Category Archives: Nelson’s Column

On Keeping a Journal: Fixing Images on the Emulsion of Memory

On Keeping a Journal

Fixing Images on the Emulsion of Memory

Alexander Mackenzie did it. So did Henry David Thoreau, Mina Hubbard, Raymond Patterson, and Sigurd Olson. And you can, as well. In fact, if you canoe or kayak — or if you just take an active interest in what’s going on in the world outside your door — you’d be foolish not to. Curious? Then read on. Tamia will tell you all you need to know about keeping a journal.
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by Tamia Nelson | March 16, 2018
Originally published in different form on May 21, 2002

When Colin Fletcher smashed his only camera, far down a trail in the depths of the Grand Canyon, he cursed his luck. After all, he was walking through country he’d probably never visit again. Before long, however, his spirits had soared. He discovered that he’d escaped from the “tyranny” of photography. “Instead of stopping briefly to photograph and forget,” he later wrote, “I stood and stared, fixing truer images on the emulsion of memory.”

The emulsion of memory… It’s a wonderful turn of phrase, isn’t it? But there’s a problem. Unlike the silver halide colloid once used to capture images in film photography, the emulsion … Read more »

In the Midst of Death… What Good is a Dead Tree?

In the Midst of Death…

What Good is a Dead Tree?

The Others have an answer to the question in the title. But is anyone listening? Tamia is.
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by Tamia Nelson | October 10, 2017

A Tamia Nelson Article on Backinthesameboat.com

The Expert looked at his watch, and gave his companion a thumbs-up. The job wouldn’t take long. A flight of finches exploding into the air. Neither man noticed. The Expert eyeballed the old pine. He didn’t see the red squirrel clinging to the trunk. He saw only the brown needles and the bare limbs.

“What good is a dead tree?” the Expert asked, not expecting an answer. His companion knew the question was purely rhetorical. And he marked the pine for removal.

The two men thought they were alone. But they were wrong. And the Others who were present did their best to answer the Expert’s question. He wasn’t listening, though. Perhaps he never had. In any case, his companion was anxious to get going. Time is money, after all, and the Expert had more trees to condemn.

Yet the dissenting voices of the Others continued to make their case, long after the Expert had gone. It’s too bad that the expert and his companion … Read more »

The Man Who Wasn’t There… Keeping Wild Things Wild is Up to Us

The Man Who Wasn’t There…

Keeping Wild Things Wild is Up to Us

Backcountry wanderers and campers walk a thin line in our dealings with the furred and feathered natives on whose doorsteps we camp. We want to be accepted by them, but we also want them to know their place and keep their distance, and it’s much harder to strike the right balance than it used to be. But it’s up to us to help the wild creatures stay wild.
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by Tamia Nelson | June 1, 2015

A Tamia Nelson Article on Backinthesameboat.com

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away…
—Hughs Mearns, Antigonish

Ah, wilderness! The annual flight from the cities and suburbs is about to get under way in earnest. Soon many popular waterways will boast their own traffic jams, as canoes and kayaks jostle tentatively with darting jet-skis and lumbering party barges. Lighting out for the territory just ain’t what it was in Huck Finn’s day. But some things don’t change. Beyond the boundaries of the tent-cities now springing up in established campsites—the line of demarcation is easily identified by the sudden and unexpected appearance of lower … Read more »

SAfety First: Nurturing the Habit of Awareness

SAfety First

Nurturing the Habit of Awareness

Our everyday sensory world is increasingly impoverished. Moreover, independence is penalized, activity is discouraged, and awareness of our environment is diluted by our growing dependence on filtered electronic inputs. This may not matter if your idea of a good time is total Netflix immersion. But if you like to wander in the backcountry now and then, you may need a refresher course in situational awareness.
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by Tamia Nelson | March 10, 2015

A Tamia Nelson Article on Backinthesameboat.com

If, as writer Brian Aldiss once suggested, the invention of the flush toilet is the signature accomplishment of the human species, then the public toilets (“rest rooms” in Standard American Euphemism) in modern HyperMarts are the high-water mark of our civilization. I put this to the test on a recent shopping excursion, and you can easily confirm my findings. Lights turn on and off without your needing to flip a switch. Toilets empty themselves as you step away from them. And water flows into sinks without your having to turn a tap. Even the hot-air dryers require only that you place your hands under the jet. The resident jinnī then conjures up a samūm automatically, choking it off as soon … Read more »