My Basis for Adventure

 "Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man."  -John Eldrege, Wild At Heart

What moves me? 

    I come upon a motivational fork in the road before many outings. One way safe and easy, the other holds risk, energy expense and possible let down. My tendency is towards "maybe another day, wait 'till conditions are more ideal." Precautions and timing are one thing but I easily use them as a cop out and get lost in my own world of introspection, worry, and overthinking.

  I've found great inspiration from the classic nature writers —Thoreau, Emerson, John Muir, Sigurd Olson and read them and many others often.

   But without the answers to life I've found from the Judeo-Christian outlook on life, I think my motivation for adventure would peter out. 

   In this worldview I am brought into a connection with the Grand Designer AND I am invited and encouraged to explore the fingerprint of this great Artist. 

  I have the okay, the green light, the thumbs up to explore, care for, study and engage in this grand design. More than this, it is not just a grudging "permission granted" but it is near the heart of what I am designed for. Part of the original scene of what God called "Good"!   

  "The secret longing of your heart, whether it's to build a boat and sail it, to write a symphony and play it, to plant a field and care for it —those are the things you are made to do."  —John Eldredge

   

THE BLUEPRINT

  

    In cutting through the confusion of our information overload world of competing outlooks on life, I find great clarity when I revisit the original scene (whether you believe that this is the original scene is another subject. I'll say for now that I have come to confidence in this worldview from my own wandering path of doubts and questions).

   In this scene God places the first man and woman in a world where their interaction was essential. They were in their proper place and honoring God as they took care of and worked the natural world; naming the animals, getting to know and loving each other. Tending the garden. 

  In the midst of this scene they "walked and talked" with God, i.e. they were in open communication with an Ultimate Reality that is personal and relatable. This was their point of reference for all things. 

  

  This is the original model of spiritualty. Adam & Eve did not have to remove themselves from ordinary life to be spiritual.

 

  "Adam was not more spiritual when praying and less spiritual when gardening or enjoying time with Eve. All his experience was designed by God. All of it was also God's delight. All of it was spiritual. We glorify God when we are most ordinary, when we are creative, when we find ways around practical problems, when we revel in the delights of nature around us." -Ranald MaCaulay, Being Human

     RECONNECTION 

A great separation enters the scene. You can't have the beauty of this Life View —especially the Christian side to this Judeo-Christian partnership- without understanding this disconnect from the Creator and the solution that is meant to restore us to the heart of the original scene.

    Through the restoring work of the Messiah, the Redeemer, walking and talking with God while doing life becomes possible again. 

 To not have this reconnection to the Creator, is to miss the starting point in a domino flow of connective meaning that is meant to touch and inspire all of life.

   

SQUEEZING THE LIFE OUT OF WHAT I LOVE 

  Much inspirational writing is an attempt to make a part of life into the whole; something in creation, or my efforts—breathing techniques, "mindfulness", "grounding", "forest bathing" (my new favorite), cold water therapy, exercise, etc.—set forth as an exclusive focus. Good things, stuff I enjoy—that we are designed to be about, as pointed out, but not enough as the center—defining quality of my life.

  In the Christian worldview my prime integration point comes from that dynamic reconnection with the Creator. My efforts and achievements are more meaningful than ever, yet are no longer expected to be my ultimate satisfaction, the total measurement of my worth, the foundation for my peace and mental health.

   I stop choking the life out of what I love (or who I love) by expecting more meaning and soul satisfaction from them than they are able to deliver.

  Psychologically, emotionally the desperation is taken out of each endeavor, exploration, adventure or relationship, and my enjoyment deepens!

  

CARPE DIEM!

  

  In this overall  frame of mind, I find affirmation for life and inspiration for living like none other. It is Carpe Diem, Eudaimonia (my son's tattoo —worth looking up), Life Is Good, Think Positive, Find Joy, Live Boldly, and other encouraging mantras, no longer pulled out of a silent universe, "Out of The Blue" —blindly believed. 

    It is a glass, more than half full mentality, at last anchored to a meaningful foundation, an overarching optimism. 

"God planned us to be creatures of this planet, that was His intention. If I love rushing around the lawn with bare feet, or going to the seaside, or throwing myself into music, and think, 'I mustn't do this, this isn't very spiritual,' then Im negating who God made me to be, and its a slap in His face, because He wanted me to enjoy the seaside and music..."   

     -Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, What In The World Is Real?

 Now into my sixth decade

of life, I cannot portray myself to be a great role model in living out what I say I believe because I fail...often. 

  I easily bounce between apathy on one side and over obsessing on the other. Too often I leave out the central "walking and talking" with God part. 

  

   But to the extent that I have taken this Blue Print to heart  —retaking the hand of the Creator and connecting the dots from there, I have found myself reinspired, reset. Less inner focused. I regain the big picture and find wonder and curiosity —the mojo for all adventures, restored. 

"I believe God made me for a purpose. He also made me fast, and when I run [kayak, hike, bike, swim, climb, ski, etc] I feel His pleasure"   Eric Liddell, olympic runner (Chariots Of Fire)

"I Free To Live"

  Can't help but add these inspiring words that have helped me "connect the dots". From favorite author Susan Macaulay, offered here as a kind of appendix:

  "I feel free to live. Do you get a glimmer of how exciting all this is? If Christianity is true then we have the basis for appreciating first ourselves and then other people. We can see how worthwhile it is to fulfill our potential. For one person this may mean writing plays or directing films. Someone else draws and paints. Everything we do can have value: cooking a meal for a family group to enjoy, or making a beautiful garden out of a grubby backyard.

  If God is there, it is a relief to be able to talk to the one who loves and knows us completely. Furthermore, the Bible is a lifelong Lifeline to grow in the understanding of God's truth. But it is also an important part of life to enjoy a sunset on a beach.

   Understanding who I am means that I can throw myself into the fullness of life. I can come out of the waves to relish in a picnic supper, cooked over a beach bonfire. I dont have to feel I'm wasting my time when I pour hours into learning to play the piano or into writing songs. I delight in as full a life as possible. The life of a human created by God is full of exciting facets     —Susan Macaulay

DEEP WATER -Wazee Lake

  "The danger of an adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort." -Paulo Coelho

  Finally made it to the "clearest, deepest lake in Wisconsin." Definitely the deepest at 355 feet it is nearly a hundred feet deeper than the next deepest lake—Green Lake in Green County (Green lake is the deepest naturally formed Wisconsin lake).

   Whether Wazee is the clearest lake is debatable—a bragging point many lakes in Wisconsin claim. Looking at a list of the states' 15 clearest lakes, the top position rotates year to year. 

   Because Wazee is a man made quarry and because of its popularity, we were slow to pay it a visit. 

  Not liking a crowded scene we "smartly" picked nearly the busiest vacation day of the year —July 4th, to visit Wazee. Busy as expected, with hundreds of beach goers, a few fisherman dotting the shoreline, lots of kayakers, paddle boarders and plenty of SCUBA divers. (Wazee is the most popular SCUBA diving destination in the midwest). 

"YOU..SHALL...NOT..PASS!"

  Lake Wazee sits in west central Wisconsin, near Black River Falls, on the northeast edge of what is called the Driftless area of Wisconsin. Strangely untouched by glaciers, it is "driftless", meaning, it doesn't have the glacier drift land features or glacier formed lakes common in other parts of Wisconsin. As if obeying Gandalf's (Lord Of The Rings) dramatic command: "You...Shall...Not Pass" —glaciers advanced up to this region and retreated, leaving a landscape full of nooks and cranies and microclimates; home to some very unusual plants and animals.

   

   I call this area of Wisconsin a type "A" personality landscape; —pronounced edges, ridges and valleys. Comparatively few lazy stretches of land or water. Water is decisively carted away by the many streams. It's a "Git-R-Done" —"Ship It Out" system. Very different than the brooding, indecisive, glacier scraped land in many other areas of Wisconsin, where water doesn't seem to know which way to go, hanging up as wetlands and lakes (These are some of the best lake areas!)

  

 Wazee is one of the relatively few lakes in this driftless region. Although a man made quarry with the resulting lack of wild ambiance (to my mind), I found it awesome to dive in. Carved out by dynamite and machinery, natural phenomena has taken over—except in its bottomless depths where not much light can reach (no light=no plants=no other life forms, or at least comparatively less). 

   

   

Bluegill on Nest at Wazee

THE ALLURE OF THE DEEP

  The quest for depth is ageless. Similar to The mountain climbing quest for elevation  —or the quest to do absolutely anything that challenges you.

Seems the human spirit is restless if unchallenged.

 Whatever challenges YOU—Free Climbing El Capitan in Yosemite, or summiting your backyard tree, freediving 300+ feet or 10 ft. Whatever stretches/challenges you, is your "DEEP."

  My Judeao Christian perspective on life tells me this desire to explore is a good thing, something to be embraced, celebrated. Part of our divine design, hardwired to be curious, to find wonder and joy in discovery.

    To shut down our desire to explore is the makings of an unhappy life. I say you CAN be too careful. As a famous adventure quote goes: "If you think ADVENTURE is Dangerous, Try Routine. It is LETHAL."

   As a freediver, I'm uncomfortable with too much focus on depth. I've read most of the freediving books available and find them all interesting and motivating in ways, but the obsession with depth gets to be a bit much for me.

   I like James Nestor (the author of the book DEEP), Fred Buyles' (shark tagging expert & freediving champion) and a host of other former competitive freedivers' perspectives. For them, freediving is embraced as a means to explore and get close to wildlife and to more intimately experience the underwater world —not primarily as a test, or competition for depth. 

AND YET...

   I find the attraction to go deep at times to be irresistible. Curiosity often gets the best of me as I float over a body of clear water that suddenly drops —gotta check it out, see what's down there.

  Early in my lake explorations I learned that most of the lake life is around the shore, in shallower water, connected to water plants. Most of my spearfishing is done in 3-15 ft of water. 

  But the deeper water is also part of the lakes that we love and that barren moonscape has a beauty of its own. 

   Wazee more than satisfies that enjoyment of The Deep. 

   The mystique of Wazee is not only its great depth, but that you can SEE a good ways into that depth in dramatic fashion as the water plunges suddenly from the cliff like shoreline.

   A non-diving friend of mine says his main memory of Wazee is the trance like spell that would come over him as he'd gaze from shore into that bottomless abyss of deep clear water. Kinda creeped him out. 

   My first impression of Wazee was similar. Looking from the shoreline into that aqua blue dropoff, I knew I was on the precipice of a grand adventure.

   

FINALLY IN THE WATER

 After checking out some of the dive access spots: Blue Gill Alley, The Garden, Sherwood Forest, I thought the spot called The Wall looked especially inviting. 

  Called "The Wall" because it has Wazee lakes' quickest dropoff to 100ft from the shore. I liked the shelf like structure stretching out from shore before the steep dropoff. Made for a comfortable amount of shallow water to snoop amongst water plants looking for fish.

  Just yards away the drop off was immediate.  My imagination kicked up visions of the famous freediving hotspot at Deans Blue Hole (663 ft deep!) in the Bahamas, where world freediving world records have been set.

Freediver at Deans Blue Hole  

 

   Here at Wazee I could catapult off the edge into my own Blue Hole and free fall to my hearts content—which was not very far. The need to do a better job of equalizing against the head/ear pressure, combined with dealing with that shockingly cold deeper water "thermocline" (distinct depth where the water temperature is suddenly colder)—sent me back up quickly. 

   Eventually I relaxed and got better at dealing with and enjoying that alien world. Gotta equalize  immediately upon submerging and constantly throughout the dive. And the cold!? With Wazees' depth comes Wazees' cold. I wouldn't be able to stand that sharp cold for very long without a wetsuit. The other factor is that what seems unbearably cold, becomes bearable after a bit. That cold ache subsides...to an extent.

   Below the thermocline the water temperature is 40°-50° F  A snorkeler without a wetsuit would be comfortable in the 70° F (summer) surface waters. 

  

  Having the right mindset regarding cold water helps. 

  Cold Water Immersion has gained a lot of popularity in the last few years with Wim Hof  "The Iceman," and others popularizing its health benefits: "Good for circulation, boosts your immune system, reduces inflammation, reduces stress, lifts your mood..." 

  This past winter, after learning some general guidelines for cold water immersion, my son, Josh and I, set out to do some short swims in our nearby river. The first couple minutes were horrible with the ache of the cold—can make you panicky to get out. But, as I mentioned, you get  somewhat used to it after a couple minutes. In the 32°-37° degree winter water we'd last 5 min with a shorty wetsuit. The invigorating effect on body and spirit lasts all day! 

   Combine that cold water invigoration with Wazees' depth pressure, the breath hold of freediving, along with the thrill of viewing the "dark side of the moon" i.e. beholding what is normally hidden in the depths, and you have the makings of an even deeper level of invigoration/ ADVENTURE!

 

FOR THE FISHERMAN

   I did not see many fish. Very clear, "oligotrophic" water, typically does not hold a high fish population. What makes for clear water—lack of particles in the water to block sunlight, also generally means less food to support plankton, which is the basis of a lakes fish population.

   I saw a few small bluegill, one big one on the nest, some largemouth bass, and one rainbow trout.

   

   BUT, fish biologist say: "The fish that occur in oligotrophic lakes are often low in abundance, but large in size."

 We look foward to going back to Wazee. Inspite of the crowds, we were able to find our space. Testimony to the escape value of mask, fins and snorkel. 

GETTING TO WAZEE LAKE

   You can GPS to Wazee Lake with this address:

               N6302 Brockway rd.

               Black River Falls, Wisconsin 54615

• 4hrs from Chicago
• 3hrs from Milwaukee
• 3hrs from Green Bay
• 2hrs from Madison
• 1hr from La Crosse
• 50 min from Eau Claire