Northwoods Adventure

Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wilderness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man.
-- John Eldridge (Wild at Heart)

We bought a used lightweight canoe, to meet this deeply spiritual longing! It is patched -- but "lakeworthy."

Just before dusk, a couple of evenings ago, Ryan, Hannah and I took the old boat out on the Davis Flowage for her "maiden voyage" with the Wilson's. It was a delightful, heart-thumping experience.

We paddled silently towards the sunset into another world of pristine nature. The stillness of the lake was interrupted only by the dipping of our paddles.

Suddenly ---- KASPLOOSHHH!!!!!!

There was a humongous splash right in front of us! Then a leap and a long slithering of green and pink. It seemed to go directly underneath us.

"Holy cow!" Ryan shouted, "That was like a crocodile or hippo or something! It's nose was sticking out of the water!"

It was neither a crocodole nor hippo -- but a magnificent northern pike.

"Paddle fast!" I yelled.

We turned the corner and came within a few feet of a busy beaver, who didn't seem very happy to see us. His scowl reminded me of the bumper sticker I saw many years ago while moving to Southern California. "Welcome to California, Now Go Home!"

Like the pike, he ended up diving under our boat, and we paddled like crazy to get out of there!

Pulling the old canoe onto shore, we all agreed. "That was AWESOME! "

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