WILDERNESS
WEEK, PART DEUX
April 25, 2007
OK, So
I let the whole build-up-to-Earth-Day thing slip through my fingers
- the art of promotions is clearly not my bag. Besides, I'd like to
take a queue from Earth Day organizers and make Earth Day everyday.
So here's the continuation of my tribute to Earth Day.
A few years
ago I was hired as a videographer for the Twin Cities Public Television
documentary series, Minnesota:
A History of the Land. It was a real adventure; on the road
from International Falls all the way to the Mississippi River and everything
inbetween. I really had a chance to see Minnesota. A few assignments
along the way included shooting stories about Sigurd
Olson, author and wilderness advocate, and Ernest
Oberholtzer, a charter member of the Wilderness
Society. Those were some amazing experiences as I was able to set
foot in their very abodes. In Ely, Minnesota I was filming the interior
of Sig's writing
shack, and left to my own I had within arm's reach his last typed
page, still in the typewriter. I filmed at Listening
Point, and at Ober's island retreat, Mallard Island, on Rainy Lake.
All of those experiences imprinted upon me that wild places are worth
saving and making sacrafices in order to do so. Below are a few pics
of Ober's place on Mallard Island. Dust still on the books as he left
them.
In 2003
my college roommate and I lived on opposite sides of the county and
at that time we made a pact to get together every other year or so and
retreat to the wilds. That year we removed ourselves from civilization
for a week in the Trinity
Alps Wilderness in California. It was epic! The Sierras without
the tourists.
Last but
not least, Henry David Thoreau's Great
Beach, Cape Cod. Though I have to admit I liked The Maine Woods
more than Cape Cod, in the literary sense, but my soul connects
wholly with the Cape.
