Voyageur National Park and surrounding (radius=1k km!) country
Wisconsin.... north of Eau Claire, on the way to Superior. The Chippewa used to live here and they were friendly to the first white surveyors and geographers, showing them where to portage from Lake Superior to the Mississippii, just about here, via Brule River, on to St. Croix River, the haven for canoists right on the doorstep of Minneapolis.
The statue commemorates this. The photograph commemerates the two worlds -- the Indian of yesterday, the park bench of Wisconsin today, the smouldering of this peaceful then, peaceful now land, not peaceful in the interim...
All political and historical asides aside, this is a supernice roadside; you'd love the expansive lakeside view and the murmur of trees in the wind. Very pacifying, this pacified Wisconsin (named for another Indian nation).
Here is the real story, for the irritated by whimsy...
Lake Superior at the beach near Superior, Wisconsin. Kinda looks like Baltic, on a sunny August day, you know, as if painted in watercolors...
It's Minnesota behind them watering lines, to the left and out of view... For now, gazing over open water on the flat dunes. The so-called North Shore, Duluth on, my next destination.
Having established a beachhead on Round Bear Island, Voyageur National Park, Minnesota, I foolishly go about not setting up my tent immediately, cataloguing my exploits and REI-reconnoiter instead. The Mosquitowaffe has not yet arrived...
Enjoying the late afternoon sun on open lake, with moderate to gusting winds. The next two days would be far more dangerous and time-consuming for negotiating passage, but at least the ever-loony motor boats would keep off, and so I had the whitecaps to myself... Voyageur National Park, Lake Kabetogama, near Ash River.
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Last modified date: 30 October 1997. Under a copyright, yes, but if you'd like to borrow something, ask me. -- Marek.