Revelation in the Boundary Waters continued

With a sigh, I heaved up my Duluth bag and encouraged the girls to do the same. Amazingly, these smallish, slim young ladies, after a bit of trial and error, were able to work together and lift the canoes up onto their backs, and proceed up the steep embankment. Dave carried our canoe, halleluia. We all trudged back and forth over the portage until all were ready to launch into the next lake. Things went on like this, and we made seven portages that first day. 

You really can't imagine the physical challenge this type of experience is. Even my strong husband said it was the hardest thing, physically, that he had ever done!  Some of the trails were filled with muddy puddles, some were very steep, and some were full of mosquitoes. You didn't really have time to look around and enjoy the beauty, especially with that canoe on your shoulders.  Dave's hiking boots got filled with water at one point.

The other two adults in our group were women. I complained heartily to our leader, Sandy. “How can anyone consider this fun?” I didn't voice a lot of my thoughts, which were very dark indeed. “How could the Comstocks even consider doing this trip?” came readily to mind. Other thoughts ranged downward from “This is way too hard for the girls (really me),” to “I am going to kill Yvonne when I see her next.” 

But somehow we managed to make it to our first campsite before nightfall. And then we had to cook supper and set up our tents! With lots of encouragement from Sandy, dinner was cooked. Dave had to show the girls again how to set up the tents, since they couldn't quite remember how to do it. (Neither could I. I didn't really pay close attention to the outfitters when they demonstrated.) 

After eating, I experienced something that I had never felt before.  Food gives you strength. Now, you may think this is very basic, but for me it was a revelation. I had never been exhausted and hungry like that before. I could actually feel the effects of the nourishment filling me with strength. Later, this would become a strong lesson from the Lord for me.

Dave and I crawled into our tent and got into our sleeping bags. The ground was a bit rocky and it was barely dark, but we fell asleep almost immediately. Before I conked out, however, I started laughing a bit manically. What in the world had I gotten myself into?