Backwoods Blog

RANDOM SAMPLES

Backwoods Blog;

in the woods and on the road…

When I head to the woods the arguments I have with myself tend to involve the technology that I take or decide not to take. These days my smart phone allows me the option of a hot-spot bluetooth connection for my portable laptop, which as you know, has the potential of changing everything. It doesn’t really feel like you’re getting away or creating a space for solitude when you have access to literally the entire world with a keystroke. While the heating, lighting and dishwashing methods at the cabin have remained much the same through the years, the introduction of reliable cellphone connections and other means of communication have altered the remote experience. (Of course you can always turn them off.) It turns out that selectivity remains a key criterion in preserving a secluded experience. What do I include? What do I leave back at the house? These are the questions I still keep asking every time I purchase a new fangled gadget. I have a stack of notebooks and journals that I kept when I lived full-time at the cabin and they tend to reflect the simpler and low-tech manner of those days. Here are a few random samples from the tail-end of the last century.

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Notebook entries;


When the first winter storm hits and the road closes for the season then there is established a new sense of solitude that cannot be intruded upon so easily by the casual passer by in a pick-up truck or ATV, but requires the intentional visit via ski or snowshoe earned by penetrating the barrier of cold, snow and distance to bring conversation or companionship that is invigorated by the mere effort to get there. 


we live our lives insulated from reality
thermostat controlled
heated water running in pipes


The only tracks on the frozen stream are mine. No human trace of snowshoe, ski or machine; only the deer, bird feet and criss-cross of winter inhabitant. Just upstream the I-83 snowmobile trail intersects with the river by the old iron bridge railroad trestle providing a scenic overview of the Maine wilderness to New Jersey tourists convinced they have penetrated the wild. I wonder if they’re curious where this solitary skier with ragged backpack could be heading? This is the last intrusion of 20th century clammer as the ski-doo trail will soon veer off heading to the next gas station. 


(Sometimes instead of firing up the sauna, I have been known to heat the cabin to 120 degrees and just stay where I am. This must have been what happened on the night I scribbled this haiku-like verse…)

a caddis fly hatch inside my cabin
the evening of January 20
fifteen degrees outside
no trout rising


Sitting by the wood stove on a Sunday morning listening to Maine Public Radio; amazement at the latest news, weather conditions, classical music and commercial-free commentary piped through invisible wires across the empty Maine air of twenty degrees into my isolated cabin, free of charge to enjoy at my discretion or return to selected privacy.
 

In the woods,

Dave

March 9, 2023