Tom's Tales: Awesome Wonders

During a recent camping trip to Ashland County, I was able to visit two places, which trained as a geographer, I have longed to see. The first, visited on the both way to and home from Ashland County, was Timm's Hill. This is the current highest natural grade point in Wisconsin, The second was St. Peter's Dome which sits above the surrounding countryside with a view of one of the Apostle Islands on a clear day. There was more than view involved, it was being in the geography of place. In a larger sense it became the journey. This was particularly the case with our Friday four mile hike up and back from St. Peter's Dome, with a side trip to Morgan Falls. It was my wife who made me ponder the journey aspect of our excursions through a conversation last Saturday evening.

On Saturday evening we attended mass at a small log church a couple miles west of the unincorporated community of Clam Lake. On leaving the church, my wife commented on how the last song spoke to our recent excursions while camping near Clam Lake. Most of the music at this mass was not overly inspiring, and in fact was rather slow and ponderous. However, that changed when we got to the concluding song, "How Great Thou Art." Her having put the song to our recent excursions, made me realize that the journey is part of the experience. Does having a more difficult journey make one appreciate a natural site more than you would otherwise? The more you put effort into something the more it seems to be appreciated.

Timm's Hill is quite easy to reach as a pleasant drive up a paved one lane road through the woods which will take you to within a few hundred feet of the viewing tower. The journey is not difficult, and the tower takes one above some of the tree tops. St. Peter's Dome, on the other hand requires a hike, most of it on an unimproved trail, and it contains what the US Forest Service refers to as a moderate grade. While trails at Devil's Lake may be steeper, steps have been formed out of stones. This is not the case with the trail to St. Peter's Dome. There are small brooks to ford, tree roots to avoid and you need to make sure you gain firm footing on various rocks. Each place, however, in its own way provided a unique experience. On the way home Sunday at Timm's Hill it was seeing the fog form and rise from the rain the previous night--photos of which were placed on my Facebook page noting the Smoky Hills of Wisconsin. Reaching the top of St Peter's Dome, it was the hike through what is a specially managed area by the US Forest Service. There had been attempts at a granite quarry, remnants of what you can see from a portion of the trail. There is also a snow mobile trail that crosses about two-thirds of the way up the trail. A road could have been cut in and paved, affecting the natural surroundings, but then one would have missed the small brooks and other sights along the way. These features lack the grandeur of Yosemite, the depth of the Grand Canyon, and the mass of Yellowstone, or the power of the great water falls of the west coast, but yet they still have significance and are really quite pleasing. Maybe they could be thought of as a simple pleasure. St. Peter's Dome is at western end of the Penokee Range; this range was formed over 1.8 billion (yes, with a b) years ago, and is thought to have been at one time as grand as we know the Alps or the Rockies of today. Millions of years of erosion have worn them to where now they are but a vestige of what they once were. Like Rib Mountain, they are monadnocks. Time takes it toll on our geology not unlike our human bodies, just through a much longer time frame. Human history is but one small blink in the geologic time scale.

St George Church at Clam Lake

Back at mass on Saturday evening, not only did the organist ramp up his play on the last song, but so too did the attendees in this small log church with their voices. "How Great Thou Art" is not the type of song one would normally consider able to rock a building, but it came close with the organ and the less than fifty gathered as part of a larger universal church. The song, as my spouse noted to me, in fact spoke to our experiences on this trip, and in particular it related to our journey to the top of St. Peter's Dome. My spouse would refer to this as another one of her "God-incidences." Our journey in life is but one small section in time of the existence of the natural world, and the wonders in which we take pleasure. Things need not be on a grand scale in order for them to be appreciated. For example, Morgan Falls is quite beautiful even though it is fed by a small unnamed creek. They need not be overly ornate. The beauty of God's creation, his "awesome wonder" is in how it is perceived, and what we wish to make of it. But, it is important to let this aspect of nature inform us as we do the grand parts of creation which leave us in a different type of awe. It is for us to take in the lessons nature can impart. To me, the overriding lesson is to appreciate the journey and a duty to protect the awesome wonders gifted to us. I was reminded of this coming out of a simple log church, and the memories gained made my soul sing.

Below are the first two verses from "How Great Thou Art" juxtaposed with photos from our camping trip, which can better explain than I the awesome wonders.

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder