• Holiday Greetings - Meilleurs voeux des fêtes
• The Manuan Canoe Trip F.M. Van Wagner 1936
• Memories of Nominingue - Part II Richard Bourne 1956-1971
• La Vérendrye Liam Kaufer 2013
• 2014 Enrolment for Camp- Inscription au Camp 2014
• Rebates for 2014 - Rabais sur les tarifs 2014
• Alumni Association News / Nouvelles de l'association des anciens
• Tumpline Submissions - Soumissions pour cette lettre de nouvelles

Holiday Greetings - Meilleurs voeux des fêtes

The Manuan Canoe Trip F.M. Van Wagner 1936

Canoe tripping has been an important part of the Nominingue experience since 1925. Although many of the routes are no longer available and some elements of the experience have changed, the essence of the canoe trip remains the same - learning to work together as a team; enduring difficulties caused by inclement weather; travelling through the Canadian wilderness and meeting the challenges that each new day brings.

Participants: Bill Stobo, Duncan Duclos, Herb Owen, John Hay, Stewart Hamilton, F.M. Van Wagner

Canoes weighed 80 lbs when well-dried and over 90 lbs wet.

Total weight of packs and all equipment was 350 lbs.

A double blanket was carried for each person, each weighing up to 8 lbs.

60 lakes in 14 days.

Wednesday, August 12

Practically everything having been packed the previous day, we arose at 6:00 am, had breakfast, loaded up Duquette's taxi and were away at 7:10, arriving at Ascension at 8:30 am. By 9:40, we had built a rack, loaded packs and canoes securely onto the wagon and, as the driver set out on his 20 mile drive, we again took to Duquette's taxi and had him take us about five miles along the road towards Eagle Lake. When the road began getting a little rough, we found a place for the car to turn and started on our hike. Two small packs were carried containing our lunch and supper, as well as other things we did not care to trust to the wagon on the rough trail. It was 10:10 am when we said goodbye to Duquette, wishing him a safe return and advising him to be sure to meet us two weeks later at Tapini Farm. At 11:35 am, we arrived at Ten Mile Creek. An attempt was made to locate some trout in this stream, but without success. Here we had our lunch of sandwiches, oranges and tea, and waited until 1:55 pm for our canoes to arrive. The driver allowed only time enough to feed and water his horses and eat his own lunch before setting out on the long, rough trail for Eagle Lake at 2:40 pm.

From Ten Mile Creek to Eagle Lake is ten miles of very rough road. We walked ahead of the wagon, occasionally stopping to wait for the wagon to overtake us, when about a mile from our destination, Stewart and Duncan were left with the wagon while the rest of the party hurried ahead to make supper. The advance party arrived at our shack at 6:40 pm The wagon arrived at 7:20 pm and by this time it was raining steadily. Reaching our destination as late as we did, we were most fortunate to have a shack with a stove so it was not necessary to pitch our tent or make supper in the rain. To bed at 9:00 pm. So far so good...

Thursday, August 13

Up at 6:00 am. As paddles and tumps had to be adjusted and fishing rods tied in, we were delayed somewhat and did not get away until 8:45 am. While generally the water was more plentiful than usual, we found some difficulty in the creek leading from our shack to Eagle Lake and from eagle Lake to the Rouge River. This, together with the fact that we saw a moose and two deer, served to delay us considerably, so it was 10:25 when we arrived at the Rouge and 11:30 am at the first portage. Stopped for lunch a little above the portage at 12:05. Here we had a swim and the boys caught some chub. We made poor progress during the morning and should have taken a short lunch hour, but the party did not fully realize the distance we still had to travel. So, after a leisurely lunch, we started upstream at 2:00 pm. This proved a very long, hard afternoon, paddling upstream. Once, we saw a big black bear comedown to the river for a drink, but he soon us and hurried back into the woods. Owen's canoe was leaking badly and, though we were late, time had to be taken to patch it at the second portage, which is only a few hundred yards before Stonehouse Creek. Arrived at Stonehouse Creek at 6:30 pm where we had a short portage on our left. There were two more portages before reaching Stonehouse Lake at 7:15 pm. Here a little time was lost as some of the party took the portage coming in on the right of the dam while the others took the route leading to the other side. As we paddled down the lake, it started to rain and darkness overtook us long before we reached our destination. It was necessary to move very slowly along the right shore so as not to miss Stuart's Point, where we expected to find a cabin waiting for us. Before arriving there at 8:30m pm, it was so dark that a flashlight had to be used to help locate it. The very comfortable little cabin was fortunately unoccupied and we were not long in getting our packs inside. We had a cold supper and went to bed. This proved to be a very hard day and we were about three hours late in making camp. However, the following day was to be an easy one.

Memories of Nominingue - Part II Richard Bourne 1956-1971

  Rise free from care before the dawn

      And seek adventure

Let the noon find thee by other lakes

And the night o'er take thee everywhere at home

After the tribal narrations, the Council Ring would then move to the "challenges" section. Jimmy Katsoukis was a jovial, overweight camper. Everyone knew him and loved him, because his mother mailed him cookies and candies, and he had been taught to share.

Jimmy arose, faced the big chief, raised his right hand, and chanted, "Oh Big Chief, I Big-in the-belly challenge Thin-as-a-stick to a pillow fight.  The Chief of Challenges produced two trestles and two pillows. The challenge was to be best two out of three. 

Jimmy had a strategy. He stood motionless, his large frame firmly balanced on the trestle. Thin-as-a-stick swung the pillow over and over, harder and harder. Jimmy withstood the barrage, and unbalanced, Thin-as-a-stick tumbled as a result of his multitudinous blows. One to zero for Big-in-the-belly...

Thin-as-a-stick had learned his lesson. He stood motionless after the Chief of Challenges had blown his whistle, starting the second round. Jimmy lost his patience, and started to swing the pillow mercilessly. This was a suicidal, un-savvy tactic.  Big-in-the-belly followed through on one of his missives, and fell off the trestle, and into the not-so-big midsection of Thin-as-a-stick. 

The whistle blew. Round three started. Both combatants had learned that defence was the key to success. After ten seconds of feints and fakes, the Big Chief gruffly said, "Braves, begin the challenge."

Pillows found their marks. Feathers flew. The two campers battled valiantly to retain their balance. Finally, a lethal blow caused Thin-as-a-stick to teeter, but the delivery of the blow caused Jimmy to totter. The Chief of Challenges put his head to the ground, like a wrestling referee, intently evaluating who would touch first. "Let me get it right", thought the Challenges Chief. The tribe does not allow video review.

Both campers touched the ground at exactly the same instant: "Oh Big Chief, I declare this challenge a draw." 

La Vérendrye Liam Kaufer 2013

My Ten Day Trip

Day 1

Today, we had an early start. Daniel set his alarm for 5:15 am and he woke up the rest of the group. After changing into our wet clothes and heading to trip stores, we packed the packs and brought them to the trailer. Finally, after getting our paddles and piling into the car, we said our goodbyes and left camp at 6:40 am.

After saying a quick goodbye to Martin, we sat down for a quick lunch of soup and hot dogs. We cooked the hot dogs in the soup, which was a great idea. The hot dogs tasted delicious and the soup tasted somewhat more like actual meat. 

We then left for the first paddle of the day, all the way down Lac Granet and partway down the river. When we arrived at the first campsite, we took our canoes out of the water and went for a quick dip. The water was cool, but there was a strong current. 

Dinner was soup with pork chops. The pork chops were cooked to perfection with a pinch of salt and some hot chilli flakes. Sadly, we only had one chop per person. We sat down in the tent after the meal and went over the distance we had travelled that day. We ended up going about 14 km, three off from our original goal.

Day 2

Today, we woke up at about 6:20 am and began to cook breakfast. We ate eggs and cheese cooked in bacon fat, with oatmeal and brown sugar. We were on the water by 9:00, which was slow, but OK for the first day. We headed upriver a ways before coming to some rapids. They were not marked on the map. Richie and Colin roped the canoes together and they dragged the canoes upstream. We all bush-wacked to the portage, which was a few metres upstream. Our dialogue went as follows:

Danny: Hey look, a can!

Ryan: A pan?

Danny: No, a can. Why would there be a pan here?

10 metres further...

Danny: Hey look, a pan!

Ryan: A can?

Danny: No legit, a pan!

We found a nice frying pan on the portage, which we kept and used for dinner. Lunch was Kraft Dinner and tuna. We ate at a beach campsite on Grand Lac Victoria. Boats kept coming by and we were all dehydrated because we hadn't thought that we would be that hot.

After paddling further down the lake after lunch, we slept on a beautiful island campsite. Dinner was rice with chicken broth, beans, corn and tomato sauce in a pita.

Quote from that night:

Simon: We're in the middle of ... nowhere...and ... nowhere is beautiful!

2014 Enrolment for Camp- Inscription au Camp 2014

Enrolment for both boys' camp and family camp has begun! The opportunity to take advantage of our early-bird rates is now over. More than 130 campers are already enrolled for 2014. 

The simplest way to enrol is online from our website. If you have any questions, please call or e-mail the office. 

Vous pouvez maintenant vous inscrire pour le Camp 2014, le camp de garçons et le camp familial. La date limite pour bénéficier du rabais pour une inscription hâtive est maintenant passée. Plus de 130 campeurs sont présentement inscrits pour la saison 2014. 

La manière la plus facile d'inscrire votre fils est sur l'internet à partir de notre site. Si vous avez des questions n'hésitez pas de nous appeler au bureau ou de nous écrire.

Rebates for 2014 - Rabais sur les tarifs 2014

The cost of summer camp makes a summer at Nominingue at luxury. We try to help reduce your costs somewhat by offering some rebates or fee reductions. Here is a list of our rebates for 2014:

- Early bird rate: a special discount is offered for all campers registered prior to December 15, 2013 - $50 on an 8-day session; $100 on a 12-day, 15-day session or 19-day session; and $150 for a 26-day, 40-day, 43-day or 54-day session.

- Family camp credit: all campers who attended family camp in 2013 receive a rebate on 2014 boys' camp equal to 10% of their family camp fee.

- Brother Discount: First son pays full price, second son receives a 10% discount; third son receives a 15% discount.

- Referral rebate: a family who refers another camper receives a $75 rebate. This rebate is also offered to the family who is referred and whose son attends Nominingue in 2014.  

Nous sommes conscients que d'offrir un séjour à votre fils au Camp Nominingue coûte cher. Nous essayons de vous proposer quelques moyens de réduire vos coûts. Voici une liste des rabais offerts en 2014:

- Inscription avant le 15 décembre, 2013 - 50$ pour les séjours de 8 jours;100$ pour les séjours de 12, 15 ou 19 jours; 150$ pour les séjours de 26, 40, 43 ou 54 jours.

- Si vous avez participé au camp familial en 2013, vous bénéficierez d'un rabais pour le camp de garçons 2014 correspondant à 10% des frais encourus pour votre fils au camp familial.

- Pour frères: 10% de rabais sur l'inscription de votre deuxième garçon; 15% de rabais sur l'inscription de votre troisième garçon.

- Toute famille qui a incité une nouvelle famille à envoyer leur fils au Camp Nominingue! Ce rabais de 75$ est offert aux deux familles! 

Alumni Association News / Nouvelles de l'association des anciens

Please share with us news that you would like to include in the Tumpline that you think might be of interest to other Nominingue alumni.

SVP envoyez nous des nouvelles que vous aimeriez inclure dans une prochaine édition du Tumpline.

Alumni Socials

Over the past few years, we have held alumni socials in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Mexico City. We will be holding more in the New Year. 

Dates and locations of future get-togethers will be posted on Facebook on the Nominingue Socials Group page at http://www.facebook.com/groups/NominingueSocials/.

To get involved with CN Alumni Association, please contact John Christou at john@prospectorfilms.ca. 

Tumpline Submissions - Soumissions pour cette lettre de nouvelles

We are looking for submissions for our newsletters from campers, staff and parents... from this summer, as well as from recent and less recent alumni. These submissions may be general memories of camp experiences or specific memories about a canoe trip, about a favourite program or a funny experience. Please send your submissions to grant@nominingue.com.  You may submit your stories and memories in English, French or Spanish.

Nous sommes à la recherche de textes de campeurs, parents et de moniteurs de l'été 2013... et de souvenirs de nos anciens campeurs et moniteurs des années récentes et moins récentes. Vos textes peuvent décrire vos expériences en générale ou une excursion de canot, un programme favori ou une expérience drôle. SVP envoyez votre texte par courriel à grant@nominingue.com. Votre texte peut être écrit en français, en anglais ou en espagnol. 

Camp Nominingue | Tel. 450-267-2555 | Toll-free 866-910-1551 (Canada & US)
Email: info@nominingue.com | Web: www.nominingue.com

This e-mail is destined to all campers, parents and counsellors, current and alumni. If you would prefer not to receive occasional messages from us, please unsubscribe using the link below this message.

Ce courriel est destiné à tous les campeurs, parents et moniteurs, actuels et anciens. Si vous voulez vous désinscrire de cette liste d'envoi, svp cliquez en bas de la page.

Winter address: 112, rue Lippée, Les Coteaux, QC J7X 1J4
Summer address: 1889, chemin des Mésanges, Nominingue, QC J0W 1R0