Hélibec

The alarm seemed to go off earlier every morning. Few things were important enough to get us out of bed that morning, not the superb view of the fog clearing up over the Saint-Maurice River, nor the smell of fresh coffee and hot toast emanating from the kitchen. Our stiff, aching bodies were starting to show the wear and tear of so many expeditions, and our beds had never felt more inviting than they did that morning. Despite the sun that was starting to rise over the fir trees, and in spite of the smiling staff at Domaine McCormick, VIA representative Benoît Laporte had to drag us all out of bed, even though he was just as sleepy as the rest of the team.

"Come on guys, it's time..." he sighed, just before hitting his head on a door frame. At least he succeeded in making us laugh!

Sitting in front of our breakfast, still groggy, we were finally truly awakened by the distant purr of a motor.

"He's here!" said Benoît. All of a sudden, I magically forgot about mybackache, the others forgot their exhaustion and all the little things that silently creep into the gears of a team in the middle of a long trip.

With a piece of toast in one hand and a cup of still-warm coffee in the other, we hurried outside so as not to miss the show: that distant purr was slowly growing to a deafening roar echoing through the mountains. A moving light in the sky told where the metal bird that was about to take us on board was coming from. With its propellers still turning at full speed, the canary yellow Beaver hydroplane touched down on the troubled waters of the Saint Maurice River. Gilles Gauvin, owner and head pilot of Hélibec, an aviation company based in La Tuque, stepped off the hydroplane and onto the quay.

"Hi! Are you guys ready?" he said, with a sly smile. Later, we'd think back to this moment and say, "We should have known!"

Destination: La Tuque. Gauvin starts the motors. A superb, rich roar comes from the engine, as the plane rises above the waters of the Saint Maurice River. The view is magnificent from up here: forests as far as the eye can see, and dozens of lakes and rivers. As if to remind us that this is an Adventures Expedition, our pilot decides to pull all the stops. Bush pilots like Gauvin know exactly how to make you dizzy, I can assure you! Gauvin flies low above a railroad bridge, the longest one in the country. Breathtaking.

Yanick, our fearless cameraman, yells over the engine, "Could we fly even closer to the bridge? I'm sure I could get some great footage." Benoît, who's sitting next to the pilot, isn't laughing. As for me, my backache mysteriously reappears... "O.K.," Gilles yells back, smiling.

And here we go again! When we think we've gone as close as we could go,and experienced all the adrenaline rushes we could take, Gilles flies even closer to the bridge, only on the diagonal, so that Yanick can shoot the exploit from the open window. That's when I thought about my friends and my family. I saw my life flashing before my eyes. As we got as close to the bridge as we could, I realized that this descent into the fires of hell was really a trip to paradise. I wondered if words or images would be able to do justice to what we saw. It was simply incredible.

Gauvin, who is a member of the Quebec brush pilots association, has been flying for about 20 years under the harshest conditions imaginable. At least ten times a year, he is called upon to provide emergency medical transport out of the forests, be it on the native reserves, in forest camps, or to help hikers in trouble.

Gauvin is not only crazy about heights; he also loves his 1955 Beaver hydroplane, which, according to him, was instrumental in exploring wild regions of North America. Trustworthy, able to touch down on almost any body of water, the Beaver is "not only the safest hydroplane, it can also take off on very short waterways." Gauvin uses it to carry hunters, fishermen, or canoers - the Beaver can easily carry a canoe - to remote regions of the forest.

"Beavers are like the Harley-Davidsons of the skies. You can really do anything you want with this plane." he says. We know, Gilles, we know!