The Voyageurs returned to Lac La Biche last weekend but there was nary a beaver pelt nor a French accent to be found.

Eight canoeing enthusiasts from Canada, Australia and the United States, paddling from Jasper to Hudson Bay during an 81-day, 2,900-kilometre trek across Western Canada, spent the weekend at the Mission sharing their experiences so far and showing a group of Cubs and Scouts what they do to prepare for such a long journey.

Sixteen days and 820 kilometres into the trip, expedition leader David Delafield told a group of dignitaries gathered at the old convent last Saturday afternoon that he was glad the group had decided to retrace some of explorer David Thompson’s steps and take the route less travelled, using the Athabasca, Beaver and Churchill rivers to reach Hudson Bay by Aug. 21.

It’s completely by accident that we came across this, said Delafield, an assistant professor of outward pursuits at Canadian University College in Lacombe. It’s mostly because modern paddlers have forgotten about it. It’s beautiful paddling.

He credited local historian Tom Maccagno and Mission staff with helping him to plan the route for the dream canoe trip of a lifetime.

If we were going to do the trip, we wanted to make it memorable, said Delafield, noting many in the group gave up jobs or put off looking for work and spent up to $5,000 each to be able to go on the voyage. Why do something that everyone else has done?

Maccagno, with help from The Mad Trapper and the folks at the Mission, did their best to make sure the group would remember their sŽjour in Lac La Biche. He presented them with a Northwest Company flag and told them more about Thompson’s career, including his discovery of Portage La Biche, which opened up a major fur trading route during the early part of the 19th Century.

He’s the greatest land geographer who ever existed and he played a very important role in establishing Canada’s first transcontinental route, said Maccagno, who dressed up in traditional clothes for the occasion. And yet in his journal, he doesn’t take credit for that. He gives credit to his guide.

The Mad Trapper (aka Jerry Gauthier), on the other hand, provided more practical advice, such as the importance of smoking pipe to keep the flies away.

Enjoy life every day, he counselled the adventurers. Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the quicker it goes.

He joined Maccagno and several of the invited guests in a shot of Port, a Voyageur tradition at the end of a long journey.

May you be in heaven 100 years before the devil knows you’re there, offered Maccagno before drinking up.

Group member Nick Stefanovic, already a hearty outdoorsman who recently completely a four-month-long ice climbing trip in the Rockies, was happy to share in the tradition. Despite his long beard and outdoors experience, he insisted he was no Voyageur.

I have deep respect for the Voyageurs, said Stefanovic. Our boats are fairly light in comparison. I couldn’t imagine carrying a 150-pound canoe.

The three-month-long trek is about more than re-tracing history and bonding with friends, however. It is also about getting the conservation message out to as many people as possible. Many of the canoeists shared the sheer joy they felt at seeing so much wildlife, including foxes, black bears, moose, coyotes, beavers and many birds.

The other day, a wolf went ripping through our camp, said an incredulous Anita Burns, who at 19 is the youngest person on the trip. It was right there on our doorstep!

They also shared their disappointment at coming across traffic signs, soap and other pollutants in stretches of the water, water they have to drink (after filtering) every day.

I know we’ve come a long ways in the past 10-15 years towards understanding the importance of our waterways but it’s disappointing to pass by pulp mills and see orange gluck floating on the water, said Delafield’s wife Naomi, an accomplished violinist and a canoeing veteran in her own right.

Fellow traveller Michael Gregory provided a case in point, noting that when the group first arrived at the Lac La Biche River, they were less than impressed.

The water was incredible, he said. It stank as much as us. It was hard to filter. Things improved as the they moved upstream until eventually, they could see right to the bottom.

After we passed the farms, it was totally clear, said Gregory. We could see six feet down to the bottom. It was incredible the difference.

Spending three months outside, watching the seasons really change and seeing entire cycles of the moon gives one a new perspective on the beauty of nature, noted Delafield.

He stressed Canadians are quick to recognize the importance of the Tropical Rain Forest, for instance, but don’t fully appreciate the importance of preserving the world’s Boreal Forest, a full third of which is located right in their own backyard.

It’s like a magnificent scarf that wraps around the world, said Delafield. You can go to Siberia and feel like you’re in an Alberta forest.

After an evening to themselves, the group of eight spent Sunday afternoon with a group of Cubs and Scouts, showing them all of their paddling and camping equipment. They also showed them how they prepared meals with minimal supplies and explained how they managed to do laundry without the aid of a washing machine for 81 days.

We put out clothes in a big garbage bag, fill it with soap and water and shake it up real good, said Delafield to his attentive audience. They we drain it out in a place way out in the woods so the soap won’t get in the waterways and let our clothes dry in the sun.

Their presentation concluded, the group then paddled out to the David Thompson statue and carried their canoes across to Field Lake, where they set off on the next leg of their trip Monday morning. Despite the eight weeks left in their journey, Delafield wasn’t anxious to hop in a car and take the faster way to Churchill, Manitoba.

We are connected across this country by rivers, said Delafield, who plans to share the full story of his journey at Portage College this fall. They’re like highways to our past.

And, he added, the key to our future.