Glenn Michael Morley

Adventure the double-edged sword

adventure is really a personal defintion that defines you to a certain degree ... climbing  Mount Everest can be seen as one example of extreme adventure but surely others are equally demanding and risky ... on a personal level your "adventure" is one that expands and extends you beyond your known comfort limits ... levels of risk are undoubtedly higher but so is personal reward ... in a way you could say we conquer our fears or we get it wrong and nature perilous and unforgiving conquers us ... almost always it begins with a step into our unknown - I have stood at threshold a few times and then stepped across it - canoeing on Lake Superiors stunning coastal north shore with whitecaps visible having been so inspired by renowned Canadian outdoorsman Bill Mason - taking my tiny 14' fiberglass canoe into such chop was exillirating however one misstep would have dumped me into the 40-45F water soup and the sheer rock cliffs were no place to beach - paddling one sunny day along a large rock strewn beach on my left was a thin line of small rolling swells water and sky - I erroneously became transfixed on the beac scene  not realizing the water depth decreased precipitously - the sound of a train suddenly caught my right ear - I turned abruptly to see an ominous 4' vertical wall of water only milliseconds away from slamming into the right side of my canoe that was parallel to the wave - on instinct alone I slammed my paddle as hard as I could down on the gunwales just as the  wave made impact - I felt a large slap of water on my right cheek dislodging my paddlers hat as the wave violently breached the gunwale and rocked my craft but ... somehow - I stayed upright and survived this rogue wave to paddle another day ...