This past weekend, I had a wonderful opportunity to escape to the edge of true wilderness in Canada. My wife and I put together a cross-country ski trip to Stokeley Lodge and Resort north of the Soo by about 45 minutes. It’s an amazing area! Although Soo, Canada is a large city, it doesn’t take long to get out into the bush, and when road signs start telling you to gas up since there’s not another gas station for 150 KMs, you know you’re on the brink of the wild.
This is an area we love to escape to. There’s nothing but rock, trees, and water in this area - well, and moose, wolves, and lots of black bear – and trout too. The coast of Lake Superior is always majestic, but the ice formations along the coast are truly remarkable and worth exploring in the wintertime.
We have camped and backpacked in this area in the summer several times, and we love to downhill ski at Searchmont as well in the winter. It’s the closest thing the Midwest has to skiing in a mountain.
With all that said, I discovered a local author (John H. Gerey) out of the Soo who has a very similar writing style as I have, as well as a common interest - wilderness adventures. With us bunkered into our cabin for the weekend and the fire warming us up, I settled in to read for pure pleasure. I wish I could say that I read other authors more frequently, but honestly, I have so many irons in the fire that I rarely take time to soak in someone else’s work.
John’s writing drew me in as he told story after story of being out in the wilderness - canoeing, hiking, camping, fishing, snowmobiling - it was a breath of fresh air. And not only was I loving his stories, but we were nestled in a cozy cabin ten minutes away from skiing a pristine area with over 170” of snow. As we drove the back roads, the snowbanks towered over top of my truck. It was delightful!
In the middle of this getaway, I had some time to reflect back on many of my family’s own adventures out into the wilderness. With each story that Jen and I reflected on, a sense of satisfaction accompanied the memories. Backpacking and canoeing remote areas was not the way Jen or I grew up. It was a discovery that we made together - that we both fell in love with!
As we were raising little kids, we had done a lot of camping and day hiking, but one of our greatest frustrations was having to leave a truly beautiful waterfall or vista, because we needed to get back to our campsite.
That all changed when we took our first backpacking trip to Lake Superior Provincial Park, a backpacking area about 45 minutes further up the road from our cabin for the weekend. The very first minute of backpacking also brought us into our first quandary. As we left the parking lot and started to enter the trail, we noticed a sign posted at the trailhead. It indicated that they had been having trouble with black bear in the area and that the trails had been closed down because of it. But, we couldn’t tell if the sign was current or an old one that should have been taken down. Right then and there, we had to decide whether to go into the uncertainty or not. We decided to go ahead, but it was the first sign (figuratively speaking) of many that we would encounter over the years that could lead us into exhilaration or tragedy. There’s a fine line between the two.
That decision to take that first trip changed the trajectory of our family. From then on, every summer, we found a way to find adventure in the wild - whether it was hiking the entirety of Isle Royale after boating 4 hours across Lake Superior or climbing Sheep Mountain in grizzly infested territory in the Yukon or getting stranded and running out of food along the coast of Lake Superior on an Indian Reservation because of a horrific tempest that blew up. These are my kids’ memories.
Some might say that doing these activities with young kids is irresponsible, but I would say that they were formative. As I sat in the cabin, I tried to put together what taking a wilderness adventure trip is like. Here’s what I came up with:
Something happens on wilderness trips! There is a physical and mental challenge that humbles you. The nature is beautiful, but it’s unforgiving and demands to be respected. The risk of danger heightens your appreciation for the safety of your daily life back home. You see the intricacies of God’s creation and learn to appreciate that you aren’t above it but just a part of it. It humbles you as you recognize that you are but a speck in the universe that God has created. You grind away each day, battling the elements and true risks - the kind where the consequences could be fatal. The conversations along the way are fragmented at points and others are a deep well as you sit at the fire wondering what your next steps in life are going to be back home; at the same time, you don’t want to step outside the moment, because the air is crisp and clean, and you feel like you are truly alive! Wilderness trips are filled with tension…fears are faced as you battle nature, the day’s events, or even that predators that might be following you. To complete these trips forces you to dig deep and engage in the battle of living. There is no one else there to help, so you have to rally with your trip partners to get through. The ebb and flow of launching a trip to managing a crisis along the way is part of the thrill. The solitude experienced in the quiet is like seeds that are being planted in your soul, never to depart, and later to be reflected back upon. To near the end of a trip is to look forward to reentry into the world of comforts and conveniences, yet you also feel a pang in your heart leaving the purity of the wilderness behind. Though you may look disheveled and smell a bit pungent, the risk and reward of doing it changes a person, and the call to do it again resides in your heart to immediately start planning your next trip!
I’m so thankful for a couple of days of solitude - to just enjoy a fire in a cabin surrounded by mounds of snow with the person that I love most. And for time to reflect.
If I could encourage you of one thing today, it’s just to keep in mind that life is fleeting. If I get 85 summers on this globe, 55 of mine are already gone. As I think of my kids and grandkids today, I find myself motivated to get back out there into the wild….to continue to provide opportunities for me and for my family to continue to grow as people.
One element that I didn’t write much about in my reflection is that God shows up on each and every trip in some undeniable way. Whether it’s because we are in a sticky situation, or we are simply basking in his creation watching a sunset go down across Lake Superior or Mt. Denali, God is with us every step of the way. And without the noise and distractions each of us faces in our daily life, it is so easy to sense his presence of comforting love.
I’m reminded of the time we hiked Isle Royale with my sister and all four kids. One evening, after a long day’s hike, we sat by a campfire up on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior. Over on the Minnesota shoreline, we could see a rain and lightning storm that was lighting up the sky, but from where we sat, the sun shone down upon us. As we watched, we sat there singing praise songs together, soaking in the moment of God’s splendor and appreciating his mercy on us in that place.
If you have kids or grandkids, I highly highly recommend that you get them out on a wilderness trip away from civilization - no conveniences, no luxuries, no cell phones…..And as winter drones on, this is the perfect time to do your research and hatch a plan. It doesn’t have to be long - just 3 or 4 days to get you started.
Just keep in mind that it's about building relationships and having fun! You won’t ever regret it.
*** As a sidenote, if you have enjoyed reading my books, Swim Upstream and Breaking Camp, check out John H. Gearey’s work too. I think you’ll enjoy his stories as well.
Comments