Our Stories

Wild in the North Country – Part Four

By Michele Oberholtzer

Lake Superior

Day 20, Mile 243

I have not spoken all day. I did not intentionally try to do it, it’s just that I never had reason to say anything. I am fairly certain I haven’t had a full silent day since I spoke my first word as a child.

Yesterday I was hoping to make it all the way to Lake Superior but, with a late start, tired feet, and strong winds, I came up short. I had gone over 20 miles but I realized I wouldn’t make it before dark so I set a rule for myself that I MUST stop by 9:30pm. I was running out of time so I decided to call it a day when I reached a little clearing by a lake. For some unknowable reason, I turned left and walked a hundred yards off the trail and found a beautiful little lean-to cabin. I looked at my watch- it was 9:27. I have been hiking for over 250 miles and this is the very first structure for campers that I have found.

It felt like such magical serendipity that I have decided to stay here for a full day. I wanted to have a Day of Nothing. I wanted to enjoy my own company without needing a distraction. I wanted to sit with myself instead of trying to Go Go Go. I wanted to wait for the emotions to rise up instead of hustling past them.

All day today I didn’t speak and I didn’t hike, but I certainly didn’t achieve a day of nothing. I didn’t meditate, I didn’t fast, I didn’t “wait for the emotions.” I kept busy and, when I couldn’t be busy, I slept. My first instinct is to be disappointed in myself but, then again, this reminds me that that I can’t just think myself into being someone else. I am who I am: outwardly diligent, inwardly tentative, alternately lazy and intense, desperately seeking meaning in everything. I am capable of change but I will always just be myself, some version of who I was yesterday.

What a day already- I was out on the trail by 8:15am and it’s only 9:30 now. I walked all of 5 minutes from my little cabin shelter and what a shock to see my first view of Lake Superior! I actually laughed out loud when I saw it because it was such a thrill. I can’t believe I was so close to for over a full day. There was still a bit of distance between me and the lake but I could see it!

I was nervous-excited as I made my way down to the shore. I knew I had to go into the water.

This part of the lake is called “the shallows,” which makes sense because I walked into the water for hundreds of yards before it even reached the top of my legs. Lake Superior is notoriously cold but, in that shallow water, I was almost warm.

Finally I took a surface dive and bathed myself. I floated on my back awhile, watching the clouds go by. There was a family of loons floating not too far away. The sun was just coming to from the clouds, still low enough to cast rays down in angled streaks. The water was beautiful and calm. I felt like the smartest person in the world for getting myself to that place in that moment.

Michele Oberholtzer backpacked alone across Northern Michigan from Leelenau to Keweenaw, traveling on foot for over 700 miles. Most of her hike took place on the North Country Trail, which has over 1000 miles in Michigan. Stay tuned from now until New Years Day as we share her story. Michele documented her trip in her “Left of East” journal series. Check out that series and more of her writing at www.oberdoit.com.