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The Paddle ~ Sigurd Olson ~ Listening Point
A recitation in honor of my favorite author from the North Country, Sigurd Olson. These few paragraphs that I recite come from a chapter titled "The Paddle" in his classic book, Listening Point (1958). Why no fiddle this time, why here on YouTube? Because this is the season -- early fall -- when I long to return to the Boundary Waters. It's been so, so many years since I enjoyed those week-to-ten-day wilderness canoeing excursions with family and friends. Long before the Alpine Lake fire of 2005, long before the incredibly damaging windstorm of 1999 (which brought tears when I learned of it), long before I started a career, it's been thirty years since I enjoyed those waters. I can still see so many of the lakes (whose shores and hills are forever changed after the storm): Saganaga, Red Rock, Alpine, Knife, Kekekabic, Eddy, Ogishkemunicie, Agamok, Gabimichigami, Sea Gull. It seems like yesterday... the early-morning bear on Brant Lake, that long portage from Hanson Lake to the South Arm of the Knife, that perfect campsite on Jasper Lake, that bridge over Eddy Falls, we young ones begging the old fellows (without success) that we sneak across the border and head to This Man, That Man, Other Man, and No Man Lakes, and that end-of-the-journey run for ice cold pop and beer as we returned to Bud Darling's place at Trail's End. Someday again. Someday, with my boy.Posted 1 year ago
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