Preliminary Field Report 2012-001

The Baptism River has flowed its course for many thousands of years. The last glaciers retreated from Minnesota's North Shore of Lake Superior about 15,000 years ago.  The entire area--most of Minnesota, in fact--is considered an "immature" drainage system.
Laying down in this river, in a carved out bowl that my body fits exactly as the rapids wash over my shoulders on their way to the waterfall 20 feet from my toes,  holding onto rock a billion years old as water older than that rushes over my shoulders on its way down to Lake Superior, all I am thinking about is how good it feels and how loud the rapids are.