The White Trail

Hi, I live on the Lower North Shore, I am a student of Gabriel Dionne school in Tête-à-la-Baleine. I figured I would write an article about where I live so you can understand better what it is to be a Coaster. I thought it would be interesting to write about the White Trail. On the Lower North Shore, there is about 10 different villages that aren’t connected together by a road. Therefore, the White Trail is the only way besides boat and plane that we can get to the other villages during winter.

Usually, the White Trail is open from the beginning of February to the end of March. They open it as soon as there is 10 inches of ice or more. In the winter time, there is either a hockey tournament, carnival or a meeting in a different village every weekend, so people from every village go by snowmobile on Friday and come back on Sunday. If you would leave from the start of the trail which is in Natashaquan to the end of the trail in Old Fort, it would take approximately 11-12 hours by snowmobile.

In summary, we are very lucky to have something such as the White Trail on the Lower North Shore because it gives us the opportunity to see friends and family to have a good time.  
                                                                                                                                    (M.M.)

                                                   



Kayak

I will talk to you about kayaking. I like to go for a ride in my Kayak around the islands. On a Kayak you can see different things in the water, for example you can see fish, dolphins, star fish and sometimes you can see whales. I love kayaking because it’s relaxing and you can go anywhere. It’s a good exercise too. When I’m at my summer cabin, I always go for a ride with my friends because they have a kayak too. Sometimes I go for a ride with my cousin and we go for a round trip to visit an island. I always put my floater on for security. That’s important because if I fall I can drown. I love to go on my kayak when there is no wind and there is a big sun in the sky. I think my summer cabin is the best place for kayaking, because the landscape is beautiful.

(C. M. M.)

Hockey Tournaments

Every year, hockey tournaments are organized in each village of the lower North Shore. Teams are formed by village and everybody will compete for the first time. We are traveling on snowmobiles to go to each tournament. The hockey tournaments start on Friday afternoon. In the night time, there is a dance with a singer. The kids can come for dancing only Friday in the evening and Saturday, you must be sixteen years old. Some villages organize a community dinner and there is always open kitchen for fast-food.

The tournament lasts one week-end. We arrive on Friday and we go back on Sunday.

From January to March, everybody travels for an unforgettable week-end.

The hockey, the dance and food are fun, but the best thing is to meet people from the Lower North Shore area.

Locations and dates of 2013 tournaments :

24-25 January: Chevery

8-10 February: Saint-Augustin

15-17 February: Tabatière

22-24 February: Harrington Harbour

1-3 March: Tête-à-la-Baleine

(H. M.)

Providence

Hi, my name is Philippe, today I will talk to you about an interesting subject :the Providence. The providence is an island. On this island, the people of Tête-à-la-Baleine have summer houses and we go to those summer houses in the summer, in the fall and in the spring. Why not in the winter? Because is too cold. In Providence, we make a number of activities, like fishing, kayaking, swimming in a lake. Or just relax. And in the summer there are tourists who visit the old church made in 19th century’s. This beautiful island is aproximatimatively 15 minutes of Tête-à-la-Baleine in a little boat.

(P. M.)