Quetico lives up to its reputation

Howard writes...

So, we have been out in Quetico wilderness on our own for nine days now. No showers, no soap, no bathroom, no bedroom, no refrigerator, no TV, no hourly  weather updates, no newspapers, no shopping, no phones, no email, (just this one I send to you!), no movies, no restaurants, and no other people, just the two of US, dealing with a challenging canoe course, nature, and her Canadian wilds. And this time not even a daily 'quota' of whiskey, like I had (most of the way!) on the South Pole.

Am I missing anything? No, we are self sufficient, great discussion buddies, and nature keeps us focused on the now and continually anticipating her next move. Whether that be searching for a portage route, struggling with the terrain underfoot, dealing with the ever changing weather, or fighting for our lives against nature's well trained airforce of 'deadly' mosquitoes and black flies! This trip has all the elements of a 'challenge', the essence of adventure, that keeps one feeling alive and at the end of each day provides the unique sense of triumph, that somehow, for me, life in the city can't replace. I know Imi feels this too, as we have discussed this at length, and I know many of you readers have experienced the same, and know what this seemingly perverse dichotomy of life is all about.

Maybe there is really something, I am missing... but it's not from the city life, it's from mother nature's  special viewing rooms: I must say I was expecting to see more 'big' wild life, more moose, bears, and I really did expect lots of bald eagles, and more water bird life. I guess mother nature wants me to see more in the pure simplicity of what she is presenting, and each day I'm connecting closer.

Yesterday we  had probably our last rest day, after the tough day before, Imi was determined to have a 'public holiday' even if the weather didn't make it qualify! Once again we had an idyllic island campsite, and I was easily persuaded. I have to  be honest that on our first public holiday, I had this sense of fear of boredom, but that is now without grounds, as every rest day has almost passed too fast with the two of us flipping so naturally between very meaningful 'life' debates, real boys talk, and then private swimming and exploring time.  Now and again mother nature, in the form of a black cloud, forces us into solitary confinement, and we have often commented how timely her intervention has been, whether that being to break a philosophical impasse, preventing us overindulging in our no-longer- scarce culinary delights, or to force us out of our fantastical world back into life's realities.

Imi has finally understood my 'Life as a Series of Adventures' philosophy, and the power, freedom, and invigorating essence of this approach. Peaceful and comfortable it is not, but delivering of personal height and a stimulating, rewarding, experience-based path to personal  discovery. It's all about how you choose your life adventures, and how courageous you are in setting your personal challenges. Lastly, while it may seem I have focused on very specific 'above ground' adventures, these are only the enablers for the real 'prize', the extreme personal 'underground' journey. Adventure provides both, we just have to make sure we don't let the pursuit of above ground goals distract us from the real journey.  That was yesterday....

Today had another ominous start, this one still haunts me with the shock of my role in its fellow human severity:

The situation at breakfast was so similar to the one I described in my last blog, I was determined not to have a repeat.... Well, we had a worse one... All was coming to the boil, Imi was on his way to join me for his tea, and hot cereal, and then said he "just wanted to have a pooh first". Hmm, so he turned around, headed back to the forested area, and was soon 'lost', fighting trees, struggling to find a path. I was busy with final preparations for breakfast, saw him struggling, saw 'the path', and verbally directed him to it. I was just rescuing the milk, when I heard a loud thud, and his clear call of distress. Leaving things orderly this time, I ran to see what had happened. Well, as I took my recommended path, I realised that it ended in a dead end, but a 5ft vertical rock cliff, defined the 'end'. Imi had walked, trusting my directions, without the normal check of his stick, and had stepped right off the cliff and was lying in a heap at the bottom, clearly hurting!

Gee, was I disappointed in myself, but the priority was to get him back out of this vertical wall hole, and deal with his injury. It became apparent this he was 'lucky', and he had no breakages, but just a sore knee. We would soon see the real impact, but I was quite relieved that he wasn't worse. As always, he had taken it like a real man, wanted to be self-sufficient, underplaying the seriousness of the situation and was working out how he could get out on his own. I told him that the only way out was for me to pull him up, and after a few solo attempts he reluctantly admitted defeat, and was forced to use the helping hand of the very same human who had got him in this situation. Tough stuff, hey!

This had all the attributes of a serious broken trust event... I knew that, and was angry that I had assumed the clear path was a real path, but hadn't checked it myself. I was noticeably shocked and seriously affected by what  had happened. I apologised and apologised, but Imi was angry with himself that he had broken his own golden rule 'To always have his stick', and so we both felt responsibility, but somehow, because of my trusted role on this expedition, mine went right deep to my soul. One last apology, and a warm hug, went someway to getting us back on track. At breakfast he even managed a laugh about it all, questioning what this omen meant for the day ahead, given our previous 'bad breakfast, day?

Well with seven portages planned today, with Imi's crooked knee, I did question the plan, but he didn't want any changes, other than agreeing to take the lightest bag, and adding, "He will be slower on the portages today." What an honorable guy, loyal team member, and true adventurer... I mean that.

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