devotion by Rollie J.

In defiance of the long-lasting intense cold snap that seems to have gripped our region of late. I truly hate being cold. I hate standing at the gas station or getting to or from my car in street clothes during these nasty cold spells. Yet as much as I dislike the sensation of being cold, I get a twisted pleasure in defying or embracing, or sneakily moving amongst the cold when properly dressed.

This photo shows me on Saturday morning, February 13th, at 8 a.m. I just finished a short but brisk three-mile run. Temps were around 22 below zero, and the windchill beyond that somewhere. No worries though when you are dressed properly and it’s a beautiful day. Now, dial down the temp down another 20 degrees and read along from one of our recent winter camping adventures when the bottom really dropped out!

When the Bottom Drops Out

The sunshine was brilliant and blinding. The white wilderness was expansive and awaiting, ready to swallow us whole into the jaws of endless pines and snow. We piled out of the warm vehicles and nervously packed our sleds with duffle bags loaded with gear, clothing, food, and equipment. The frigid 20 below zero temps outside the vehicles began immediately sucking heat from our bodies. Fingers and faces were the first to feel the effects of these extreme temps.

With snowshoes donned and ski poles at the ready we were off and cruising down the trail of what I assumed was the correct beginning to the Blandin Dog sled trail northwest of Ely, Minnesota. After ten minutes of huffing and puffing warmth of body, exertion began to restore a right feeling in my body. With the core temperatures restored, warmth and feeling soon returned to my fingers. Looking back on our pack train of human sled-dogs, beards were frosting over, and steam breathed from each man’s mouth making us look like a snaking dragon moving ever so slowly down the twisting, turning trail. We were expecting temps in the minus 22 range, but this felt strangely colder. Maybe I’m just too old for this stuff I thought to myself.

Our group of 8 men was in high spirits, now that we were finally moving and on-trail. An eclectic group of selfless, fun-loving, and eager “Average Joes” had been assembled. Tom Espel, Tim Ellenson, Bryan Jacobson, Eric Dybing, Travis Klath, Jordan Runsvold, Jon Erickson, and I had all said “Yes” to this crazy little adventure. One-half of our crew were winter camping veterans and half were anxious rookies ready to test their mettle. Our destination of Ramshead Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness should lay 3-4 miles down the trail. Our pace was brisk due to both the cold and pre-trip jitters. Personally, I was excited to be trying out a new entry point and anticipating new terrain. All and all, it was a good day to be alive.

Our trail meandered its way through pine and spruce past several private cabins. I had been advised that this was the case and so we continued on our way.  After an hour of hiking, all were warm and sweating on the inside from the strong exercise, but I grew uneasy as the reality of our route was not matching up with that of my map or my preconceived expectations of anticipated landmarks and crossings. Several times I left the group alone to scout ahead and verify we were on the correct trail. Nothing matched up. My sense of irritation and frustration grew with each step and I feared the group's confidence in my leadership may be falling along with the temperatures.

After coming to an expansive beaver pond and marsh area, we spread out sending small teams in each direction hoping to find the sled dog trail that would lead us into the Boundary Waters proper. All groups returned with a “Nope.” Fortunately, our group of eight men maintained high spirits, positive attitudes, and a strong sense of humor, taking all setbacks, wrong turns, and retracing of our route in stride.

It became obvious to me that I had messed up and got us started on the wrong trail somehow. It was now time to adapt and overcome and make-due to the best of our abilities given my mega-mistake. We were obviously not in the actual Boundary Waters Wilderness Area, but we were certainly in a gorgeous and scenic location that provided all we would need: a flat, heavily snow-covered lake with good space for snow caves, good water, and a thickly spruce/pine-covered protected area for our campfire and kitchen. An instantaneous group conclave was convened and a unanimous vote for making this our new home was approved 8-0.

We quickly set about the hard work of setting up our new village. Three fellas set about the task of carving out a firepit and kitchen onshore in a tightly packed spruce grove. We would need the protection of the pines from the wind. They would also find a few large logs for sitting. 

I proceeded to stomp out two side by side 10-12’ circles on the edge of the pond where the drifted snow was deepest. All remaining hands began shoveling copious quantities of snow into the center of each ring. In time, with lots of great banter, generous amounts of laughter and ribbing, and glorious, brilliant sunshine all around us, the two mounds grew and grew. When they reached the seven-foot mark, I called a halt to the piling. The ginormous snow mounds would now sit for a few hours in preparation for the excavations.

All hands now went about the never-ending task of gathering enormous amounts of firewood. The huge stacks would need to last us through the evening hours and still have enough for a good, long breakfast. I grabbed Jon and the axe, and we headed 100 yards out on the pond to create our water hole. We chopped and chopped creating a three-foot-wide circle that extended down through the deep ice. After 20 inches of good solid ice, a final whack and good, clean, and clear water began bubbling up to fill our water basin.

As the sun set over the saw-toothed horizon of pines, we gathered round a large and roaring fire to warm both bodies and spirits. We gently tossed our tin-foil dinners into the blazing orange coals and soon the sizzling sounds and smells of hamburger, onions, potatoes, green peppers, and carrots filled the air. Having expended enormous amounts of calories in work all day, we tore into our steaming hot dinners like a pack of ravenous wolves on a kill. The steaming mix of delicious calories bringing warmth, and sustenance to our tired bodies. Good food brings fuel for both warmth and work. Ahh… how satisfying to be alive and healthy in the great north woods.

A couple of hours later in the deeper dark of night, with shovels over our shoulders, like eight dwarves singing “Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to work we go,” we donned our headlamps and headed to the snow caves to begin mining. Working in three-man teams we began the cautious task of carving out the snow caves. “Slow, steady, and gentle fellas!” was my mantra.

After an hour of carving and removing snow we had two spacious domed sleeping chambers and connecting tunnel all lit by the soft, gentle, yellow glow of candles imbedded in the walls. I whispered a quiet prayer of gratitude knowing that now our crew would be safe and warm in the well below zero temps. These snow caves are very unique and special. We take what most people hate, snow, and use it to provide a safe, quiet, protective shelter. They keep out all wind, and muffle all outside noises, and with candles and body heat they help take the edge off of the outside below zero temps.

By now a gorgeous full moon had risen over the horizon to light up the entire pond and surrounding woods casting long shadows everywhere. The moon created an earie and mystical luminosity that was amplified by a light haze that hung over the landscape most likely due to the severe cold. How cold was it? Hard to tell. Somewhere below; “Really cold!”

After warming and drying by the fireside, and some good conversation and prayer time we headed off for some much-deserved sleep. Seven men slowly filed into the snow cave condo and I headed to my awaiting cozy hammock in the trees. Sleep came fast and east. At least at first.

Nights are long while winter camping. With an early sunset and early bedtime, the nights go on forever. Somewhere deep in the night answering nature’s call, I awoke to exit and found my steaming breath had frozen both zippers of my two sleeping bags, as well as the two zippers on the hammock. A brief moment of claustrophobic panicked movement ensued in my darkened cocoon before finally freeing all four zippers.

With such a long night, most of us rose before true sunrise to scramble up and gain the warmth of the restarted campfire which seemed slow and hesitant to give off its life-giving heat. It was as if the fire was preserving its own warmth, and reluctant to share it with us. It had been a rough night for all, and most had struggled to get good sleep. Tired faces, puffy eyes, and gallows humor prevailed as smiles and laughter were shared across the fire pit. “Gee Rollie, that was fun! Sure glad I signed up for this!” “I thought I checked the “Fun in the Snow Package box!” As the fire gained its strength and roared to life again, defying the cold, we partook of a hearty breakfast of sausage, egg and cheese McMuffins accompanied by copious amounts of steaming hot coffee. Life and vitality creeped back into our beings from the inside out. The brilliant sunshine rose over the pines and a beautiful blue sky, crisp day lay before us to enjoy. Spirits were high now, knowing the day would bring a warming trend. We set about exploring and enjoying our new location.

Around noonish, my daughter Karina and her husband Taylor came skiing onto our pond and shouts of a joyous reunion could be heard. Hugs, handshakes went around the horn and we invited them up to our fireside Starbucks for coffee and tea. Taylor began to reiterate their days beginning; “Well, we got up late at the cabin. Then we looked at our phones to see the weather. We had planned to come and ski in to visit you, but when we saw the actual temps, we said; ‘Why bother, they’re all dead now anyway!” The group roared with laughter!

We had anticipated twenty below temps based on watching the forecasts all week. No problem whatsoever. We’ve had worse many times before. But Taylor showed us the screen shot on his phone and our raw temp was somewhere around -42 below zero! No wonder we hadn’t slept well! All the men in the circle laughed, shrugged it off, puffed their chests a bit broader and stood a little taller knowing we had made it through some pretty severe cold. The bottom had definitely dropped out.

The bottom had definitely dropped out. Our well-made plans, agendas, and destinations had completed dropped out due to some large mistakes and wrong decisions on my part. It’s difficult to arrive at the proper endpoint when you begin your journey from the wrong starting point. I had committed some rather significant errors in judgment. The temperatures of which we had no control of, bottomed out off-the-charts proving that man and his sophisticated technologies of weather predicting prove futile and ridiculous in light of nature’s fickle inclinations.

But God in his mercies had taken my human shortcomings and the random movements of the natural world and woven the good, the bad, and the ugly into something meaningful, significant, and positive for our group. God had taken a wrong path, a misdirection, a mistake, and difficult natural conditions to bring about growth, learning, and meaning for eight men in the frozen north. He had used cold, and humility, and difficulty to build character and faith, and comradery through adversity. God has a wonderful habit of taking our blunders, missteps, and errors and weaving those into our lives for good, for learning, for growth, and deepened faith. He most often uses adversity to bring about character development for those who know and trust him.

God had proven himself once again to be most faithful and trustworthy. When the bottom dropped out on our winter camping adventure… God was there and used the difficulties for our good. God can and will do the same thing in our everyday lives when we follow and trust him. If you’ve made a big mistake, committed a moral blunder, taken a wrong turn, or if the world has just thrown you a curveball or the bottom has dropped out on an area of your life, bring it to God. Surrender it to Jesus. He can make something beautiful come of all situations. Trust him.

-- Rollie J.

…but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character hope. Romans 5: 3-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:1-2

And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose!  Romans 8:28

… God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?  Hebrews 13:5-6

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