Posts Tagged ‘wisconsin’

*Please listen to the doors for 24.3 seconds before watching this video or reading this post.. You pick the tune.

Now I absolutely refuse to comment on this image or the guy in the red shirt.  It’s more than my life is worth!.. What I can say is that anyone involved in the outdoor recreation industry or for that matter any businesses interested in how to make social media work for them, should know these folks.  You can start by watching the  “Boots on the Ground” is the first of a series of “unofficial” social media panel discussion here.  Besides if you watch it, you won’t have to listen to me tell you the same stuff. As they say it’s easier to to bring the mountain to… or climb to.. or those who buy Mohammad a beer will certainly… Anyway, I forgot.  But the point of this blog was that I’m deleting my KayakQuixotica Twitter account in favor of my Skillet Creek Twitter account.. It’s just that well.. you know.. It may be a bit too hyper-local for some.. but even most of my outdoor life is well, hyper local…

* Yes, I did steal this screen shot from the video and may burn in hell for an indefinite period of time.  If however if you are the owner of this video and you’d like to save my soul or have me remove this image, please speak now.

Jack, do you never sleep — does the green still run deep in your heart?
Or will these changing times, motorways, powerlines,
keep us apart?
Well, I don’t think so —
I saw some grass growing through the pavements today.
Tull

Today on my Skillet Creek Journal I’m contemplating nature’s end.  Sometimes I when we ride the train we spend so much time involved in looking out the window, complaining about the food, and reading the newspaper that we never actually consider that the ride will soon end.  I think this is why conservation is both a hopeless endeavor, and yet an important act of desperation.  Sea kayakers are lucky in a sense. No matter how many humans we fill the land with there should always be oceans and wind to create waves. Even if all the sea life is long dead.

So today I’m on about a bit of local outdoor/nature related politics.  Where I live we have massive amounts of protected lands.  Most of it is owned by a mix of government and private agencies and is wonderfully open to the public.  Thing is, the local government sees all this land, especially the non-profit owned land, as a curse. Something many of us in the outdoor industry would call short sighted.  Well, after a rescue last fall on land owned by the Nature Conservancy the local town board is now meeting with attorneys to figure out how to send the bill to non-profit land owners that allow public access.  You can see where this is going… Read more here.

Nothing remains  / We could run / when the rain slows
Look for the cars or signs of life  / Where the heat goes
Look for the drifters / We should crawl under the bracken
Look for the shafts of light on the road
Where the heat goes – bowie

So the idea is to take 3 pictures and sort of mush them together in a way that adds way more data & depth than an average photograph.  Normally this “HDR” or High Dynamic Range photography produces wildly surreal images.  Much of that of course is due to the artistic whims of the photographer who has endless opportunity to tweek the images during processing.  I’ve never really messed with HDR myself. For me most of the enjoyment of photography is in the moment and trying to capture the minds eye as it were (A hopeless task from the start I might add.).  I’ll certainly edit images  in Photoshop, but my joy is camera in hand. Still, I’m also driven to know how things are done, which sent me out to give HDR a go myself yesterday. Only the challenge I set for myself was to make it look well, real.  Then once I got started I totally adjusted my thinking. Yeah, that’s just like me!

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Up until this point I’ve chosen not to comment on the case of missing Wisconsin paddler, Doug Winter.   It’s an interesting case which I’m sure will stir up discussion soon enough if it hasn’t already.  As I’ve said many times, I don’t really keep up with what’s going on at Pnet anymore.  Still, just like anyone else I can’t help but roll the news reports around in my head and ask questions.  Questions I’m sure the police, family and friends have all asked.  I’m sure there are some answers out there.  Some known already by the authorities and some still waiting to be discovered.  One thing I’m feeling is that what I’m reading so far just doesn’t quite feel right.

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No kayaks in this story.  We spent the weekend going native.  Well, I didn’t shoot a deer or anything like that but I did go to the local apple orchard.   It’s sort of  classic rite of autumn to road trip through the local hills taking in the fall color, carving pumpkins, visiting an orchard, visiting a winery and hanging out at a local state park for a Halloween Hike.  If you can do it all in one day, all the better!

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Taking a break from walking our kayaks down the Wisconsin River…

Paddling down the Lower Wisconsin River is one of the most popular trips in our area.  Walking down the river is another less popular option. Of course most people,  most sane people, run the Wisconsin in early summer. Earlier in the year the water is higher, the current is faster and the hot summer sun makes an occasional wade across a sand bar a joy.  I on the other hand, am simply horrid at doing things the way they’re normally done.  For good and bad, this personal defect usually sets me up for some unique experiences.  The reward is simply being right there in the moment which is often harder to achieve than one might think.

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