We found ourselves on top of this bluff, only a short hike from the car. Canada was just a couple miles to the north. Lake Superior 30 to the east. A BWCA lake stretched out before and below us.
It was quiet and lonely, surprisingly so, being just a couple hundred yards from a wide spot in the gravel road and a sign marking the trail. Truthfully I could have used a bit more of a walk for the physical distance and exertion that might have paralleled the mental distance admiring such a view brought on.
A Whiskey Jack spotted us from down by the lake and we watched him fly toward us, and then up to the top of the cliff, where he fluttered from tree to tree, waiting for us to drop or offer just a single morsel.
We didn’t stay long. This vista was just a stop on a leisurely morning of wandering the Gunflint Trail. And the only thing that we knew of our uncertain destination for the night was that it was many miles from here. But, catching me by surprise, this place seemed like somewhere I could stay forever and never tire of the view.
And if that isn’t like life and love, I don’t know what is.
RSS
12 Comments
It looks like all good blogs link to the wikipedia article on Whiskey Jacks!
The question is why there isn’t a bwcawiki article on them….
Great picture.
That’s a fine question indeed Terry. Perhaps it’s time for you to sign up as a BWCAWiki editor? Or I forget, have you already?
I’ve got the final installments of your hike posts in my to-read list…. Been saving them.
Aaaargh - Guilty as charged!
I’ve avoided signing up because I’m just not sure how I would do at writing impartial “Just the facts” articles. Also I think that I may be as guilty as anyone in stereotyping wiki-editors - It’s a line, and once you cross it you’re on the other side!
But since I DO consider myself a member of the community that the bwcawiki serves, I hereby vow to compose at least one (1) article worthy of the bwcawiki before the end of this month. I will then sign up for editorship and upon approval submit said article for your consideration.
If the article is not up to your standards, you may feel free to flame me.
Wow, what a vow. Thanks! I hear you about the stereotypes of wiki editors and all that, but here’s the deal… though the BWCAWiki might seem like a subset of Wikipedia, running on the same software, having the same general look-and-feel and even similar objectives… it’s not Wikipedia. For one thing, the whole “just the facts” articles aren’t requisite. There is no demand of “Neutral Point of View.” I just want info. The web is full of trip reports and other commentary on lakes and portages, etc. It’s all biased and subjective, but it’s still useful. If we can get some of that in the BWCAWiki… mission accomplished. So don’t worry too much about sticking to the facts. I feel that there’s room in the BWCAWiki for voice and personality.
Anyway, the wiki could just use the love and hopefully someday it will grow larger and more useful.
Here are two suggestions for wiki articles: Whiskey Jacks and the Angleworm Lake Trail.
Do it!
The Dharma Blog. It motivates people!
Think that should be the blog’s new tagline, Scott?
Gerg,
I’ll start with the whiskey jacks and see where things go.
PS - Your new dharma blog look & feel in Firefox - the contents of the navigation column is all pushed down to the bottom of the page… It looks good in IE, though.
Terry - that’s great. Many thanks. I hope it’s a good experience and you don’t feel like you’ve crossed to the dark side. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks for the heads-up on the formatting issues. Weird because it looked fine in Firefox for me… but I uninstalled that theme until I have time to play with it some more.
Cheers.
site looks sweet.
Excellent trip report. I like the new blog look too, more “wide open”, like the outdoors.
Mike’s last blog post..Moose family, national forest
Thanks Mike. Still tweaking the design, but the main idea was to focus on the content a bit more and do away with some of the clutter.
Gerg,
Your new design is working for me in FF. I don’t know why it would show different in mine unless we use different default font sizes, or screen resolutions.