To Camp or Not to Camp

While I was waiting for D2 to finish her tumbling class last night I had no choice but to listen to two people discuss their weekend plans. They seemed to revolve around two things:

1. beer.
2. camping.

They were my kind of people. Or at least, I thought so at first. Turns out we have very different ideas about what "camping" means.

Theirs involved towing an RV to a state park. Inside their air conditioned camper they would watch satellite TV. Later that night they planned to sit around in lawn chairs and drink with all the other people close by.

OKAY. A party that involves drinking with a large group of strangers is not camping...it's a frat party. Been there, done that, had to pay the black mail to get the pictures back.

Camping, in my view, is a different endeavor. It starts with months of planning and negotiations. All interested parties must find a person willing to go with them and then everybody has to agree on a date. These talks are just a little less complicated than say, the talks between Kennedy and Khrushchev.

The final camping party must be an EVEN number. No this isn't camping voodoo, it's simple logistics. See, when I say camping, I mean camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The BWCA is not for the weak. Probably not for the sane either, but clearly I'm eligible. The basic idea is that you start at the edge of a lake. You get in a canoe and paddle to the other side. Then you pick up the canoe, and all your other junk, and then hike to the next lake. Repeat this process until you find a lake you like, or you are just too tired to care anymore.

You might see moose, bear, beavers, and other wild life, but you most likely won't see another human any closer than across the lake. This is good for two reasons: you have no showers or mirrors and deodorant attracts mosquitoes. Less contact is better, see?

Several trips have involved us slogging through waist deep muck, picking our way down rapids, trying to stay warm during constant rain showers and even snow flurries and a myriad of other discomforts all wrapped up with sleeping on the rocky ground. So why in the name of all that is right in the world would anyone want to attempt such a trip?

Well, it's sort of like climbing Mt Everest. It's just there.

Plus you get to see things not many people have seen since Lewis and Clark tagged along with Sacajawea.

Imagine a night sky so filled with stars that finding any one constellation is almost impossible. Satellites buzz around the sky and shooting stars leave blazing trails of light. The northern lights undulate across the horizon in stunning pink, purple, red, green, and yellow. They can look like the whole sky is a lava lamp on speed. Imagine laying on a rocky cliff listening to the gentle sounds of the lake below and starring up into that sky and knowing that, other than your group, there aren't any people for miles. Once, while we were sitting around the crackling fire we heard wolves howling in the distance.

You might paddle around a corner and come within 20 feet of a Moose standing in the water with her baby.

Imagine a place where everything is so crystal clean that you can take a cup, dip it in the lake, and drink it.

No cell phones, no TV, no bills, no modern clutter.

Of course camping isn't just about getting away. It's also about getting close. Close to people in a way you'd never really do under other circumstances. You find out things. I have laughed so hard up there I honestly thought I might be having a heart attack. You learn a lot. Like to never take a pair of clean underwear for granted. That warm clothes on a cold night are worth carrying. That you really can't have too much Vodka along. That fishing lures should never, under NO circumstances be carried in a vest pocket.

That Trivial Pursuit games up there count double the regular value (Yes, they do!).

You learn that all juice has pulp. (Even cherry Kool Aid.)

You learn that when filtered through a couple cups of vodka lemonade or brandy that people say funny things. You may even be elected to exalted leadership positions of new political parties. GFers of America unite!

Think you know someone? Race a thunderstorm, make land and then sit in the middle of a deserted lake while lightning and thunder explode around you. Sit through THAT with someone and you'll know them better.

Why do you climb Mt Everest? For fame, fortune, and serious bragging rights. But still a BWCA trip involves all that too, on a smaller scale. You will be infamous in your group, (one way or another!) you will gain a priceless fortune in memories, and to the brilliant team that wins the Trivia game...well you get the idea. And you don't have to risk losing most of your toes to frost bite. Well not usually.