Isaac and the girls were pretty interested in my preparations for hiking across Lake Baikal. In fact during this trip I made a decision to take him on a hike during the summer, but that story will come in another blog. I'm glad that I didn't have to carry Ike the whole way :).
A couple of the churches here have made it a yearly tradition to gather a group of guys to hike across Lake Baikal in the spring while the ice is still thick before the temperatures turn warm. This is a chance for guys in the church to grow together during a physically challenging trip as well as a chance to invite others into this time where relationships can grow and deep conversations can happen.
The first day we arrived at the lake in late afternoon and those organizing the trip broke us into teams. I found out as they were naming captains for each group that I was going to be a captain. I had a good group with a mix of guys in different churches and some friends from outside the church. As we looked across the lake that late afternoon we saw the "goal" of our trip, Olkhon Island, which was about 40 km away (~25 miles).
We set out and hiked into the evening making our way across the alternating smooth and buckled ice. Well after dark we set up our tents on the ice in the middle of the lake. It was a strange feeling laying there in my sleeping bag and hearing the creaking and cracking of the thick layers of ice as things shifted. Even knowing the ice under me was a couple meters thick, the sound was a bit unnerving. Later the next day the sun was out and there was some very loud cracking that made me wonder if big slabs might break apart and start to shift, but everything seemed solid despite the nervousness I felt.
The teams each had two sleds were we put our personal belongings, camping gear and food for the two and a half days of hiking back and forth and camping at Olkhon Island. It was pretty easy going across the smoother parts, but a challenge where the ice buckled. We would take turns dragging the sleds and helping push from behind through the more difficult places. There were great time to talk with each other as well as times where we spread out more to just walk and think and be alone out there on the ice.
Looking down into the ice you could see all sorts of fun patterns. At one point I looked down and saw this. It reminded me of the sun and moon symbol on the Buryat flag (see below) and felt like a little reminder from God that He loves the Buryat people and this place and gave us a fun little symbol in the ice.
Flag of Buryatia
Here you can see how the ice buckles in places and you can imagine how it was a challenge to move our loaded sleds across these portions of the lake. The day before we left I went to a local sporting goods store to get spikes to put on my boots, but the only thing they had was a thing to attach to your boots that had a sort of sandpaper on it. I have to say it didn't work very well. Thankfully some of the guys brought screws along that they put in the souls of their boots. They had some extras and gave them to me. I put them in my boot souls and had a much better time not slipping on the way back.
At Olkhon Island, we set up tents. This island is known as an important Shaman sight for the Buryats and other native people groups of Siberia. It was good to gather with Russian and Buryat believers here to pray and spend time together to honor God the greatest Spirit of all.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was having my friend "A" come along. There were great conversations with different people along the way, but I especially enjoyed talking with him. We stayed close to each other for the last couple hours of walking. At the end, as we got back to the camp where we left from originally, they lit torches to show the way. Often on hikes I feel like the end is one of the easiest parts because you see the goal and have only a little bit left, but that was not the case this time. One reason was that our sled had cracked early that day on the way back and the crack was perpendicular to the sled and it would plow the snow a bit as we went through snowy areas instead of gliding along. Then the last few hundred meters near the beach were full of broken chunks of ice and we weren't able to slide the sled across. We ended up just grabbing the front and back and carrying it until we got to this final path of snow on the beach itself. It took the last of our strength after a full day of 40 kilometers across the ice that day. We found out after emptying our sled that we were also carrying quite a few extra pounds of snow that had pushed up through the crack.
During the hike there and back as well as at Olkhon Island some of the guys shared challenges from God's word for us in our lives. On the Island they had all of us grab a rock and put it in our pocket to carry back, then when we go to the camp area we all brought those rocks and put them at the base of this big wooden cross. I wasn't sure how "A" would feel about this as he isn't a Christian, but he talked about this with me the next day and even that evening and told me that he really enjoyed the challenge and it made him think about a number of burdens that he is carrying in his life that he needs to give up. I pray that he will find what I have, that Jesus is ready to take those burdens for us in His amazing grace.
After a good night's sleep in a warm yurt, we all gathered the next day to share what we learned on the trip and to share a bit of what was on our hearts and minds. It was good, and I was very thankful for this time even though my knees didn't seem to enjoy the long walk across the hard ice. It was an interesting and different type of hike than the ones I have typically done in the mountains and woods. Hopefully good fruit will come of this in the lives of many men that went.
