We set out on a day trip to Fishdance lake, and it’s petroglyph cliff. All I really remember from that travel was the brutal wind on the south end of Alice. While it started overcast, the sun peaked out, then burst forth with the light and warmth of a perfect summer lake day.

Arriving at Fishdance, we admired the petroglyphs and tried to imagine their artists. We pulled up our canoes on the bank next to the cliffs and walked up to the top where we found patches and patches of perfectly ripe blue berries – the first hint of the day’s true magic. After gorging on blueberries, we ate lunch and lounged on the cliff top’s rocks.

When we were done eating, it was time to jump. We walked back down to the canoes and while I stayed with the dogs, the others swam around the bottom to test the depth. Satisfied of safety, they walked to where we’d eaten lunch and made the leap. Swimming around, hey climbed out near me and while one of them stayed with the dogs the other three of us walked up to the top. I’d made that jump once before, two years earlier on a previous trip, but it’s quite a ways down and I remember my stomach dropping out just before I flung myself into the air. We took turns staying with the dogs until everyone had had a couple turns to jump and the exhilaration was bordering on exhausting. But then I requested one more jump for me and my girlfriend with geotramper behind with his camera.

I don’t think I knew for sure until that moment that I was planning to propose that day. I’d intended to marry her for years, but I never planned a specific proposal. Even driving north earlier that weekend, I’d had a vague sense, “maybe on this trip would be a good time to propose.” But I certainly hadn’t brought a ring or coordinated with my buddy geotramper to take the perfect engagement photos. On the other hand, maybe part of me had planned it this way. After all, one of her favorite adventures is cliff jumping.

So as we walked towards the top, geotramper hung back and found an outcropping from which he had a great angle to photograph the jump. At the edge we held hands and she asked “Ready?” But I hesitated, we stepped back, I knelt, and asked her to marry me. She said “Yes!”, with a big smile and pulled me up to kiss her. Then, hand in hand, we leapt off together.

That evening back in camp we took some time alone together with Riley to enjoy the incredible sunset as a new family.

P.S. -- One more piece of excitement for the day: A new personal best SM from just a few casts at the top of the portage between Kawishiwi River and Insula.

~Insula, Lake, Alice Lake, Fishdance Lake