Walk for Good Life completes fourth journey

A huge storm may have dampened this year’s Walk for Good Life, but it could not stop the walkers from completing the 500-kilometre, seven-day journey.
“We got rained out on Sunday by that big storm that came through the Dryden area,” said Larissa Desrosiers, the youth coordinator for Oshki Aa-yaa’aag Mino Bimaadiziiwin Good Life for Young Peoples, who has been involved with all four Walk for Good Life walks. “All of our stuff was everywhere — it was all wet. Our tents were upside down ... but we pulled through it together. We were all supportive of one another.”
Couchiching’s Jackson Morrison said the storm was “pretty intense.”
“I wasn’t there to go through the storm, but some of the walkers made it through hail, tornado warnings, lightning and rain,” said Morrison, who has also been involved with all four Walk for Good Life walks. “They made it; they went far.”
Although Desrosiers originally thought the walkers would be set back by the storm, they soon caught up to schedule.
“We stayed in a hotel Sunday night and then we went back in the morning to pick up all our stuff,” Desrosiers said. “That day, in total, we walked 64 miles between 10 or 11 walkers.”
Desrosiers said everyone helps each other during the walk, which began at Eagle Lake on July 29 and circled through Couchiching, Rainy River and Onigaming before returning back to Eagle Lake on Aug. 4.
“It’s been great,” Morrison said. “We just stopped in Sabaskong (Onigaming) and I did a couple of speeches for the kids. They liked it and they are going to be walking with us today.”
Morrison enjoyed the sharing circles the walkers held every morning during the walk.
“We’ll have a ceremony and sometimes we will share stuff that needed to be shared,” Morrison said. “What we feel like needs to be said, we’ll share it in sharing circles. I think that is the highlight of everything.”
Desrosiers said one of the walkers had a close call when a vehicle went out of control along the highway.
“I just think it was amazing he had the instincts, just like a deer, because he had to dodge it,” Desrosiers said. “It was pretty scary but that is just one of the things that made us more stronger as basically a family.”
Desrosiers said the walkers held workshops this year on hand drumming and stories for campers at the Rushing River and Blue Lake provincial parks.
“You get to meet so many people,” Desrosiers said.