Walkabout: The Larger Journey: Part 1

[Because I’m prone to go non-linear, my travelogue veers into story. Rest assured, I do have a point. I might even get to it… eventually.]

One chilly morning, many years ago, I stepped out of my tent and was dismayed by the strong wind. I looked at my canoe. I looked at the whitecaps on the lake. There was nothing I could do.

It wasn’t like I’d tried. I’d bailed out of the backcountry early. Well ahead of schedule. I’d spent a few days earnestly trying to get within striking distance of the trailhead well in advance of the need. I’d done just what I’d intended. I wasn’t merely within striking distance but very close! On a normal day, I’d have the canoe on the truck rack in under two hours. Hardly break a sweat to do it too. Today, that wouldn’t work.

In the distance I could see the blinking red light on a cell tower. My topo map reported it was less than ¾ miles away. My truck wasn’t far from that tower. With this wind it might as well be on Mars. A half mile of water in these conditions was impossible. I could hike the quarter mile from the water landing to the truck a dozen times over but the lake was as much a deal breaker as a mountain range or canyon. I was camped on a 5-acre island. The entire universe beyond the island was unreachable.

By sunset, I was a day behind schedule. I had appointments in civilization; obligations and duties. Flights had been missed.

None of that mattered. Nature doesn’t give a wet fart in a hurricane about human desires.

It’s just the nature of canoes. Wind on any decent sized body of water can jack up a canoe like a dog shrugging off a flea. No amount of arm power will overcome basic physics.

I couldn’t even go fishing. Casting into the wind was a joke and the lee side of the island was a jungle.

For a few days I was stuck. I made coffee and waited. I congratulated myself for carrying “extra” food and ate every morsel. Enduring what is merely a first world problem, I simply sat there.

Frustrated with the waves and prisoner to them I started to scheme. There had to be another way. Later, events pushed me to take action on my vague notions.