Diamond Willow Zen

I spent this past weekend at our lake property “up north".  It is located north of Leech Lake and south of U.S, Highway 2 in an area encompassed by both the Chippewa National Forest and the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.  I was awakened just after 5 AM Saturday morning by a wet, cold dachshund nose nudging the top of my butt crack.  After muttering a few magic words, I let the little devil out to do his business.  The sun was coming up and there was a fog floating over the still waters of the lake, so I thought it was as good a time as any to take a walk.

My original plan had been to walk about 2-1/2 miles, then go back to bed.  I hadn’t gone 50 yards from our driveway when I found a baby raccoon at the edge of the dirt road, barely alive, that appeared to have had most of his tail torn off by a predator.  After a moment’s hesitation, I figured that I had to let nature take its course and turned to walk on.  Another half mile down the road I found fresh moose tracks.   If it was still close by, I could neither see nor hear it.  Even with the morning chill, I decided that my original plan wasn’t up to the glory and promise of the day.

The nearest paved road to our place is about 3-1/2 miles away.  Since I felt full of **** and vinegar, I decided that I would walk out to that road and back for a total of 7 miles.  My ostensible plan was to scout for diamond willow.  Willow is not hard to find in that part of the north woods, but diamond willow, which is willow affected by a fungus that leaves reddish brown diamond shapes when you peel back the bark, is more challenging.  I wanted to find some diamond willow so I could make walking sticks on rainy days.  I have been trying my hand at carving wood spirits on them, too, so finding even a half dozen sticks would be enough to keep me busy for a while.

Soon after I turned off onto the single lane dirt road that cuts across to the paved road leading to resorts on the north side of Leech Lake, an odd feeling came over me.  I don’t know if it was the subtle beauty of the small sylvan glades I came across, with their smattering of trilliums and yellow ladyslippers amongst the ferns, or my own need to find some inner peace, but I suddenly felt like I was floating along rather than walking.  I wondered if I was about to experience some Zen-like enlightenment about my life and this perpetual restlessness that I have felt lately, so I tried some meditation techniques while I walked.  Now closing my eyes as I walked down a lonely dirt road in the middle of the forest, feeling the muscles in my feet, calves, thighs and butt as they contracted and extended, was no doubt a very strange sight to see, but to whom?  I thought I could go 100 yards or so, before I would have to re-orient myself.  I made it about 15 or 20 yards before I tripped on a soft spot in the road and narrowly avoided falling on my face.  I tried the closing my eyes while I walked thing several more times with similar results, so I walked with my eyes opened, but focused more intensely from second to second on the world around me…..a kind of mindfulness approach.  I walked/floated along like that for nearly 2 miles and felt more at peace in that time than I have in almost a month.

As I neared the paved road, a car passed and shook me from my reverie.  I turned around to walk back to the cabin, feeling very calm.  Along the way I spotted bear tracks and I was a little embarrassed to find that my feet are as wide as those of a pretty big bear.  A little later a yearling deer came to the edge of the road about 150 yards ahead of me and stared at me while I walked toward it.  As I got closer, I would swear that he tilted his head as if he didn’t know what to make of me.  I thought to myself “join the club, I don’t know what to make of me either".  It dawned on me that I had walked about 5 miles at that point and my feet didn’t hurt, I wasn’t out of breath, I wasn’t sweaty and I felt at peace.  It brought tears to my eyes to recognize how far I have come since I started my WLS journey less than a year and a half ago.  The problems and challenges in my life still exist, but I feel better able to face them today than I have been in my entire adult life.

Anyway, I did note three places off the edge of the road where I hope to find diamond willow, but I will have to do so wearing some tall boots because it is pretty wet in those spots.  I look forward to those forays if there is even a whisper of a chance to have that Zen-like experience again.  There is nothing better than finding a little peace when you seem to have a restless soul.

On a final note, the baby raccoon was still alive when I returned to the cabin, so I mentioned its location to my family.  My youngest son and his girlfriend decided to rescue it and, to my surprise, it seems to have recovered considerably after being warmed up and fed.  They plan to keep it in their apartment for a month or two until it can survive on its own.  I think they are crazy, but no more obviously so than I am.

RP

Sounds like a great place for a walk.  My parents used to have a cabin on Big Boy Lake and we had to use a rock fire road to get to it.  The rock road was more of a boulder road with clay.  It was on Indian land so they had a lease with them.  Great place to fish.  Ahh the childhood memories.