Boreal Access

This is Briggy.  She is our oldest paddling guest and makes a trip every year, sometimes two.  Her husband gave up on trying to keep up with her years ago.  She is 84 and still can carry a small pack across a portage that would make many 30-somethings wince.  Granted, she goes pretty slow but she goes, and goes, and goes.  And she enjoys every step.   She is bright, witty, environmentally aware and just plain fun to be around.  Her old world accent adds to the fun.  She always wants to hear stories about animals when she arrives. "So David, please tell me about de wvooolves."  "Ja, and what about de bears?" "Hev de looons left yet?"

You might notice the great shiner on her right eye.  No, she didn’t get in a bar fight on the way up from St.Paul.  She fell on the dock after her trip and got a pretty good whack.  Getting old is hard enough without these little insults.  She and her friend stayed over night in the bunkhouse and in the morning she had this beauty to share with us.

This is Dave and he is sporting a great shiner too.  His was self inflicted.  The binoculars were strapped to the outside of his pack.  You know you always bring those things along and when you need them they are at the bottom of the pack, right?  So keep ‘em handy.  When he swung his pack up by one strap those binoculars just kept on swingin’ - right onto his eye.  You’re wincing. 

I know my friend Sue is saying, "Dave, these pictures are not going to make people want to come to your place!" But when I was trying to think of a few images that summed up the year, these kept coming to my mind.  Not because of the bad luck of my guests but because of the huge smiles on these faces and the good humor they displayed in the face of some serious harm to their bodies if not their pride.  I know both of them enjoyed telling their friends about their adventure for as long as the shiner lasted. 

The best part of this job is seeing the change in people after spending a few days in the woods.  Some changes are inside and generally peaceful, positive and hard to quantify.  Other changes are more visible, but usually accompanied by a smile. 

D