Sixty One On The Shores of Superior

Year Two On the Road

Lake Superior, just north of Thunder Bay

Old and in the way, that’s what I heard them say
They used to heed the words he said, but that was yesterday
Gold will turn to gray and youth will fade away
They’ll never care about you, call you old and in the way. ~~~ Old and In the Way (listen)

Last year, we turned Sixty on the San Miguel River – 

Last week, we celebrated sixty one on the Shores of Lake Superior in the Canadian woods.

Before setting out for the morning walk, I like to wait 45 minutes or so after sunrise to let the nocturnals find their day dens – Buoy likes to hunt wild critters, and I don’t want him wandering upon a skunk, raccoon, or large predators.

But this morning, we were out at the crack of dawn – just us and the skeeters.

As we turned along the trail, we came upon a very large black bear – Buoy was off immediately after him. Bear took off with amazing speed for something that large. Thank goodness he didn’t catch him!

To get a sense of place, as I enter a region, I typically visit a University campus and book store to get a book on regional landscape, ecology, or history.

In this case, we stopped at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor bookstore and enjoyed Dan Egan’s superb book “The Death and Life of The Great Lakes”. 

Highly recommended – a book that brilliantly defines the region and issues at play in similar ways as such classics as “Cadillac Desert” or “A Sand County Almanac” or “Design With Nature” or  “Silent Spring” or “Our Stolen Future” or “Hazardous Waste In America” or “The Politics of Cancer” or “Expendable Americans” or  “The Machine in the Garden“, or even way back to that classic in muckraking “The Jungle“, to name just a few pathbreaking classics that led to activism and policy change. (I am not suggesting that Fagan remotely approaches Upton Sinclair, McHarg, or others, however)

It should be required reading, especially for those interested in “stewardship” or “management” of our natural resources. The chapters on the St. Lawrence Seaway, fisheries, and invasive species are eye opening textbook expose’s of mismanagement, bureaucratic arrogance, technocratic hubris, and economic interests trumping ecosystems.

Some pics: