Outside Of Time

Posted byGary FultzPosted inaccomplishment, adventure, Adventure story, Boundary Water trips, Boundary Waters, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness photos, Build a fire, BWCAW, camp fire story, camping, canoeing, canoeing adventure, communion with God, eternal, Faith, Fishing, GaryFultz Blog, God in Nature, gone fishing, Nature, outdoor adventure, perspective, Photography, quality of life, solitude, Sunset picturesTags:, , , , , , , , , , ,

I have been gone. A small group of us canoed and portaged lakes and rivers away from knowing what time it is, internet wrangling, home, warm showers, soft beds, cars and most forms of communication to the rest of the world. Do smoke signals from the camp fire count? The wilderness is it’s own entity and one would be wise to learn an awareness of it’s ways.

I’ll write about it in a few days and catch up on 300+ emails and mow the lawn. meanwhile I’ll leave you with a couple pictures of God’s very rugged creation in this area of northern Minnesota known as the Boundary Waters canoe Area Wilderness. Header picture is a slice of our first evening in camp. In realistic context this feel good picture was tempered a bit by hundreds of mosquitoes and black flies yelling “goal…goal…goal”

Just a taste of an extremely rugged, harsh, beautiful, survival of the fittest-just try to bloom where planted-area. I am reminded of that the wilderness is much like the character of God; totally untamed.

If you haven’t missed me, that’s ok….Life goes on.

Gary

Published by Gary Fultz

Outdoors Man, Hunter, Fisherman, Guide, Writer / Author, Photographer, Public Speaker, Musician, Song Writer, Story Teller, Follower Of Jesus. Love God and family and total strangers

85 thoughts on “Outside Of Time”

  1. I’ve missed you quite a lot, Gary. After your previous “heart trouble” post, it’s good to know you are back out in the wilderness. I wrote a haiku this past Sunday and used one of your photos.

    Excellent pics today, as usual. There is so much water in Northern Minnesota! God Bless.

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    1. Great to be missed David. I look forward to seeing your posts I missed. Yes, in the BWCA there is more water than land. the land there is extremely rugged. Rocks the size of lakes, Big water, raging and tepid rivers, bogs and bugs more fearsome than one could imagine. One might think it was specifically designed to make mankind as inconsequential as a mosquito.

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  2. “Do smoke signals from the campfire” count?” . . . big time in my life journal Gary, and I forgive you for evoking my envy ☺️. Great pics!
    Welcome back brother . . . although I sense you’d still rather be back sitting by the campfire.

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  3. Gary!
    Yay! I’ve been wondering where you were. You leave a huge void. (I could never fill it but you make me aware of my responsibility to try.) I’m so glad you were doing what you love. Thanks for the beautiful photos. I’ll look forward to the adventures. Welcome back!
    Deb

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  4. Yes, to what the three previous comments have said and also – thank you for including that bit about the mosquitos and black flies… it reminds us that, even with such beauty, we’re in a fallen world and it can’t compare to what we shall behold on “that” day!

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    1. I love the “heart of life” phrase Wynne. Part of me is relieved that some bloggers missed me. I think everyone has some fear (at some degree) at least, of living their life out, and when they are gone they were no more than a blip on the screen of life on this planet.

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    2. I missed ya! “67 times” you say! And counting . . . One can only surmise that there is a bit of a learned attraction going on! Beautiful pictures, Gary. Glad to see that you’re doing your part to keep that mosquito population thriving. Looking forward to the “stories”! Blessings!

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    1. It’s a one in a lifetime experience Kathy. For some, like me, they have to go back again and again. 67 times for me.
      Areas so pre-historic that one would not be surprised at seeing a long giant neck rise out of the bog in the morning fog, We walked in moose tracks on a portage and saw a snapping turtle so big it’s legs were the size of my arms.

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    1. It was Barb. Other than winds and higher waves most days, it was one of the best weather trips I have had. It was also in the top 10 for lots and lots of bugs trying to bite. This rugged wilderness is worth the trek. being there is a different world. A world no one can manipulate and must respect or find themselves in a heap of trouble or worse.

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    1. It was Rock. In a strange sort of way a trek like this taxes ones physical limitations and seems to refresh, at the same time, the very essence of who they are. Anger issues? they come out. False expectations of nature treating one as special are trimmed to the core. The rugged beauty only God could make can spring tears in the toughest cases. If one mosquito can drive one crazy, think what ten thousand can do. One cannot help but come out different than they went in. The wilderness is one of God’s tools chipping us toward the character He desires in us. After 67 trips I am more convinced of this.

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  9. Missed your posts, comments and pictures…
    But before you had left for that trip, I had also missed reading that you had an AWESOME, fulfilled and happy time lately – so it’s all good!!!
    Happy to read you are back safely and your heart has been filled with gladness and awe about HIS creation!

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    1. Thanks Eva. I understand looking for people who just disappeared for awhile. It’s usually something like I did. A week on vacation with Kids and grandkids then mow a couple acres tall grass and other urgent things before heading out on a wilderness trip.

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    1. Oh yes RJ. Me and trips…My summer will be filled with outdoor things this year. I have already mowed a bunch of high grass and am giving the mower a break (that’s my side of the story anyway). I’m going to try to keep up with posts as I go as well as add a few of my own. I hope to build a small cabin in the woods for visitors and help a brother build a new house. Life is full of choices containing good, better and best isn’t it. I have talks with the Lord about this often as I am practicing my listening skills.

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    1. Thanks Robert. My brother just completed a symptomless COVID. Mostly in his wood shop and doing yard work.
      Take care. Now you can practice photography techniques or something.

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  12. I recall canoeing in northern Illinois one summer. The mosquitoes were so bad, they grabbed each end of the canoe and were lifting us out of the water. We escaped because they dropped us when they saw the BIG ones coming! 😂
    Amazing pics of the Boundary Waters! Putting it on my bucket list.
    ❤️&🙏, c.a.

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    1. Ha ha. That’s a great story for the camp fire. They do get so thick you have to cover your mouth to breathe. It’s impossible to cook outdoors without getting extra protein in the stew or coffee water. yes do put it on your bucket list.

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    2. I can only imagine how much an ankle replacement must mean. In all my wilderness trips, the worst accident was brought on by a sprained ankle hidden from my knowledge or I would not have let the teen come with me. Quite an evacuation story, 4 hours of surgery and a couple years of therapy and no one would guess it happened.
      I hope your ankle serves you well.

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    1. Oh yes Ted. There is quite a tolerance curve to adapt to being bug bitten and learning how to minimize that sport (from a bugs perspective). Something tells me you would adapt and want more

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    1. I could see you covering up with a head net, a very thick long sleeve shirt and gloves to minimize being bitten Mandy…Could you get by without being bitten? As the lottery people say “It could happen”

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      1. You are absolutely correct, Gary! Thermacell is an amazing invention from God as well!!!! While it could happen, life experience tells me it’s bit likely. I am thankful for you Gary and I am praying for you and your family.

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    2. Thanks Mandy
      I have some Thermacells I bought for our back deck. I think mosquitoes ignore them if there is some wind. I have a friend who uses them as a bear hunting guide in the swamps and he loves them. maybe it’s the mosquito size in the spring that allows them to ignore bug repellent and other things. They survived winter and they are 4x the size of most mosquitoes. about 1/4″ long and meaty. Now we had a dragonfly hatch so they are being eaten fast…a good thing.

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  16. My son, as a Boy Scout, took a trip to the Boundary Waters. They canoed and camped for about a week. These trips (and other experiences) turned him into the man he is today. Mosquitoes love me, so I prefer a travel trailer. I do love nature. I look forward to reading your posts about your experience.

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    1. Those trips tend to grow kids into responsible adults. The wilderness is quite a dose of reality therapy for a lot of people. I wonder if your son heard about the boy scouts that roped a buck deer swimming across a big lake. They thought they would get a free ride for awhile. What they didn’t know was a sand bar came way out into the lake and they got the ride of their life right over the rocks and into the woods. I know of the boy scout camp on the edge of the BWCA. It’s a great program teaching personal responsibility in nature and in doing their part in camp working together.
      I understand trailer camping as well Betty. It’s just good to get out in nature.

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    1. Thanks
      Good comment Pete. You can let her know that we have over 10,000 lakes and I had a million mosquitoes in my campsite. I shudder to think of the actual numbers. Then the black flies and then the no-see-ums (whose bit is on par with a black fly).

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    2. Black flies are a tiny May-June pesky hard biting bug that can actually burrow into your skin. They believe in high numbers attacking at the same time. Their bite is like a mosquito bite. We have horse and deer flies here as well and they bite harder. They come out later in summer.

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    1. It’s true. Nature is a great equalizer in many ways. Nature is totally ambivalent about what happens, it just forges ahead how it was created to do what it does with all it’s might. We humans add the emotion and wonder of how a tree or a flower can survive for awhile growing out of a rock. We struggle for significance while nature just lives and grows and dies. Apart from our creator we have none. That being said I have often wondered why I keep going back with a zillion mosquitoes, high winds (my wife and I were in the straight-line 100mph winds in 2000) and sharp slippery rocks trying to constantly kill me. I think it’s the beauty and the stark naked truth of nature in the most rugged wilderness area I know of.

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      1. I think nature puts us in our place Gary when we get too cocky! You are so right us mere humans struggle to find significance while the natural world just gets on with it for better or worse. There was a good reason why John was a voice crying in the wilderness!

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  19. Thanks for sharing your adventures and the pictures. The wonder of God’s created beauty is something I try to pause and really “see” every day. He is the great Designer, Creator, and Sustainer. No detail is too small.

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    1. And I know you would get along well in the wilderness. Being a little untamed helps one understand natures ways a little more. It is a beautiful place in a majestic and rugged way with lots of variety.

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    1. Thanks Alicia. We had some adventuress and also found out more about ourselves as often is the case. It’s nice to wind down with a camp fire and bring up new sights and insights. I hope to communicate some of those well.

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    1. It’s a good thing for men to bring boys into a wilderness experience. May the men model well and grow themselves.
      We met a group up there not modeling well to the kids with them, breaking several rules signed off on their permit. They said they were a ministry group. There is such a difference in those who follow Jesus and those who just say they do.

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  26. Thanks Craig. After the first day I thought I was in over my head.
    My body responded well after that. 5 more days of building strength before the really tough portages getting back out

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  27. Beautiful post, Gary. And you tap into one of the wonders of life: get out there and explore and you will surprise yourself with what you see and find (in nature and within yourself). And I had to smile at your comment “this feel good picture was tempered a bit by hundreds of mosquitoes and black flies yelling “goal…goal…goal”” This too is such a perfect metaphor to life ~ take the good with the minor inconveniences that come our way 🙂

    Look forward to reading more. Wonderful blog.

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    1. Thank You Dalo. You nailed the part of adventure and surprise. They sure go together. We know less than we think about ourselves and all that is in the world around us and how it operates. Somehow our world today thinks they know something if it can be googled when really it needs to be experienced. Then we find out how big the smallest things are that change our life.

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    1. It is Jim. It’s mind boggling how plants grow out of rock and actually thrive, how the clear waters reflections imitate perfectly in stillness and how many things in nature try to turn our bodies into food or fertilizer.

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  29. Welcome home Gary! Looking forward to reading the fruit from your latest adventure and seeing more photographs. I’m sure this trip was just the medicine your heart, mind, and soul needed.

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    1. It is if you love a true wilderness and very rugged experience. It’s good to learn how to paddle a canoe and have a good camping skills as well as a lot of common sense. It’s extremely beautiful country. Hope you can make it there.

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  31. I have missed your blogs but glad you had this adventure. My husband and I recently returned from northern Minnesota. We visited the Red Lake area on a mission trip with some teens. It is beautiful and the weather great—and the mosquitoes even greater! They are numerous and big.

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    1. I live about 40 miles from Red Lake and spent a couple years in Ponemah as a kid as my father taught there. Yes, we still have mosquitoes left over from winter and they are 5x normal size. I am glad for anyone that can help out up there.

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      1. We actually worked in Ponemah for an older woman caring for her adult granddaughter. We painted her house pink–it was her choice. We were also in Redby for a VBS at the church there.

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  32. I enjoyed your beautiful photos, Gary. Someone commented that “Nature is a great equalizer”. I’ve often thought that nature doesn’t care if you are black, white, or purple with yellow polka dots–it treats everybody the same–but if you’re out in it, you better know what you are doing and be prepared.

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    1. There is a whole lot of truth there. In all the times I have been in the wilderness, I do not know of a mosquito or black fly that discriminates. bug dope works the same on everybody. Nobody is special. And being prepared and alert gives one an advantage over those who do not.

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    1. It is fun. you would enjoy the possibilities Sandra. Hard work getting back into that wilderness by canoe and portaging, but fun. Someday I hope to actually make it a photographers trip. I haven’t taken in any good equipment for fear of accidently losing a good camera or lens. Plus it’s heavy in the back pack.

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      1. I know what you mean, if I am not sure of the terrain or where I am going I tend to take my small bridge camera. For the same reason, don’t want something to happen to the good one..😊

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