Being a man who loves the outdoors, my dad decided that he and I were going to have a backwoods adventure. Every year, we went on vacation to Yellowstone National Park. One year when I was about 11 or 12, Dad decided that we should go fishing at one at the wilderness lakes in the backwoods at Yellowstone. It was going to require a hike of several miles and when we got there we were going to fish and see what we could catch. Fishing was always free at Yellowstone so you didn't even need a fishing license and we had decided that we were going to set out on a fun adventure.
Dad decided that we could make a raft that we could lash together and float it out onto the lake which we did. We never got too far away from shore but nevertheless it just put us a little farther out into the lake where we could do a little bit more fishing. I remember the fishing particularly because I caught a 19 or 20 inch lake trout. It was the biggest fish that I ever caught. I was so excited that I had pulled in such a great big fish. In fact, it was so big that the creel that we had to keep the fish in was torn as a result of the fish being so big.
Anyway, we finished fishing and started to walk back to the road where we had planned to meet mom and the other kids. We must have gotten turned around somehow and found our way not arriving at the destination that we had hoped to. We walked quite a ways and it just started getting dark.
As luck would have it, not only did the sun set but the clouds moved in and the rain started. We were out in the middle of nowhere, soaked to the skin, and in fact we lost the trail. The trail led into a meadow that was overgrown with grass and we were couldn’t follow the trail in the darkness.
We had no compass and it was so dark we couldn’t see the map and didn’t think to bring any light because we had not planned to be out that long. Our only hope was prayer. Dad said we should kneel down wet and cold in the middle of the woods in Yellowstone National Park and pray that we would be guided to a location where we could find safety. We did that and when we were done, it appeared to us that we could see lights on the horizon. We walked through the woods toward that light and somehow or another we stumbled across what was a right-of-way for an old power line. We could not see the wires of the power line but we could see that the trees along the right of way had been cut down shorter than the rest of the naturally growing trees. In fact, it was so dark, that we could not see our hands held in front of our faces. We had to hold onto the end of each other's fishing rod to be able to stay together.
Having come across this right-of-way, Dad said he we sure that this would lead us to something civilized. We followed it for awhile until we saw headlights of cars through the trees. I set out at a sprint attempting to get to the roadway and flag down a car. Here I was an 11‑year-old boy soaked to the skin standing out in the middle of nowhere flagging cars that were driving on the roadway and I distinctly remember to my chagrin that at least two or three cars passed me by and didn't even pull over. I was baffled and I still am. Nevertheless, eventually someone pulled in. I had twisted my ankle in the process of trying to scurry to the road. They loaded us into their car and took us to where we were supposed to meet our ride.
I grateful for that time I got to spend with Dad. I know that our Heavenly Father watched over us that night to get us home safely and it is through instances like this that my Dad taught me the power of prayer.
--Mike
Dad decided that we could make a raft that we could lash together and float it out onto the lake which we did. We never got too far away from shore but nevertheless it just put us a little farther out into the lake where we could do a little bit more fishing. I remember the fishing particularly because I caught a 19 or 20 inch lake trout. It was the biggest fish that I ever caught. I was so excited that I had pulled in such a great big fish. In fact, it was so big that the creel that we had to keep the fish in was torn as a result of the fish being so big.
Anyway, we finished fishing and started to walk back to the road where we had planned to meet mom and the other kids. We must have gotten turned around somehow and found our way not arriving at the destination that we had hoped to. We walked quite a ways and it just started getting dark.
As luck would have it, not only did the sun set but the clouds moved in and the rain started. We were out in the middle of nowhere, soaked to the skin, and in fact we lost the trail. The trail led into a meadow that was overgrown with grass and we were couldn’t follow the trail in the darkness.
We had no compass and it was so dark we couldn’t see the map and didn’t think to bring any light because we had not planned to be out that long. Our only hope was prayer. Dad said we should kneel down wet and cold in the middle of the woods in Yellowstone National Park and pray that we would be guided to a location where we could find safety. We did that and when we were done, it appeared to us that we could see lights on the horizon. We walked through the woods toward that light and somehow or another we stumbled across what was a right-of-way for an old power line. We could not see the wires of the power line but we could see that the trees along the right of way had been cut down shorter than the rest of the naturally growing trees. In fact, it was so dark, that we could not see our hands held in front of our faces. We had to hold onto the end of each other's fishing rod to be able to stay together.
Having come across this right-of-way, Dad said he we sure that this would lead us to something civilized. We followed it for awhile until we saw headlights of cars through the trees. I set out at a sprint attempting to get to the roadway and flag down a car. Here I was an 11‑year-old boy soaked to the skin standing out in the middle of nowhere flagging cars that were driving on the roadway and I distinctly remember to my chagrin that at least two or three cars passed me by and didn't even pull over. I was baffled and I still am. Nevertheless, eventually someone pulled in. I had twisted my ankle in the process of trying to scurry to the road. They loaded us into their car and took us to where we were supposed to meet our ride.
I grateful for that time I got to spend with Dad. I know that our Heavenly Father watched over us that night to get us home safely and it is through instances like this that my Dad taught me the power of prayer.
--Mike
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