ben: boats and bears

This is one of my favorite "Krista" stories.

One summer when we worked together it came to be the Fourth of July and seven of us on staff at Camp Manitoqua decided to travel North to the Kappers family cottage on Lake Mary in Northern WI. Well it was a good trip North. The guys stopped at Kappers' house South and the gals stayed with Katie for the day just North of Milwaukee. Anyways the next day rolled around and things QUICKLY deteriorated.

We arrived at the cottage safe and sound and proceeded to buy fishing licenses that we wouldn't even use, and eventually we left to go out on...the boat. The boat was a 1977 wooden motor boat that was kind of usable for skiing etc...but more useful for frustrating it's navigator than much of anything else.

Anyways we maneuvered our way around the lake a couple times before the motor stopped...and then restarted and then stopped. We were stuck 400 yards away from our dock with very little hope. Well first we tried paddling, and then we tried the motor againg...and to our surprise it began to work...and then just about 50 yards from shore it stopped and instead of ending up at the dock we ended up drifting into a lagoon of sorts that was terribly over grown with weeds. Well about 3 hours, 200 curse words, lots of sweat and a strained friendship with one of the other boat riders later we made it to shore. It ended up that I got us to shore by throwing the anchor forward then pulling us along, then taking the anchor out and throwing it forward again....this was frustrating and exhausting work...and it was made worse by the fiercely negative attitude of one member of the trip.

Well anyways after this experience I was finished with the boat and ready to eat. And after a good meal we began to think about what else to do that weekend. Well we decided that we'd travel to Lake Superior and camp out for the night up there, and that's what we did. We arrived at the Great Lake around 1:00 and after searching and praying for an hour we found a campsite that was perfect for our camping needs. We got out, set up our tent, and started a fire. It was wonderful.

The next morning Krista and I got up early and decided we'd take the "3" mile hike to the lake to see the sunrise...well that three mile hike ended up being more like 8 and it was one of the LONGEST walks in my life. BUT it was fun and when we got to the beach it was fabulous. We saw bear tracks, a beach with NO footprints, and beauty that was pristine and natural. We took a picture, sat around for a bit, and headed back to camp.

AND THEN...

IT HAPPENED...

A bear popped up out of the trees 25 feet in front of us! AND it started running towards us! I panicked...and then my hero complex kicked in and I stepped forward and pulled out....my MAGLIGHT!!! YEAH!!! TAKE THAT!!! Well the bear was OBVIOUSLY intimidated and retreated off to our left and we moved swiftly in the opposite direction. After a hefty hike back to the tent we were exhausted and exhilarated by the experience and it was one that certainly will be emblazoned in my mind for a LONG time to come!

Blog owner's note:

Things you should also know:
When we woke up in the morning we found out we camped next to a lake. Had we known that at night... well... we probably wouldn't have just went to bed.
Ben talks/swears in his sleep.
I did use the fishing licence AND pole that I bought.. I think I threw out my line when we went into the boat later that night. Probably more to use them than to catch a fish.
I thought the whole boat/not being able to get in was kind of funny but I couldn't laugh because Ben was really upset.