Winter with the Cree

Immerse in the Indigenous Culture of Northern Quebec

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Travel north to Eeyou Istchee, The People’s Land, for 10 days immersed in the lands and livelihoods of the James Bay Cree, our First Nations neighbors in northern Quebec.

February 13 – 22 2026

$3,750 – Double Accommodations (single accommodations not available)
8 participants max

We will explore the boreal forest landscape – tall black spruce trees; glacial lakes and rivers; wide expanses of snow, sky, forest, and bog; thriving populations of caribou, moose, bear, and beaver – through the lens of the Indigenous people who live there. We will seek to understand land and natural resource use for this hunting and fishing First Nation; explore cultural, resource-based, and political tensions and issues; and experience the everyday life of a Cree winter camp. We’ll discover the ways our lives, as New Englanders, are linked to the lives and lands of the James Bay Cree, and will, undoubtedly, come away looking at the boreal forest, and thinking about our connection to the natural world, in a whole new light.

Led by North Branch Nature Center Executive Director Naomi Heindel, and Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust Executive Director Hans Carlson, this trip will focus on important environmental and cultural issues mainly through hands-on “bush” living. Naomi and Hans have both traveled, researched, and worked extensively in James Bay and have collaborated on projects and guided trips together for over a decade. Our Cree hosts, Anna and David Bosum, and their warm extended family, run Nuuhchimi Wiinuu Cree Culture Tours based in Ouje Bougoumou, Quebec and are highly regarded guides and community elders. Possible activities while we’re with the Bosums include setting rabbit snares, trapping beaver, setting an under-ice fish net, collecting fir boughs for tent floors, making snowshoes and other tools, tanning moosehide, baking and cooking, preparing fish and meat, sewing, and sharing songs and stories over tea and bannock. We will camp in comfortable, canvas wall tent cabins heated by woodstoves; share a cozy lodge space for meals; travel by snowshoe and moccasin; eat a wide range of boreal game, from birds to mammals to fish; and experience Indigenous stewardship and connection to the land – and all within a (long!) day’s drive. (Well, actually, we’ll break the drive over two days so we can appreciate some of the sights along the way . . . see below for details!)

This is not your Typical Adventure Afar

We want to be sure that everyone heading north with us has a good understanding of what this trip will entail and how this trip might differ from other NBNC Adventures Afar.

This trip is not for the faint of heart! This trip involves long van rides, sleeping in shared canvas wall tent cabins, winter weather of all sorts, winter camp chores, and some snowshoeing. This trip also involves up-close exposure to an authentic, thriving hunting, fishing, and trapping culture. We will be around—and will eat—wild game, likely to include moose, bear, beaver, goose, ptarmigan, fish, rabbit, and more. We will likely also help with the hunting, trapping, netting, snaring, and processing of these, and potentially other, northern woodland animals. Participants on this trip should be ready for, and open to, understanding and participating in these aspects of Cree culture and land stewardship.

Flow of the Day: You can expect some early mornings and longer days on our travel days, as James Bay is almost 600 miles north of Montpelier – a long haul! We will break the drive into two days in both directions, stopping along the way for food. While we’re with our Cree hosts, days will slow down and will focus around shared meals, outdoor activities, and snowshoe excursions to see the boreal forest landscape and wildlife. Generally, there will be time for an afternoon rest between activities. The Cree pace and sense of time can sometimes feel slow in comparison to our face-paced lives; there will be plenty of time to enjoy the scenery, linger over a cup of tea, tell stories, and admire sunsets over frozen lakes together.

Physical Expectations: Participants should be able to hike on moderate terrain up to 2 miles per day, and should be ready for northern winter conditions – wet, cold (even sub-zero), windy, snowy, icy, or a mix. That said, late February in James Bay can also be warm and very sunny, with temperatures creeping into the high 30s as the days lengthen and spring returns. Whatever the weather, we will always have warm, dry, safe accommodations to retreat to after our adventures. Participants can expect several shorter outdoor excursions every day, most by snowshoe, with variable snow conditions.

Transportation: We will travel in NBNC’s comfortable 15-passenger van.

Accommodations: Our accommodations will vary significantly! Please read carefully to make sure you are up for this aspect of our adventure.

We’ll start with a night at a Montpelier hotel (or in your own beds, if you are local). Our second night will be en route to James Bay, at a roadside hotel on the shores of Lac St. Jean. Once we reach the Cree Community of Ouje Bougoumou, we will spend two nights in the Capissisit Lodge. This is the hotel run by the Ouje Bougoumou Cree Community and is a fully equipped modern hotel with en suite bathrooms and an onsite restaurant where we will eat. You can expect double occupancy in hotel rooms. From there, we move into the bush, joining our hosts Anna and David Bosum at their remote winter camp. We will be camping for four nights, using sleeping bags, sleeping pads, canvas wall tent cabins heated by wood stoves, a communal lodge for meals, and an outhouse. You can expect to share a tent with several other people, though a private tent or cabin could be available if you preferred. On our final night, we’ll celebrate with a stop in Quebec City, staying at a hotel in the city.

Food: Our food will come from a combination of places: restaurants, food that we bring with us, and traditional bush food prepared by our Cree guides. Restaurant food will vary from small Quebec diners, to the onsite restaurant run by the Cree Community of Ouje Bougoumou, to a nice, final dinner in Quebec City. Food that we bring with us will include packed lunches and snacks for our travel days, plus staples like soup, cheese, and fruit to supplement our camping meals. Traditional Cree food highlights include homemade bannock (fry bread), homemade blueberry jam, roasted goose, and walleye, among a lot of other northern forest game. If you are interested in participating and you are gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, or have other dietary restrictions, please reach out ahead of time so we can make accommodations.

Naomi Heindel is the Executive Director of North Branch Nature Center and has been traveling in the James Bay region for two decades as a canoeist, trip leader, researcher, and guide. After first experiencing the boreal forest on a canoe trip at age 15, she caught the northern bug and has returned many times, including on field research trips in college and graduate school. She has studied how resource development – particularly logging – has influenced the land and lives of the James Bay Cree and has written several articles on these issues. She also has two decades of experience as a wilderness trip leader, including leading extended winter camping, canoeing, and backpacking trips. When not in the NBNC office, Naomi enjoys exploring the woods and waters of central Vermont with her husband and two young children.

Hans Carlson is the Executive Director of Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust and has been a frequent visitor, traveler, and researcher in the James Bay region since the early 1980s. A forest and environmental historian, Hans has taught at several universities and is the author of two books and several articles about the James Bay Cree and Indigenous land use history. He has traveled extensively throughout northern Quebec on research trips, leading wilderness canoe expeditions, and on experiential learning trips for undergraduates and adults. His professional focus on the history and conservation of northeastern working landscapes is complemented by personal interests in all types of outdoor pursuits, woodworking, and boat building.

We will also be hosted by James Bay Cree guides David and Anna Bosum, who operate their own cultural tourism outfit and are respected guides and elders in their community.

What’s included:

  • All lodging and meals, starting with dinner on Day 1 and ending with lunch on Day 10. If you do not need a hotel for the first night in Montpelier, please let us know and we will reduce your trip price by $200.
  • Two expert staff guides, who know the region and the Cree communities well.
  • Two bilingual local Cree guides.
  • Transportation to, from, and within Quebec in our 15-passenger van.
  • Pre-departure orientation session virtually or at NBNC before the trip.
  • A selection of resources to read or watch ahead of time, for those who choose.

What’s not included:

  • Incidentals on travel or town days.
  • Travel to and from Montpelier, VT.
  • Gratuities.

Clothing and Equipment: This trip is purposefully designed in the later half of the Quebec winter, when snow, ice, and sun are all plentiful. Be prepared for a full winter experience, and also bring a few sets of “town clothes,” like jeans, or comfortable traveling clothes. Please plan to dress modestly when we’re with our Cree hosts. Here is a detailed list of the clothing and equipment that we recommend. Please reach out ahead of time if you are uncertain about any of these items or unable to acquire them.

  • Pack one small daypack with these items:
    • Your passport!
    • Other items you might want for our first two travel days.
  • Pack (or wear) one duffle bag or backpack with these items for our first few days:
    • Insulated snow boots with removable liners.
    • Winter parka or warm insulated coat.
    • Town clothes – 2-3 pairs of clothes for travel and village days.
    • Warm wool socks (at least 3 pairs).
    • Insulated, waterproof gloves and/or mittens.
    • Scarf or neck warmer.
    • Warm hat that covers the ears.
    • Sunscreen.
    • Sunglasses and/or goggles.
    • Toiletries, including non-electric options for the camping portion.
    • Other items you might want in an overnight bag.
  • For our camping portion, pack these items in another duffle bag or backpack:
    • Headlamp or flashlight with spare batteries.
    • Winter rated sleeping bag (ideally rated to -20 degrees).
    • Sleeping pad(s) (the warmest option is to bring 2 pads: a foam pad and an inflatable air mattress like a ThermaRest).
    • Camp shoes (sneakers, slippers, or down booties all work well; you might even bring slippers AND sneakers for full comfort).
    • Leather work gloves, ideally insulated.
    • Snow pants (insulated, or soft shell, or hard shell options will all work).
    • Wool or polyester long underwear, top and bottom.
    • Several layerable wool or fleece top layers of different thicknesses, such as a fleece jacket and vest, or a light fleece and a heavy fleece.
    • Fleece or wool pants. (Yes, you need snow pants, and wool pants, and long underwear bottoms.)
    • Shell jacket (uninsulated, like a rain coat or Gore Tex jacket).
    • Extra base layers, including a t-shirt (it can get warm in the lodge when the stove is cranking!)
    • 2 1-liter capacity water bottles.
  • Optional items:
    • Knife (Leatherman, or carving knife, or other camping knife)
    • Binoculars
    • Camera
    • Hand and toe warmers.
    • Baseball cap (or other hat with a brim for sun protection).
    • Crazy Creek or other small camp chair.
    • Mug or thermos.
    • Handkerchief or washcloth for the camping portion.
    • Boreal forest or northern woodland field guides; other reading.
    • Snowshoes. (Our Cree hosts will have traditional Cree snowshoes for us to use. If you have a pair of your own that you like, please feel free to bring them.)

NBNC is proud to announce that all of our trips are 100% carbon-neutral. This includes each traveler’s flights to and from this destination, as well as carbon emitted during the trip. We’re proud to be working directly with the Northeast Wilderness Trust’s Wild Carbon program. The carbon credits we purchase to offset our carbon emissions are used to permanently conserve forestland as wilderness. Learn more about this program at our Adventures Afar landing page.

Full Itinerary

Day 1 – Arrival and Welcome
Participants arrive for a welcome, a round of introductions, and a gear shakedown at North Branch Nature Center. We’ll start at 3pm and have dinner together. Out-of-town guests will stay at a Montpelier hotel (transportation provided); local guests can stay at home (and we’ll take $200 off your trip price).

We will orient ourselves to our travel companions, revisit the trip itinerary, look at maps of where we’re headed, and prepare ourselves for immersion into an entirely different landscape and culture. We’ll touch on the environmental and cultural topics we’re most likely to explore on the trip, including hunting and fishing, Indigenous land and wildlife stewardship, resource development in Quebec and New England, and the cultural and ecological history of our First Nation neighbors to the north.

Day 2 – To Lac St. Jean
After an early morning start, we’ll drive to the Lac St. Jean area, about a 7 hour drive from Montpelier. We’ll eat out at a roadside restaurant and stay at a local hotel.

The drive north is itself an important part of the trip, as we pass into Canada, through the rugged and remote Laurentide Mountains, and into the fertile farming valleys surrounding Lac St. Jean. As the landscape changes, we’ll have opportunities to reflect on our connections to northern Quebec through shared history and natural resources.

Day 3 – To Ouje Bougoumou
In the morning, we’ll finish the drive to Ouje Bougoumou, stopping along the way to visit with Deputy Grand Chief Norman Wapachee and his family for a warm meal and introduction to Cree Country. From there, we’ll drive the last stretch into Ouje Bougoumou and check into our rooms at Capissisit Lodge, the hotel run by the Ouje Bougoumou Cree Community.

This will be our first real dive into northern Quebec’s landscape and communities, including those managed by First Nations and those managed by non-native Quebecois. By the time we reach Ouje Bougoumou, our minds will be full of the differences that 12 hours in the van can bring – – in landscape, language, wildlife, livelihood, culture, history, economy, and more!

Day 4 – Ouje Bougoumou
Today we’ll explore the Cree Community of Ouje Bougoumou. We’ll tour the community, visiting the incredible Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute, and exploring the lakeshore trails and community Cultural Village. We’ll drive to nearby Chibougamau for dinner, and stay again at Capissisit Lodge.

A day to settle into our immersion in James Bay, we’ll use this day to orient ourselves and prepare for our upcoming camping trip. Ouje Bougoumou is a beautifully built town with a powerful history and an ongoing reality deeply connected to the woods and waters that surround it.

Day 5 to 8 – Anna and David Bosum’s Winter Camp
After final preparations, we’ll travel a short distance to Nuuhchimi Wiinuu Cree Culture Tours’ remote winter camp, where we’ll stay with the Bosum family for the next four nights. We’ll sleep in cozy canvas wall tent cabins heated by woodstoves, putting our sleeping pads and sleeping bags down on floors lined with balsam fir boughs. We’ll explore the boreal forest by foot and snowshoe from there, following the natural rhythms of winter life in the bush.

These days are our true immersion experience, in which we’ll see firsthand how the James Bay Cree rely on and steward the natural world. We’ll watch, learn, participate, try our hand at any number of new skills, taste new foods straight from the boreal forest, and connect with the natural world in a whole new way. Along the way, we’ll discuss – with our knowledgeable Cree hosts – the pressures, changes, and conflicts facing the James Bay Cree today when it comes to their ongoing survival, and the survival of their lands.

Day 9 – Drive to Quebec City

After a final breakfast at camp, we’ll depart early for our drive to Quebec City, about six hours south. When we arrive, we’ll have time to explore the city before meeting up for a celebratory dinner. We’ll spend the night at a hotel in the city.

Reentry from a cultural immersion like this is an important part of the trip. We’ll have a chance to share reflections, highlights, questions, gratitude, and memories. Plus, Quebec City is fun and offers an amazing contrast to our winter bush camp!

Day 10: Return to Montpelier
On our final day, we’ll drive the remaining 4.5 hours back to Montpelier. After a final closing, participants will depart for home.

Payment Policy

All of our trips have a standard payment plan of an initial deposit plus two installment payments. Our office will reach out with an invoice for the two installments before it is due.

  • Deposit of $500 required upon registration.
  • Half of balance due 180 days before departure (or upon registration if the trip departs in less than 180 days).
  • Remainder of balance due 90 days before departure (or upon registration if the trip departs in less than 90 days)
  • Solo travelers will be expected to pay the Single Accommodations rate
  • Those traveling as a pair will be expected to pay the Double Accommodations rate. If two solo travelers of the same gender are open to having a roommate, we will do our best to place them together and extend the Double Accommodations rates to both travelers.

Cancellation Policies

We understand that incidents and emergencies arise that may force you to cancel your trip. However, NBNC invests considerable time and often nonrefundable deposits to lodges and local contractors to secure our rooms and programming. NBNC aims to be as flexible as possible in our refund policy, but a full refund of your payments may not be possible after the dates indicated. All cancellations must be made in writing.

  • Cancellation more than 180 days before the trip: Full refund of deposit and any other payments.
  • Cancellation 90-180 days before the trip: Refund of any payments minus the $500 deposit. If your space is filled by another traveler, we will also refund your deposit.
  • Cancellation 30-90 days before the trip: No refund guaranteed. If your space is filled by another traveler, we will provide a full refund minus the $500 deposit.
  • Cancellation less than 30 days before the trip: No refunds guaranteed.

We advise travelers to purchase independent travel insurance through companies such as Allianz when booking a trip to recover reimbursement in the event of a cancellation that does not qualify for a refund as outlined in the policies above.

Health and Illness Policies

  • All participants and instructors will be required to affirm negative test results from a self-administered Covid-19 rapid antigen test taken prior to arrival on the first day of the program.
  • Participants on NBNC’s Adventures Afar and multi-night overnight trips must be comfortable with the possibility that someone may contract Covid-19 (or other contagious illnesses) during the trip, even if they test negative on the first day as required. NBNC will attempt to limit exposure and isolate any such participant, which could include that participant incurring additional expenses such as hotel rooms, meals, or transportation, and missing out on group activities. However, isolation may not be possible at all times on all trips, so all participants should be aware that circumstances may require that a participant with Covid-19 continue to travel with the group.
  • Participants experiencing respiratory symptoms will be required to wear a mask at all times when around other travelers.
  • Failure to comply with the health and safety instructions of the trip guides will result in dismissal from the trip.
  • NBNC encourages all Adventures Afar participants to be honest and transparent about their symptoms, for the sake of their health and the health of those they are traveling with.
  • NBNC encourages all Adventures Afar participants to secure individual travel insurance.

 

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