The next morning, because Onimisi, Roxann, and Dito had to get back early, they left camp at about 6am. This is their story in Roxann's words:
"When we left, it actually was 6 am, as planned. The skywas just barely starting to fade from pitch black to a dull grey. Thesun was probably already risen (somewhere), but it would take it quiteawhile to get over the tops of the mountains to actually shine on thelake so that the light reached us.
"So we loaded the canoe and set off. It took us about 10feet- just long enough to get over the busyness of getting into the water-to realize that this was going to be a VERY difficult trip. The water was warm, and the air was cold, and the fog was VERY VERY thick. Dito was sitting in the front, I was in the middle with the map, andOnimisi was in the back of the canoe, steering.
"I realized that this wasgoing to be quite interesting. Visibility was near zero. You could seenothing but a sheet of solid white for a radius 5 feet away from thecanoe. We had to be about 20 feet away from land before even the faintestshadow of something would show through the fog. I said, "Okay, guys. The plan is to stick near the shore, always keeping land in sight. Wewill just hop from island to island, skirting the shore, and hopefullythe sun will be up by the time we get out of this inlet and arecanoeing on the open lake." A marvelous plan.
"I was quite dismayed when we reached theedge of the shore we were following, and were at the spot where weshould have turned to reach the first island, and we could not even seethat. That island was really very close to shore. This fog was going tobe an even greater challenge than I thought. I said, "Well guys, we justhave to keep on. The island should be right over there." I gestured in the appropriate direction.
"Onimisi was very helpful from the back. "You guys aregoing to have to tell me where to go. I am steering, but I have a terriblesense of direction." Things were looking even brighter in the earlymorning gloom of the damp and heavy fog. Then I thought I could see something. "Look! Don't youguys see the island just in front of us?" They didn't. "Well, it is just straight ahead, so keep going." After a minute or so, Dito said, "Yeah, I see it. We needto go just a little to the right."
"And so we steered, and followed the course of this island,until we got to the point where we had to turn off and make for the nextisland. This one was even less visible than the previous. There wasnothing to be done though. We couldn't see a thing. So we set ourcourse as best we could, and took off, all deciding that we would justrow as straight as we possibly could, and we would make it.
"After half an hour of seeing absolutely nothing but white, we finally found land. It had taken us much longer thananticipated to reach that island. On the way to the island, I realized that Ikept seeing land where there was none. My eyes were searching thewhite so hard for something- anything- besides the white, that I was seeing phantom islands, fog mirages when I looked out. The boys, verywisely, decided not to listen to me any more when I saw land, untilthey saw it themselves.
"And as we were approaching the island, Onimisi spoke fromthe back. "Uh, guys?" "Yes, Onimisi?" "We have to turn back. I forgot the car keys." "Are you sure?" "Yes. Mike has them." Well. There is nothing like nerves absolutely frayed to shreds for giving... courage?... to people. "Well, we made it this far without being able to see anything. I guess we can make it back too."
"So we turned the canoe around. And then we prayed. By then, I was certain we were in serious need of some first-rate guidance. It was so unnerving to be unable to see anything except solid white everywhere we looked for an hour straight. And then we continued on our way. It was so scary to watch that brief sliver of land fade all-too-quickly from sight. As we were going, I looked around. All I could see was solid white in front, behind, above, and to all the sides. And there was our little canoe. And there was the water. I couldn't see a single thinganywhere that we could use to guide us.
A few minutes later, we had been canoeing back for as longas it had taken us to get out to the island the first time, but there wasnothing in sight. Then our nerves ran out. We let the canoe drift to a halt as we discussed the situation. All we needed to do was find land ANY land, and we would be good. But where was it? We had no clue. Onimisi and Dito were certain we had been canoeing in circles for the past 45 minutes. I was more optimistic. I thought maybe just a wavy sort of arc-shape. We'd already been canoeing for 1 1/2hours, and the fog was still every bit as thick as it had been when weleft. Didn't seem like that was going to happen soon.
We tried shouting, tolisten for echoes, or for an answer from land. Absolute silence. Ithink that was the worst, because we had been listening to our echoes allweekend. I heard Onimisi from the back. "Think, Onimisi, think! There must be something we can use to steer!" I kept my discouraging thoughts to myself. What was there? I had already gone through this line of reasoning. I saw white,water, and a boat. The white was unchanging, the water didn't even have acurrent anymore so we could pretend to follow something in it, and the boat was moveable. Not good to follow that.
Then Onimisi said, "I've got it! The sun!" Yes. Once the sun gets up, and we can see, then we cannavigate. But until then... ??? He said, "No. I think I see the sun. Or at least, thedirection where the sun is. Do you guys see it?" So we all looked around, and we each pointed in thedirection where we thought the sun was. Fortunately, we all pointed in the same direction. There was one direction that just seemed a touchbrighter than the other directions. Maybe the sun was finally peekingover the mountains. "So.... what direction is that?" Were my nerves not absolutely shredded, this would have been a hilarity. "The sun rises in the east!" "Okay. So what direction do we go?" "North. We go north. Keep the sun on your right and let'sgo!"
And so the brave adventurers paddled off, with new hope intheir hearts and new strength in their arms. Or something like that. The very disturbing thing that happened on the way back wasthat as we neared the campsite, we saw the island we had THOUGHT we were at when we turned around. Apparently, we had actually canoed acrossthe entire lake before we turned back. Perhaps there was a small blessingto not being able to see where we were.
Of course, I am one of those morning people who always hasthe nerve to be obnoxiously cheerful at the hours when most normal peopleare still asleep. So as we got nearer to the camp, I asked theguys, "What do you want to do? Should we row in screaming and shouting, orshould we sneak up quietly?" They didn't care. I voted to sneak up quietly. I knew they would hear us coming up at the camp, but they wouldn't know it wasUS. It seemed like great fun to me. It probably was an incredible blessing to Onimisi and Dito to have me be QUIET for a few minutes.
So when we landed, I couldn't resist running up the trailthrough the trees to the campsite. I shouted, "Good morning! It is aBEAUTIFUL morning for a paddle around the lake!" The look of complete and utter shock and astonishment oneveryone's face was absolutely priceless. I was in an excellent mood tobegin with, it was morning, we found the sun, we had an adventure, wenow could navigate, I was not in class, I was surrounded by friends... And add to all those blessings the once-in-a-lifetime expression on their faces.
I just thought they were surprised to see us, because theyhad, after all, thought we were almost halfway back by now. Instead, we were BACK back- that is, back at the camp. It just got better though, as I heard their side of the story. "We thought you were the ranger coming to get us!!!" Oh yeah, because we were camped illegally with too many people. So theyhad all been standing around the campfire, trying to come up withstories while they heard us paddling up. I laughed so hard when I heardthat. Perhaps sneaking up wasn't nice, but it certainly was fun.
Later, to hear the story from their side, was almost as much fun. They had heard us paddling up, and so they were standing around the fire, trying to plan the story they were going to give to theranger. Since most were international students, they were trying to vote on who had the thickest accent to talk to the ranger and give her ourstory. And then I come bounding out of the fog, obviously excited,with Onimisi close behind, but Dito was nowhere in sight. So they think something had happened to Dito.
Needless to say, it was QUITE anticlimactic when I finally caught my breath from laughing to answer their question "What are you guys doing here?" I held out my hand towards Mike and said, "We need Onimisi's car keys." Well, there was a lot of fast talking as everyone tried totell their story, and then we quickly set out AGAIN to head on ourway back. This time, it was much less eventful. The fog was stillevery bit as thick, but there was hope of it thinning soon, as there was aspot that was definitely brighter than the others now.
About 15 minutes after we set out, it was finally possible to see the actual sun throughthe fog- there was much joy and celebration then. And an hour or so later, when the fog finally began to lift, the land was without a doubt the most beautiful sight any of us had seen in quite some time. It was simply incredible, because the lake is rather narrow, to see how CLOSE the land had been the entire time, but we just didn't know it because we couldn't see it.
This is Car no. 2 to get back to Ithaca. I think we were celebrating the fact that no one came back with broken legs or hypothermia, that we didn't get fined by the ranger, that our food was safe from the bears (even though several of us brought jars of honey), and that most of our stuff made it back to Ithaca with us.
