garyfultz

Wilderness canoe Trip, #60 Perspective

Two canoes, four packs and four people pushed off on a typical wilderness lake. Grey rock and green trees outlined the waterways past bays, points, and islands. The rhythm of nature begins to slow the brain waves. Small whitecaps challenge us to dig a little deeper with the paddle in our unhurried pace. The four of us represent 130 or so trips to the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness.

We paddle into a river system with some small portages around dangerous water, cross beaver dams and into the beginning of what is left of a forest fire from five years ago. Black trees and cracked rock are all we see. The fish still bite and the bugs have found their way back but it’s very dead and barren. Small plants are beginning to grow in the crevices of the rock as all the humus and top soil was burned. The swamps, bogs, and strips of low land are green and seem to be recovering better as long as there is water to keep the hydroponic effect going.

The fifth lake we portage into is mostly green again. there are nature sounds and we realize the last four lakes have been on “Mute”. The difference between life and death is beyond words. My mind wandered to visual illustrations of relationships from the vibrant to the dead. I know of marriages that look quite charred. I see hydroponic relationships that will dry up all too easily (thus the saying “puppy love leads to a dogs life”).

I am here to slow down. My busy life bumps and blurs any perspective I may have of my relationships. family, future goals, and my relationship with God. My soul is still, It is well but it is cluttered with busyness. All my stuff could burn tomorrow and life would be hard but I do not have to be in the wilderness to find peace.

I do struggle with getting older. The rocky paths and portage trails are steeper and longer than I remember. The days have shifted a couple of gears faster and lounging around camp is almost as enjoyable as bushwhacking to hidden lakes with no trails. My sense of adventure is still off the charts but sometimes I lose the charts (don’t think too hard about that statement).

The guys are out fishing and caught breakfast. We had fish for lunch and Supper and threw quite a few back. There are perks in the wilderness and one of them is cooking great food over an open fire. Another is getting so tired you have the best sleep of your life (disclaimer here as moaning wolves, big animals wandering by the tent and beavers falling trees in the night bothers some campers).

Sunsets challenge me. As I watch I make notes to self: why not have some color in one’s life? Why not choose an abundant life? Why not work hard and dig deeper against the whitecaps of life? Make you marriage vibrant, Take more people fishing, know God well enough to experience his peace and presence, Keep your mind sharp and growing and keep you body fit enough to have a great trip #61.

Gary

Coming off Winter Weary

Brown, the after winter and before spring color. Shaggy deer in their dark brown suit which will soon turn reddish as the grass grows green. I am again reminded that the only constant in life is change. I am “life stuff” weary but the deer cheer me up. I leaned the camera against a post on the back patio and captured a slice of time in deer life. Tomorrow it would rain and a green spring would appear overnight. Something snaps out of me each year about April and I wonder again why I do not start my year of planning in January. Is it possible I only plan when it’s green? Hey I come from the “hippie” generation where planning was considered unnecessary and painful (insert disclaimer here) even though I was not raised that way.

A BWCAW Trip #60 end of May is on the Calendar. Fishing with the grand kids in June. Fishing with friends and family in July, Exploring several lakes near our new home (which happens to be over the river, through the woods, across a field and over a knoll from town) affectionately known as grandmothers place to 6 young-uns in northern Minnesota and southern Kentucky.

Crappies, Walleye, a fish fry or three,checking out a nearby trout stream, another fish fry, fishing with friends, and the final plan until I make some more is Fish Camp in September (see my fish camp page).

waptus fishing with Jim 007_edited
It is green outside now and I have been making plans beside my 55 hour work week. If the buck on my trail cam made it through the winter my DNA will be whispering 30-30. What do you suppose that means?

A small piece of advice to myself and the weary; “get out there”, do something even if it’s right!

Gary

A Real Christmas Tree

Bare, exposed, small, fragile and seemingly a random plant in a crick of a rock. At our lowest point of life we have more going for us than this tree. At our best we have no more significance than this little tree in the wilderness. I can only imagine the root system it takes to sustain life and grow nice healthy white pine needles. Someday this house sized rock may break in half from the roots of this mighty tree. In the big picture the tree will win.

Bare,exposed, small, fragile and seemingly a random baby born in a barn. I cannot imagine what God was thinking in planting himself into his creation in this way. As predicted 600 years earlier by Isaiah the Prophet this was the intent of the Christmas story in God’s plan of redemption for mankind. In the big picture, God wins.

Consider a piece from Isaiah 53 (Isaiah’s condensed Christmas story)

2) He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3)He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4)Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5) But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6)We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all…

Could it be that my little tree was actually planned? An object lesson in nature bent toward eternity? I actually believe I have found a “Real Christmas Tree”.

To all my friends who believe

Merry Christmas

To all my friends who don’t believe

Merry Christmas

To all who are culturally and politically correct There’s hope!

Merry Christmas

Gary

Signs You Need a Getaway

We live between the lake (in lakes country) and a highway full of semi-crazy people coming out of the Twin Cities to “get away” on weekends or all summer. We live where many people want to be. We often feel a need to “get away”, so what’s that about when so many think we are already there? After all even the Eagles like it here.

>Text or Tweet Me (Hezekiah 6:18)... social networking with God? By Gary Fultz — Thinking of You

Signs that you need to get away: 1) Instead of fishing you find yourself casting musky lures at the jet-skiers. 2) Everyone at work keeps asking “when are you taking a vacation?” 3) You find undeveloped rolls of 35 mm film from your last vacation while looking for your tackle box. 4) You find your tackle box and your film camera is in it. 5) The only thing good in your tackle box is your uneaten Twinkies. 6) All you have to post online is what you ate for breakfast. 7) The neighbor kids only “Trick” you at Halloween. 8) The boss volunteers you to listen to a Time Share Spiel “for the company”. 9) You buy a hunting video game and realize it is opening day of Deer Season. 10) You get away and don’t know what to do. 11) You get home from vacation and a grandchild sends you the above Halloween picture and caption.

Don’t worry Liz I’m just “funnin”. See you hopefully soon for turkey hunting. We can stay in the timeshare. Do you like Twinkies?

Gary

Work Worth the Dream

From the first wilderness story heard I had always dreamed of going where few venture. Rod or gun in hand (preferably both) paddling silently in a canoe through the northern waterways would often glide into my thoughts . Visions of bulling through the brush with pack, canoe, compass, and an old hand drawn map of hidden lakes slyly beckoned from the many corners of my mind. In my sleep I would sometimes hurt my elbow on the wall beside the bed setting the hook on a lake monster crushing an old red headed wooden surface lure. Consequently, as a kid I inhaled any section of the school library containing wilderness stories.

Everything I read seemed to nudge and warn me. “Danger” signs and red flags were common “pop-ups” before computer people people irritated the world. I came to the realization early on that the most abundant ingredient used to change dreams into reality was “Work”. Entry level-minimum wage work would not suffice. The river does not slow down for the beginners, the weak, timid, tired or lazy.

Work. Since the beginning of creation we have had work. I’m not talking about the ideology, appearance of, or just showing up at a job expecting more than the limited value they add in a paycheck. I define work as putting out energy to productively get something properly done. A wilderness adventure is very hard work and short-cuts on doing things the right way bite hard (note: check tent for holes and working zippers before packing into black fly and mosquito infested territory).

In canoeing terms there are paddlers and there are paddle dippers. A paddler intentionally puts the paddle into the water and exerts pressure on the paddle which propels the canoe in the direction intended (usually forward). A paddle dipper puts the paddle into the water and brings it along with the flow of the canoe without exerting pressure on the paddle and does nothing for the direction of the canoe. Successful paddle dippers pair themselves with a blissful and forgiving good paddler (note: there are no blissful and forgiving good paddlers in high waves or strong river currents). Nice walleye fillets. Someone worked hard to fillet out a walleye lunch on a wide canoe paddle. A fire will need quite a few dry sticks from downed dead wood properly tended for the right heat. Someone will batter and fry them over the fire. Someone will see that the dishes are washed and the fire is completely out before leaving camp (Note: the lazy tend to miss out on when the food is ready as they are off escaping some of the camp work (I’m sure it’s not very intentional…OK maybe a little). Work Worth the Dream: Three hidden lakes after the trails gave out. Waterways not meant for canoes so we walked and carried them through rapids, over bog and beaver dams; forging ahead until daylight threatened to leaves us to the rabid mosquitoes and glowing eyes in the black forest. There is another small lake ahead, we think we can tell by the opening in the woods just to the left of where the river seems to disappear into the wood (Note: there is a time to turn around and head back to camp. The rivers are barely passable and fairly risky for the experienced in the light).

Work Worth the Dream: 59 wilderness trips in the summer, fall, winter and spring have added up to an incredible amount of satisfying high adventure.

Work is still the main ingredient but it’s my work as well as those whom I have ventured with. The amount of work put into the trip (packing individual meals with directions so anyone can cook them) pays forward big time when in the bush. I have outlasted a canoe, several packs, tents, and a couple cook sets. I am not sure it would be worth it if it was a job. It’s too hard of work before, during, after and the hours are too long for a job.

A wilderness fire crackling to the moaning of lobo timber wolves nearby seems to cut through the self protective layers of pretense I build up in front of the world. When I look into an evening campfire after a day in the wilderness, I often think about the other parts of my life that I might not work as hard at. Am I a paddle dipper in my marriage? Are there parts of my life showing a lazy streak? When I do public speaking, do I package my thoughts as well as our wilderness meals? Am I so productive at work that I am worth the pay and the company gets their fair share from my labor as well? How many more wilderness trips does this body of mine have in me? As the fire wanes so my body does with each trip but my mind and soul are more like a fire being fed more sticks as I have worked hard not just to know nature but the creator as well.

In Jesus day the religious leaders asked him a “work” question. “What must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered, “the work God requires is this; to believe in the one He has sent”. I am a follower of Jesus and I add sticks to the fire of this relationship every day (don’t confuse this with being religious).

I have a belief about our culture and spiritual things…most of us are paddle dippers and are not willing to work at knowing our Creator. Truthfully, wilderness adventures run deep in me. I am traipsing through the painting of the Creator (and catching some big fish), but I want more. The more I know creation the more I want to know the creator. When life here is over I want more than a fish fry.

I know where I am going

Gary

More than a Fish Fry

I have been blessed with a God-loving, fishing, hunting, slingshot shooting and extremely adventurous outdoors family. Dad was the ringleader and chief instigator of our families love of the north-woods and lakes while mom kept us busy appreciating an acre of garden.

A bent of the family seems to be focused on teaching so it was a natural outcome for me to teach anyone interested this huge passion of mine. I wanted to get some fishing friends together as well as find some new fishing friends in a camp setting so I teamed with COFA (Christian Outdoors Fellowship of America) to put on a small group fishing camp in Northern Minnesota, on and near a great number of great fishing lakes.

Sunset COFA Fish Camp — Taken off the dock by Mike Brooks Founder of Christian Outdoors Fellowship of America http://www.cofausa.org

Fish Camp: The stated main activity through the day is fishing. I guess I have a lot to learn about people.

In a group of 25 people there will be 25 reasons why each one is drawn to the outdoors. The felt need to feel a huge fish on the end of my line while drifting a deep edge is bigger than my check book. Someone else may just want alone time walking the trails with a camera.

After 5 camps I am amazed at the number of reasons people come to Camp. A recent divorce, sewing time while hubby fishes, A young man looking for a place to be with “real men”(his words), father-daughter time, searching for a deeper relationship with God, learning how to fish, fillet and fry, and the list seems endless.

Fish camp is much more than a fish fry (and they are great). Some come looking for time alone in creation and find the Creator. Stories of major changes in jobs, marriages, habits, priorities are being told and making their way back to me.

I like stories and telling them but most of all I love being the instigator of making them.

Watch for next years Fish camp in Northern Minnesota. September 11-16, 2015

Funny story about the 28″ walleye. Her husband took the picture and she threw it overboard. He was going to mount it. I had told the whole group not to keep anymore fish because we had enough for the fish fry…A replica would look good on the wall guys.

Gary

PS: The food is exceptional.

The Passion of Outdoor Adventure

I have accepted the fact that outdoor adventures drive me. It’s not hard for me to throw a canoe on top of a vehicle, some fishing tackle and food in the back seat and take off for a few days. I have driven five hours one way for a simple overnight-er in the BWCA Wilderness. My simple lack of planning (more than once) has resulted in carving our own silverware in camp so we could cook and eat. There are those occasional stories about bears in camp, forgetting the tent, high winds, mosquito plagues and hidden lakes we couldn’t find with our compass that I have simply passed off as part of the adventure. I believe those people who tout the idea that every strength one has there is an opposing weakness. I live with those strengths and weaknesses every day and ask God to keep changing me toward normalcy.

My character flaw is that I will somehow get myself invited to your next elk hunting trip (Done that more than once) or onto your son’s fishing boat for my next adventure (as this week’s pictures will prove). The upside is I can cook well without a recipe and I come with some great camera equipment. I am fairly shameless so feel free to invite me on your next adventure.

But, things are changing. Subtle changes have taken place in me the last few years. I enjoy an early morning fire, coffee, and a nice breakfast before heading out in the woods, boat or canoe. Instead of getting up before daylight and portaging several times to an out of the way lake before breakfast I sleep in. I am content taking the time to write in a journal or take pictures of things once UN-noticed. I have sudden urges to revisit places like the sand beach on an island 8 portages into The BWCA where the walleye can be caught while wading the shoreline (I know where we hid our hand carved utensils). A certain large meadow plateau exists on the side of the mountains of Colorado surrounded by elk, mule deer, bear and mountain lion (I plan on bringing a range finder next time). I would like to ski Big Sky again and fish and white water raft the Gallatin nearby. My wife and I are talking of going back to Guatemala to build another home or visiting our sponsored child in Peru. Sometimes I even pause long enough to write or do public speaking about my outdoor adventures as well as my adventurous relationship with God. Should I ever seem too religious, hit me over the head with a solid canoe paddle (after a warning please). But I will tell you about having a practical relationship with my Creator God who does exist and wants us to know Him beyond this life and into eternity.

Someday (should it ever come), I want to teach more kids and kids at heart how to fish, hunt, camp and know God as I do. I always want to be gaining more stories than I could ever tell. Someday (when it does come) I hope you will be around to tell your stories. By then I will be able to sit still long enough to listen and enjoy.

Gary

Meanwhile here and now, I now know another great fisherman. In a couple more weeks I will meet more at Fish Camp (COFA FAll Retreat). I will see some of you there.

Slowfoot…More BWCA Thoughts

We get alone in the wilderness. Words, pictures, memories and a couple of scars are imbedded in us. We are subtly changed. We find out who we really are and discuss who we are becoming.
An early misty morning view brings out new yearnings inside us. One gets the feeling that the amount of beauty here overflows our human capacity to take it in.

The large Timber Wolves howled and moaned as they gathered each evening a little too close to our tents.

We embark on a journey to find a lake with no trail or waterway over a bogs beaver dams and harsh terrain. Looking back I would like to have been more prepared with more food, more bug dope, and better clothing for this north-woods jungle. I cannot help but think our jaunt back to Slowfoot lake (as it’s called on the aerial map) had many of the same ingredients as life itself. In that sense we reached a wilderness heaven (the bugs did too). I think we all stopped and took a picture at first glimpse.

We were so unprepared to enjoy this lake. I have since recognized some ways I am unprepared for the last quarter of my life here on earth. I want more capacity for my important relationships with family, friends and My creator. Three of us dads and sons were here beyond the paths and trails; I’m sorry all you get is the picture and a few words. We bonded and experienced the Slowfoot lake Journey. You get some crumbs.

Maybe we all have our “Slowfoot” place on earth. What is yours? How does the wilderness affect you?

Gary

Glimpse of a BWCAW Adventure

2014 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Trip #59 for me.

All seems well with the wilderness world on mornings like this. Our campsite is hidden in the pines on the far side of the picture. My first cast nailed a 28″ pike and the second cast hit a medium small-mouth bass. One can only live in the moment, drink in the beauty, and attempt to stay sane with black flies and mosquitoes fighting for a limited supply of blood. Not many people who enter Boundary Waters will work hard enough to see this lake.

It’s a primitive place on the Minnesota-Canadian border with no motors allowed. Portaging canoes and all you care to bring in packs from lake to lake is how it’s done. Designated campsites are marked only by the presence of a fire grate and a sit-on latrine (picture a green bucket with a small lip to sit on in the woods). We worked hard to get out of people range so we only saw a couple of groups silently paddle by in five days. Always bring someone who knows how to cook over a fire and don’t forget the matches.

We ate the whole stringer of fish for a late lunch. The picture above is a day trip photo where we pulled up to a nice area on shore, filleted the fish boneless, battered and fried them over a small camp stove. A side bag of trail mix with fish (we might not have eaten much trail mix) kept us healthy until the evening feast back at camp. We only kept nice eater size fish and released the bigger ones.

Garys Bass BWCA 2014 — Alvin’s photography

Pictured above is a typical small-mouth bass caught from the camp site. We caught three species of fish from this site. We released most of our fish as we brought almost enough food to keep us happy. Hand sized fillets come from the large bluegill we caught. 11-12″ gills are common here and I may bring the fly rod next time.

Blue Gill BWCA 2014 email — The blade is 9″ for you bluegill hunters

Swimming the BWCA after ice out 2014 email — Wear shoes on sharp rocks and look carefully before diving

Mike in cold water BWCA 2014 (800x533) — IIIIIIT’ssss….C,C,C,C…ooooold!

This year it was a father-son trip. It’s extremely harsh wilderness at times but this year the only rough times were the portage trails up to half a mile long, the bugs just out of winter hibernation (they are monsters) and the challenge of dragging the canoes over bogs and through some fast flowing rocky rapids areas. Some of the bush-whacking day trips where Sasquatch might well hide out took it’s toll on our clothing and skin; and I didn’t like the blood suckers thinking I was fair game (leeches eat on dead things in the water, blood suckers eat on live things).

Hunting for mikes Cell Phone BWCA 2014 email — Cell phone found in the black muck after a long search

Should you ever decide to explore this region, go with someone who has some experience in reading a map, knowing what and what not to bring, cooking, wilderness first aide, setting up a camp, fishing the Canadian shield areas, portaging and a healthy dose of outdoor common sense.

Concerning electronics: It’s almost a scientific fact; the water seems to call them somehow. Cameras, GPS systems, and cell phones (no signal in most places) need a waterproof case. I now recommend something float-able.

46 inch pike — My best pike at 46″ from a canoe, released and nobody should be allowed to swim in that lake.

Bens fish BWCA 2014 — Ben started out the trip with a nice pike, Tim’s photography

Tims Big Pike BWCA (800x533) — last day Breakfast, One pike fed us all.

Another Eater Walleye By Alvin BWCA 2014 email — Another eater size walleye

IMG_1874 (800x533) — Walleye, Pike, Bluegill, Bass, all on the same minnow lure.

Dwights Big Pike 2 (800x535) — We think this pike was looking for our eater size walleyes for lunch.

IMG_1887 (800x533) — Caught off shore where we were frying up the walleye

Mikes Bass BWCA 2014 — Campsite small-mouth: Alvin’s Photography

Gary

BWCA Fire 2014 — End of the day, Awesome picture by Alvin

20 40 insight

A 5 day blog here

Greetings from snow country on this fine April day. It was a 4×4 or stay in the snow bank day. While the grand kids are playing soccer in central USA we are still ice fishing in North West Wisconsin. By May 1 most of the three feet of ice will be gone. The ice fishermen that do not get voted off the planet will be wiser as we enter the black ice ( fish bite like crazy) week of temptation.

I have 20 40 insight on these things. Probably because I live in the moment too much. I wanted to wait five days and see what the promised warm weather would do to the snow and my natural inclination to get out on the ice.

5 Days Later… I believe I might act my age instead of my shoe size this spring. What would you do? What a difference five days can make even in the north country.

My life has been full of huge storms mixed with great weather (most of us can claim this). Storms tend to make me sort out the important from the urgent. Priorities begin to surface in matters of marriage, money, friends, and where I spend my thoughts. In matters of my relationships with God, family, and friends I realize how fiercely independent I shouldn’t be and how stable I am not.

I am still in awe over losing 16″ of snow on the lawn so fast.

One never knows how soon the sun will come out or when tomorrow will really come. I tend to be a bit slow on realizing these things which is why I would rate my insight into most things, be it weather related or life altering, 20 40 insight.

Gary