December 2020
How we socially distance here in Wisconsin.
"ANGUS
Moorehead?" I asked again.
"Ooops.
Did I say 'Angus'? Agnes Moorehead," she corrected herself.
********
Back in
October we had some fairly warm, dry weather in the middle of the month so some
friends and I availed ourselves of the opportunity to make one last camping
trip for the season. Our destination was the Black River State Forest about 120
miles northwest of Madison.
Back in the aughts I worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. While running around up north to work on computers at various ranger stations, I collected the Wisconsin Wildcards. They're like baseball cards but for the state's natural resources such as plants, fish, etc.
Before
heading to the campsite, I visited the hiking trails in the southeast part of
the forest. The Internet had said it was peak fall colors up there in Jackson County
and it wasn't lying. I think I walked about 5 miles that morning and the woods were
simply gorgeous – full of yellow, orange, and red (Oh, and some green too.) set
against a brilliant blue sky.
At one point I veered off
onto a different trail which took me up a ridge. As I ascended, I was
treated to a lovely view of the forest in addition to the sight of a couple of
hawks circling overhead. Then I saw a sign for a scenic overlook and hastily took
this detour.
I really wish I had a better camera outfitted with a wide angle lens to
catch scenic vistas but, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you take photographs
with the camera you have, not the camera you might want.
(I am looking to upgrade my camera to something with a better contrast ratio and a bayonet connector so, if anyone can recommend one, please do.)
At some
point in the early afternoon, I received notice that the camping spot was open
so I headed north to the east fork of the Black River. Our camp was just across
an access road from the river itself. Unsurprisingly, the campground was just
about full as many others had the same idea we had.
It had been
about 6 months (at minimum) since I'd seen any of these folks so it was a real
treat to be in the company of my friends once more. We got a fire going and immediately an argument broke out over the best way to stack wood for a fire with the teepee proponents vociferously defending their preference against a small contingent of adherents to the log cabin/Lincoln log method. The fussin' and feudin' ended in a draw and so we turned our attention to prepping dinner as the beer and whiskey flowed freely.
After night had descended, we walked down the road to the parking lot by the boat launch in search of a more open area. One of my friends, who had consumed a fair amount of whiskey by this point, was leading us on a little stargazing venture. As we were gazing upwards, he went on about the marvels of the night sky in the country and just how much light pollution even a moderately sized city like Madison has. As we spied the Milky Way, he proceeded to discourse on the sheer size of the universe and how insignificant we are here in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy. I believe that his teenage daughter hurt herself at this point from rolling her eyes too much.
For my part, I was admiring the sky and wishing I had brought my telescope when I started laughing to myself because this came to mind:
The next morning I went down to the boat launch. It was right where the Black River flows into Lake Arbutus. While the sky was full of clouds, it was still a beautiful and colorful sight.
His
apartment was much cleaner than I expected. The empty pizza boxes and beer cans
were confined to one corner of one room. While his bedroom was neat and
orderly, his girlfriend copped to having cleaned it recently. She is too good
to him.
Eau Claire
was much like it was when I lived in the area. Some new stores and new
apartments, but no drastic changes that I could discern. I look forward to the
spring and another visit up north.
The bonus photo this time is a Goethe mosaic I found on one of my last bike rides for the season.
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