Paddlin'

Our floating dock floated away. Apparently last fall when we brought it to the shore for the winter, we didn't put it high enough, because when the ice melted and the water rose, the dock floated away. Camp is on a big lake, but I was pretty sure we'd find it so I wasn't worried.

Last weekend I went for a nice long kayak ride around the lake and found the dock about 300 yards away against an inlet. I attempted to drag it back, assuming that since it floats, it wouldn't be that heavy. The dock is about 12 feet long and 6 feet wide, heavy duty aluminum, not to mention the 4 concrete anchor blocks resting on the top of it. Needless to say, pulling it across the lake by myself was completely implausible.

Last night, after we went out to dinner, my three lead staff and I decided it was time to go rescue the dock. It was a very calm night on the lake, and so we grabbed two canoes and headed over.

It took little time to canoe across the lake and tie the dock to both canoes. However, once we started paddling, we realized being tied to the floating dock was similar to being tied to a brick wall. We paddled in placed for a full 5 minutes before we all stopped and agreed that we hadn't moved. Aa had the idea to get onto the dock and paddle from the top, dragging the canoes behind us. We made a little progress like that, but shorty into that, Ab suggested we put the canoes onto the dock with us to reduce drag.

Once we had secured the canoes aboard, we were able to move with great success. We looked ridiculous, two of us on each side, cross legged, paddling away, giggling at the absurdity of it and bursting into camp songs every few minutes. With it being Memorial Day weekend, the normally deserted lake was filled with boats and weekend cabin people curiously watching us from their docks. No one offered their high speed motor boats as help, but it was fine, we managed to get our dock/raft back to our beach in less than a half hour. Camp seems to bring out the most absurd situations, and the solutions usually require creativity, a sense of humor and the ability to let go of "normal" to welcome the head-shaking-in-disbelief type of adventures that make you wonder how on earth you got into that situation in the first place. Just another typical day at the office. Summer has begun.