Far North Friday: “Are You Nuts?”
Have you ever reflected on a decision you made and instantly came to the conclusion “are you nuts?!” I had one of those moments sitting under a tall spruce tree, on a tiny island, moments before a severe thunderstorm hit, on the Woman River system, northwestern Ontario, in summer 1986.
Lynn and I were mapping the geology on the Woman River. That day, we noticed cumulonimbus thunder head clouds building during the afternoon (Photo 1). Later, we saw that one large, black, storm cell was heading towards us. We stopped mapping and headed back towards camp. Wind, lightning, and pounding summer rain is never exciting when you are in a boat, on open water.
Photo 1: A typical summer thunder storm rolling across the Boreal forest. This cell was south of Eabamet Lake, in the homeland of Eabametoong First Nation (Fort Hope), Ontario, Canada, July 29, 2015.
Rain was imminent. It became very clear that we were not going to get off the Woman River. What to do…needed a quick decision. We saw a small island - by small, I mean very small - in the middle of the river (Photo 2). One, old growth spruce tree graced that island. Bingo. We headed to the island, tied up the boat, and crawled under the tree waiting for the deluge to begin. The foliage would keep us a little drier. The thunder was getting closer, the sky was black, and the wind had just reached “gale waning”. It was going to be a good one!
Photo 2: A Google Earth satellite image of the tiny island where we momentarily sought cover, in summer 1986, before a summer thunder storm hit. We quickly realized that we would be “nits” to seek shelter under a long spruce tree that occupied that tiny island. We quickly left and found shelter on the east shore of Woman River, northwestern Ontario.
Now, perhaps some of you are thinking “excuse me Andy, but is that the best place to sit during an electrical storm?”
Good point. You must have used your telekinesis powers back in 1985, because at about the same time as you arrived at your thought, we looked at each other and shouted over the thunder “this is nuts. Let’s get out of here. This is a lightning rod”.
We jumped back in the boat, sped to the mainland. The other side of the lake had disappeared behind driving sheets of white rain. We immediately found a safe place. It was another old growth tree. We huddled down a second time, confident that we were safe. You see, that second tree was “sleeping”. It was a very recent blow down. Its flat root system stood as a 3 meter vertical wall. Huddled up against the root wall, we were shielded from the driving rain, although, it was wet - very wet.
Now, we have all been raised to avoid sheltering under a tree during an electrical storm. I don’t know what possessed us to seek shelter under that lightning rod tree on the tiny island. I don’t know whose voice caused us to realize that tree was potentially deadly place during an electrical storm.
We may have looked and felt like drowned rats, but we were alive. The old, solitary, white spruce that owned the tiny island was as majestic as ever. It had survived the storm. Likely it had survived the storm and likely survived many others after we left.
In hindsight, I suspect we are not alone in having survived an “are you nuts?” moment.
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April 30, 2021 (Facebook April 30/21)