anno ab incarnatione lupus 123 E.E., Annual Letter to Lobo

 

Valley of the Corrumpa where Lobo lived in 1894. dlw photo from Capulin Volcano 2010

Dear Lobo,

                  I have been writing these to you yearly, expressing appreciation for all your work in the world, even dating a new historical era from the date of your death, now that BC, AD, CE, etc. seem irrelevant.

                  January 31 of the Environmental Era is a special day with the growing hours of light (in New Mexico at least) becoming more evident. While Earth Day (April 22) is a day to celebrate Nature, this date should become one of reflection on what is happening to the world you knew only so briefly.

                  Unfortunately, I don’t have much positive news to report. This past year of 122 E.E. was not a particularly good one. First and most importantly, it was the hottest on record in terms on averaged annual global temperature. The temperature has risen 1.3° Celsius since the time when you roamed the plains of the Corrumpa. (That translates to 2.3° Fahrenheit for you as a non-scientist wolf.)

                  According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, earth is now “on the edge” of runaway heating. Imagine yourself in ferocious pursuit of an antelope on an exceptionally hot, sunny day when, at the end of the chase, there is no way to cool off. That should give you an idea of what we are up against.

                  On the same day as the release of this report, National Public Radio ran an interview with someone who, as I recall, has the title of Secretary of Energy. He spoke calmly about someday, decades from now, when carbon fuel use will gradually be replaced by renewables such as solar power. Decades from now! He should have been panicking, promising to lead a campaign to get us off of carbon right away. And, compared to the joker who has replaced him, well, words fail. Makes me want to howl.

                  Almost no one mentions—outside of obscure corners of the internet, something like the scent marking you use to interpret—that cows, as leading methane producers, are just as important in causing climate change as fossil fuels. Little did you know (or at least I think you didn’t know) that by killing cows you were doing your part to combat climate change. You were right to kill so many of them.

                  I could go on with list of terrible and destructive political developments here and abroad by populists, fascists, and terrorists, but I’m running out of energy (so to speak). To put it in terms you would understand, imagine a world of wolf hunters run amuck (actually, last year 14 Mexican Gray Wolves were murdered in New Mexico and Arizona) and you will get an idea of what 122 E.E. has been like.

                  Thanks again for your sacrifice in attempting to warn us Lobo, and for your ongoing inspiration. I will hope that our collective environmental consciousness will continue to grow stronger and that next year, I may be able to give you a better report.

                  (Actually, I’m not counting on it, but according to Joanna Macy and other environmentalists, we must hold on to positive thoughts if we are to have any chance to making it to 124 E.E. and beyond.)

Your devoted admirer,

The Author

Was Seton a Conservative or Liberal?

The White Wind Blows (from winter into spring)

Ernest Thompson Seton didn’t leave a published record of his political beliefs, although there are clues. He greatly admired Theodore Roosevelt (more than Roosevelt admired him as it turned out) but Seton was not a U.S. citizen during the period of TR’s political activity; their relationship seems to have defined by their common interest in natural history. By the time of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt presidency, Seton had become an American citizen and a supporter of FDR.

 

Seton made clear his admiration for the historical communitarianism of American Indians and First Nations peoples. I suspect that he would have liked at least some of what Bernie Sanders stands for as a “democratic socialist.” Ralph Nadar has defined those who use this term in the American context as “New Dealers,” that is,  supporters of government programs meant to benefit a broad segment of the population, as opposed to a select few. That would seem to position Seton on the political left, at least as it was defined in the 1930s and 1940s. He would have been appalled at the current rise of populism.

 

“Politics” as an activity is usually taken to mean partisanship in favor or in opposition to certain issues in economics, domestic social issues, war and peace, etc. In a more general way, an attitude or belief can be political, such as Seton’s belief in Darwinism or his championing of Native Americans or his stance regarding the existence of an emotional life among non-human animals. But ascribing these attitudes to the political “left” or “right” doesn’t fit with our current notion of politics.

 

In this series of essays I have addressed the many aspects of Seton as naturalist, explorer, artist, writer and so on. These parts of his life do not exist outside of the political (in the general sense mentioned above) so the question of his conservatism or liberalism is worth asking in an investigation of his life and views. He was not doctrinaire; he took the best of both positions.

 

Seton called for justice for native peoples (liberalism) while also promoting what he understood as their traditional values (conservatism). He rejected the conservative position of accepting our birth-assigned status place (he certainly didn’t) but rejected a notion sometimes followed by liberals of putting present needs above future concerns. Lifecraft philosophy, while strongly supportive of creativity, also looks to the restraint of authority to hold down the chaos. In this regard, Seton seems to weigh in on order and interest above liberty and choice. 

 

Through Lifecraft, Seton attempted to strike the right balance: the honoring of individual expression and achievement within a community to which one owes service as the price of liberty.

This service to community, moreover, comes out of individual choice, not through convention or force. By contrast, taking a traditional conservative line, Robert Baden-Powell held that service is owed to the prevailing societal arrangements—especially one’s country—because order flows from nationalist respect. The difference between these two approaches is monumental.

Seton took his most extraordinary step when he claimed that animals are different from us only by degree, that they, like us, have emotions, thoughts, feelings and desires. While his stories made him famous (and wealthy), the conservative backlash to this position destroyed much of the literary reputation he had worked so hard to achieve. Theodore Roosevelt, among others, could find no meaning in what Seton was attempting to convey. If Seton was correct, then everything believed by most people at that time had to be mistaken. This was Seton’s most revolutionary position—and it cost him dearly.

His most prescient position was one that cannot be characterized as either liberal or conservative.  Seton began drawing and writing about what I would call our war on nature as early as 1901. By 1925, he felt that damage to the environmental was already spiraling out of control. He did not promote specific policies but through his own life modeled the power that a rising consciousness about our place in the world might hold.

The Seton Legacy offers us an acceptance of the rational (in the case of climate change, conclusions derived from the scientific method) combined with an acknowledgement of history (we can compare conditions from past times to our own) and an obligation to the future (what we do now matters in a deeply moral way).

See my Seton Legacy Project blog on achieving peace through justice posted October 22, 2012, “St. Paul the Apostle.” For a comparison of liberalism vs. conservatism, inspired by a reading of the scholar Yuval Levin, see “Why the Environmentalist Movement Has Not Saved Us (Yet)” December 2016. at www.davidlwitt.com.

Seton, Humboldt and the Recognition of Nature

Willows replace meadows in the warming Arctic, Sand Hill Bay Camp, Aylmer Lake, NWT Canada

In the first two volumes of Lives of Game Animals, Seton repeatedly returns to the theme of wildlife conservation, calling for preservation while at the same time doubting that his efforts can be successful. In the third volume, his strikingly gloomy essay “The Lament” predicts not only a bad end for our wild kindred, but for our civilization as well: “The end is in sight. Desolation sweeps from sea to sea.”

Seton clearly referred to the end of wild nature—which Bill McKibbin exactly named in 1989—but compared also to John Muir, whose environmentalist critique was more direct, Seton’s remains oblique. I searched for “nature” in the indexes to Seton’s autobiography, in Julia Seton’s By A Thousand Fires, in the biographies written by Keller and Anderson, and then even in my own book. The word does not appear, not withstanding that whether Seton was writing about wildlife, aboriginal American cultures, or outdoor education for youth, the common element in each is—nature.

Is nature so close that we don’t see it? And if that is the case, what is “nature?” This is an important question, for how do we protect and preserve something unless we can first name it? We can name the danger, most dramatically the spate of alarming reports in July and August 2016 suggesting that the theoretical “tipping point” for the climate may have reached, as global high temperature records seem on the brink of spiraling out of control. (For Example see the NASA report, August 31, 2016.

“Nature” is endangered. But what does that mean?

*

In The Invention of Nature, Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World—Andrea Wulf’s biography of the German adventurer, philosopher, and scientist—we find a way into this subject. In his great 1807 masterwork, Essay on the Geography of Plants, Humboldt defined nature as being “a reflection of the whole.” (Wulf, pg. 128.) He further wrote, “In this great chain of causes and effects, no single fact can be considered in isolation.” (Wulf, pg. 5.) Henry David Thoreau and John Muir said much the same—a direct reflection of Humboldt’s influence upon them both.

A reflection of the whole, a connection of causes and effects includes all that we may define as wild-nature, natural habitats along with their inhabitants, nature is all that outside stuff, but also us with our destructive ways. According to Wulf, the first person to make that connection was Humboldt. His study of nature, a combination of Enlightenment empiricism (named “science” in the 19^th century) and the emotional (e.g. poetry, painting, creativity) became a new means of interpreting the world—known as natural history. Wulf shows that everyone from Darwin (to Seton whom of course she does not name) to today’s environmentalists are beneficiaries of Humboldt’s brilliant insights, for all that activists have remained unaware of their historical linage.

During Humboldt’s exploration of the Americas (1799-1804), he observed, “What speaks to the soul escapes our measurements.” (Wulf pg. 72.) But that soul recognition did not escape the lyrical landscape appreciations of Muir or the wildlife observations of Seton. If you don’t already know the emotions brought up by natural history, try reading the last three paragraphs of “Lobo, The King of Currumpaw” to a live audience without getting choked up. (Apparently, Seton himself had a difficult time getting to the end when he related the Lobo story.) Thoreau observed, “the most interesting and beautiful facts are so much the more poetry.” (Wulf, pg. 259) It is almost as if Thoreau was anticipating Seton’s work.

*

Seton was familiar with Thoreau’s work, but did not leave a direct account of the authors who had the most direct impact on his philosophy of nature. One clue I have is the late inventory of books from his Seton Castle library. That list, although long, represents only a fraction of the original collection. It does include Humboldt’s famous work Cosmos, A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe (1845-1862) whose readers included, (besides Seton) according to Wulf: Darwin, Thoreau, Muir, Ralph Waldo Emerson, early environmentalist George Perkins Marsh, and artist/scientist Ernst Haeckel. Although I did not find another Humboldt book in the collection, Seton used his Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America (1852 edition) as a source for his chapter on the Jaguar in Lives of Game Animals. I cannot (for the moment) establish whether or not Seton read Emerson, Marsh, and Haeckel, but he certainly would have known of them.

*

Wulf selected only a handful of artists, scientists, writers, and naturalists—out of countless thousands—who were influenced by Humboldt. Seton as naturalist, as explorer/wilderness adventurer, as observer and admirer of native cultures, as educator, writer and artist, as reconciler of head and heart (science and emotion), as both pragmatist and lyrical interpreter of nature, is surely beneficiary (along with many of us today) of the intellectual path forced by Humboldt over two centuries ago.

I was struck by another important similarity between Seton and Humboldt. I have written (as has Seton biographer Brian Morris) that Seton has become largely invisible to our contemporary life due to the pervasiveness of his ideas about conservation, ecology, education, environmentalism, and perhaps most importantly, animal sentience. Wulf points out that Humboldt became famous in his own time for his worldview: “His vision of nature has passed into our consciousness as if by osmosis. It is almost as though his ideas have become so manifest that the man behind them has disappeared.” (Wulf pg. 335) She also writes, “Humboldt’s interdisciplinary approach to science and nature is more relevant than ever…His concept of nature as one of global patterns is more relevant than ever.”

Humboldt and the line of thinkers descended from him have attempted to prove that we are not separate from nature. The lesson we can take from them is that what goes on in the environment around us, from evolution to pollution, from habitat preservation to species extinction is “a reflection of the whole.” The question for wild-nature and humanity-civilization is: will we recognize that wholeness—the very definition of nature—while there is still time to save some of the goodness in the world that remains, both the natural and the human-made?

anno ab incarnatione lupus

Wolf portrait by Seton

According to Julian/Gregorian calendar reckoning, we have entered the 2016^th year following the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The religious descriptor A.D. (in the year of the Lord) has been in widespread use for over twelve hundred years. The more secular C.E. (common era) has in recent times gained limited traction with historians.

I will here propose a new system for reckoning time: January 31, 2016 C.E. should become known as the first day of the Year 122 E.E.

Year 1 (a.k.a. Environmental Era—E.E.—January 31, 1894) marks the death of the gray wolf “Lobo, King of Currumpaw” at the hands of Ernest Thompson Seton. Not long afterward Seton repudiated animal trapping as well as persecution of predators (including wolves). In 1925 he predicted the coming civilization-ending environmental disasters.

I chose January 31, 1894 as the New Year 1 E.E. because the death of Lobo represents the turning point between the old world of unconscious environmental destruction and the new world of conscious environmental destruction. After that fateful year we had no more excuses for our war on nature.

Seton’s account of the life and death of Lobo was published in November of 1 E.E., proving the link between morality and wild nature. In his stories, Seton showed that we ignore this connection at our peril.

Other than Seton, the Apostles of Lobo of course did not know him; indeed, few are left who personally knew Seton. But we who know the Gospel of Lobo (the environmental New Testament Part I) and the Gospel of Walden (the environmental Old Testament) will continue to carry the message as long as we have breath.

My celebration of New Year’s Day 122 E.E. will include climbing the mountain behind my house to spend time with the elk who reside there this time of year. I hope you will also find a way of honoring wild nature on this special day.

Happy New Year, Lobo.

(New Testament Part II is Seton’s 1901 story “Krag, the Kootenay Ram.”)

Setonian Evenings 2nd Tuesday in November, December 2015 Santa Fe, New Mexico

Ernest Thompson Seton, 1901

Third and Fourth in a series of Setonian Evenings

6:30 - 8:00 pm at the Seton Gallery, Academy for the Love of Learning

Tuesday November 10 and Tuesday December 8, 2015

Free

133 Seton Village Road (off the Old Las Vegas Highway)

www.aloveoflearning.org

Host: David L. Witt 

As an important participant in the 1930s Santa Fe literary scene, Ernest Thompson Seton held evening salons at his home (Seton Castle) discussing Nature, Environment, Life and Lifecraft. The Academy’s Seton Legacy Project is reviving this tradition with a conversational series focusing on our relationship to the natural world. What “learnings,” warnings and inspirations might we find out there—and within ourselves—with close examination and reflection?

We will explore topics suggested by Seton, starting with readings from his stories. We want to hear your stories as we examine what is important about our experience with wildlife, wild places, and life in general.

Our Setonian evenings take place amid the drawings and books of the Seton Gallery. The setting is informal, a perfect atmosphere for the sharing of ideas and insights. We will start with a topic, but there is no set path—the direction of the discussion will emerge as we go along. 

November 10: Connecting Seton to the Academy through Lifecraft

Seton developed a philosophy of outdoor education disseminated through his Woodcraft League. It was about learning and living. Seton’s “Nine Principles” and “Fourfold Path,” for understanding nature and just being in the world appear to complement the “Learning Field” model of the Academy. We will look into the meaning of these.

December 8: The Radical Natural History of Generally True Patterns

Combining the teachings of Seton and Muir with Systems Theory, we find that the dissimilar systems of physics, biology and society work in remarkably similar ways demonstrating our connection to nature (and disproving the prevailing theory of our disconnection). We will consider examples to find which of them may hold up in the real world.

Ernest Thompson Seton and The Arctic Prairies: Aylmer Lake Expedition Field Notes 2015 #4

Stoney Point

 

{In late July and early August 2015 I led an expedition to the Arctic region of Canada’s Northwest Territories researching the Ernest Thompson Seton and Edward Preble expedition of 1907. We followed their route around Aylmer Lake located northeast of Great Slave Lake. Field notes from the expedition plus photographs are presented here in several separate entries. Additional essays about our journey can be found at the Seton Expedition website and at davidlwitt.com. An exhibition and short film about the 1907 and 2015 expeditions will be premiered at the Seton Gallery of the Academy for the Love of Learning (sponsor of this project) on August 14, 2016.}

Saturday August 1

Up at 7am. 9:50 Pushed off from Aylmer Lake Lodge for Sand Hill Bay. We traveled the east shore of the lake. Seton, starting east from the Lockhart, paddled up the western shore of the lake, stopping for a meal on an island along the way. Later, on their way out of Aylmer, they came down south along the east side. Which is to say that we did our Sandhill Bay trip going in the opposite direction going out; on the way back we returned part way along the west shore; in so doing we saw most of what they saw in 1907, but from the opposite direction.  

10:20 Going north on Aylmer, we looked north to see the spot on Seton’s map marked “Sandy Bay.” 10:38 Reached narrow passage between Harbor Island (Seton’s name for a large island in Aylmer Lake) and the mainland (east side of lake). #5347 (11:00am) “Stony Pt.” on south end of Crescent Island (my name) looks like a man-made constructed jetty from the south, but it was constructed by a glacier; at either end of this north-south running island are the entries to Carpenter Bay, probably shallow although we did not investigate. 

Continued north to “Wolf Den,” a scenic point on the opposite shore (to the north, mainland) from the north end of the Crescent Island. We landed and looked around ca. 11:20am – 12:20pm. The little cave is easily spotted from the water as we pulled up to the only landing area.

 

Wolf Den

Wolf Den entry

Wolf Den interior

Location: N 64°14’ 57.2”  W 108° 27’ 45.4”

 

Wolf den does not appear to have been recently inhabited by wolves. We found a few Caribou bone fragments inside and nearly the entry of the mossy-floored cave. The cave goes in less than 5m but is well protected from the elements. Dense tundra vegetative cover around the base of the bare granite boulder outcropping that forms its house sized roof. (Wolves lived there or had just moved out in August 1907.) From there we boated north through very shallow water to emerge eastwards from between to islets. With not much more lake level drop, the two will become one.

Location, taken offshore: N 64° 16.0’ 14.2”  W108° 28’ 43.8”

Water temp: 10.0 – 11.0c (50-51° F)

Coming into western end Sandhill Bay (northernmost part of Aylmer Lake) we could see a prominent rock on the western sandhill (Tent Ring Hill in my nomenclature). Although it stood out, when we later that evening climbed up the hill, this was not a cairn, but a single unimpressive boulder, much smaller than we had guessed. Seton built his cairn (as we were to learn) in a place where it could not have been seen from Aylmer.

 

Grizzly Bear(s) wallow and scat on beach

1:53pm We landed on an arc of beach protected by shallow water and large flat stones just below surface level; careful navigation required to get in and out. We found fairly fresh Wolf, Caribou and Musk Ox tracks. Also bear tracks. Two depressions in shoreline/tundra edge sand, one much larger than the other plus two piles of blueberry infused scat, one much larger than the other, showed the presence of bears on the beach (apparently they had been sleeping next to one another): mother & cub. According to Kevin they were present within the last 2-3 days. There is a sort of wildlife highway along this beach although empty of animals during our stay.

Sandhill Bay from our Beach Camp

Kevin, Patty, Michale went out fishing during the afternoon. Thomas and I followed in the other boat, drifting part of the time when we should have been making a more thorough reconnaissance of the shore looking for Seton’s Sandhill Bay camp which probably not (as I figured out later) where we camped. We traveled east to a large island in the bay, then slowly returned to our camp. Kevin cleaned fish caught by Michale and Patty, leaving entrails and head for the resident falcon.

After dinner we headed out for summit of west sand hill which we attained at 9:05pm (with Kevin remaining especially watchful in case the bears were still around, which they were not). Found 7 old tent rings on the summit (and 3 more lower down on the summit ridge to the north) along with tumbled down Seton cairn—undermined by “sic-sic” (Arctic ground squirrel) tunnels. Seton built the cairn between two closely adjacent rings. He used stones from both rings to create his monument. His structure was still standing when documented in the early 1980s. Apparently Seton and Preble believed these rings to be of recent origin. According to Morrison they were prehistoric.

We took still and video pictures from the summit in all directions, capturing the usual dramatic sunset. One of my videos shows the less than 1k (1094 yards) distance between Aylmer Lake the Back River.

David standing beside the ruins of Seton's cairn

Location: N 64° 25.0’ 38”  W 108° 27.0’ 4.0”

Bay of Back River (mid frame) with unnamed lake (behind beach camp) in foreground; more of Back River behind.

Place names from Seton map photographed today: “Stony Point” (on the feature I call Crescent Island. “3 Hill Peninsula” (east of Wolf Den). “Wolf Den.” “Pyramid Point.” “Sandhill Mountain” (the island in Aylmer, not the high point in the Narrows). “Boulder” (east side, mainland, near the entrance to Sandhill Bay). “Sandhill Bay.” Unnamed west sandhill esker (which I call in my notes Tent Ring Hill).

Still water lake

Bannock breakfast

Sunday August 2

Little sleep. Awoke at 5:15am after dead still night. Morning—had the beach to myself for a considerable time. Wrote another essay for Academy for the Love of Learning blog documenting this trip. Kevin made bannock for breakfast—using an iron skillet atop an  oversize propane stove. The 1907 group must have had iron skillets, cooking with wood where available; they found willow wood north along the Back River, but none at their camp. As at the Lockhart, willows live here now, although of small diameter.

We left the beach camp before 10am, crossing the tundra going easterly until reaching an area of esker hills overlooking the demarcation line of rocks between Sussex Lake and Back River. 11:45am reached the river where a very strong current from the lake is channeled into two or three powerful flows between the boulders. I thought that Seton and Preble had passed this way, but a later more careful reading of the map showed their crossing of the Back River much further north. They made at least three or four hikes from the beach, including one that led them east to a height above Sussex Lake. But they did not get as far east as we did; we did not get nearly as far north as they did. As a result, I missed the chance to get farther north but led us to a discovery of our own. The sand eskers defining the south edge of the Back River were extraordinarily beautiful.

I felt this lake/river intersection was an especially powerful place and was transfixed by the feeling of it. I believe that everyone in the group felt this was the most special place we visited. (George Back, who passed through here in 1833 called this river, in English translation, by its Indian name, the Great Fish River.) Sadly, no one thought to bring along a fishing rod, so the great fish remained unmolested. We remained in this area for much of the day, walking part of the time, but with a long interval of just being. Thomas, Patty and I selected separate high points from which to contemplate the majesty of it all. Michale and Kevin staked out a separate high point at the east end of the esker directly above Sussex Lake.   

Sandhill Bay Beach Camp

Location: Sandhill Bay beach camp 1188’ N 64° 29’ 50.9”  W 108° 27’ 32.2”

Patty above Back River (left) & Sussex Lake (right)

Location: Back River crossing, south side N 64° 25’ 21.2”  W 108° 24’ 14.9”

Confusingly, the main body of Sussex Lake drains southward. The Back River begins at the lake’s southern end, running west through a canyon, then opens out into a large bay before narrowing again and heading north to Arctic Ocean. Its next opening is the head or south end of Musk Ox Lake. Preble crossed over the Back River around where the Icy River enters from the west just below that lake. Another way to put this is that the river runs south, then west, then north in a giant U-shape.

 

Michale on esker above Back River

We walked the length of the south shore esker ridge most of its length from above Sussex Lake to its transition at the large bay before the Back River turns north. The distance from the head of Back River west to end of esker is approximately 1k. From that ridge it is possible to see Tent Ring Hill. Approximately 11k (6+ miles) covered today. Worth every hot minute to see the esker canyon of the Back River.

The Back River continues to switch directions but eventually ends up in a large bay of the Arctic Ocean after passing over more than 80 rapids. Canoeing the stretch from Sussex Lake to Musk Ox Lake likely possible without too much difficulty. A goal for next time!

Note: The Back River drains northward; so does the Lockhart. Aylmer Lake is part of the greater Lockhart system. The Lockhart is a tributary of the massive McKenzie River system. The Lockhart enters Great Slave Lake from its east side. The McKenzie system eventually goes northward into the Beaufort Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean, but farther west than where the Back River enters.

 

4:20pm Returned to camp. Beach temperature 83°F (30°c) Temperature felt much hotter on the tundra. Much too hot for the Arctic.

Kevin, Patty & Michale went out fishing from the boat once more. Thomas and I stayed onshore with the gun. This was my first and only day of the trip of not once being on he water in a boat. On the beach, non-biting black flies hit tent and jackets so hard as to sound like light rain.

8:15pm Wolves heard, SE somewhere on Sandhill Bay shore or from surrounding hills. Far away but still clear.

Night moon

Ernest Thompson Seton and The Arctic Prairies: Aylmer Lake Expedition Field Notes 2015 #3

Thomas at the helm, Aylmer Lake Lodge behind

{In late July and early August 2015 I led an expedition to the Arctic region of Canada’s Northwest Territories researching the Ernest Thompson Seton and Edward Preble expedition of 1907. We followed their route around Aylmer Lake located northeast of Great Slave Lake. Field notes from the expedition plus photographs are presented here in several separate entries. Additional essays about our journey can be found at the Seton Expedition website and at davidlwitt.com. An exhibition and short film about the 1907 and 2015 expeditions will be premiered at the Seton Gallery of the Academy for the Love of Learning (sponsor of this project) on August 14, 2016.}

Tuesday July 28

We took two boats on all excursions. I asked Thomas to learn the basics of outboard motor operation (Evenrude 30hp, 16’ (4.9m) aluminum fishing boat). That first day he and I went in one boat, Kevin, Michale & Patty in the other. Took off at 9:00am, south out of Rocknest Bay then east through Thanakoie Narrows, much of the way towards Clinton-Colden Lake to where an island nearly blocks passage. We were searching for a cairn Seton built while camped there. Thrilling to see that it was still there; it could be seen from approximately a mile away, long before we could make out the course of the Narrows. We would find this distant look surprising since the cairn is just below the island summit on the east side and is little more than a meter high. (We entered western edge of the Narrows at 9:30am.)

Sandhill Island, Seton Cairn right of summit

Closer, Seton Cairn at summit

The water on the south side of island is very shallow. The north side has a narrow but passable channel. We landed on a small west-facing beach, and then climbed over an embankment onto the tundra. This turned out to be the only part of the island that seems suitable for camping. Seton and Preble set up camp in one spot, thereafter moved to another during the extended time they were stranded due to stormy weather.  Perhaps it is here where they rode out the stormy weather in 1907. (We found a second cairn near our landing site, but Seton/Preble accounts mention only the one on top.)

We climbed hill towards its summit (me in the lead of course), Thomas following with video camera. Hill gets steeper near the top. Reached cairn at 10:15am. Very exciting for me, finding this cairn built by ETS during the layover, keeping them from exiting into Clinton-Colden when they had expected to do so.

Cairn Location:  N 64° 03’ 53.2” W107° 55’ 58.8”

Elevation: 1260’ (384m) Sandhill Island (English for Thanakoie)

Looking east from Sandhill Island

After much picture taking, I made a brief botany survey and a solo reconnaissance of 1/3 of the island (western and southern sections, including finding several different habitats). We documented the beautiful views (in all directions) before leaving the island at 1:00pm. Clear weather, moderate breeze at island summit.

Sandy beach north of Sandhill Island

Continued north along the cove shore, stopping at an arc of sandy beach. In the willows at our landing site, the debris remains of a small, long abandoned shack. North reach of the beach showed fresh 3 ½” wolf track - ♀?

Temperature 70°F (21° C).

Took off again after a pleasant time on sand esker above the beach. 2:55pm watched loon diving near boats. 3:20-4:00pm stopped at a rocky point where we found a metal geological survey marker embedded in rock, dated 1924. It included a warning that anyone disturbing the marker could expect to be punished with prison time. We left it alone and returned from there to the Lodge.

Note: ETS/EAP on Sandhill Island Aug 24-28 1907. Must have been quite a headwind. There are no comfortable camping spots on the island. We did not find any tent ring rocks. The island is important (as noted by ETS) as a Caribou crossing point given the narrow water leads on either side. On my tour of the island I found several north-south Caribou paths, although no sign of recent passage. Caribou were crossing there in August 1907.

The summit Seton cairn was noted by David Morrison in 1982. (He did not mention the shoreline cairn.) “Report on Archaeological Survey of the Middle Lockhart River System, NWT.” Photocopy of 1982 field notes, Canadian Museum of Civilization, (pg. 2): description of Lockhart River system. Morrison studied archaeology of Thanakoie Narrows northward; he studied the area from Sandhill Bay to Sussex Lake (covering some or much of the same territory as ETS/EAP), starting July 9, 1982 and continuing for 3 weeks before continuing their research south of Aylmer. He refers to the site we visited today as “Sandhill Island” which in Yellowknife Chipewyan language refers specifically to this island. The name seems to pre-date Back’s 1836 expedition. The summit of Sandhill is 35m above rive. Morrison described the Seton monument: “Originally one of the stones was inscribed ‘Seton Exp. 25 Aug 07’ but some passing traveler has since removed it. The cairn is located at the apex of the hill.” Sandhill is “an esker knob island.” [Note: the island had seen very recent visitors, within days of our visit, at least two people had left their unburied excrement at the western end of the summit ridge. Perhaps the two Japanese tourists who were said to have visited eastern Aylmer Lake just before our arrival.]

Night spent at the Lodge.

Evening view from Aylmer Lake Lodge

Wednesday July 29 

Up at 6:15am. Packing for Lockhart trip. Longest single excursion of the trip, including crossing a wide stretch of open water Aylmer.

9:42am left Aylmer Lodge dock. 9:52 Peregrine falcon flew parallel to the boats (before going faster and moving on) as we passed through the strait from Rocknest Bay to Aylmer. Pic#5164 Looking to the west from main section of the lake; west end too far away to see. #5160 Terraced Hill (from ETS map). #5165, 5166 Sandy Bay, from a distance (from ETS map). #5169 Harbor Island (the huge one with U-shaped bay in the middle of Aylmer).

Note: August 1907: they paddle west, unable to see end of the lake, believing for all this size, that a larger part of the lake still lay ahead. They had no way of knowing that they were already crossing the largest part. From here, there is no way of estimating how far off the west end might be.

Aylmer Lake, boat wake, boat following behind

10:50am Pulling away from Harbor Island into the largest stretch of open water on Aylmer. Daunting in a 16’ motorized fishing boat on a good weather day. But in a canoe, on a day when a storm might rise unexpectedly? Dangerous.

For us: Water choppy but not dangerous. One twenty minute period passed with nearest shore kilometers away while the far west and east horizons were just water; north and south were no more than suggestions of land, a dark line of low distant hills. Lake seems very big, the sky of the unlimited vast.

Boat speed 18mph for 20 minutes of the open water.

12:05pm Landed on beach protected by large rocks. Musk Ox tracks in the sand, but not fresh. Wolf tracks (recent, large) and lots of fox tracks, a regular highway for the latter. I led us inland to look for the Musk Ox boulders, but took us much too far inland over difficult tundra walking conditions. Lots of hidden holes in the hummocky ground hidden by vegetation. Seton had also done a good deal of walking in this region so we replicated the walk but apparently not the right course. Based on a 1907 photograph, we searched for a distinctive juxtaposition of two large boulders from where they killed a Musk Ox. My intention was to find those rocks and recreate the scene (without killing anything). But wherever those boulders might be, we could not find them.

Thonokied River

Eventually we veered west looking for the Thonokied River with faint hope of finding a cairn ETS might have built there. There are rocks piled everywhere (by wild nature) on the ridgeline overlooking the river as grand at ETS described it. Maybe we should have gone further north, but we were getting tired and hot with almost no chance of finding any sign of his presence. The walk was more tiring than fun; we failed to find anything but a fine view. (I noted in the field journal that this hike was hardly worth the effort. But conditions there did replicate what ETS went through, so we had the experience if not the results to show for our efforts.)

Kevin and Michale took one path back, Patty another. Thomas and I continued south along the river. I eventually turned back east, alone, while Thomas continued down the river towards the lake. All of us eventually reached the lake shoreline, but inexplicably managed to miss the boats, going too far east until Kevin realized our mistake and headed us back in the right direction. We finally got back to the boats around 4:30. I accidentally left my magnetic clip on sunglasses behind somewhere on this trek for future explorers to find.

5:10pm Finally underway again after taking considerable time negotiating our way past the blocking rocks creating a treacherous maze. This would have been easier for a canoe, or perhaps they landed somewhere else—but our landing point was the only sand beach along the Musk Ox camp shore. Seton’s map seemed to indicate this spot, but without finding the distinctive double-boulder, we simple could not know. A few spitting rain showers marked our exit.

Stormy Aylmer

Lockhart River mouth. We continued west to the end of the lake where enters the Lockhart River. We looked for another rock cairn Seton built there. Although a point of rocky land jutting into the river seemed like the right spot no cairn was visible. We landed on the north shore of the river, on an incline of slab rocks, one of the few accessible places, and likely the exact spot where ETS/EAP landed. We quickly found a place on or near where Seton took a group photograph of them having dinner. Kevin photographed the four of us in the same place. In the willow overgrown shore (the willows weren’t there in Seton’s time) near our boats, Kevin found a rusted kerosene can—4 Imperial Gallons—almost certainly left by ETS. Kevin agreed to hold it at the Lodge for temporary safe keeping. Perhaps a Canadian museum will want it someday.

Thomas, Patty, Michale, David 2015 Lockhart River

 

Ernest, Weeso, Edward, Billy 1908 Lockhart River

Dinner spot location: N 64° 03’ 88.44”  W 109° 13’ 30”

7:25pm Continued boating upstream to a rapids (probably farthest ETS went west by water). The other boat trolling for fish. We later returned east looking for a camping spot for us finding nothing suitable. I suspect that both the 1907 camping spot and the cairn may have been made on the rocky point jutting into the river, dividing the Lockhart from Aylmer. Thomas made a brief reconnaissance there but found nothing due to the thick brush and the protective mosquitos.

We continued over 1k (1094 yards) east along the south shore of the lake until coming upon a lovely beach in a protected cove giving onto a dramatic view to the west. Camp set up 9:30pm. (ETS/EAP followed the north shore on their way to the Lockhart and perhaps also on the way out so did not camp here.)

Camp location: N 64° 03’ 88.44”  W 109° 13’ 30”

 

Sunset over Aylmer

Sheltered from the east and to some extent from north we experienced a windless sunset, calm water. The sun set over flat lake as the one-night-before full moon rose simultaneously over low hills. Spectacular color, long lingering setting sun, occasionally shining through clouds, finally disappearing 10:17pm. Turned in at 12am.

Thursday July 30 (see pg. 20 field notes)

Up at 7am. Blue sky. Stiff breeze. 50°sF (10°C)

10:35 Returned to Lockhart River, continued search for cairn. We landed in the same spot and then walked north up the hill (the route shown by ETS on his map) and, after stopping for blueberries of which there were too many to ignore, attained the ridge between Aylmer and Outram Lakes. Cloud cover increased to 70%; lake water at its most choppy.

I continued west to reach the summit overlook between the two lakes. Michale soon followed, and later, the others. Elevation there is 1355’ (407m), the highest point of our entire trip. ETS expedition went up there to find what we found: A view proving they had reached the west end of Aylmer and a view to the Outram Lakes. Southside of Lockhart R basin heavily vegetated with few boulders; north side rocky: a strongly defined dividing line.

Upon reaching the ridge (easy hike) ETS must have climbed this very rock, around 7’ (2.1m) high. From its top: a great 360° view of the surrounding tundra.

 

Michale on Overlook Rock, high spot above Aylmer & Outram Lakes

Location: N 64° 03’ 55.9” W 109° 14’ 14.5”

ETS then continued down the ridge going west; we did not follow farther than the rock overlook.

1:45pm We took off from shore, heading east once more from the Lockhart to our beach camp, not arriving until 3:15 due to slow trolling on the way back.

So far: Success at Lockhart River and at Thanakoie Narrows finding part of what we came for, but less successful at Thonokied site (although we re-photographed the river shoreline in approximately the same area as the ETS photo). We believe it more likely than not that the Lockhart cairn did not survive. It would, however be worth another look early or late in the season when the willow thicket might be more manageable (fewer leaves, fewer mosquitoes).

Dinner that night: more Lake Trout + one Arctic Grayling (a river fish caught along the Lockhart), fried potatoes and onions. Kale, apple & other vegs salad. About 50°F (10°C) at 10:30pm. Dead silent. No waves. No wind. Flock of loon chicks floated by point of land north end of beach (around dinner time), near my tent. The hillside east of the camp is not covered with willows but is of smooth ground with short vegetation. We did not hike this but wanted to do so.

Friday July 31

8:55am We left camp, heading east along the shoreline before turning north across the lake. Our destination was a place a called Cliff Camp, a prominent rock face rising out of the water where Seton & Preble were forced to take shelter from another storm on their way west to the Lockhart. Here the lake forms a cove in the middle of which is a round island offshore from the largest cliff along this part of the lake. The steep rocky shore included no obvious landing site so camping here would not have been good anything more than emergency shelter. We did not land.

Cove where Seton made emergency storm camp

Off shore location: N 64° 06’ 29.7”  W 109° 03’ 08.3”

We circumnavigated small island in the bay. Spotted a falcon on the cliff, gulls in the air, and loon chicks around the island.

10:20am We returned to the Thonokied River, this time entering the river by boat although not getting any further than its mouth due to rapids and low water. Stopped there to search for exact spot to take the re-photo Seton called “SW across Earl Gray River.” We were able to line up the far shore into what looked like the correct perspective, but we could not find matching rocks on the shore (east) where we were walking. Took several photos to at least approximate the 1907 scene. Fairly fresh Musk Ox tracks near where we landed. Light short rains there and earlier at our beach camp. Cruised slowly along Musk Ox shoreline looking closely for the double-boulder that we did not find. Back at Lodge before 3:30pm.

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