Yep … been a bad blogger over the Autumn, Winter, and
Spring, but I am gearing for more frequent, but irregular postings. The irregularity will be down to whether I have
an Internet connection at any particular time.
If my experience of the Lake Superior North Shore (see this and the next
few blog posts), is an indication, irregular
will be the operative word. I will also include intermittent posts about my Autumn in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and my time in England. And so to
the first of the posts from my recent trip Up
North.
Moon
through Jack pine
And so after a Winter off in England, and
the Upper Great Lakes, my silence is broken, as I head "Up North," as
we say here in Minnesota ... State of my birth.
Heading “Up North,” usually means heading for the Northwoods, and for
many, the Lake Superior shore and the Arrowhead region, so called for the shape
of the northeast region of Minnesota north of Duluth. My formative years were spent not far from
here a few miles southeast of Duluth in Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, amongst the
birch & pine & lakes thereabouts, and with the famous Brule River close
by. In the years I lived in England,
when I came home to Minnesota, we would invariably head Up North at least once, if not more, during my visits. I love it as you head up I-35, from the Twin Cities
towards Duluth, and by the time you have gone but sixty or seventy miles on
your way, the open farm fields with clumps of trees gives way to forest with the
odd field cut out of them … the beginnings of the Northwoods … and when the
first paper birches appear and you know you are approaching those familiar
forests of your youth. Once you crest
the hill and the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin with
beyond the shining blue waters of Kitchi-gami (Lake Superior), are arrayed
below you, memories of long ago (and every visit since), flood the soul. This is the land of Whitefish & Sturgeon;
of Lake Trout, & Muskie, & Northern Pike, and Walleyes; of Whitetail
Deer & Moose; of the Bear & the Wolf (incidentally, Minnesota never
lost its Wolf population).
And
so it was that earlier today, I drove along the shores of Kitchi-gami, earlier
today, and turning left on Hwy 1 to Finland, MN, and then onto County Road 7,
and on into the forest for 25 miles, I came to the primitive campground at
Harriet Lake after sundown, as the last fishermen were pulling out, and I took
one of the five or six widely dispersed sites ... and am the only one in residence. A beaver was paddling to its home below my
camp, and the Loons (the Minnesota State bird) were calling, and the unofficial
State bird (the mosquito), also came out to greet me, but my Permethrin impregnated
clothing, and a bit of Deet, pretty much kept them at bay. I ate a light supper and, as I was supping my
after-dinner camp coffee, I watched the light-show of distant lightning, far to
the west, even though the Moon & Stars shone through high cirrus cloud
above. I tried to capture the display on
camera, but no success ... too far ... too dim ... but I did get a photo of sorts
of the Moon, shining through the branches of a Jack Pine. And so to bed at 2:05 AM, with the sound of night
birds, and the Loons, and with the light-show still going on after three hours,
and still no closer ... it never did arrive.
