This summer I went to Tuscarora Lake in the Boundary Waters for a weekend. Like all moments without Netflix, the trip fostered space for meaningful pause and reflection. Namely, camping is pretty funny.
Consider woodland critters scampering about the forest.
Hang on I'm right behind you, dear animals! Please wait whilst I rage walk this portage, steer the canoe in a precise ‘S’ pattern*, fall in mud, kill bugs, burn myself, and sweat like a horse.
This is the Boundary Waters for people. We spend hours carrying like 60 pounds of gear PER PERSON to spend 2.5 days outdoors in a moderate degree of comfort enjoying the view and illusions of self-sufficiency.
Wait, you might say, I have tons of wilderness skills like navigating by stars and skinning buffalo and making clotheslines out of fishing string. Isn’t that cool.
Absolutely. I’m 100%, unreservedly impressed by all such accomplishments. Take me camping with you.
But here is an abbreviated version of Jack London's Call of the Wild**.
- Wolf: Hi, I'm a little wolf running around with some friends. We're going to catch a rabbit with no tools or assistance. It’s fine if there’s rain, snow, or someone falls in a lake because we have fur automatically. We're all like 1 years old.
Person: Hi, I'm 37, here with a professional guide and a bunch of friends who loaned me a tent, sleeping bag, and coat. I'm nervous about the little propane cooker things.
- Moose baby: I’m a moose born an hour ago. Watch me race like the wind!
Person baby: Let me get back to you in like ten years.
Humans are the most helpless beings on earth. Thank heavens for top notch brains or we would’ve died out in hours.
The trip was fun! Here are pictures.
We saw the northern lights!!
Photo credit: not me. Used without permission.
It's not like I was going to get up early enough to take this.
*I actually did sort of learn how to steer a canoe!!
**this abbreviated version is completely made up and has nothing to do with Call of the Wild.
