Tuesday, August 18, 2020

There are white horses marching around the nearby shorelines as we crawl out to face a new day. Most of the crew is itching to get out on the lake and start their assault on the local walleye population. Not being an avid fisherman, Bill says he’ll hang back and get breakfast going; so, I decide to keep him company, give him a hand and stay in camp as well.

We’ve got a couple hours before we need to get breakfast going so Bill grabs a book and I work on stocking our wood pile but, eventually retreat to a hammock to do some reading as well. Yesterday was a whirlwind and it’s good to slow down a bit and recuperate. This is a pretty nice site that can accommodate our large (9) group. The landing has a few bothersome boulders but, otherwise is decent. There are several good tent pads, as well as handy hammock trees. The fire grate area is above average, although the log seating is beginning to show signs of wear. A lot of traffic undoubtedly passes by each day but, the site is situated in such a way that the canoes shouldn’t need (or want) to pass by right in front of camp. Cadillac Narrows is just to the NE and, allegedly, were close to really good fishing.

Speaking of fishing; considering the self-proclaimed wealth of knowledge, experience and electronic advantages many of the veterans of the crew espoused on the trip up yesterday, it comes as absolutely no surprise that on this Christian retreat; our 2 young tenderfoots Joe & Sam (who don’t even have a stringer – those that would be first will be last etc. etc.) are the first ones to catch a few walleyes. Bill and I get our pancake and fresh bacon breakfast going as the rest of the fleet begins to gravitate back to camp.

Walking on water after our late breakfast, Father Drew is the first to take the plunge on this warm, somewhat humid day. Jason and Ben clean the fish and then put the fillets on ice to, hopefully, be added to later tonight. Everyone then spends the early afternoon finishing unpacking our voluminous packs and getting camp properly situated for our extended stay.

Before we head out for the evening bite, we are treated to an extraordinary experience. (At least for me). While I have done innumerable trips at this point in my life, I have never experienced being able to worship God by celebrating the Mass in the BWCA. While on several occasions I have figuratively referred to canoe country as Heaven on earth, that now becomes a literal reality. Much the same as most of my faith journey has been; there is no dramatic moment where a beam of sunlight breaks through the clouds and shines down, butterfly’s in the belly nor hairs standing up on the back of my neck but, this transcendent reality instantly catapults to the most memorable experience of all my trips.

Afterwards, we all head out for the evening bite and to make the number 4000 an insignificant distant memory. While we don’t set any new records for quantity or size, we do catch more than enough fish to finish supplementing our fillet count for our fish fry tonight. And, after gorging ourselves with the bounty the Lord has provided, I think we can all relate to how our packs (if they could talk) must’ve felt on the way up.