“But turn my mind altogether to the forest;
that will not deceive you, being ordered and ruled by a hand that never wavers.”
The Scout-Deerslayer by James
Fenimore Cooper – 1841
When
I was a kid, the Clark Family used to visit us up north. Mr. Clark and my Dad were dorm-mates at
Central Michigan University back in the day.
The Clark’s had two children; about the same age as my sisters and me,
and together with our parents we would partake in some sort of adventure. In addition to gathering at our house, we
sometimes met in Grand Marais in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to camp and hang
out. They often drove what I considered
at the time, a rugged vehicle; one that would be categorized as an SUV these
days. Two of their vehicles that stand
out in my mind were the Jeep Cherokee Chief and the International Scout II. I always enjoyed the opportunity of riding
along in one of those; usually when we were out driving the backwoods trails
and dirt roads of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
The
Jeep and the Scout were both unique and had the cool factor. I like that word “Scout.” It’s a word that’s both dear and true to my
heart. When I hear the word scout I think
of Nathaniel Bumppo (also known as Scout, Deerslayer, Hawkeye, and La Longue
Carabine). He was the adopted son and
brother of Chingachgook and Uncas. These
were the main characters in James Fenimore Cooper’s saga now known as the “Leatherstocking
Tales” set in the mid to late 1700’s of early America. The best known of those five stories is
entitled, “The Last of the Mohicans.”
The books were written in the early 1800’s but the latest movie,
starring Daniel Day Lewis, came out in 1992.
I had read several books from the series beforehand, but have often
stated since the movie came out, that if I could set my life’s story to a sound
track it would be to that movie’s music.
I’ve listened to it many times while in route to many an adventure.
Perhaps
in my mind’s eye I envision myself as a scout.
I don’t have the same wilderness areas to walk upon, and I certainly don’t
encounter the same dangers as Hawkeye did in tales of the old frontier. I do enjoy that balance between forging and exploring on my own, and yet interacting with others while enabling
them to experience things outside of their normal path through life. My Dad has often said to me that I do a good
job of taking him to creeks I’ve scouted ahead of time, and pointing out areas for
him to pitch his spinner where he can catch a trout.
That’s coming from an experienced fisherman. Perhaps he’s right. I do enjoy scouting, preparing, guiding and
then watching those who are involved, immerse themselves into the surrounding
adventure and atmosphere.
It
was with such flair, and after being asked several times by a couple of our
school's female staff, that we went out last weekend. It wasn’t that the ladies weren’t capable of
doing it on their own (because many of them are). It was more that they’ve heard or seen
pictures of the outings I’ve had with some of the guys on our staff. They knew I had places I could take them, and
that I would enjoy both the leg-work involved in organizing it, as well as
preparing and setting up the food and equipment we would need. Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of
available time left in our schedules this winter when we could go out. So, on short notice we sent out an email a
week ahead of time.
After
four of our staff expressed interest in joining my wife Cindy and I, I set
about planning a course and destination.
While my son was home the week before, we went out and scouted out a
possible area. Although several bald
eagles were using some nearby trees as roosts, I decided against the area after
some rain and rather warm weather threatened to flood the section we had to
walk through. Over the next few days I
scoured some maps, chose two possible sites, and ran out last Friday (the night
before the outing) to scout them out.
I
arrived at sunset, and after taking a shortcut through the woods, came out
after dark. I did, however, find a
perfect area to bring the ladies the following day, by way of a different
starting point. All told I covered about
two miles that night and saw an eagle, heard a barred owl, saw the work of a
pileated woodpecker and then came upon a huge herd of deer on my drive
back. I stopped at the store to buy
supplies and then came home to cook, clean, pack, and prepare (not necessarily
in that order…the words just flow better lined up like that). It took several hours, but I
had the radio on
and the kitchen was mine. I sent the
ladies several texts and pictures of the preparations to entice them of what
was to come.
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| Todd & I Scouting out an Area-The Week Prior |
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| Scouting Along The River-Friday Night |
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| The Necessary Groceries |
They
arrived at 8:00 the following day on Saturday morning, and together with the
dogs, we loaded into two vehicles and headed out. The weather was perfect for a winter outing,
and with several cold days in a row, the ice and snow were solid. In fact, it was so solid after the brief melt
earlier in the week, that the walking was slightly treacherous in areas. To keep our footing we sought out snowy areas
so that we could have traction with our boots.
The conversation throughout was light and relaxing. I stayed just enough ahead to add to it occasionally,
but allow them to feel free to talk as they liked. Plus, it allowed me to keep track of the dogs
in their excitement to be out. We hiked
the ridge along the river, and then made our way down along some trails;
towards a lowland area where we could hike back into the river. The women helped me gather some sticks for fuel
and watched as I got a fire going.
It
took me two tries with the flint and steel, and it required some gentle coaxing
to get the flames to jump from the grass I used as tinder to the sticks. It took the bark from some nearby wild
grapevine to finally get it going. I then
began cooking the food while the dogs ran and sniffed around the river’s edge, and
the ladies told stories from both the past and present. While eating, we saw two different eagles;
which is always exciting. They were
immature, and lacked the stark white head, but they certainly were something to
behold with their great size and wingspan.
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| Starting the Fire |
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| The ladies about to settle into a meal. |
We
then packed up and began hiking out, but not before we stopped for a group
picture. It was a great morning and the
perfect inaugural outing for some of the adventuresome women from Willowbrook
Middle School. After returning to the vehicles
after almost three total miles of hiking, we packed our supplies, the dogs, and
ourselves and were back to our house by noon.
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| Lisa, Mary, Laurie, Andrea, Cindy & the Dogs |
That
afternoon I turned right back around, as part of my ultra marathon race training, and went
back out to the area we were in that morning and ran the trails for two and a
half hours. The ice and snow were a bit
softer as the sun had come out and the temperatures were in the 40’s. By my last lap I “bonked” a bit. Apparently the morning meal of potatoes,
eggs, cheese and sausage were not the perfect recipe to keep me going for that
long!
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| Recovering after the Run - Ice Cleats on the Shoes |
The
following day, on Sunday afternoon, my daughter Jodi and I took the dogs down
to the nearby creek. She wanted me to
take her down so she could practice taking pictures with her new camera.
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| Hiking with Jodi as She Takes Pictures |
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| Super Bowl 50 |
Speaking
of runs, last weekend was full of them.
I’d been throughout the countryside running out, hiking in, hiking out,
hiking around, running around, hiking down, hiking back and then running down...to the point where I didn’t have a whole lot of energy left and all I wanted to do was sit, relax and vegetate for a while.
Running in this way is part of who I am, my gift, and what I resonate
with. I love the scouting, preparing, and
guiding that is involved, and then watching those who are part of the
experience immerse themselves in those same environs that I too enjoy.
See
you along The Way…
“One moccasin like another!
You may as well say that one foot is like another; though we all know
that some are long, and others short; some broad, and others narrow; some with
high, and some with low insteps; some in-toed, and some out. One moccasin is no more like another than one
book is like another; though they who can read in one are seldom able to tell
the marks of the other. Which is all
ordered for the best, giving to every man his natural advantages…”
Hawkeye-The Last of the Mohicans
by James Fenimore Cooper – 1826
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