Most of these national forest signs include the unpoetic and utilitarian phrase"Land of Many Uses."
It's not a catchy motto, but it does tell it like it is. I used to think it was a slogan unique to the Allegheny, but apparently the Forest Service says it to all its girls.
And too many uses, some might say. I mean, why do you go to the woods? Why did Thoreau go to the woods? I go to get away from the kids. I go to escape career life, and domestic life, and the need to produce, and behave, and impress. I go to the woods to be alone, for the silence, for the beauty, for the adventure of discovery. I park my car along some old, forgotten forest road, and I strike off with a compass, a stick, and a bottle of water. And the further I get from my car, the more the tension in my shoulders relaxes. The usual tightness rests on my shoulders, like Bluebeard's parrot, it gradually takes flight. By the time I'm away from the noise of passing cars on the nearest blacktop, I'm a whole different person: a man without pretense, without pressures, without burdens. I go to the woods because it reduces me to something primal, and there's not enough "primal" in my life.
I hope to avoid politics in this blog. I hope I can talk mostly about some of the hidden wonders of the Allegheny. But a political battle rages over the use of this forest like none I've seen. I know the local economies depend on exploitation, but when I round a corner and running into an oil derrick or a clearcut, I'm right back to square one! Annoyed, angry, composing letters to the proper authorities in my head.
Probably 40 years ago, maybe more, I visited an outcropping of rock off Route 321 North of Kane and to the east of what used to be Plants Camp.The story I remember being told was there was an old man that lived in those rocks and he was called Scout. The story says that Scout passed away and his presence in the rocks was memorialized with a carving in the stone that read "To the Memory of the Old Scout". Those words were framed in a square border carved into the stone. I can't verify the story, but I have seen the carving but have no idea how to get there now. Anybody know how to get there?
ReplyDeleteI have a book that mentions these rocks, though I don't think it makes any mention of Scout. I did go looking for them once long ago but found nothing. Since I don't really put much on this blog anymore, there aren't many readers left, but let's see if your questions turns up an answer!
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