A Story from Last August

Its not a 30 day challenge, but it was challenging. And its a good story...

We took the Voyagur II from Grand Portage to Windigo Harbor. After checking in as quickly as possible with the park rangers, we got our camping pass and we were off. For our first day, we planned a nice little 8.6k hike to Feldtman Lake campsite. We had been dreaming about this trip for months and we were finally off. We were newlyweds and we were on our honeymoon.

About 8k into our hike I took a bad step. I’m not sure if I felt or heard my ankle pop, but either way I was down. The pain knocked the wind out of me. I was gasping and crying on the ground. I have ruined our honeymoon – was running on a loop through my head, along with images of being evacuated back to Grand Portage. It was the first day of our honeymoon!

As soon as I could breathe again, Dave helped me move to some nearby shade. We elevated my foot on a pack, pulled out the first aid kit, cracked the snap to use ice pack and planned our next move. Dave would hike to the camp site and then come back for me. I pulled out my book out and waited.

On every backpacking trip I've ever been on, I've brought luxury items. Usually, I pick one or two luxury items. I choose from things such as: a book, a sketch pad, the sling that turns my sleeping pad into a camp chair, or maybe extra gorp. Before this trip we kept saying “bring it, it’s our honeymoon.” We said yes to everything. The percolator coffee pot, the camp chairs, the books, the wine with collapsible wine glasses, the extra gorp, plus all the actual necessities for a 10 day trip in the wilderness. But it was our honeymoon.  This led to our packs being just under 70 pounds each. This led to me being unable to recover from that bad step. Sadly, this was far from our last mistake.  

If you have been to Isle Royal and have hiked to Lake Feldtman you might have already thought to yourself – It is not 8.6k to the camp site, it is 8.6 miles. This is true. This mistake cost us a lot. First, when I fell, we thought we were closer to the campsite than the ranger station. Second, we only had enough water with us for the short hike.

 I had been elevating my foot for about 15 minutes when a couple of day hikers came down the trail. They tried really hard to get me to hike back to the ranger station with them. They did convince me that there was a lot more of the hike left than I originally thought and that if I wanted to reach camp before nightfall I would have to start moving. They gave me a splash of their water (I was already short) and grudgingly headed back to the ranger station without me. 

I wrote a note asking anyone who found my pack to leave it. Strapped the first aid kit, water filter and water bottle to me, picked up my trekking poles and started hobbling along the trail after Dave. The next few hours were spent with Dave leap frogging our packs along the trail. I limped ahead, in an increasingly frantic pace looking for water and a place to camp. A few years ago I had made the mistake of camping at a makeshift campsite without a water source and so knew the problems that came with that. By late afternoon we were out of water. (Yes we were on island on the biggest freshwater lake in the world, out of water.) I would have stopped at any creek, bog or puddle of a pond and called it a fine place to camp, but I wouldn't stop without water. As the sunlight began to slant through the trees I had one thought on my mind –Must get water for Dave.  I was hurting badly, but so was he - he was carrying both our God awful heavy packs. Beyond that, we were torturing ourselves by expecting camp to be just over the next ridge or just around the next corner at every turn.

I finally reached the Lake. I filter one bottle of water and drank it on the spot. I filtered a second bottle and headed back down the trail. After what felt like forever I found one of our packs where Dave had left it in the last leap frog set. He had also left his white running cap. I took the full water bottle and his hat and left them in the middle of the trail. I picked up the pack, sprained ankle and all, and dragged myself back to camp.

By dumb luck I had the pack that had the dinner supplies in it. As soon as I rolled into camp I started a big pot of gado-gado. Then I had my last stress of the day- waiting for Dave. The sun was setting. We had such a long day, with so many unexpected challenges. What if Dave gave up and set up camp wherever he was on the trail. I had thought about doing that. Dave staggered into camp just after the sun set, with the last of the fading daylight. He told me that he had been planning on stopping when he got back to the second pack only to find the pack had disappeared and a full water bottle was in its place. He thought I had found someone to help us. It was enough to get him to walk the last leg of the trail into camp.         

With all the mistakes we made that day, you might think that Dave and I are really green in the woods. We are not. Dave had been hiking and later guiding with the Boys Scouts for most of his life. I had guided backpacking trips on the Superior Hiking Trail and in the Porcupine Mountains. I was a Wilderness First Responder, I had good medical training. None of these mistakes should have happened.   

The truth of it is, mistakes and all, I wouldn't change a moment of that trip. In that one day we had to rely on each other in a way that we didn't have to rely on each other once in the year and a half we had been dating. We had to trust each other and take care of each other. Before we left many people didn't understand why we were going to go backpacking for our honeymoon. They thought that we should be going to a fancy hotel anywhere, sipping margaritas by the pool when we left the room, if we ever left the room. But what we had was so much more. Because of this trip, when we reach the tough times in life I know that Dave will carry my pack and he knows that I will get him water.