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Thursday, May 1, 2008
What’s your fondest outdoors memory?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There were many firsts during the summer between by seventh- and eighth-grade years and they all came on the same trip.
It was the middle of the summer of ‘75 when I went on the fishing trip of a lifetime — 10 days in the Canadian wilderness with family and friends. We were in a group of eight who drove from my native Wisconsin to Vermillion Bay in Ontario, then airplaned deep into the some of the most beautiful lake country on Earth.
It was my first trip out of the country, first time in a plane, first camping trip to the middle of nowhere and first experience catching fish in a barrel. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.
It was a 12-hour car ride from Central Wisconsin to Ontario and another two hours on a plane. The outfitters shuttled the group and gear on several trips back and forth, and once they were done we didn’t see them again for five days, when they brought ice.
No electricity. No running water. If you could brave the cold Canadian water (perhaps in the 50s) you could take a bath, but once was enough of that. We had tents, food and a fleet of fishing boats owned by the outfitters.
It was incredible fun.
To this date, I have never caught as many fish as I did on that trip. Northern pike, walleye and smallmouth bass bit so frequently that if we made five casts without something biting our Daredevle spoon we moved on. And if we got a little bored, me and my best buddy would race the boats across the lake and back.
It also was the first time I remember feeling somewhat equal to my father, which is a big thing for a 12-year-old boy who wants to be treated more like an adult than like a child. He let me drive the boat, pick spots to fish and our conversations were deeper than ever before. He went to get the firewood while I started a fired — and not the other way around. Wow.
That trip ended too soon. I was ready for another week once the plane returned to pick us up. I still hope to take a similar trip with my son and help him start feeling like an adult, too.
So, what’s your fondest outdoors memory?
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