#27 Gosling Lake, Labrador: Alone

Every Monday evening back at home, my son Sim and daughter-in-law Jess come over to watch an episode of Alone.  In the show, ten people video themselves trying to out-survive the others by living off the land.  Sim has asked me if I would like to try challenging myself like that. I do enjoy bushcraft. As a twenty-year-old I tried my hand at starting a fire using a bow drill.  With a lot of trial and error - using different kinds of wood and getting the notch in the fire board just right - I finally got ignition.  Another time I attempted the same thing with ice.  I'm not lying.  I froze some water in a bowl and then sculpted it with a warm hand to get as close to a magnifying-lens shape as possible.  I focused the suns rays and actually managed to get some smoke.  If it's true that 'where's there's smoke there's fire' then, yes, I have started a fire with water.

I was really hoping that we could finish our latest season of Alone - the one that took place in Labrador - before we took this journey, but we left with the suspense of 'who would triumph' still in the balance.  Then a week ago a light bulb went on. "Hey, we'll be travelling through Labrador.  I don't have to wait to see how the season ends.  I'm going to live it.  I am going to live Alone."

Yesterday after Patty had served me a big farewell breakfast, I had some trifle made with Newfoundland Screech.  I would need all the fat reserves possible.  And then, unceremoniously, I walked away from the comforts of this world and into the bush (at least far enough to be out of sight of our motorhome) to pit myself against The Wild.  Alone.


Time is my enemy.  We need to get back on the road in an hour so I'm going to have to modify my goals.  I'd love to prison-shank a muskox like Roland did in Season 7.  He was legend.  An animal that size would give me enough calories to last here two months.  A more attainable goal? Build a fire and make a pot of Labrador tea.  I'll have to boil the water well.  I don't want to risk getting beaver fever.  So far nobody has died on Alone and I don't want to be the first.  Mind you, dying of beaver fever would be a real Canadian way to go ...

I had my own animal encounter within 30 seconds of arrival.  The bear got to within 3 feet but I held it off with an air horn.  It's hard to get over something like that.

It seems I have everything I need right here.  Birch bark for tinder.  Labrador plants.  Lake water.  Even some firewood I found.  Us Alone contestants are allowed to use anything we find.  The wood had been out in the rain but I bet I can get at some dry stuff in the center.

Matches aren't legal but I picked up a flint striker in Gander, Newfoundland.  But this is near Goose Bay, Labrador.  Is what's good for Goose Bay what's good for Gander?  Wait, wait.  I got a better one.  What do you get when you cross a Gander with Goose Bay?  Here comes ... Gosling Lake.  Oh I kill myself.  You can take the Dad away from his kids but you can't take the Dad jokes away from the Dad.

This rain isn't helping my fire-making efforts.  I don't remember Alone contestants ever getting dropped off in the rain.  Always a first.  But now the mosquitos are starting to bug me.  I wish I had time to make birch oil.  Sim and Jess helped me make some last summer.  You heat birchbark till the oil drips out.  That stuff is potent.  It's what they used before DEET.  

We are allowed to bring ten items of our choice with us.  I chose a picture of Sim and Jess as one of them.  It'll give me courage when I feel like tapping out.

After I had worked up a sweat from striking my flint, I actually got a flame.  But I could only keep it going for thirty seconds.  All my tinder is damp.  I'm running out of time.


Was I really worried that Sim and Jess would be disappointed in me?  Nah. That's just something us Alone contestants say when we're tapping out.  When we're watching the show back home on a Monday night and someone talks like that, we're all yelling at the TV: "Nobody's disappointed in you!  You did fine. Everybody's proud of you.  Just go home and get some food."  That's probably what Sim and Jess are yelling at their screen right now.







 

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