The trek

The most ancient and the largest
Fresh water lake
Baikal
rift zone where
The earth crust is pulling apart the scare
With mountains all around it
Its vastness blows the mind
Thousands of plants and animals
Just everywhere you find

An absolute superabundance
Far flung far reaching size
Trying to skirt around it all
It comes as no surprise
In Winter how it freezes
In some places 6 feet thick
And if one needs to drive
Then this is how you pick

The route across the thickest parts
Can surprisingly
Make anybody frightened
A one ton truck can be
Motoring one minute
And the next submerging fast
Supplying reindeer traders
With supplies If thats the job
Can be seriously dangerous
And rapidly can rob

Ones sanity for disharmony
Needs a six wheel drive
With a foretaste for the impossible
And a will, to survive
Unveiling miles of chaos
Trail blazing on and on
Two men against the elements
With their effort and endeavour
Clearly almost gone

SIberia’s high plateau’s
The deadly thaw can be
What appeared impenetrable
Beginning to see
The violence of each moment
The convulsion and the force
THe rumpus and the ruckus
Coming from the source

The truck under the influence
Where power is potency
The wheels are tearing through the ice
And snow hypnotically
The immensity of the terrain
As wide ranging as can be
With every mile of vigour
Perhaps our sanctuary

We are off the lake competely
And on the deepening snow
Tree lined avenues greet us
As onwards we go
Its a godforsaken distance
In the vile conditions here
The steepness and the dipping
And the rumblings are clear

Bordering the would be track
Pines we need to try
And push down for the leverage
To gain friction which is why
Otherwise being bogged down
In the watery melting snow
Can really slow ones motion
From a great build up and flow

It clearly is exhausting
Forwards and reversing
Digging out and fighting hard
And ofcourse bloody cursing
Praying saying trying
To make headway all the time
During descents and over rocks
And the inevitable climb

It is an inhospitable place
Danger at every turn
Grizzly bears the moose the wolves
So much to concern
We are safer in the truck me thinks
That walking on the trail
But being bogged down in this slush
And snow its on a scale

That gets into your psyche
The truck has vital food
Should one of us go up ahead
And get help however crude
Theres a stillness and tranquility
But dangers everywhere
Becalmed and anchored in this slush
Leads to much despair

And so one makes the argument
To walk the path ahead
Possibly fall asleep out there
Possibly wind up dead
Find which way the wind blows
Direct oneself towards
Perhaps hiring some traction
With its due rewards

The howling of the bungry packs
Not music to my ear
With The odd growl and the myriad of eyes
I felt such fear
Levels rising rapidly
Slow going in the snow
But getting to the camp at last
Was able to fix a tow

And leaving in the morning
To get back to the truck
Somehow the driver had released its hold
And so now did tuck
Those wheels into the melting snow
On through the watery mass
And we met up fairly close to camp
With very little gas

Unloaded the provisions
Flour sugar and wheat
Someone managed to hunt a bear
So some had meat to eat
The truck needed attention
The brakes and clutch and we
Set to work to repair them
And then rested actually

Its only 70 kilometres
But the terrible terrain
Its dangerous many trucks are lost
And fatalities are plain
To see the lake is the deepest lake
Some 5000 feet
The largest lake in all the world
Which becomes a huge ice sheet

Timing thats what its all about
And lots of courage too
Having the balls to take it on
There is always some who do
Take on the low temperatures
The permafrost that bites
The great unlighted wilderness
The wild eyes in our sights

The deep thought and concentration
The analytic trail
The contemplative expectation
Really it doesnt fail
To absolutely wonder
About the wide eyed watchful souls
The Animals out there that clearly
Become our fictional trolls.