I decided a while ago that I wanted to end this year of travel with some solitude and contemplation. I think, for me, the best place in the world to do that kind of stuff is at a cabin in northern Minnesota. So that’s what I did. From October 1-31, I lived in a cabin, mostly by myself, in the Superior National Forest.
It’s a really uniquely beautiful, serene, pristine place.
The cabin was also pretty luxurious. Totally modern with all the utilities and conveniences- plus a wood-burning sauna, canoe, kayak, fire pits- and the best part is that its built on top of the water line. The living room window of this place is over the shoreline. (That and the rental cost is hundreds of dollars cheaper than my apartment in Washington DC.) In retrospect, I think the modern conveniences are a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s nice to have the creature comforts, but it made it that much harder to find some mental space and separation with the internet and all it’s associated bullshit easily accessible. It wasn’t easy- it took a few days, but I did force myself to completely stop the consumption of any content from the internet except for music and … truthfully a lot of online gaming with friends.
I had friends with me on several occasions. It was nice to have some company and to get restocked with chocolate, coke classic, coffee- and pipe tobacco. It was also really nice to share this with friends. Some of these experiences- the sunsets, the sauna, the bonfires… to be sharing it with some other folks is better than just doing alone.
The natural beauty is something special. There were a number of days where the lake was like glass. At night you could see the stars reflected in the water.
There are encounters with nature that are really refreshing, and provide some kind of shift in perspective. Stars, northern lights one night, sunsets. Lots of animals- There was a family of loons that I saw almost every day. Two adolescent loons were really curious and friendly, and would hang out around the kayak if you didn’t move around too much. There’s a bald eagle, otters, beavers and deer around the lake all the time.
I got really good at splitting wood. It was something I had never done before… and sort of just decided to split wood for at least 20 minutes every day. Some days I’d do it for a few hours. It’s… a really soothing, satisfying kind of thing. Kind of meditative too. For me, it’s especially nice with pipe and Coke…
It was a good time to review and think about some things from the past year. I spent some time just remembering things and filling in empty posts from the last half of the year.
I guess- this kind of ends the year long journey…
who knows what happens next…
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