Adventure, storms, another Imi off-the-edge walk, and even bedsores....

Howard writes...

Lots in this blog, but firstly, thanks for those who have left comments – they do help, but we understand that this trip is more about 'us' sharing what we experiencing. Dominique has shared with me the very encouraging pageview stats, which show we have lots of (silent)  interested readers. That's just great, but please feel free to ask questions, challenge Imi's views, or help us refocus our sharing, should you think we could enrich your reading experience. With probably only two more blogs left, including a wrap-up one, any feedback on content you'd like to her  about, would be appreciated. Otherwise we'll assume our formula is working. Thanks....

Today's blog...

"A journey into the unknown." This is the first line of my definition of what 'An Adventure' is! Well, as I sit (today lie) down to write each blog, it is reaffirmed that for this trip, we are certainly on an untraveled path for both of us!

I'll begin with the end of today and then go back to yesterday. We took a forced 'public holiday' today. For the umpteenth time today, we have been forced back into our tents by the rain. The last 24 hours, virtually since we set up camp yesterday, we have been at the mercy of Mother Nature's new frontal system. It all hit a climax with a horrendous gale and heavy rain that started in the middle of last night, and only eased up at 6am this morning. This is where the bedsore comment comes from: Tongue-in-cheek, as it's been very indulgnt (for me!) being forced into my cosy 'sack', Kindle in hand, reading four quite different yet stimulating books. (Oops, I wasn't supposed to have that technology with me.... "I thought, you said you were naked in front of nature in the wilderness? You're cheating mate!" Well the jury is out, you let me know? Given the goal of this adventure, the type of books, and the serious amount of rain, I think I'm innocent (of course!), or at least I have 'extenuating circumstances'...! Fair trial, please!

In the rains, on and offs, of today, we had a fairly bright spell that not only brought us out of our tents, but onto our 'rock beach' and into the water for our ever-invigorating, therapeutic, lake swims. Unfortunately for Imi, his was premature and with him fully clothed. I'd been swimming, told him how nice it was. He said he would be going in shortly, so I was busy making tea, when next thing I heard what sounded like him strangely diving in. For obvious reasons, he never does that, and I was  really surprised how quickly he had undressed... Things weren't stacking up, I'd better check.

As I reached the edge of the far side rock I could see that Imi had walked off the edge, fallen in, clothes and all. Well, I was at least relieved that this time it was not on my trusted instruction, and he being a good swimmer, only his ego was damaged! As he clambered back, he was upset with himself,  as even though this time he had his stick (a paddle), he hadn't used it as he had rather trusted his slight peripheral vision which showed a huge inviting rock ahead. Standing just behind him, as he described what he 'saw', I could see the assumption error. With the greyness of the sky and lake, a small gap of lighter cloud allowed a silver reflection to form on the lake surface as an apparent inviting extension of our very much smaller actual rock 'deck'. This illusion had tempted my friend to excitedly explore its virtualness without the caution of feeling with his stick, and taking a trusting step over the small rock ledge straight into the awaiting deep water trap. Gee, life is full of unique challenges for Imi and every day I'm forced back to a small space of humility and appreciation of how blessed and lucky I am.

Imi and I were soon sharing that now-long-overdue cup of tea together, laughing at the incident. Taking advantage of the break in the rain, and the presence of a drying wind, I rigged up a clothes line and helped wring dry all his gear before hanging it up to dry. (Hopefully you have received the photo of it all, I sent through? If not blame the cyber satellite!)

Continuing on today, when outside together, we had a range of intense discussions about the importance of taking on LIFE AFFIRMING adventures, rather than 'just any' challenge, that meets with one's whim and fancy. Obviously the key being the interpretation of 'Life Affirming', but for now, in the confined space of this blog, it's suffice to say that these would not be challenges with material, monetary, or mere 'tick off' participation, or fame/recognition focused goals/objectives, but rather connected to one's soul, and core passions, maybe overcoming life-restricting fears, or building society-enhancing height, or bolstering personal weakness areas, but necessarily overall, directly building personal height.  I hope in this brief summary of a fairly deep and complex subject, I'm not providing any thought connection or value to you. Apologies if that's the case, it's not my intent.

Now to yesterday...

Our campsite for the night before turned out to be clearly a major 'Defence Force' base site for part of Mother Nature's arsenal. With rain overnight filling nearby swamps, on waking we were exposed to the full scope of her airforce in the form of squadrons of mosquitoes, horse flies, and the small black flies. On the ground her armory of small ticks showed their resilience and ability to penetrate through the slightest tent opening, and then a new form of warfare was taken up by the distracting slugs that found their way onto all the inside tent surface! In it's multi-level diversity, the attack was devastatingly successful getting us out onto the water in a new record early time! Was this just an isolated remote Nature Defense Force base or had we entered a war zone and the day would bring more heavy conflict? Time would soon tell...

It was so nice to be on the lake so early, so still, and the solitude, as we paddled in silent synchronicity, across the large expanse of the major Fred Lake. Our bow wave and the noise of our paddles breaking the mirror-like surface at each stroke being the only disturbances to an otherwise motionless scene. A special oneness with Nature, how could we have been thinking war zones, etc? Next up, the downstream portage to 'Lonely Creek'. Im's knee was still not 100% so we went with him taking the lighter load. Good call as the portage was very muddy, lots of fallen trees across the path, and generally tough going. We got glimpses of the rolling stream we were portaging around, and this gave the real feeling of being in a wild wilderness. The end of the portage and our cover was exposed. We were in a war zone. The stillness of the above rapid creek defined a new airforce-only war zone. Many and huge mosquitoes, and all committed to their task, fearless of death by human swat, the strategy was victory through relentless suicidal attack. It was the first time I heard Imi complain about the mozzies, and the stillness of 1 km of the truly serenely beautiful, narrow, lily-covered 'Lonely Creek' lay ahead.

On the river, paddling upstream, progress was slow, keeping us 'in range' targets for the unrelenting airforce. This was hell, but little did we know that the biggest airforce base we would EVER come across was just ahead at the end of next portage: the source of 'Lonely Creek', where 'Lonely Lake' empties itself into its namesake creek! At the end of this demanding portage, the mozzies hit the unbearable level, and we both agreed: "This no longer Fun and purely survival!

Thirty minutes later we were deep into the real tranquility and beauty of 'Lonely Lake', out of the war zone, and with our sense of humour back! A two-hour, thoroughly enjoyable paddle in semi blue sky, and we were soon at our little island paradise, surprisingly free of any signs of nature's airforce, whether stray planes or regimented squadrons. We were free... Tents up, a splendid lake-side lunch, early afternoon swim, and then our whole world changed again as the light rain, precursor to the serious cold front I described above, moved in... The rest is covered above.

I always say that almost every day of a challenging adventure involves a 'personal ordeal' – this is just part of an adventure. Each day one expects an ordeal, but is oblivious to its diverse specifics. At the end of the day one reflects with immense satisfaction the accomplishment of overcoming the ordeal, but there is a strange human paradox: The brutal honesty is that, almost without exception, if one had known the nature of the day's ordeal beforehand, one almost certainly wouldn't have volunteered for it! The unknown nature of an adventure, that I referred to right at the start, is at the center of this strange ordeal/sense of overcoming, satisfaction, that brings us back with a unique sense of eagerness, to adventure.

Tomorrow...

This 'public holiday' we took off will put pressure on us to complete what's still required to get us to our finish point in the scheduled two days time... This has the potential to increase the intensity of both our ordeals and their feeling of overcoming satisfaction. The next blog will bring you the unpredictable story... I can't wait!

Bye for now

H

Read Howard's previous blog post.
Read Imi's blog post for the same day.