Column: Woods & Water, by Dick Herfindahl

Just last week I was lucky enough to spend a little quality time up at the cabin. Just me and the critters.

Although I didn’t actually get to do much fishing, I was able to get caught up on a few things I had been putting off. There are actually some advantages to spending time alone in the woods because the alone time seems to give me a little more incentive to work on the cabin.

As I drove those 300-plus miles, those three magic little words appeared to me as if in a vision. Those words, of course, were “Road Work Ahead.” Some have suggested that we should change the name of the summer season to the construction season.

Most of us true Minnesotans take the summer construction in stride and just go with the flow, but there are a few who will ride your bumper in a work zone as if to say, “Here’s my $300. Now, can you speed it up?”

Some folks are always in a big hurry, which can even lead a person to have a case of road rage. An example of this was the time I was returning home from one of the fishing openers, and the traffic in and around St. Cloud was backed up for miles. As I sat there slowly inching ahead with the traffic, a young guy in a Chevy Blazer passed me on the shoulder. As he drove by, he gave me the one-finger salute as if it was my fault the 150 cars ahead of me were almost stopped. As this genius-on-wheels passed the pickup in front of me, he flipped him off also.

Now, in my way of thinking, you don’t do that to anyone who has the old Easy Rider Rifle Rack in the back window. As finger-guy passed him, the guy in the pickup smoked his tires, jumped onto the shoulder and was fast in pursuit of the young dummy who thought he was No. 1. I don’t know if that guy ever caught him, but as fast as he was going I’m pretty sure he did.

The weather up north this past week was just about perfect with the exception of the strong winds that made fishing a little challenging. I was surprised to find that the mosquitoes weren’t bad, especially with the amount of rain that they had been getting. The flies were a little pesky, but even they were tolerable.

I spoke to one of my neighbors, Chris, whom I hadn’t actually talked to for a few years, and he told me about the wildlife that we have around our area. He installed trail cams around his cabin and also in the woods where he baits bear.

After talking to him, I found out that we have a resident badger that seems to spend a lot of time walking back and forth between our cabins. He has also has pictures of two bears at his bait pile, and another of the cameras showed five deer and even a wolf. When he went to check that camera, he found a dead deer that had been killed and half eaten, no doubt, by the wolf. Chris said we also have a pair of fox roaming the area.

After I absorbed all of this information, it just confirmed what I had always felt: living in the north woods that close to nature is pretty darned awesome. When you’re lying in bed at night in the dark with the windows open, you can hear the loons that reside on our little lake calling each other. That is a sound like no other. One night I awoke to the sound of something fairly good-sized rummaging around under the cabin; I’d guessed it to be a raccoon, but after talking to Chris, I’m thinking it may have been that badger.

I have on many occasions had a grouse jump up in front of me or run across my path. Over the years, I have heard the wolves calling at night. In the fall, you can hear bigger critters walking on the dry twigs and leaves that have fallen in the woods. I also have heard moose calling from a nearby slough. I actually only discovered that it was moose after describing the sound to my brother-in-law, Lynn Johnson, who resides in Alaska. He told me he has heard that call many times over the years.

There are so many sounds to be heard around a lake and in the woods, and most of them intensify as the sun sets and evening gives way to nightfall. The bullfrogs seem to sing in unison, and there are other critters that will join in as the night wears on.

Over the years that we’ve had the cabin, I have heard many sounds that, to this day, I have still not been able to identify. This is what makes being close to nature so very special to me.

Until next time, enjoy the summer and get close to nature by spending a little time in the great Minnesota outdoors.

Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers because they are the reason we are able to enjoy all the freedoms that we have today.

Dick Herfindahl’s column appears in the Tribune each Sunday.