| Lake
Vermillion, MN |
Lee
Frelich |
| Jun
19, 2006 17:20 PDT |
Bob:
I just returned from Timbuktu (at the end of the road in
northern MN),
where I took a group of local residents to see a grove of 400
year old
cedars on one of the hundreds of islands in Lake Vermillion.
With thick
bark in a twisted pattern and knarled branches, they look like
redwoods in
miniature, at least they are as close to redwoods as trees in MN
get, at a
height of 60 feet. I stayed in an Adirondack shelter near sunset
rock, on
top of a round knob of granite, with 100 year red pines growing
in a
feather moss blanket along with reindeer lichens. The pines were
at the
edge of the lake and throughout the night were silhouetted
against the sky,
and although the sun does set, the sky has some glow all night
long at
these northerly latitudes. Lake Vermillion, and the rest of the
border
lakes region reverses the usual pattern; instead of land with
occasional
water, it is water with some land. All transportation is by
boat, every
house has a dock, and even the mail is delivered by boat.
Everyone has the
latest solar technology and biosystems for disposal of waste
water. It is
interesting that if they try, people can live on a bunch of
granite knobs
protruding from the water and not really have much impact on the
environment.
BTW, Minneapolis is making a good recovery from last Friday's
supercell
downburst storm with its 1 inch hail, 3 inch rainfall in 20
minutes (a
total white out), and 65 mph winds. A few of the great
cottonwoods at Lake
of the Isles came down, but many survived with minor damage.
Streets are
open again, most of the mess from the flood in the streets (and
my garage)
is cleaned up, conveniently done by others while I was at
Timbuktu. Even my
geraniums have already sprouted new flower buds and leaves to
replace the
ones macerated by the hail.
Lee
|
|