Actually, the tool in question was apparently a cousin of the pickaxe with some more romantic name, but I can't remember what it was. Anyway, a few weekends back we pointed our car north on a Thursday evening in order to head up to Camp DuNord and partake in a work weekend. Work weekends are our latest greatest discovery. You get lodging for free, and pay a nominal fee to be fed all of your meals. In exchange, you spend a day or two roaming the north woods. Of course, in theory, we were working, but you couldn't convince Theo of that. He was having the time of his life.
What kid would not love the chance to roam the woods with implements of destruction (or, in more steady hands, forest management tools)?
Our work weekend started out by waking up in a camper cabin at Bear Head State Park outside of Ely, MN. The temp outside was 20 degrees- stunning for our early October bones. The kids (we were with the adventure-prone Neskemoens) quickly found that the water had frozen at the base of the water pump. They spent quite a bit of time slipping around on this precious square foot of ice. Then we took a lovely hike under a brilliant blue sky. By mid-morning we headed toward Ely, where we found about 3 inches of snow on the ground. Even I got terribly excited while waiting outside a coffee shop to pelt Amy and Jeff when they emerged with their morning drinks. As we drove the last half hour to DuNord, the northwoods were heart-stoppingly beautiful. The blue sky and evergreens familiar from our summer trips were coupled with golden tamaracks and a blanket of fresh snow.
When we arrived at DuNord the boys disappeared. The lure of camp plus snow drew them out of our sphere of influence immediately. That left the adults time to take a quick cabin tour, as everything was unoccupied. Well, almost everything. Sorry nappers in Thor's! It was interesting for us, cabin-tent dwellers, to see how the other half of dunordians lived. Defnitely appealing.
Friday afternoon we were outfitted with nippers and saws and told to beat back the woods from the main path down to the cabin tents. An aged dog joined us and kept the boys occupied when their nipping muscles started aching. It was lovely to work up a sweat under the bright sun as the snow melted all around us.
But Saturday was really the highlight. After a delicious breakfast we were sent off into the woods. This time with nippers, saws, AND pickaxes. My crew consisted of all the younger boys (5 of them!) and we had a lovely time nipping away branches and tackling the challenge of removing downed trees from the path. About halfway through our shift Theo found himself in possesion of the pickaxe-type thing. He was free to wander off the path, find old downed logs, and just wail away at them. With no purpose but to tire his muscles and bring a smile to his face. The logs didn't need pickaxing, but the boy needed to pickaxe, so the log was happy to oblige. While we were wandering the woods, Eli was given the chance to drive the 6 wheeler down a crazy rollercoaster of a path and help unload gravel on to a low spot. He thrived as well. I think we had more fun with our work than we would have had if we were just told to use the day as we pleased. The sense of purpose, plus the opportunity to challenge ourselves and our muscles was a winning combination.
The day of outside heavy work was followed by a warm dinner, a night of 'Contra Dancing' and then a 250 degree sauna and a plunge into the near-freezing lake (I mean, it had freshly melted snow in it!). We slept hard that night. We will return! But I'm not sure I'm going to get Theo a pickaxe for Christmas, as he requested on the ride home. Our little city lot just does not offer the same pickaxing opportunities as up north.
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