View Full Version : Following Thoreau's footsteps with New York Times
Here's an interesting travel article from the New York Times. It's a bit touristy, but it provides some insights into why we are trying to preserve a bit of what's left of wild Maine:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/travel/escapes/19american.html?ref=trav
Weary www.matlt.org
Interesting read. It is a remarkable area still and the Allagash region to the north is still very special in terms of remoteness and beauty, by canoe of course.
this paragraph from the article stood out:
For Thoreau, Katahdin was “the fresh and natural surface of the planet Earth.” The Maine Woods were a wake-up call, a place to “Talk of mysteries! — Think of our life in nature, — daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, — rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the solid earth! the actual world!”
thanks for posting the article.
Interesting read. It is a remarkable area still and the Allagash region to the north is still very special in terms of remoteness and beauty, by canoe of course.
this paragraph from the article stood out:
thanks for posting the article.
Many thanks for your comments. The Maine "wildlands" are a very complex issue that for decades have had a massive impact on the trail -- and continue to do so.
But essentially, for most of a century these lands were dedicated to growing trees. The mills in recent years have mostly closed. The lands have been sold to developers.
Thoreau's comments are important because of what he observed a century and a half ago. The article is important because it hints about what is left of his vision.
What needs to be done now, at least for the few of us that recognize the importance of wildness, is to protect as much as possible of the wildness that Thoreau observed.
Weary
Many thanks, Woodsy, for your comments. The Maine "wildlands" are a very complex issue that for decades have had a massive impact on the trail -- and continue to do so.
But essentially, for most of a century these lands were dedicated to growing trees. The paper mills in recent years have mostly closed. The lands have been sold to developers.
Thoreau's comments are important because of what he observed a century and a half ago. The article is important because it hints about what is left of his vision.
What needs to be done now, at least for the few of us that recognize the importance of wildness, is to protect as much as possible of the wildness that remarkably remains of what Thoreau observed.
Weary www.matlt.org