Candle on The Water

The UCO candle lantern is a marvelous light source.  It burns for hours, is noiseless, and can save a life.  Well, maybe not save a life, but it did act as a guide back to camp one day.

I was camping with my friend Patrick.  It was a still summer evening, so he decided to get some solo time canoeing on the lake, while I stayed in camp.  This was on the Monday of a long weekend.  Everybody left earlier in order to get back to work for Tuesday.   We were the only ones on the lake that evening.  There were no campfires, and the lake was quiet.

I figured I'd wait until Patrick got back from his paddle to start a fire and cook up something to eat, so I puttered around the campsite, gathered wood,  and waited.  It started getting late, and it started getting darker.   I was getting hungry and I was wondering where Patrick had gotten to.  Then, out on the lake I heard him call "Dave!". 

As soon as I heard him call I knew what had happened. I lit my candle lantern and took it to the lakeshore and set it on a rock.  Ten minutes later, Patrick pulled up in the canoe.  It had gotten dark enough that he couldn't find the campsite.  I knew that my voice would carry and echo over the still water, and that it would be difficult to track.  However that one candle, the only light on the entire lake, turned out to be the perfect guide back to camp.