The second thing I became aware of at what would become Camp Raisonette was unexpected, unseeable, and oddly non-existent. We had been hunting for some woods to steward, and the must-haves for Natty B and I both were mutually exclusive and oppositional across the board. Our long suffering realtor Gaelan (long may he wave!) and I would exchange thoughts, he would point me at parcels, I would walk them and they would end up being unsuitable for an unforseen reason. We ALL (GT, NB, and I) tumbled in this churn for what seemed like a decade until a weird March Blizzard when Gaelan sent me a parcel ID for a land-locked acreage high on a hill in the Shaker Patent. If the trees were all cut down (NEVER!) we could look 30+ miles north/south over Lake Champlain. The snow was coming down hard, I was on hiatus, and G said it was not likely to tick all of our boxes! In a typically perverse decision (MY camp name is Eddy, a dynamic natural force that goes in circles) I began to pound out a snowshoe float down the right-of-way toward the stand of trees at the NW corner of the parcel.
The r-o-w in kinder days🤩
With my 36″ s’shoes I was still dry-gulching myself in the feet of late season powder. When you do this to yourself it’s not really a mistake, but dammit something in the way this unseen area was ringing a chime over the roar of the wind was undeniable. I floated 350m that day, and came within 50m of the actual parcel line, still a blank space in my experience. Trudging back up a gentle slope in that storm, I wasn’t retreating. I was investing.
Two days later Natty B and I floated all the way to the corner. It was still a trudge, “float” is an old ironic joke, but by the time we had achieved the car again there were 6 reps of shoes packing down that trail, now firm and 16″ above the ground. The snow to the sides was another foot or two above it, but we had a path for further surveying.
Day 3 on that path: I dress in many light layers because the air temperature is 10F and I’m going to be breaking a sweat. Crossing the boundary I am amongst 30″-40″ circ. conifers overlooking a small sunny dale. The deer have been moving through this dale in an onerous fashion, dragging their bellies because of teeny little non-snowshoe hooves. I descend into a sunny patch making new float and abruptly I halt. I don’t have any real idea why until a wind-lull lets me in on a low gurgle. I hear running water. Under my shoes. Not on any map. I don’t own this place (I’m scouting with the owners blessing) but now I will. I will never truly meander here again because I have found a peaceful eddy, an audible gurgle, a live stream to flow with.
#talestold #livestream #campraisonette
Thanks to Amy Mintz for the prompt😎
