The wisdom of the wilderness

Wilderness Wind is a base camp for canoe and backpacking trips. It is located about 20 miles from the Canadian border as the crow flies and a few miles west of Ely in Northern Minnesota. Its board of directors is made up of one of its co-founders, Paula Lehman, and a group of Mennonites who share her faith that communing with the wilderness can "make one vulnerable to the Spirit."

Although Lehman no longer volunteers as a camping guide, her love for the wilderness has not waned. She says the experiences designed for campers at Wilderness Wind are intended to pull people out of what they are used to and view creation in a new way. The intent is to give them the gift of a concern for the environment, sustainability and how to be in the wilderness. The expression of her beliefs about spirituality and nature is informed, in part, by theological studies at United Theological Seminary where she got her doctor of ministry degree.

"The old cosmology says that God is up there somewhere and put people on earth to take care of it. The new cosmology says that God is everywhere, in earth, in us, we are part of it. The specialness of humans is that humans have an awareness of self as part of the web of life. The excursions invite people to be in the world in a different way."

She says the trips teach a new respect for the environment in a dramatic way and teach how we can get in touch with our Creator in a new way.

"The trips take you out of your daily routine, you find out what you really need, what is essential. Do you need your palm pilot, cell phone, your e-mail, your hairdryer? Children respond differently [in the wilderness]. Instead of looking for their gameboy, they're looking for water, or the best place to pitch the tent, etc."

Lehman's words tumble over each other with enthusiasm. "Some people get to the edge of their ability to cope. The guide is there to assure them they can make it. It can be a profound experience. It makes you vulnerable to the Spirit. It opens you."

She said she was pushed to the edge, for example, on a canoe trip in which it rained 12 days out of 14.

Wilderness Wind advertises by word of mouth. Since its beginnings in the mid-eighties, its steady stream of 200 regular customers per summer includes families, inner city groups from Chicago and a disabilities group.

Base camp is small and rustic. There's a house used for food preparation, a shed, a bathhouse and sites for tents. People buy package deals that include supplies, equipment and a guide. Trips last four to seven days and go from mid-May to mid-September. About four miles from the base camp, Wilderness Wind also owns a few lakefront cabins on Armstrong Lake, likewise rustic with their basic electrical connections and lack of running water.

Wilderness Wind's tranquility was jolted a few years ago when a neighbor filed a complaint that the camp had built its shed on his land. A survey revealed that the 12 acres WW had actually bought were not the same as the 12 acres where the buildings stood—the land WW thought it had bought. It turned out that the piece of land in question had been bought and sold four times already in the wrong place.

The county commissioner said, "It happens more than you might think."

What Wilderness Wind actually owns is a swamp as well as the neighbor's land (also swampy), which they eventually bought, plus the tract on Armstrong Lake. WW's goal is to keep the swamp, buy the land where the buildings are, as well as the 80 bordering acres, in order to keep them pristine and development-free.

Buying the land they are on—where St. Louis County now sees them as trespassers—will hopefully not be a big problem. The deal will have to go through the Minnesota Legislature first, and an appraiser will have to determine the price.
My friend Teresa, who's on Wilderness Wind's board of directors, says she's been buying lottery tickets, hoping to get the camp through this particular snafu and to provide the money for the 80 acres. Paula, independently of Teresa, not knowing Teresa was doing the same thing, has also been buying lottery tickets for the same reason. Very funny since neither of them believe in gambling one bit.

Anyone interested in becoming a board member or a volunteer or making a financial contribution or taking a canoe or backpack trip through the wilderness should contact Wilderness Wind at 2945 Highway 169, Ely, MN 55731. 1-218-365-5873.