The Peaceable Kingdom

After Saturday night's beer revelries, things quieted down. On Sunday morning, campers began to pack up equipment still damp from the night's storm. We watched in anticipation.

By Sunday night, we were down to only three of the 28 sites filled, and one of those was ours. The other two were at the other end of the campground. “Clothing optional” Gary announced, but a chill precluded that.

I took a solitary walk along the shore to the cabins opposite the campground. Gary met me at the beach and there we talked to a woman and her small daughter. They were the family of the electrician working in the cabins. They filled us in on the plans for the place. Were the cabins going to be heated? No, but the lights would work better. When will the cabins be open for campers? Next May. Will our friends, Mary and Marty the custodians, be back? They didn't know.

Though there is some construction going on, for the time being we are happy enough not to have the constant sound of barking dogs, screaming children and slammed screen doors from the cabin side of the lake. Neither do we have barking dogs, screaming children, and drunken louts on our side at present.

Sigurd Olson wrote in The Singing Wilderness of the ancient admonition, “Be still and know that I am God.” For him, the joy of the wilderness was the sound of silence. When all the campers leave, I can walk through the forest listening for the soft tap that is the sound of the illusive black backed woodpecker. In past years I've been able to spot him here at Lost Lake. Last night I followed the tap-tapping and came to a rotting log beside the road, but instead it was the amazing pileated woodpecker, much bigger and brighter.

A juvenile red-shouldered hawk was along the trail, plaintively calling for his parents, but they likely have decided he's old enough to be on his own. The hummingbirds have finally discovered Gary's feeder and have started turf wars, though surely there is enough nectar for all.

This morning another group of campers left, leaving just one other site occupied. The ranger stopped in to replenish the toilet paper in the pit toilets and swab down the floors.

Peace has settled in our little kingdom.

Everything is as it should be.