I went camping last Friday. Started off as a little getaway, turned into quite an adventure. I'm writing this down partly for myself to go back to, and partly because I wanted to share it, because I think it's a neat story. :)
I left the house around 7:00. I'd invited a few friends to go with me, but none of them could, so this was going to be a solo trip. I was checking out a state forest about an hour from my home.... 6000 acres of woods, horse/bike trails, and a primitive campground. I left the horses at home as I don't have tags for them yet, plus I wanted to scope it out a little bit first before I brought them somewhere new.
...and now, for a little background that leads into this story. I've been talking to some friends recently about giving things up. About letting go of things we hold too dear, idolatry and all that. I have grown up in a nice Christian home (and I mean that, but at the same time, there are times where "nice", "Christian", and "home" can come together to create a little bit of naievety when you hit the real world where lives and eternity is TRULY at stake). Anyways, I've never dealt with the occult, with witchcraft, or any of that stuff. But as I read this book with my friends and thought about it, the same thing kept coming to mind. Food. Food? Yeah, I'm overweight. Yeah, I get a tad angry at myself because I don't seem to control what I eat or do so spontaneously way too much... but Food? Is that it????? I had no idea how that was going to play into this trip, and wasn't expecting it to, all. I had packed up some food - granola bars, bananas, good energy food, and all that, along with a bunch of water, and off I set...
...minus all the food. (OOPS!)
When I arrived at camp and put my tent up, I went through my bags and realized I'd left all the food at home on the kitchen table. I'd brought the water, but the food... nope, no food. I figured, OK, I can handle that. It's just overnight, and then maybe a quick hike in the morning. I can deal with a little hunger. Besides, maybe it'll be good for me.
So anyways, I finally got the fire going (I am not good at that yet - wound up doing something you're not supposed to do, but it definately worked, and I didn't burn any hairs). I sat down with a book I wanted to read and ... ring, ring...
Why did I bring my cell phone? It's my wife, she knows to call only if it's important.... Oh, the baby has a fever? Would I mind if you called me at 5:30 in the morning for me to get up, break camp, and come home early so you can do what you had planned to do with him but now might not be able to? Oh yeah, this was a good conversation, if you know what I mean. Things wound up OK, but it was definitely tense for a while. Everything wound up OK with my son, also, and what you read here is really brief and just my side of the story, but I honestly believe this was some real opposition we both had to overcome - we made it through it, but there were a few battle wounds, but they're healing quickly.
Anyways, worked my way about 2/3 of the way through the book, and then hit the sack under the stars. It was a good night. I woke early the next day, before dawn, and finished the book, and then got up and had to decide what do to. I had a few options.
1. Pack up and head home.
2. Go for a hike. I could either do a small loop or walk out and back on the same trail.
3. Go for a ride. I had my mountain bike and had heard it was a pretty good place to ride. I could do a 3 mile or a 6 mile loop on the bike.
I wound up deciding to go for a 3 mile bike ride. Remember, no food, plenty of water. :) I've got this silly phrase from a friend of mine about time with God being "better than breakfast" running through my head, and the connection with the thoughts on food are beginning to come through. So I head off, map in pocket, to explore this forest.
This is my first time to ever mountain bike in a real forest, on a real trail, with real hills, creeks, and mud bogs. It was stupendous! I was loving it. When I got to the place I thought was the turn off for the 3 mile loop, I decided to go ahead and continue and do the rest of the 6 mile loop instead - plenty of water, not feeling hungry, it was still early in the day and cool. So I went on.
Come to find out, I was probably about 3 miles into the trip, but not on the 6 mile loop, at least not where I thought I was on it. I honestly have no idea, even after the fact as I've reviewed better maps, where I went. Right turns here, left turns here, they don't seem to match up. But it was a trail, I had water, I had a cell phone & coverage, and wasn't worried. It was some good times.
I finally got to the part of the loop where the markers changed from saying "you're going away from camp" to "you're heading back towards camp." Great!, because I'm starting to get tired, and my water is going to work out just about right.
Yeah, right!
So I finally come up to this gravel trail that sure looks like the trail I'm supposed to turn right onto to head back to camp. Great! Yes! So I do. I pass familiar landmarks, keep going, and then I hit the first sign of the next phase of this journey... my own tracks, going in completely OPPOSITE direction I thought they'd be going. You see, I haven't seen another person on this trail all day long, and even if I had, from what I now know about this trail, it's a much better horse trail than a bike trail, and these are definately my tracks. I fully expected to hit camp BEFORE running into my tracks, and here are my tracks...
Did I miss the trail?
Did I mix up a direction?
Ok, let's head back... so I do that, for about a mile and a half or so. By now I'm hungry. I'm running low on water. I'm to tired to ride the bike and afraid that I'd bounce off it from being worn out so am pushing it along. But I've still got my water. This is the time where the lesson really began to hit home.
Food is strength. Water is life. That's all so basic and true, I know... but right now, right here, it means something to me. Words start hitting me all over.
Food is strength. Jesus is the bread of life. He is my strength.
Water is life. You can't live without it. Living water. Abundant life. It's all right there...
Compass... you need direction, even when you're on the trail. (and I didn't have one)
Fire... cleansing... Rain... Rest... Sleep... Conflict... Patience... Trust...
My nerves are 100% on alert now, and so it's with a bit of a laugh and a sigh that I turn a corner, round the bend, and run into a sign I've seen before... and was not at all expecting to see again. I find my tracks again, once again going in a direction I don't expect.
I am starting to run out of options now. Is there a difference between being lost and being on a trail you know but not knowing how to get home? I don't know... symantics.... words.... I was lost. Making "the call" to my wife starts becoming an option, and then she actually calls me, wondering if I'm home yet. "Uh, no. Not quite." She says she'll pray for me to get out safe, and to be careful. I've still got the phone and a signal, and plenty of daylight. And I'm on a marked trail... even though I haven't seen anybody all day, I'm sure someone could find me with GPS or triangulation from the cell phone, couldn't they? It's only a 6,000 acre forest, right? :)
So, what to do now. Do I ditch the bike, turn around, and keep going? Do I hang onto the bike, turn back, and look for something I missed? That's what I wound up doing, starting to think of one possibility that halfway makes sense - maybe I need to continue on PAST where I interested my tracks last time, and maybe then I'll get where I think I need to be... maybe I missed something when I left camp this morning or something...
So I do that. By now my 3 mile hike has turned into a 9 mile trudge. Half of one of my pant legs is missing from getting caught in my bike. My map has fallen out of my pocket. I haven't eaten in 16 hours. I am out of water. My throat is getting try.
I finally get back to the tracks (this is the 4th time I've walked this one section of gravel trail one way or another), and this time, press on past my tracks from earlier in the day. I climb a small hill, and there's my truck. Not 100 feet away from where I gave up and turned around earlier. Not a hundred FEET! Did I know where I was and 2nd guessed myself once too many times? Did I do something wrong? Or was this really just part of the adventure. A bit of a test. A bit of understanding what it's like to wander, to rely up on water, and not just food?
I crashed on the picnic table when I made it back to camp. Called my wife, and prepared to leave.... and then.... the rain starts falling. Not a downpour, not a storm, just a refreshing, cool, sprinkle.
Absolutely PERFECT timing. The whole thing. Perfect timing.
And so that is how I turned a camping trip and a 3 mile hike into an adventure of dealing with opposition, truly spending time with God, riding like a madman down steep hills like I've never done before, crashing just once, braking with my feet, crossing creeks, running out of water, and wandering almost aimlessly into one of the most exciting adventures of my life.
So that's my story... it was fun to retell to myself. Thank you for sharing it with me.
