written in stone 7 comments
Picking up where I left off in yesterday’s post, last Friday, part of my journey led through Lake Superior Provincial Park. By Ontario park standards, it’s large, being 1,550 square kilometers (600 square miles). As the weather has been unusually cold recently, I decided not to try to camp there during this trip — instead, pushing on to visit with friends at their cabin near Thunder Bay. However, after stopping several times to linger along small rivers, I began to regret that decision and have already vowed to return to spend a few days here next year.
One of my stops was at a river trail known as Pinguisibi, or Sand River Trail – a trail along a river with many rapids and falls. Sabrina and I explored the lower section, wandering about on the great slabs of rock.
At this time of the year, the rocks were cut through by a narrow torrent. Evidence of their wear leads me to suppose that this river must appear quite different during the spring freshet.
Most of the rocks are patterned with swirling striations such as those in the above photo. Click on the image to see a larger view — I’ve posted quite a large image, so you can scroll around to see it a bit better. Unfortunately, the images don’t really give a true sense of the appearance of these rocks — you’ll have to go there yourself to appreciate them. I could spend a day or more just studying that one little section of river.
The view upstream was almost too much for me and it wasn’t long before we had wandered upriver over the tumble of rocks. We could have gone on like that for hours but that I had hopes of reaching my friends’ cabin before dark.
Along the shore, I spotted this Eastern White Cedar, appearing to beckoning from the forest’s edge. In this place, it’s not difficult to imagine that there must be forest spirits, and perhaps even the trickster, Nanabozho calling me into the woods.
I did venture a few paces along the woodland trail and soon discovered a wonderful knot of cedar roots joining two trees growing upon the rock. I’m not sure if Nanabozho intended this to be a lesson or message for me, but perhaps I will take it as such — that two beings can have lives that are so interwoven as to be like one.
7 Responses to 'written in stone'
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What a stunning place to walk, bev. Those rocky river edges are such grand places to venture. I could see spending a lot of time there, even just exploring one small area.
I particularly like how you concluded this post. The interwoven roots are an eloquent reminder of what is true about love.
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What a beautiful spot … looks like one we’d like to explore! No wonder you want to go back again. Alas, we are unlikely to get to Ontario anytime soon.
I love the knotted roots and “your lesson”.
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Lovely shots of a beautiful area. It’s good to know that 600 sq mi are preserved in the park.
As usual, your post got me to looking more closely at a few things. I thought about those rocks, which looked like granite, and indeed I did find (on wickipedia) an explicit Sand River entry.
Look at that rightmost photo of three a little lower down from the top!
And indeed those rocks are granite, but granite extruded probably far earlier than granite we see down here. That took me back to fuzzy memories of the Laurentian Shield (or Canadian Shield), and the ancient continent of Laurentia. I don’t know whether those particular rocks are as old, maybe they’re only a billion or two years old, but probably among them are the oldest rocks on earth. Looks like that area is south Laurentia, which has been floating around on the surface of the earth, stubbornly resisting recycling, since about the time the earth was formed.
I sure wish we had white cedars here!
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The land looks lovely, wild and free.
And cold–white water swirling past steel-colored rocks.I’m glad you’re taking the time to stop and spend time along your journey–not only to stretch you legs and Sabrina’s, too–but to wander and think.
I like your observation of the cedar roots. So much of human existence is demonstrated by their growth–standing strong in adversity, roots gripping stony ledges ….
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robin – Thanks. It’s interesting that I keep having interesting associations between things I am seeing and what I’ve been thinking lately. The cedar roots are just one example.
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Eileen – The north shore of Lake Superior truly is a beautiful place. I do hope to return sometime — perhaps next spring — to do a lot more hiking around.
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Wayne – The geology of the shield is fascinating, and as you’ve mentioned, the rock is very old. Here’s another wikipedia link to info on the geology of Lake Superior:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Superior#Geology
What’s also particular interesting is the diversity of the rock and all of the mineral deposits. As you may know, there is a lot of mining all over the place up along the north shore. Around Thunder Bay, there are many amethyst deposits. I saw a lot of signs for amethysts, and sites related to them, etc… Unfortunately, it was on a day when I had to do some hurrying along, so I didn’t have time to investigate, but perhaps next time through!
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Nina – It certainly is a “wild and free” place. Very different than just about everywhere else I’ve traveled thus far. -
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