Category: Travel Publisher: North Star Press
ISBN-10: 0878393382
Type: Fiction
Pages: 124
ISBN-13: 9780878393381
Heading North is the story of a young man who changed courses and left a comfortable life behind for one of constant change. In calling the forests of Northern Minnesota home, Cole lives every day according to his interests and pleasures. Whether paddling through rough water, hiking "just one more mile," or simply gazing up at the sky, Cole is answering the questions he could only guess the answers to throughout his life until he followed through on his dreams.
Excerpt
Chapter 7
I awoke to a loud crash coming from outside the nylon walls of my home; my first thought was that another branch had come down from the wind, but I decided to investigate anyway. I unzipped the tent and crawled out into the pre-dawn, cold morning in my long underwear. I checked my surroundings and decided the source of my early waking had either been the cardinal sitting on the firewood pile or the very large black bear pawing at my pack, grunting and snorting as it went about its business. My natural instincts coupled with a college education led me to believe it was the bear that had awoken me.
I watched as the bear pulled a frying pan out through one of the new openings it had created in the pack and briefly contemplated just crawling back into my sleeping bag for a few more hours and letting the bear have its way.
The bear slowly raised its head from the frying pan it had been licking to look at me. The bear decided there was not a threat and resumed licking the pan as I fumed and cursed it. I grabbed my rifle and got to my feet, soaking my wool socks with the morning dew as I watched the bear ignore me. I shot into the air several times, which was enough to get the bear to raise its head again; I shot once more and when I aimed at the bear it decided to slowly walk away.
“Go find a summer home to break into, you’ll give the yuppies something to talk about when they show up.” I yelled after it as it ambled through the willows on the south side of my camp.
I decided I might as well stay awake for the rest of the day. It was difficult to get up and stay motivated on the cold mornings after a storm and under normal circumstances on days like this I might sleep until eight or nine. I got a fire going and threw some grounds into my coffee pot as I contemplated breakfast, finally deciding that a stringer of bass would set the day up just right. I grabbed my fishing pole and walked down to my kayak at the lake. The time of the day was right, and I hoped the next storm I could see rolling in would have the fish biting.
Within an hour I had caught eight decent sized bass, so I turned back toward camp to beat the storm. I sipped at my coffee as I filleted and fried my catch. I had five slices of bread left; I ate two with my fish and decided to keep three for sandwiches. I was planning to follow the small creek that led out of the lake that afternoon to break up some of the beaver dams blocking it, but the sky did not look very friendly.
I knew it was my fault that the bear had come into my camp. I should have put my pan up in a tree at night like I did with my food supply, but I had hiked a long way the day before and by the time I got back I had forgotten the pan was still in the pack. The bears were coming out of hibernation and they would be hungry after not eating for months.
I cursed the bear for ruining my pack, but I told myself that old frame pack creaked too much anyway. I had sewed and patched it more times than I cared to remember. I had other smaller backpacks that I could use until I made a trip into town in a month or two. That bear had probably weighed about five hundred pounds and it certainly could have done a lot worse; when it gained the weight it had lost in hibernation back it might weigh seven hundred pounds.
When I was younger there was an open garbage pit that we sent guests to watch the bears. I spent many nights seeing the bears pulling apart piles of garbage at the pit.
The open pit dumps were no longer around, but bears still went for garbage. Occasionally I would come across shredded garbage bags with whatever the bears had not considered edible strewn through the trees.
I thought back to living in the city during college and how someone had broken into my house and stolen my stereo, guitar, and bike, along with a truckload of other things from my roommates and I. Now I was living miles from the nearest house and I still had to worry about intruders coming and stealing my meager possessions. I said to myself that even if that damn bear had eaten all my food and were to keep coming back for more I would still prefer bears to humans for neighbors, and I laughed.
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