Offering an outdoor adventure and an escape from society, local outfitters like Bryson Lake Lodge are opening for business this long weekend after delaying it previously due to COVID-19.

While the outfitter is typically open from early May to October, Owner and Manager Denis Lebrun said that . . .

it’s nice to be able to open up slightly earlier than last summer, when lockdown restrictions forced him to wait until June.

“We hope we’re going to have a good season, it’s going to be definitely not a season where we’re going to make a lot of money but we’re going to be open for the public and we’re going to have a great season,” he said.

With last year’s shortened season and the presence of COVID-19 possibly discouraging some from making plans, Lebrun said the lodge definitely saw less customers and is expecting a similar turnout this year. One of the conditions in place once the lodge opens will be where a cabin formerly might have held eight people, Lebrun said they will now only allow two people. Having to reduce the number of visitors permitted in one cabin means the usual larger groups that might organize bachelor parties or things of that nature are unable to do that easily.

“We’re doing a lot of cancelling and reshuffling, and people from Ontario: they’ve got to postpone, and bigger groups: we’re trying to get them to reduce the size on their own, to give them a second cottage,” he explained.

Lebrun assured people that the lodge is indeed abiding with guidelines being sent out and updated by the Quebec Federation of Outfitters. As vaccinations increase and the potential for re-opening improves, he said he’s excited for the chance to open the lodge up further.

“We’re going to follow our federation and as things open up, we’re definitely going to welcome those changes, because I think that our renting of cottages is a safe thing to do,” he said. “We’re outside, it’s more of an environment where people going up to their camps, it’s not inside in a public area, like a bar. It’s not the same, or a big wedding inside, as a gathering by the campfire outside.”

Lebrun also said he was under the impression that there had not been a single COVID case recorded as a result of people going on a trip to an outfitter, which confirms his belief that it’s a largely safe experience.

“There’s been no related COVID cases for anyone staying at an outfitter,” he said. “That’s a really good thing showing that you know, going out to an outfitter is not going to be a case of COVID.”

With the emergency measures throughout the Outaouais ending on May 17, it remains to be seen how those changes will impact the federation’s guidelines.

A detailed version of the guidelines that the federation is currently abiding by is available on the Bryson Lake Lodge’s Facebook page, and also at www.pourvoiries.com/fr/2021/04/sejours-en-pourvoirie-avec-la-troisieme-vague-de-covid-19/.

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