Hello Parents!
My name is Allie Hemmesch and this will be my 5th summer with Les Voyageurs! I started with the program back in 2016. I, like your girls, was on 2nd session and paddled the Bloodvein River. I loved the transformation that I saw in myself and loved everything about the program, so in the summer of 2018, I decided to go on a Far North Trip! We were the first Far North Crew to travel on the Hanbury and Thelon Rivers in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada. I guided for the first time in 2021 in the Boundary Waters, then guided the next summer in 2022 in Manitoba and Ontario on the Bloodvein, Gammon and Pigeon Rivers. I am super excited to be guiding again this summer but am unbelievably sad to say this will be my last summer guiding :( In 2021, I graduated from The College of Saint. Benedict/St. John’s University with a degree in Biology then took a couple gap years where I worked as the Lead Medical Scribe in the St. Cloud Hospital Emergency Department, coached hot yoga and coached boys youth hockey in Sartell! I am currently a 1st year Medical Student at the University of Minnesota Medical School, working towards achieving my lifelong goal of becoming a physician. I am not 100% sure what I am going to specialize in just yet but I am most interested in Emergency Medicine, Orthopedic Surgery and General Surgery at this point. I can’t wait to finally meet the girls, start training and have some fun this summer! My contact information is listed on the LVI website and below if you ever need to get ahold of me!
Email: alliehemmesch@gmail.com
Phone Number: 320-828-3366
I will update this blog with what we are doing as a crew so that you as parents are able to follow along on our pre-expedition adventures! Also on the website you will notice a crew calendar, this will primarily be important for the girls as it will be the calendar with the schedule for our crew meetings, however, I encourage you to check it routinely. It is expected that the girls are at ALL the meetings. This expedition should be one of their top priorities this summer. I understand that we are all very busy individuals and families. To try to alleviate any scheduling conflict, we have a separate calendar on TeamUp (https://teamup.com/c/ptzf26/hemmesch-crew-2024) where the girls enter their commitments and I do my best to plan our crew meetings around them. This expectation will be communicated to them as well. I will also schedule adequate amounts of time for each meeting so that we do not run late, however, there are and always will be circumstances that we cannot control that could cause us to run late.
Thank you so much for sharing your daughters with me this summer. I absolutely cannot wait to meet them and get things rolling! Our summer will be extremely busy, and I would love for you as parents to get involved in your child's expedition. You as parents are a huge part of this trip as well - we can’t do it without you! We have listed some parent volunteer opportunities below! If you have the time or space to help out please take advantage of the opportunity as it will help things run much more smoothly, and then I don't have to be annoying and ask again until I find someone to do it :)
Beef Jerky Day
One of the staple foods of our lunches is beef jerky that we make ourselves. Part of this process includes trimming the fat off of the meat so that it won’t spoil on our expedition. This is usually something that we do at a multi-crew event. We work until we have trimmed all the meat so it gets to be a long day, if anyone has the availability to bring us a meal for this event we would be so appreciative! DATE TBD
Food Packing Day
Food packing day is another multi-crew event where we pack the food that we bring on our expedition into meal-size portions. We work until all crews have all of their meals packed so it gets to be another long day - you’d be surprised how much food we need for our expedition! This is another day that we would be very appreciative if anyone has the availability to bring us a meal. DATE TBD
Sewing Day
On sewing day we will be making ditty bags to hold many of the loose items in our packs as well as a paddle case to keep our paddle safe while traveling. We need people to volunteer sewing machines and their expertise for this event as LVI doesn’t provide the machines. This is an event that is traditionally done at the house of a participant, so if you have the space to do this, have a sewing machine, or would like to help out please reach out to me!
Dehydrating Site
We dehydrate all the food that we bring on our trip, this is an intense process that takes a few weeks to complete with the dehydrator running 24/7! This runs most smoothly in a garage that has an outside access door, counter space for the dehydrator and preparing the food (usually just cutting into smaller chunks), and a sink. The sink and counter space are crucial because the girls will more than likely be having to come to the dehydrator site in the middle of the night, and the last thing that I would want is for them to have to stomp around your house to do what they need to get done! If you think that you have a space that would be ideal for this, please reach out! We will be starting to dehydrate ASAP.
Personal Equipment Packing Site
We will be packing our personal packs and food packs at a house rather than at base camp. This takes course over a couple of days, so the ideal space for this would be a basement, garage, or separate room that we could leave the packs and supplies in without causing inconvenience. We usually bring food here as it is finished being dehydrated and after food packing day to await being organized in packs. It all gets VERY heavy so the less we have to move it around the better, plus then we are less likely to lose anything. Ideally, this is done at a house without any pets because the last thing we would want is a pet accidentally getting into our food.
Baking Day
On baking day we make our Hudson Bay Bread. This is essentially a calorie-packed granola bar that is one of our staple lunch foods. We also prep our hamburger to be dehydrated and mix together hot chocolate and bannock (another bread that is part of our lunch, we bake this one out on the trail). The ideal space would be somewhere with double ovens, this helps speed up the process! This is another long day when we would appreciate a meal to help fuel our hard work! My parent’s live near New London (about 45 minutes outside of St. Cloud) and are willing to host this, but if there is someone who lives closer so the girls don’t have to drive as far, that would be wonderful! Date TBD
I am always here to help answer any questions that you may have - no question is a dumb question! My email and cell phone number are listed above and are also listed on the website under our crew page! I am looking forward to hearing from you! Thank you so much for sharing your girls with us this summer-I am so excited to get this adventure started!!
Allie :)
