Ladies Wilderness Trip to The Algonquin ... #1

Ephesians 3:14-19 (The Message)

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

Saturday … We left to go to The Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada at 2:00am Saturday morning. It rained the entire drive there.

It was within the first two hours of the drive that Denise and I connected and it became clear to me that one of the reasons I was to be on the trip was to spend time with Denise, sharing our stories with each other and encouraging each other.

We arrived at Canoe Lake on Saturday early afternoon. We got everything we needed and were ready to put the canoes in the water to head out to the wilderness. As Scott was training us on the canoeing part when the rain and wind picked up to the point of whitecaps on the water. I was getting concerned looking at the rough water and the wind and knowing that we were all inexperienced on the water. I wasn’t sure how we were going to get to where we needed to go. Long story short, no one could get anywhere with the canoes and we ended up spending the night at a campground to wait out the rough weather. I wasn’t feeling very hopeful with this kind of start to the week but knew that I needed to trust God in it all.

Sunday … We packed up camp and got together as a team to pray and talk about what God was doing. In the prayer time/discussion it became clear that trusting God was going to be the theme for the week. Are we going to trust Him in the fact that we needed to wait out the weather? Are we going to trust Him to get us through the week? Are we going to trust Him to get us through the tough times? Are we going to trust Him … ? 

There were issues with the van so Scott and Kim took the van into town to a garage for it to be worked on during the week. While they were gone us ladies did some shopping in the gift shop and worked on our canoeing skills.

During this time I was able to spend some time with Denise sharing my story with her and her sharing her story with me. Oh we have so much in common. It was nice to be with someone who understood my heart and who I could be honest with and to be able to listen with an open heart.

By the time the Griffey’s got back we were all ready to go. It was a beautiful day and we were all ready to face the week.

Carlene and I got into our canoe and set out for the day with everyone else on Canoe Lake. I was in the back trying to figure out how to steer it straight. It was a little tricky to figure out but I soon got it down.

I quickly learned that the portaging part of the day was not my favorite. It was a killer! I had no idea what it was like to carry a canoe on my shoulders. Our first portage was 290 meters and was a wide trail to Joe Lake. Carlene and I double carried this one. It was a harsh reality to what the week was going to be like. We paddled through Joe Lake, Teepee Lake and Tom Thompson Lake. Our next portage was 460m. I decided to single carry this one. Why not just suck it up and do it? Oh my goodness. I never felt such a burn! Carrying a backpack and a canoe on my shoulders was the biggest physical challenge I’ve ever faced. The burn in the shoulders is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. We did 4 portages right after another before coming to Sunbeam Lake. Carlene also carried a portage of 180m. We double carried the 240m and 690m. I started single carrying the 690m but then had Carlene help me finish this one.

We found our camp for the night on Sunbeam Lake. We got in later than we wanted so our campfire time was short.  

I was missing Clint a lot by this point. I was wishing I could tell him about the day and what it was like for me to paddle for hours and then carry a canoe on my shoulders. This was something he had done many times and I wanted to share my experience with him.

Monday … We switched canoe partners today. Denise and I were paired up for today. We were so excited! It was a great time of sharing more of our stories and our hearts. It’s amazing how we felt so comfortable with each other and couldn’t wait to talk more about our lives. It was nice to be with someone who I could be totally honest with and know it’s ok.

We set out on Sunbeam Lake and quickly got to our first portage, which was an 810m. I single carried this one. This was a long one and oh the burn was intense. The second portage was 1440m but was broken up into two parts. Denise carried more than ½ of this one then we double carried the rest of it and the last one of 930m. Once the portages were done we paddled and paddled through White Trout Lake to Big Trout Lake where we found two campsites to set up at. After paddled for what seemed like forever into a strong wind it was nice to get to the campsite.

It was a long day of long portages and a lot of paddling into the wind. The burn in the shoulders and arms was intense. What does one do when everything within me wants to quit but quitting is not an option? I keep going. There were times when my body wanted to quit simply out of pain and exhaustion. That’s when you reach deep within you and bring out that “glorious inner strength” that only comes from the Spirit of God. Many times while carrying the canoe and paddling when our bodies didn’t want to go anymore and we didn’t know if we could do it anymore we quoted “…not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength…”. It was amazing how this was empowering to us.  

Tuesday ... Solo Day!

More later ...