Hard work brings paradise and misery

Howard writes...

Sound familiar, like a microcosm of 'normal' life?

Two adventure days have passed since our last blog and, maybe surprisingly, while you all have no doubt been busy getting on with your full lives, our simple life in Quetico has kept us fully extended too.

Yesterday, as the 'public' holiday rules infer, was a big 'work' day.

After the most exquisite sunset, creating wonderful scarlet lake reflections, only broken by a lone beaver heading home, we were expecting a perfect sunrise start to our challenging day. Well, Quetico is truly full of surprises: we woke to a grey sky, and threatening rain clouds. No debate though, our policy was clear!

We were on the water at 6h35, Imi admitting that he wasn't quite himself or as efficient as usual, but never wanting to be 'holding me up'. I have to continue telling him not to stress and just go at his own pace, I've got a great book, I'm reading! It's really humbling to be thanked all the time for helping and in his conflict, I can see so much in Imi that is like me. We both hate being dependent on others, or 'using' other peoples' help, and yet here he knows he has to rely on my help so much. In an attempt to free him from this torment, we have discussed this at length, and he knows that this human side is a core part of my personal journey and something I value, but putting myself in his shoes, makes me see, it's not about what I do, it's about how he feels about himself... Scarily thinking how I would deal with it, I can only look with admiration at how positively he accepts the realities, and doesn't EVER express his inner conflict.

With the early morning serenity came a great moose viewing, a mother and her fawn colored, really young calf. I haven't seen enough of this....

The pristine beauty of this park is beyond question, but what never ceases to amaze me is how vast and varied this network of interconnecting lakes is. It's incredible, and with the interconnectedness one is presented with so many options. Interestingly because we have been going largely against the flow so far, we have been climbing in elevation. Paddling uphill? No, the portages take us from a lower lake to a higher one. Sometimes the connecting creek is gently flowing downhill, other times there is a more abrupt rapid, or even a waterfall.

The day continued, with 14km paddling and three underfoot-terrain challenging, and long, portages. Imi never faltered on his resolve and commitment to hold up his side of our team. Just once, on the hardest portage, right alongside a raging rapid, he did stray off the path, and finally admitted he was lost, waiting for me to return to find him. I saw where he was, and how easily I would have been seduced by a truant path, leading to dense, forested oblivion.

I then once again questioned the soundness of this solo portaging strategy? I decided, rather than focus on this current negative outcome, I'd share my concern with Imi at the end of this big day.

The day had magically transformed into a clear blue sky pearler with a moderate wind forcing air control towers to ground all mosquitos! With seriously bitten legs and heads from the past few days, we couldn't have asked for more! But there was more to come...

After almost 7 hrs on 'the road', hungry but immensely satisfied with our day's work, we reached our planned destination, a paradisaical island 200m from a magnificent set of three raging falls. The island was no more than 250m in diameter, slightly wooded, and with almost custom-made rock ledges providing swimming pool access to the lake, grandstand views of the falls, and protection from the wind. It was 1.30pm and we had the whole afternoon to enjoy this hard-earned paradise, swimming and sun bathing without a stitch of clothing, free and as naked in front of nature as we could ever be. To crown it all in a poetic way, this lake is called Keats Lake, after the poet. This follows the poetic theme of this part of the park, where the main lakes are all named after famous poets.

An early evening audit of our food supplies brought slightly sombre news, that the 'gluttony' can't continue at the same level. Always good to find out now, when only a slight change in eating habit is required, rather than later, and having to bring in draconian measures! Essentially breakfast for a few days would move from delicious granola to rolled flour tortillas filled with peanut butter and Nuttella! Some may say that is an upgrade, or hardly a cut back, but it's not about content, it's about quantity: 1.5 measly tortillas, in place of a huge bowl of granola and hot milk! The good news is our salami and cheese stocks are good, so the core of our lunch diet is unchanged. Yeah, I guess 'we' could have planned this all to perfection, and been disciplined in our eating each day, like is critical on polar expeditions, but this trip is about freedom, and trying to enjoy every moment, which for me means I ate what I felt like.... Now, yes we have to watch things a bit, but those four days of eating-freedom were wonderful, and the 'belt tightening' isn't too severe... Hopefully not because the waist has moved out to the belt!

Around the campfire I brought up the subject of Imi's solo portage struggles and whether it's still a good idea. Well, as I expected, he was vehement, stating it's the best thing that's happened on the trip. To my humble amazement he then went on to say that I had given him something very special, that being a new level of wilderness confidence that has raised his whole 'vision' and horizons for his future nature experiences. He said his confidence has increased dramatically as he has been forced to deal with the unknown terrain and paths of the portages. Interestingly, he told me the huge role of his 'stick', which is actually a paddle on the portages, how his stick talks to him, and how he cannot understand how a sighted person can walk this rocky, unpredictable terrain of the portages without a stick. Anyway, I was glad we had the chat, and it's these human 'things' that make this trip so special.

We went to bed both feeling a bit 'over sunned', but content and expectant of a clear day ahead! We should know that nature takes great pleasure in disappointing the demanding!

Another awakening to grey skies, and now the roaring falls adding to the element of vulnerability. Our first portage, a short paddle away, would take us up a path next to the falls to their feeder lake quite a bit higher in elevation.

Packing the canoe for the portage ahead we left the island with our rain gear safely stowed in a waterproof bag. Nature was clearly out to teach us a harsh lesson In the short space of the two hundred meter paddle, and a diversion to get some close-up pics, a rogue black cloud moved overhead and dumped what seemed like a small 'lakeful' of water on us two vulnerable, insignificant, disrespectful human canoeists! A race to lakeside, and a scuffle through bags produced the wet weather gear, but almost too late... Not a good way to start another big day: Wet clothes! This was the start of the 'Misery' part of this blog heading!

For the next 5 hours we paddled and portaged in continuous rain that only varied in its intensity between moderate and heavy!

Approaching an interconnecting water passage, I could see a small amount of white water, a turbulent area, but what looked like a short relatively calm channel up the one side. I got Imi's buy-in that we would attempt to paddle upstream the section to get to 'our next' lake. With this buy-in came the commitment for the necessary 100% paddling power, for probably 10 minutes. Off we went and, as we encountered the full force of the counterflow, I excitedly gave the "full power" command. Inch by inch we clawed our way upstream, being thrown around by the swirling current, but after close to the 10 minutes, and within 5 metres of freedom, I sensed power was waning. The forward inches were no longer, replaced by a slowly inching downstream progress. "PADDLE, PADDLE, MATE", I shouted, but Nature was going to win again... Even in this seemingly weak flowing stream, we were insignificant against Nature, being spent just 10 minutes into her very juvenile challenge. Disappointed, I managed to find a rock ledge docking spot, half way back in this upstream section, from which we both got out and walked the path of shame, alongside the flowing waters, towing the canoe upstream. We were both pretty knackered from the short sharp, maximum power, session we had just had. Our first failed challenge... Oh well, we can deal with it, and learn! We sat on a rock and just laughed out load together... It was really ONLY about our experience together!

Full rain gear, 10 kilometres of paddling, 5 portages, albeit short ones, some tricky navigation, finally saw us arrive at our end-of-day destination goal camp point.

The rain stopped to allow us to set up tent, almost as if Nature was saying: "You guys have had enough misery today!" I made a nice lunch and then, as the spots of rain started again, we both rushed off to our respective tents.... An afternoon in bed, snug in my sleeping bag, reading my book.... No guilt, no distractions, and maybe even a nap... From simple misery to simple bliss....

Freedom though...?

Huge Freedom: I have to remind myself, it's my choice and, as I have felt so many times, hardship by choice, is not hardship, it's fun!

I'm tent-bound in the rain, Imi's tent-bound 100 metres away, so I'm not sure there will be an 'Imi blog' today... We will try our very best, because I know he wants to 'talk' to you... He mentioned that on the water today..

Bye from me

H

Read Howard's previous blog post. 
Read Imi's blog post from today.