3/7/04
I come from a family with a long tradition of camping in the north woods of Wisconsin. I am the seventh person in my family to go to Camp Nebagamon and am distantly related to its founder, Muggs Lorber. Camp Nebagamon, in Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, focuses mainly on wilderness trips. Eighth and ninth graders, the oldest campers at camp, have the opportunity to take the longest and arguably hardest trip at Nebagamon. It is appropriately called, �Big Trip.� The odyssey of my Big Trip contained many difficult elements, but I maintained a good-tripping spirit and overcame all obstacles.
Last summer I went on the eighth grade Big Trip, a two week hike on Isle Royale, a beautiful national park in Lake Superior. Most Big Trips are fourteen days, but mine was fifteen. This may seem like a insignificant detail to a non-Nebagamonite, but it gave me an elevated status at camp because I had gone on a trip longer than everyone else. This just goes to show how important tripping is at Nebagamon and that Big Trip is the most important of them all. Not only had my five years at Nebagamon been building up to Big Trip, but I have been looking forward to Big Trip from the stories of my uncles for my entire life.
Because our van left at three in the morning, neither I nor any of the people on my trip went to sleep that night. When we got on the van, we were very happy for an opportunity to sleep. At seven in the morning, we arrived at the ferry landing to which we were directed. However, it did not seem like the right place, so we drove around searching for it for an hour. We eventually received instructions from a local to reach the ferry, which we followed, and found ourselves at the place to which we drove originally.
After six hours in the van, we got out and put on our packs. This was quite difficult as my backpack weighed more than I did. I am a good tripper and I try to carry as much weight as possible, but, as I walked, I wondered if I could make it through the 100 yard hike from the parking lot to the ferry with such a heavy pack. However, I pushed through it and reached the ferry. I was soon to learn that this strenuous hike was nothing as we had a nine mile hike in front of us.
Nine miles is not very far in a car, but it is on foot with a heavy internal frame backpack. Although I had been on many wilderness hiking trips before, that nine mile trek was the hardest one I had ever hiked. It was not particularly difficult terrain, but I was carrying a very heavy pack with enough food and supplies for fifteen days. In addition, I was in a sleep deprived fog and was wearing my pack incorrectly. At one of the few rests we took along the way, I noticed scores of blisters on my waist, but by the time we reached camp, the weight of my pack had popped them all. I also had huge lumps forming on my hips, black and blues marks everywhere, hotspots on my feet, and many other injuries. However, I never complained and just pushed through it. With every step I took, I could feel my muscles tearing in my legs. At first, this made me go slower, but then I realized that it would hurt just as much regardless of my speed and I hiked as well as I could.
We had discovered earlier that people from Nebagamon had placed extra weights, such as an antique pressure cooker and a seventy year old can of eggs, into our packs before we boarded the ferry, but we missed one thing. While we were hiking, a seventy year old can of cranberries and a large bag of Old Bay spices weighing at least ten pounds fell out of my sleeping bag. We were good trippers and followed the tripping philosophy, �pack in what you pack out.� We had to carry the Old Bay around for the rest of the trip, but we actually ate the old cranberries.
We finally reached our campsite at Feldtmann Lake. Exhausted, we set up camp and went to sleep. The next day we took a rest, base-camping at Feldtmann. On the third day, we hiked to Siskiwit Bay through a swamp where we were eaten alive by mosquitoes. One of my fellow campers counted 100 mosquito bites on his hands alone. Although hiking with such a heavy pack was still hard, my pack was two days worth of food lighter, I had caught up on my sleep, and I was using my pack correctly. As soon as we reached camp, a rainstorm began and all of our equipment and possessions were soaked.
We hiked all over Isle Royale, from the eastern side to the western side to the southern shore. The fifteen days blended into one continuous experience in my mind. We were met with many challenges, but we overcame them all. The journey was rewarding in and of itself as we faced and defeated any problems we encountered, but it had more obviously pleasurable aspects as well. I became well acquainted with the six other people on my trip, and we all enjoyed our time together. We saw many wild animals up close, including the moose for which the island is famous. However, we decided that we did not love all the wildlife when squirrels ate our food or when a fox came into our campsite and stole someone�s boot. With all my expectations for Big Trip, I was not disappointed at all. Even with and, in part, because of its difficulties, it was probably the most fun and rewarding experience of my life.