Testing limits
Island cadets just love their adventure.
This past summer, a troupe of teens from four Prince Edward Island cadet corps got to trade familiar Island living for the not- so- familiar neighbouring landscape of Isles de la Madeleine.
For five days at August’s end, a combined group of 14 army and six sea cadets tested their physical and mental limits for the adventure component of the Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award ( DofE).
Right from the start, their mettle was tested as they encountered the most serious bout of inclement weather to hit the region in the entire summer season.
“I think the first thing I said when I got home was ‘ You will never believe how much rain we got!’ and then I said, ‘ Mom, you’re not going to believe how pretty it was out there, either,’” 17year- old army cadet Breanna MacKinnon of Charlottetown says of the 2012 expedition she experienced with fellow cadets Andrew Weir, 15, of Stratford, Rachael Woodman, 15, of Point Prim and the rest of the P. E. I. group and their chaperones.
Cadet expeditions rotate annually between a tip- to-tip P. E. I. adventure, a multiday outing to places such as Isles de la Madeleine and a full wilderness immersion in more remote locales like Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland.
Each provides its own set of challenges that the cadets have to overcome. In the case of Isles de la Madeleine, there was a 60- kilometre bicycle trek, a 25- kilometre rucksack, a map and compass trek with an overnight component and more.
“This is geared for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award so they have to be out overnight, prepare their own food and all these different things that they have to do,” says Karen Spears, who is secretary of the Army Cadet League of Canada, P. E. I. branch.
“And they’ve been practising all year, building up towards this. So this is the final test.”
In this case, Mother Nature threw in some unexpected weather curves, with torrential rains, gale force winds and nasty bands of booming thunderstorms during their time there.
“Some of us played cards in the bathroom,” laughs Breanna, who is an old hand at cadet expeditions such as this — she has done the P. E. I. tip- to- tip and the Fundy Trail and now Isles de la Madeleine.
“I wanted to see a lot of the scenery and the little tourist places,” she adds.
There wasn’t much to see when they first arrived at Parcle Gros Cap after the five- hour ferry ride from P. E. I. because the light was fading fast by then, which kick started everyone into rapid camp setup mode.
“Whenever you get there and have 30 minutes of sunlight left and X amount of tents to set up, you’ve really got to get that going before you can’t see anymore because it’s easier to set up in the daylight than with a flashlight,” Andrew says.
Reveille — wake- up call in civilian terms — came pretty early on this Madeleine expedition.
“Reveille is when the trumpet sounds,” Andrew explains of the typical get out tabed signal, which in this case was replaced with a vigorous shake of the tent at around 6 a. m. each morning with the exception of the final day’s 4 a. m. shake- up wake- up call. For many sea cadets, such as Rachael, a multi- day outdoor camping expedition was a new adventure, but she got to tap into some of the accrued experience of other cadets.
“If we needed help pitching a tent or something they would explain how to do it, then they would give us demonstrations. And there was always tons of staff around looking out for everyone,” she says.
Kayaking was originally on the activity schedule, but high winds put the kibosh to that, so the initial 30- kilometre bike trip was doubled.
“In the driving rain,” Spears says.
“Against the wind,” Breanna adds for emphasis.
“( In) inclement conditions and hardships, the cadets bond more. If it’s too easy, it’s just a cakewalk and no one has that ( experience) that they can all talk about,” Spears continues.
“It’s the same as when we went to Gros Morne ( a few years ago). They had to camp on the side of a mountain one night, and that is what everybody brings up when I see them. It’s not the easy stuff, it’s the more difficult stuff that they love.”
The lengthy bike route was a definite change for Rachael, who was accustomed to a more stationary cycling experience.
“I do different training, but it’s mostly on stationary bikes,” she smiles.
“But it was really fun. I liked the biking because it was also really nice to look at the scenery, even though it was kind of rainy, and definitely to work together as a team . . . .
“It felt like it was longish, but it was fun to be with friends, so I think that
. . . continued from page C1 helped the time go by a lot faster.”
Although the teens had packed their smart phones and other portable techno- gadgets, they weren’t in use much during their daytime explorations.
“We don’t really use them when we’re on the treks. We just have them for the time. We usually just sing and talk with each other in order to keep us going,” Breanna says.
Although GPS is readily available, it was the old- fashioned tried and true map and compass orienteering skills that guided them to their overnight bivouac site to a hillside overlooking South Cape on their third day.
“A GPS runs on batteries and a map and compass don’t. So, no matter what, you know you’re going to have a map and compass, but that GPS is only going to last however long your battery life is,” Andrew says.
The view alone was worth the 25- kilometre day trek for Rachael.
“We put our tent right around the top of the mountain, so we’d open our door and it would be ( a view) of the whole water, the houses and the rest of the tree line,” she says.
“It was so, so, so beautiful. It was worth the hike.”
Mixing it up with different cadet corps was also a chance to get to know other teens from P. E. I.
“It’s never boring. You always meet new people, and it’s always a different place that you’re in so you never get bored of looking around,” says Breanna, who loves to share the details of her expensefree summer cadet expeditions with non- cadet friends.
“They’re always interested till I tell them all the work that we did. It comes with a price, but not money- wise,” she laughs. “But it’s well worth it.”