“If peace and quiet have been in short supply, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness may be the getaway your body and soul crave. . .”
“There’s a real need in our crazy, busy world to find harmony in nature.”
“IDLE HANDS–Hours spent in contemplation or daydreaming-the kind of experience that a sojourn in the wilderness offers in spades-often bring about a renewed sense of self and a resetting of the body’s natural rhythms. Waking becomes tuned to the rising of the sun, the day winds down in concert with the sunset.
It’s that leisurely sense of time that leads Steve Pfister back to the Boundary Waters wilderness time and again. For more than 10 consecutive summers, the Chicago businessman has taken his wife, Kim and their six children north to a resort [River Point Resort] in the Boundary Waters, leaving behind the hectic pace of city life.
“Where we live, in metropolitan Chicago, I’m continuously in traffice, Pfister says. “Everything goes so fast, and there’s so much pressure on kids to participate in extracurricular activities. What I look for are ways to slow life down a little. In the Boundary Waters, you can paddle for miles without seeing another human being. ”
Cut off from the phone. . .Pfister’s family is inspired to be creative. There’s no television or soccer practice, so the kids devise their own entertainment: fishing, hiking, spotting wildlife and other low-tech diversions. The family spends an afternoon paddling canoes or swimming at a nearby falls. At night, the children gather wood for a bonfire on the shore. As the embers die and the moon and stars emerge, the family converses, marveling at the peaceful beauty that surrounds them.
“It sends a chill down your spine,” Pfister says. “You hear loons, or animals moving about in the woods. On a recent visit, a rare Canadian lynx walked right past our cabin along the beach.”
Steve believes that rustic destinations like the Boundary Waters [and River Point Resort] offer visitors a sense of peace that they can no longer find in their own backyards.”
The primary reason people come here [River Point Resort] is to renew, rejuvenate and reconnect. Here, they can find a space for equilibrium, where they are empowered to connect with their inner selves and be contemplative. There’s time to think, to talk-time just to be. People often develop an emotional connection to this area.
Instead of television and telephones, the Koschaks offer theirguests a variety of board games, cars, books, and journals-as well as comfortable chairs and screened porches for relaxing. Naturalists are available for guided hikes, and evening talks are offered on topics like the habits of timber wolves and the finer points of fishing. The Koschaks, who operate River Point Outfitters in conjunction with the resort, also help with self-guided trips, providing supplies, offering tips on routes and tricky portages, and handling permits and licenses.”
“Immersed in the emptiness of the great outdoors, a person can find the sort of solitude that helps restore connections-to oneself, others and the natural world [at River Point Resort].”
