Circling High Above
Published October 6, 2005 | 
In the greyness and drizzle of one despondent dawn
unstirred by harbingers of sunbreak
a vulture perching high on broken bone of a dead tree
nestled close to his mate
his smooth bashed-in head, a pebble on a stem
rooted in a dump of gross feathers,
inclined affectionately to hers. .
- from Vulture by Chinua Achebe
As I paddle around the lake each day now the vultures are circling high above. Not the normal scattering of individuals riding a thermal up the purple quartzite cliffs, but hundreds filling the sky like fruit flies around a garbage can. They are everywhere, and ….. IT’S BEAUTIFUL!
Every autumn in early October the vultures who summer among the various cliffs and outcrops of Central Wisconsin come together at Devil’s Lake. For a small number of days they gather in ever larger circles over water imprisoned by high bluffs & forested glacial dams. Their long shadows sliding across the ancient ceremonial mounds of a past civilization. Each mound carefully formed to represent animals and birds which once roamed this land, wind and rain slowly making their shapes hard to discern. One morning soon I will arrive to see them gone with only the few locals left who have chosen to keep the frozen talus fields and wind twisted trees company. The ospreys may linger a bit longer, but they will soon be gone. A bald eagle may hold out for a time as well, but as the waters turn to ice she too will head for open water. Eagles winter just a few miles south of Baraboo where turbulent water flows freely all year kicked around by a hydro-electric dam on the nearby Wisconsin river.
This weekend the gathering of vultures, if they remain, will be met with a gathering of friends as familiar faces from the North East Sea Kayakers will be sailing into Devil’s Lake State park. We certainly welcome anyone else who would like to join us for paddling, hiking and whatever else comes to mind. Friday evening I will be running over to group camp 9 to drop off firewood and hopefully sit around a fire. It looks like a cool but sunny weekend. A great time for Alex to show off his new kayak and teach me all the cool stuff he learned at Qajaq Training Camp last month. (by the way you should be able to click the image to the right to see the large version)As is my nature I’ve begun to beat my head against the liquid wall to prepare for BCU Assessment in Georgia in a couple weeks. Speaking of weak. . . You should see my hanging draw. (drum beat goes here) Seems like one day my side slip is perfect and the next day it’s gone. One day my paddle needs to go in at the knee, then the next it seems to do better going in at the hip. Not sure what’s going on but I’m the driven type I will figure it out. I can remember going through the same thing with my bow rudder. Then one day as if it were handed down by the kayak gods it was just there. I wish they were a little quicker to hand out their gifts!!
Related Posts:
2 Responses to Circling High Above
I’m picking up my qajaq tomorrow morning and I’m stoked! I definitely have a couple new tricks to show you. Thanks for the info on the group site number. Hopefully I’ll find my way over to you guys. I think a few people (Chuck, Nanette, and Dave) were considering coming up early and camping tonight as well. I’m also driving over to Madison tomorrow at some point to pick up my new playboat which is being transported there from Ashland. Two new toys in one day. My cup overfloweth!
As for the hanging draw, I have reasonable success with a Euro paddle but it’s almost a lost cause with a Greenland paddle alhtough I’m still working on it. Strangely, with the Superior carbon GP, I’m able to due a hanging draw a little better which may be due to the flatter blade. I never used a bow rudder to date. You’ll have to show that to me and help me understand the circumstances where one would use that manuever.