BCBC In The Fall: Adventures with Riker

A few years ago I went to the trouble of defining what I saw as my unique roles in life - "adventurer" was one of them. When I went to school that part of me got sidelined quite a bit. Since another of my roles is "Father," I decided to combine the two. Riker and I had a little adventure a little over two month ago. He skipped school (with Jobina's consent) and we went up to the wildlands of Mennville where we stayed in the Dueck's cabin (Thanks Terry and Brian!). Interestingly, we got up there pretty late (it was dark) and it was raining. The trail was a little wet and when I tried to get my van down a "shortcut" to avoid some water I got stuck. Riker was so funny - when he realized we were stuck he actually screamed out "We're going to die!!" After calming him down we walked to Eric and Lindsey's to see about getting a little help but they weren't home. So we walked over to Walden and Eileens and not only did Walden get us out, but he kindly offered us his 4X4 truck to get out to the cabin. We were overwhelmed by his generosity and soon we we bouncing down the trail feeling much more confident. Riker was still thinking that we might meet our demise though when after bouncing down the trail for a few minutes we were stopped by trees that had fallen across the trail. So we got out in the rain and dragged those big trees out of the way. A few minutes later we reached the cabin in the dark and had a great time unloading and getting a fire started. Some highlights of that evening involved gathering birch bark in the dark, playing uno by candlelight, Riker reading me Bible stories, and triumphantly getting the fire going.
The next day we got up and Riker was in much better spirits. After breakfast we went exploring in the surrounding bush. This was probably the most fun Riker had - it was tough dragging him back to pack up. Here's me and the boy:


Riker found some "cool bones" in the forest. Here he is posing with them (with machete as well):

Some flowers growing beside the cabin:

Riker hacking branches of trees, deep in the forest:


But we wanted to get up to BCBC and help out in the remodelling of the kitchen so eventually we had to leave. BCBC is our family camp - I've been going there since I was 8 years old and it is kind of spiritual centering point for me. I'm rarely up there when it's fall, so the colors of the trees changing were quite awesome to behold. Here's a bald eagle we saw on the side of the Pine Dock road as we drove north:


I'm afraid I didn't do very much to help out (probably a total of 2 or 3 hours) but that was never the main intent anyway. Basically I just wanted to hang out up there with Riker and show him that it was important to serve. Here's a picture of Riker putting screws into the floor:


Later that day we went out to the overnight site on the point. During the summer we set up old canvas prospector tents there, but right now only the frames are visible:




Later after helping out some more, everyone left us and Riker and I moved into Robin's Nest (a cabin) and went to the firepit and had ourselves a great weiner roast:


The stars were out and the night was one of those eerily quiet ones - almost no wind. Very beautiful. That night Riker read to me more Bible stories (I get kind of choked up when I think about it - staying in a cabin at my camp overnight with my son - and him reading Bible stories to me - Wow I am blessed!) and we both slept well. The next day we took some pics around the camp and then headed for home:







It's funny, when I reflect on all the things I have done this year, this is probably at the top of my list. Spending time going on adventures with my son - that to me is time very well spent. I often have great intent, but am poor on follow through when it comes to such things. But this time it worked out and I am thankful. To keep myself accountable I told Trinity that her time is next. Hopefully we'll have a chance to do that before Christmas (or shortly afterward) . . .