It’s not all
about me, my previous entries notwithstanding. A year ago when we
circumnavigated Isle Royale accompanied by Ray and Wendy Sharp to keep us safe,
although we dearly enjoyed their company, the trip was mostly an immersion in
the waters, shores, and islands of Isle Royale. Somehow I think I expected much
the same this year. And while we did experience many heart-wrenchingly
beautiful days and paddles, this year it was really about the people.
In her posts,
Sue Ellen has thanked the people who supported us the entire way so I won’t
repeat all your names, although I am very thankful. What struck me was the
generosity of friends, some of whom I don’t see all that often, who, when I
wrote and asked “Hey, would you put us up?” rose to the occasion and not only
gave us wonderfully comfortable beds, hot showers, and places to dry off, but
fantastic meals. But even more, the fellowship we encountered made this an
extraordinary trip.
And again,
it’s not all about me, although we had decided to do
this paddle for ourselves, for fun. But after thinking about it a bit, we
realized we were taking advantage of three tremendous resources of our home
territory that don’t get enough publicity or credit: the Keweenaw Water Trail, the
Keweenaw Geoheritage project, and the Keweenaw Land Trust. So although our
paddle is over, I would encourage you to check out some of these links:
For the
Keweenaw Water Trail: kwta.org
[Sue Ellen interjecting here: The Keweenaw Water Trail is such a wonderful --and useful--concept! We used their map more than any other. It needs more places for water travelers to camp. I'm hoping we can do something to promote and improve the water trail. Anyone have some ideas about this?]
Keweenaw Land Trust:
The following
are some of the sites we paddled past that the Keweenaw Land Trust has helped
preserve for the pleasure of all:
Bete Grise - http://keweenawlandtrust.org/special-betegrise.php
Lizzadro Lake Shore Preserve - http://keweenawlandtrust.org/special-lizzadroa.php
Traverse Island - http://keweenawlandtrust.org/special-traverse-island.php
Churning Rapids - http://keweenawlandtrust.org/special-churning.php
Dunes & Marshes - http://keweenawlandtrust.org/special-hite.php
Manitou Island - http://keweenawlandtrust.org/special-manitou.php
Keweenaw Geoheritage Project:
And finally here are some of the many geoheritage sites we
passed:
And, of course, we want to thank all of you who gave to KLT
financially. We’ll be sending out individual thanks.
Coincidentally the number of miles we paddled, 134, (my
initial estimate was short, and no, those of you who pledged per mile don’t need
to give any more) is just Sue Ellen’s and my combined age. So this may be the
last big project for us. But don’t you all get complacent – next year we may be
circumnavigating our pond and since it’s not even 100 yards, we’ll be asking
for donations in the thousands of dollars per mile.
t
