Hull Island is Dead
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By Steve Geiger
Hull Island is DEAD!
Yes, I’m sorry to say, Hull Island is dead.
DEAD!
It’s over. For those of you who missed it, don’t bother coming. For those of you, like me, who killed it, the blood is on our hands. Actually, we all killed it. Yes, even you.
Ithaca has been reached, breached and leached. The adventure is no more. The romance is over. Over visited, over cleared, over trampled, over built, over discussed, and mostly, over photographed. What is it now? A crime scene! Sorry, Jon, it’s over!
What happened?
Some might say the death spiral began when the cabin replaced the tent. Why not keep it totally wild, so every trip is raw and you enter the wilderness on its terms each time. Now, instead of sleeping under the stars, breathing in fresh air, with roots and stumps reminding you that you’re alive, and the sound of the forest keeping you on edge, we’re tucked away in a comfy cabin with cots and heat, cubbies and side tables, and a covered porch. Might as well be at the Haida Way over at Port McNeil.
What was wrong with the original landing spot? Rocks conveniently covered with barnacles so you wouldn’t slip, welcoming you to shore. A hidden entrance so you could maintain privacy. And now? A dock big enough for a cruise ship so no one has to get their feet wet. A metal welcome mat for neighbors and land surveyors (ask Jon about this).
Yes, cruise ships and Russian oligarch yachts, like the 2 BRNR behemoth that guzzles gas and spews tourists on shore. Twin motors, cutting edge navigation electronics and a thick aluminum hull that laughs at fog and waves, and equally deflects logs and fear of drowning.
What kind of adventure is it if you don’t risk life and limb every time you go camping?
First a campfire, then a stone “kitchen”, and now, a massive, fully protected tin-roofed, gravel-floored beamed structure so no-one needs to get wet or dusty. What’s next, a full-size Wolf Stove and Sub Zero fridge with TV screen and satellite link to tell you when you need to buy more eggs? Why go all the way to France, when you can have a Julia Child cooking vacation right here in North America?
What is it with humans, always trying to better nature? How long has nature been around versus these short-lived swarms of bipeds? A trillion or so years versus, what, a couple hundred thousand? That single tree we cut down was there for 100 plus years. That island across from Hull that only one brave person has swum to…how long has that been there, sitting proud and undisturbed…”unbettered”!
A shower? What’s wrong with a cool dip in the water right there at camp’s edge? So it’s a little cold and salty; Athletes take ice baths…we put salt on practically everything we eat. But no, first we have a hose, now we have a fully equipped spa with temperature-controlled, gas-fired hot water, custom granite seating and a curated safety bar/towel rack, perfectly placed by Liz.
And people are already complaining that the crushed stone is too sharp on your feet!
Toilets? Does a bear shit in the woods? Well, they used to, in a brilliantly dispersed fashion, not in a single human minefield with geriatric lounge chairs and whisperings of a septic system. Kicked out of the woods, our 4-legged indigenous friends are forced to crap on the trail while the American invaders stink up the forest.
Need I say more? Yes, I do. The photos!
Does anyone remember that first blurry photo from Jon’s battery-almost-dead Walmart flip-phone when he first camped at the island? He was off the grid for a week and all we got was a single dark, gritty photo of him all by himself at night with a bottle of whiskey to fend off the predators hiding in the shadows and demons lurking in the mind. Was that Jon or was that Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now? Was he alive, was he dead, had he gone crazy? THAT was an adventure! THAT was gripping mystery and danger all rolled into one single photo.
Or, in the same blurry, unplanned, unposed, grab-my-phone-before-I-die 5 second video clip of the grizzly sauntering through camp, again, Jon alone, Jon exposed, Jon only recording it so we had one last look of him.
Yeah, one or two pics and a video clip is one thing.
But now? A non-stop 24 hour CNN parade of endless Insta selfies, tik tok clips, youtube vids and Red Bull drone shots coming out the ASS…embly of cameras, iphones, and drones, recording every inch of terrain, every single movement, every fire, every meal, every rock, every new this or that being built here and there and everywhere!
Has anything NOT been photographed, videoed, droned? Is there any room left for the imagination, for the mystery, the danger? Why show up, why travel 10 hours on planes, trains, automobiles, ferries, rafts, etc. when you can just click through and see it all without all the hassle. What’s left to discover? What’s left that’s worth risking jail time for a nightime, illegal border crossing or last minute legal wrangling at the passport office?
Yes, I’m as guilty as the rest of you, maybe more.
Oh, but before all you holier-than-thou naked warriors start claiming that you had nothing to do with it because you sleep in a tent or didn’t take photos, yeah, we see you there POSING for that perfect “I sleep in the tent” or “I moved this rock”, or “I haven’t showered or shaved in days” portrait. Did you row to the island in a canoe you carved from a tree? Did you suffer hypothermia and bloody feet like the first nation settlers while gathering clams from the shoreline? Did you wrestle that camera or phone away and toss it into the ocean? Did you shoot down the drone with a bow and arrow fashioned from fallen tree branches?
Did you burn down the cabin and sink the 2 BRNR? Huh? Huh? No, you didn’t.
Hull is Dead.
So they paved paradise
Put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swingin' night spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged all the people an arm and a leg just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise put up a parking lot
Hey, farmer
Put away your DDT
Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and bees please
Don't it always seem to go
You don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise put up a parking lot
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi come and took away my old man
Oh, don't it always seem to go
You don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise put up a parking lot
They put up a parking lot
A parking lot
Paved paradise
Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
Hull Island is so dead they're making gingerbread cookies out of it!
ReplyDeleteBig Steve - Agent Provocateur - Great post. I admire how you always weave metaphor and irony into your missives. You are the master. I didn't always get it. I, myself, have been called "Master of the Obvious." So yes I tend to take things literally at first, second, maybe even 3rd glance. So for all those, who like me, when they read your post, said WTF? Let me translate for those literalists among us the skinny on your post - in bullet point format as we literalists prefer:
ReplyDelete1. Hull Island has arrived at its "discovery and pioneer"" phase.
2. Yet there is so much more to discover and explore.
3. Creature comforts are a distraction - though pleasurable and more inviting.
4. Technology adds but also takes away.
5. Hull Island holds much more for those who venture - across the cold waters to remote islands- thru the old growth trees.
6. Does a bear shit in the woods?
Let me know if this summarizes your view on Hull?
When James Joyce was asked to explain Ulysses he replied "it took me seven years to write; you can take seven years to understand it."
Delete
ReplyDeleteTo see the forest through the trees, we cut down some trees.
Hull Island dead? Seriously?
In my view Hull has never been more alive.
Yes we cut down some trees, built structures, moved earth and rocks and added modern conveniences. While these actions are disruptive to the local environment they have enabled safe access to a part of the world worth living in and preserving.
Our limited development makes comfortable the time we spend there together or alone, for celebrating the abundance of our universe and cooperating on something even bigger; Experiencing life in the wilderness now and protecting it for the future. I hope our family and friends, our children, our grandchildren and the next generations will experience the majesty of an old growth forest, to learn more about The Great Mystery of life, to feel the spirits of nature and to learn directly how to live in harmony with our surroundings.
Are the early experiences of sleeping on the ground, surviving torrential rains or getting lost in the woods dead? Are the trees we cut down dead? The crabs we ate dead? No. While these things may not be alive per se, they are by no means dead.
I believe that as long as we have memories then past experiences and people are alive in spirit and mind. The sub atomic particles and threads of quarks embedded in our brains from past senses can be recalled and kept alive through stories shared for many years.
I wonder what new life is ahead of us on Hull. There has been a lot of rain in the past few months and the nourishment will surely bring healthy growth. Let’s go back again and see what has evolved. Let’s work together to keep the island paradise and our community experiences alive.