
So here is
this goofball scraping small bushes with his fake antlers and spraying urine in
to the air here there and everywhere. He has a beard and is wearing a Tully
hat! Now the first obvious question is,
how stupid are these Moose?
Turns out
they are pretty much really dumb as they look at our guide like he is one of
the gang. A little skinny but no problem. So we quietly get closer and closer
to a 2000 lbs. male who has 3 females standing staring at him. Seems the mating
dance takes a long time so everyone stands in position for 24 hours or so until
someone makes a move. This gets boring real quick so after walking downhill for
30-45 minutes, taking 1100 pictures, we turn around to go back.
Now this may
sound obvious to you city slickers but walking back up a hill that took 45
minutes to go down isn’t as easy as it sounds. One of the obvious take home
aspects of the trip. A great time killer however in a place with nothing to do.
At any rate,
there were no fish in the rivers because there is hardly any water in the river
and wandering around in the bush trying not to get your eye poked out took most
of our time. We were busy 14 hours a day!
I am now
back home after a trip that took the same time as flying home from Portugal and
trying to figure out how to say “I’m sick that weekend” when the others say “I
can hardly wait to go back, the best trip I have ever been on, I loved every
minute of it. Wow.”
Bill Meder
