Reflections from the North Country Book

I picked up "Reflections" at the National Park Visitor's Center of the St. Croix Riverway, as appropriate reading material for our club Namekagon River trip. And it was - nice short stand-alone chapters about the wilderness. I read the first half-dozen or so over the three-day week-end.

Sigurd Olson (1899-1982), the noted environmentalist and outdoorsman, wrote these short essays in his later years when he was based in a cabin on the edge of the Quetico Wilderness. They were based on speeches delivered at town meetings and government hearings.

His descriptions of nature are alive with keen observation and unsentimental language, but he challenges the reader with his intellectual insights. He writes here about the "Primal Heritage" of mankind - man's historic relationship with his environment. He considers man's "Search for Meaning" in life and the things the wilderness provides: beauty, simplicity, courage, and opportunity for human beings to make more of their lives. Finally, Olson takes on "The Imponderables," with essays on such intangible assets as Balance and Order, Contemplation, and Immortality. Some heavy stuff that goes way beyond description of loons calling at sunset over a Canadian lake. But, there's stuff like that too.