jimmar wrote on Oct 17
th, 2016 at 8:29pm:
One of my favorite things, perhaps in life, is sitting back and relaxing while looking out over calm waters in canoe country, with my favorite cocktail and maybe a cigar.Listening to the quiet. It's a part of the trip that is very satisfying for me.
When I was younger, I measured the "success" of a Quetico trip by what could be described as "events": Did I see a moose? Did the Northern Lights come out? Did I catch a particularly big fish? Were there bear tracks? Did we find blueberries? (or something else that was unusual, exciting or worth bragging about).
Nowadays, it's more about just being there and tuning in to the remoteness and wildness of the place, about breathing in the pristine air and seeing the vividness of colors untouched by haze, about being able to drink out of a lake, about feeling the strength and weariness of muscles that just paddled across a treacherous bay and knowing not too many people are able to do that, about hearing the drip-drip-drip of water coming off my Bending Branches on the return stroke, about seeing a landscape unscathed by man. About, as you said, listening to the quiet.
All those others things? The moose and eagles and otter and fresh fish? Those are just ornaments on the tree.
-- kypaddler