I Survived the Boundary Waters!

Randy’s August, 2012 Update:

I Survived the Boundary Waters (at the border of MN and Canada):
I had the blessing of getting deep into nature for a few days, on a canoe/camping trip in the Boundary Waters, cut off from civilization, along with two other guys: Praveen (from India) and JB (who I just started meeting with recently).

Praveen and I were total novices to this type of expedition.  JB has done many trips like this over the years, which made this adventurous trip possible, because I wouldn’t have done a trip like this without someone who knew what they were doing.  JB was a great guide and leader – very patient, encouraging, and sacrificial with us two rookies.

Survival Tip #1 – Sunscreen:
Why does the sunscreen that is better for your skin (Active Ingredients: Zinc Oxide/Titanium dioxide) go on so white?  It looks ridiculous!  Every time I put it on, I look deathly pale – even more pale than when I’m not wearing sunscreen, if you can imagine that being possible!

I slathered up really good before we shoved off on our adventure, not wanting to get sunburned the first day out.  Instead of looking like the virile outdoorsman that I felt like, I most likely looked like one of the walking dead.  I’m not certain, but it seemed as though strangers at the outfitter started to avoid me shortly after I put on the sunscreen.

A picture was taken of the three of us just before we departed (the walking dead and his two companions), but the camera somehow got lost on or before our first portage.  (I swear I had nothing to do with the camera going missing.  I wasn’t trying to make that photo disappear or anything.)  Somewhere out there is a picture of me in white face, with my two companions, or as I like to refer to them as “fellow survivors” of the trip.  For now you will simply have to picture me in the wild, at least twelve shades whiter than I already am.  What a frightening image!

Thankfully, I think the sickly looking sunscreen effect scared all the bears away, insuring our survival.

Survival Tip #2 – Rent a Sherpa:
Wow, it takes a lot of stuff to go camping!  My biggest challenge was getting all my stuff over the four portages we encountered.  The longest portage between lakes was about a half mile of rocky, hilly territory.

The backcountry pack I was carrying was like a big canvas garbage bag with shoulder straps…that didn’t fit right.  I swear it weighed at least half my body weigh.

Even having packed my ill-fitting pack the right way (per the experts), when we crossed the portages, I would have to stay hunched over.  If I stood straight up, the heavy pack would make me top heavy and pull me backwards.  I almost lost my balance once on the way in.

I did go over backwards once on the way out.  I was hiking over some rocks and lost my balance a bit.  I tried to stabilize, but it was quickly clear that I was beyond recovery.  I knew I had lost control, so I just kinda sat down with the pack as I toppled over backwards.  Very graceful.  Thankfully, there are no pictures available of that moment – me looking deathly pale from sunscreen, strapped to a large canvas garbage bag, sprawled out like a defenseless turtle on its back.  If that moment had been captured on film, it may have been reason to make the camera disappear.

Where was an old fashioned Sherpa when I needed one?

Survival Tip #3 – Wear Your Life Jacket (even on land) and Carry A Big Stick:
Praveen was afraid of two things on the trip: swimming (because he can’t swim) and bears (because apparently bears love Indian food).  At one point, Praveen wore his life jacket even while on land.  From what he told us, he had his escape route clearly plotted out.  If a bear showed up at camp, he planned to run into the water with his life jacket on and paddle/thrash his way over to a nearby island.

I’m not sure if Praveen realized that bears can swim.  I had an image of him battling his two worst fears at the same time – swimming in deep water and having a hungry bear swimming after him in hot pursuit, ready to serve him up with a side order of Biryani.

Praveen also consistently carried a stick with a carved point on the end, like a spear, whenever he went alone into the woods to the outdoor toilet.

Each camp site had a designated toilet area, probably to keep people from going all over the place, which would be a mess.  Once when I was back in the woods, sitting on the temporary toilet, I heard a bunch of loud rustling in the dense trees nearby.  It was obviously something very large.  JB later said he heard loud stomping.  He was certain it was a moose in the woods, which made sense, since there was a moose skull on our campsite.

Whatever it was out there, Praveen wasn’t taking any chances.  Whenever he went into the woods, he carried that big stick in his hand.  I’m not positive, but I think he might have worn his life jacket as well.

Survival Tip #4 – Continuously Reapply Bug Repellent:
I can’t recall a time when I’ve had more mosquito bites on my body.  I didn’t even notice some of them at the time, but upon returning home and getting a better look, they were everywhere.  There were even a couple bites that must have happened while I was doing my duty (what bears do) in the woods.  I’m not sure how I didn’t notice getting bitten there at the time.  Maybe I was too distracted by the sound of the large (and possibly hungry) creature rustling in the trees just beyond the toilet.  Where was Praveen’s spear stick when I needed it?  And where was my life jacket?

Survival Tip #5 – Always Be Prepared:

The weather on the trip was beautiful for the first two and a half days.  On the morning of the third day (Sunday morning), while we were swimming, JB told us that we were experiencing the best weather he’d ever had on a trip.  Unbeknownst to us, within a couple hours everything would change.

After swimming, we decided we would spend the afternoon in solitude.  Praveen chose to stay at our camp, wearing his life jacket and carrying his big stick.  JB and I canoed to another spot on Gaskin Lake with a nice view.  No thoughts of rain gear or extra supplies, because it was a gorgeous day.

Within a half hour of arriving, in the distance we saw dark clouds rolling in.  Soon the wind picked up, along with thunder and lightning.  At one point, the heavy winds blew our canoe off the rocks where we’d stowed it and onto the lake. I was sitting nearby and ran after it.  I grabbed it just before it got out of arms reach, and started dragging it back up the hill.  JB came and helped carry it up the rest of the way.  I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to us if we’d lost our canoe in the wilderness…or the “wildness”, as JB’s young son calls it.

The gorgeous weather turned into a huge lightning storm, which stranded us where we were at.  It would have been unwise to be on the water with aluminum paddles and an aluminum framed canoe in a lightning storm.  So, the two of us sat on a log with a view of the lake and sky, while the rain poured down on us.  JB had a plastic garbage bag that he tore in two.  We used it as make-shift ponchos.

I’ll never forget sitting on that log with the rain pelting down on us, lightning flashing continuously, trying to remember where the best place to sit would be so as not to get struck by lightning, and wondering when we’d ever get back to camp, momentarily scared we might have to spend the night, with little food and water and no shelter.  I was already cold from the rain, even the lake felt warm compared to the rain.  It’s a hilarious memory, now that I’m safe, dry, and warm.  One I’ll most likely never forget.

Survival Tip #6 – Wear Your Life Jacket To Bed:
The storm and lightning continued all night long.  The rain leaked into the tent Praveen and I shared.  I didn’t even sleep in my sleeping bag that night because I didn’t want it to get wet and weigh 100 pounds when I had to try to carry it back over the portages the next day…if we got out the next day.  Gradually a small pond formed around my sleeping mat.  Occasionally, as I dozed off, my elbow or arm would slide off my mat and into the water, soaking my only dry long sleeve shirt and fleece.  I was cold, wet, and miserable, praying that God would make the lightning stop so we could get out of there in the morning.  It was one of the longest nights of my life.

What seemed like every fifteen minutes, I would see Praveen turn on his light and check his watch.  Once, in the middle of the night, he asked if we could just pack up and go, right then.  I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face, it was so dark, and the lightning storm was still brewing outside.  Priceless.

Survival Tip #7 – Depend on God and Always Be Grateful:
Thankfully, it seemed that God answered the prayers we prayed all night long and things cleared in the morning.  The lightning was done.  We made it out alive!  We survived!

     

Despite some of the challenges above (and partial because of the challenges above), it was a great trip.  I’m so glad I went, and I’m glad we experienced both ends of the weather spectrum to get a true feel of what a trip like this is like.

Wow, am I enjoying the comforts of home now.  I’ve been so grateful for every little thing.

And yet, sometimes life at home can be so comfortable that I forget my complete and utter dependence on God.  This trip brought a good reminder of my dependence:

• as I carried my heavy burden over a treacherous path, continually talking to God, feeling my own weakness and relying on His strength and presence within me to keep pushing forward,
• as I lost my balance and lay sprawled out like a defenseless turtle on its back, relying on stronger backs to do some of the really heavy lifting,
• as I applied more deathly pale sunscreen, because without it my unprotected skin would have been burnt to a crisp on this trip,
• as I sat on a log in the pouring rain, exposed to the elements, cold and concerned that we might have to spend the night without food or shelter rather than risk being on the water during a lightning storm with aluminum paddles and an aluminum framed canoe,
• as I heard a large beast stirring in the woods within attacking distance of the toilet, unafraid yet realizing how vulnerable I truly was,
• and as the water encircled my sleeping mat, wondering if we’d get out in the morning or anytime the next day or days, feeling powerless to make the storm stop.  Compelled to pray.

Control is an illusion.  We are not in control.  It felt good to feel my dependence on God in such tangible ways.

In His Love,
Randy

PS  The camera that took our picture on the shore before we started our trip was later found floating in the first lake we crossed, by a group who left just after we departed on our adventure.  Again, I swear I had nothing to do with its near demise.  Apparently it still works and the outfitter will be sending it soon.  Now I’ll have to figure out another way of making that deathly pale photo disappear.