{"id":11778,"date":"2022-06-15T19:39:51","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T00:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/?p=11778"},"modified":"2022-06-17T07:31:38","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T12:31:38","slug":"off-the-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/?p=11778","title":{"rendered":"Off the Grid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim called, Want to go kayaking at Isle Royale?<\/em>
\n‘Sure’,<\/em> my 18 year old self said.
\nOops! I\u2019m 74.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Our ride to Isle Royale
photo by Jim Gregory<\/p><\/div>\n

Isle Royale or Minong (in Ojibwe) is an archipelago 40 miles off the coast of Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota. It is the least visited National Park in the US and took 8 hours to get to our destination. Lake Superior is known for its quickly changing water conditions and weather. I was thankful for the calm water passage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Minong means ‘The good place’ in the Ojibwe language.<\/p>\n

North Shore Ojibwe paddlers travelled up the coast to Thunder Bay in their birchbark canoes, where the crossing to Minong was only 19 miles. They would take advantage of calm conditions and leave in pre-dawn hours. It would take many hours of hard paddling. Ojibwe travelers knew the danger in crossing, since lake conditions could change at any time.<\/p>\n

The Ojibwe paddlers believed the lake was a living entity and that heightened their feeling of vulnerability. Before setting out, prayers were said for a safe crossing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I should have said a prayer during the crossing to combat my negative self-talk:<\/p>\n

Have to use a water filter pump just to drink the water.
\nIt may have giardia in it.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s 39\u00b0, I should have brought gloves and long underwear.<\/em>
\nLet go! You are off the grid now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The volcanic rock on Minong is basalt and is over a billion years old. There are countless beautiful formations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

lichen covered basalt<\/p><\/div>\n

The call of a loon
\nWarblers flitting in the aspen trees<\/em>
\nWhat is this new feeling?<\/em>
\nJoy
\n<\/em>Fills my body<\/em>
\nThe sound of wildness<\/em>
\nTouches a deep place within me
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Characteristic rock formations at Minong. Folded layers of volcanic rock.
photo by Jim Gregory<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Listening to the stories of the Grandfather Rock<\/p><\/div>\n

Reader Angie Adamek captures essence of our experience with this comment:
\nThe Great Lakes ‘water-meets-rock’ is so irresistible to me with its gurgles and splashes. Looking at your pics evokes the sounds and smell that go with them.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Untouched rocky beaches.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Treasures found on the beach.
To show respect for the land, I took nothing with me.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The crystal pool.
This quiet place had very calming energy.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This was a rock not a skull. So unique and beautiful.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Plenty of time to meditate?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Even the clouds were magical.<\/p><\/div>\n

We are paddling
\nJust ahead
\nA dark cloud is pouring rain
\nBut the wind is at our back
\nPushing the rain ahead of us
\nThe early morning sun shines through
\nIlluminating the golden rain drops
\nWe stop
\nTo embrace the beauty.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The water visibility was 50 feet or more.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Carnivorous Pitcher Plant
On one of the barrier islands there was a Spaghnum Bog.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Moose Scat
There are almost a thousand moose on the island.
(We didn’t see any.)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mourning Cloak Butterfly<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Alpen glow on the rocks, signaling sunset.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

At the Temperance River, foam in the water created patterns that mirrored the currents and moved continuously.
Photo by Jim Gregory<\/p><\/div>\n

As it happened, we visited the Temperance\u00a0\u00a0River, my late wife\u2019s favorite place, on the 12th anniversary of her death from lung cancer. We wrote her name in the froth on the surface, and watched it as the current carried it away. I looked at the pictures I took, and I became fascinated with the patterns on the surface of the water where the river flowed into Lake Superior.<\/em>\u00a0 Jim Gregory<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Art work by Jim Gregory<\/p><\/div>\n

I decided to focus on foam patterns as a painting subject. First I attempted the macroscopic view of the overall patterns that were created, the swirls, the shapes and the flows. Then, after working with the painting, I realized that the microscopic view of the shapes of the individual floating pieces, were much more fascinating and worthy of capturing.\u00a0 <\/em>Jim Gregory<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Art work by Jim Gregory<\/p><\/div>\n

The smaller floating particles, were very similar to the dots I had practiced in my Chinese landscape painting classes.The larger floating foam particles, were similar to the brush strokes from my bamboo brush in my Sumi-e painting classes. <\/em>Jim Gregory<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Art Work by Jim Gregory<\/p><\/div>\n

Studying these patterns found in nature, I had a greater appreciation for nature’s creations and for the beauty that is always surrounding us. I will be forever grateful to Larry for the homework he assigned to me and my willingness to follow through.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jim Gregory<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Art work by Jim Gregory<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Art work by Jim Gregory<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim called, Want to go kayaking at Isle Royale? ‘Sure’, my 18 year old self said. Oops! I\u2019m 74. Isle Royale or Minong (in Ojibwe) is an archipelago 40 miles off the coast of Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota. It … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature-notes","category-nature-poetry","category-photography"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11778"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11821,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11778\/revisions\/11821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldnaturalist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}