Ah.
Ah...tomorrow I'm off to the north woods for a relaxing camping trip. We're going to fish, swim, play some D&D, read from forbidden tomes of black lore...
From Voyageurs National Park on FB:
From Voyageurs National Park on FB: Called “Catamaran” by locals, Bert Upton is among the strangest of historical characters on area waters. He lived in a hut built over a dug-out at Squirrel Narrows. Found frozen to death in the 1930s by Kettle Falls pioneer Oliver Knox; Upton was perched lifeless in the snow just a half-mile from his home. Shunning civilization, Upton defined the word hermit. First spotted rowing his crude log raft on Namakan, no one knows how he got there. Upton’s accent implied an English heritage but any personal inquiries brought a stony silence. Some suspected him a man fleeing the law; others saw a bizarre outcast; everyone knew he was peculiar. Just five feet tall and wildly unkempt, Catamaran wore hacked-off pants and walked barefoot with a stick. Winter demanded shoes but no socks, a cast-off Mackinaw, and a trailing cap made from the leg of old underwear. He was oddly religious, and suspicious of being poisoned. Surviving on snared rabbits and fish, he ofte...
Nice knowing you.
ReplyDeleteJust remember to draw your protective circles first and above all spellcheck your work. ;)
ReplyDeleteKlaatu...barada...NIgrhmphugrmuhuh!
ReplyDeleteHey, look. Someone left an old tape recorder in here...
ReplyDeleteok, this is something i've been trying to work out since moving to eagle river, wi. what exactly do you mean when you say "north woods"?
ReplyDeletei can't figure out if the locals use it to refer to just the handful of counties up here by the upper peninsula of michigan or if they mean everything north of green bay, including the northern half of minnesota and the UP itself.
Generally in MN it means anything north of the Iron Range, from the North Shore of Lake Superior to the Boundary Waters.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically, we are going to Voyageurs National Park. Not sure where we're putting the boat in yet, either in Rainy Lake or Crane Lake. In either case, the other side of the lake will be Canada.
North woods is anything beyond the northernmost suburbs of Minneapolis.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the number of huge pickups and SUVs in the north suburbs, I tend to agree with Brian Takle.
ReplyDeleteFor urbanites like me, the line is a lot nearer :)
ReplyDeleteThere comes a point where the Tahoe replaces the Prius, and country music replaces Cities 97. Then you know you're in the wilderness.
so it's probably one of those context specific words. i know i've heard local radio ads use it akin to "the tri-counties" or some other localized but thinly populated service area. but it can be applied to the entire swatch of rural area around the great lakes / canadian border.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd say the inhabitants of Hayward, WI and Brainerd, MN both consider themselves denizens of The North Woods.
ReplyDeleteBrian Takle does it cross state lines? 'cos if you draw a line between green bay and minneapolis i'd say that definition works across at least 2 states. but when i hear someone on the far side of wisconsin (relative to you guys) say "the nortwoods" do they mean to include the northern part of your state in that? or is there an implied "…of wisconsin" in that? when it's used in MN do you consider it to include northern WI as well?
ReplyDeleteMinnesotans try not to include Wisconsinites in anything.
ReplyDeleteAt least between MN and WI it crosses both ways. People in Minneapolis will "go up north" to northern WI, and people in WI will "go up north" to northern MN.
ReplyDeleteas long as you aren't from chicago the folks up here tend to reign in their hatred for out of towners. ;)
ReplyDelete