Radiant Lake
It was early summer time a long long time ago, and me and my wife really wanted to share with my “little family”, (my cute little daughter with her braids and xyz and my young son, ) The wonder and beauty of the wilderness canoeing, we planned to camp for a week on Radiant Lake, in campsite rich with
the scent of tall green pines,
With a sandy beach, waves gently rolling,
hand carved log benches around stone fire rings,
I know I was excited, it was a place I felt safe, at home, like a God’s gift of peace, I so wanted to spend a week there to
listening at night to the call of the loon, the owl
while we would watch the sky for shooting stars,
OUR DESTINATION was JUST a 9-hour drive to upper Ontario from Boston, then a half hour on gravel, then another hour on rutted wandering dirt roads between swamps and streams,
My wife and I have been wilderness canoer's, we had 5 kids, 3 now grown but we wanted to show the beauties of it all to our last 2 kids, Heather and little Tommy,
Get away from cars, roads, city lights, Show them the
wonder of a moose and calf munching of greens by the shore,
A mother loon with paddling on the water with a baby chick riding on her back
Or sitting by a camp fire and watching the Northern lights in the night sky
The best way to do that was to go North, way way up North.
Finally getting there, put the big monster green canoe next to the little yellow one in the water and opened up the car and took a look at all of the stuff, and a little voice crept into the back of my mind, this was a lot of gear. It was new to the kids, so We also wanted it to be comfortable, so we packed a lot, a really lot of a lot of extra gear you normally wouldn’t bring on this kind of trip. And proceeded to, Put the
Canoeing gear (like cushions, paddles, life-jackets, fishing poles)
Camping gear (like pads, bags, tent) ,
Cooking gear (like stove, pots, pans food)
and gear for fun (like screen house, chairs, board games and lanterns)
Paddled across the lake to a -- small thin dirt trail to the next lake, a portage.
To get to radiant lake we would have to cross
8 lakes and 7 portages, over several days
There I took out the Canoeing Gear, the Camping Gear, the Cooking Gear and the Gear for fun like the screened house, board games, chairs and lanterns and Then I heard “Daddy, Can I help”. In my mind I still remember her being so little and so small, and I said “Its Ok, we’ve got this, why don’t you walk across to the next lake with your brother”
And proceeded to, Put the Canoeing Gear, Camping Gear, Cooking Gear, and gear for fun like screen house, chairs, board games and lanterns.
And then we …. Paddled across the lake to a Portage, Up north, portage is a trail between lakes (makes it sound nicer since you have to hike all your things across to the next lake and it will take 3 trips, that’s 5 hikes. It’s also called a “Carry” in Minnesota named probably after the carry of the 80 pound, 17-foot canoe’s, balanced painfully on the center wooden bar across your shoulders across to the next lake!
So I Took out the Canoeing Gear, Camping Gear, Cooking Gear, and gear for fun like screen house, chairs, board games and lanterns. And I heard:
Dad can I help? It’s ok dear, just look for fish. And carried it all across to the next lake,
Then Put the 2 canoes into the water, Put the Canoeing Gear, Camping Gear, Cooking Gear, and gear for fun like screen house, chairs, board games and lanterns. Tied it all in and paddled across the lake, where we came to a PORTAGE
Where we Took out the Canoeing Gear, Camping Gear, Cooking Gear, and gear for fun like screen house, chairs, board games and lanterns.
Dad can I help? It’s ok dear, just look for fish.
Put the 2 canoes into the water, Put the Canoeing Gear, Camping Gear, Cooking Gear, and gear for fun like screen house, chairs, board games and lanterns.
When we finally got to our Island camp site, we where exhausted, That night we crashed early, looking across the tent at each other my wife and I said a silent “having fun yet” and she turned to me and said “MY BACK HURTS”.
The next day would be the biggest of the portage, And Paddle across the lake to the Portage. Unload: Canoeing Gear, Camping Gear, Cooking Gear, and gear for fun like screen house, chairs, board games and lanterns.
Father let me help? – its ok, just look for some frogs with your brother
Put the canoe on my shoulders It was the first hike across with the canoes, and staring only at my feet and 3 feet of trail and murdering, “having fun yet”. The trail started to go down a hill, then steaper, I had to run to keep up with the weight of the 17 foot 80 pound canoe, started trotting, But Then the trail took a sudden right,
BOOM, WAM !!
The bow of the canoe hit an oak tree, the sound magnified by the empty space around my head,
§ And pushed the canoe off of my shoulders and WAM down on my head,
§ I crumpled, driven to the ground,
§ And then fell off the trail down the hill,
§ And rolled and rolled my head thumping around inside the canoe
Finally I sat up,
§ the sound must have been heard for miles, looking up I saw my family, surrounded by those little stars that float and pop, they looked very concerned, many miles and 8 lakes and 7 portages from an hour and half of dirt road. But there was no blood, so I said I was ok, just getting a headache.
The Headache
· I said I was OK, but getting a headache
·
That Night Wandering around with a massive headache trying to setup camp, popping advil, then moving on to stronger meds like codine. Finally thinking all was done just after the sun had set I remembered: Oh bother, in the wilderness it is very important to hang the food away from camp and 10 feet up and 10 feet from a tree. Wandering around in the dark, with a head ace, looking up , having problems finding a good tree
Up a hill, there was one, with a large branch hanging off of a cliff over the lake, not really high, but well off the cliff and over the water, probably no bear would go out on that, So I put down the food bag, and bent over to pick up the rope.
o POUNDING HEAD, FLASH, VISION GONE,
I straightened and had to stop to think carefully. I had the rope, but I had to find a rock to tie to the rope to through over the branch, there was one at my feet, bent down to tie it on
o POUNDING HEAD, FLASH, VISION GONE,,
Straightening up , wondering what I was doing, had to recheck, slowly, carefully, yes I had the rope, and the rock was tied on, started swinging the rock and rope to toss over the branch, But I stopped, was I forgetting something. Oh yes, I have to tie the rope to the food bag or else the heavy rock will pull all the rope over the branch and deep into the black water of the lake. There at my feet was the bag, so I bent over and …
Click above for Filmed At “True Tales Live”
o FLASH, POUNDING, VISION GONE,
Straightening up, oooo, it hurts, what was I doing, what could I have been doing, I had the rope, and the rock,
Then Looking down,
Cold sweat ran down my back,
The rope with the rock,
that I was just going to toss over the branch,
over a cliff,
over black deep lake water,
Was TIED TO MY ANKLE , where it would carry me over the cliff!!
The Fire
On the way back to camp, I could smell co-co drifting through the trees, I paused still in the trees and looked out at the scene lite by the camp fire, It was a wonderful sight, My daughter had setup the rest of camp, had the chairs around the camp fire, handing out drinks to my son and wife,
All was at peace All was beautiful,
So I came and sat in my own chair, relaxing and watching the fire’s sparks rise up to meet the stars in the sky (and not the stars in my head), and listened to the crackle of the fire, and the call of the loon way way off, all was peaceful, And I looked across the fire at my daughter,
She was Responsible, -PAUSE-,
She was thoughtful, -PAUSE-,
And she was Intelligent, -PAUSE- – - -
And I realized...
