Sigurd's Childhood and Youth

(continued)

For seven-year-old Sigurd Olson, just beginning to have the freedom to explore beyond home, Sister Bay was wonderful. The dirt road passing in front of his house cut straight across the peninsula, and he got to know both shorelines: the deep harbor of Sister Bay (shown below left), protected by wooded bluffs, and the shallow waters and windswept shore of Appleport (shown below right), where the constant pounding of waves left a beach of smooth stones and hardy wildflowers.

At night, lying in his bed, Sigurd could hear the moaning of foghorns, a sound that called to him as enticingly as would the howl of wolves or the wail of loons later in his life. when he was eight or nine he got the chance to follow that call, exploring nearby wooded paths by himself in an ever larger radius from home until one day he made it all the way to the lake. Half a century later, he described his experience at the end of an abandoned stone pier:

A school of perch darted in and out of the rocks. They were green and gold and black, and I was fascinated by their beauty. Seagulls wheeled and cried above me. Waves crashed against the pier. I was alone in a wild and lovely place, part of the dark forest through which I had come, and of all the wild sounds and colors and feelings of the place I had found. That day I entered into a life of indescribable beauty and delight. There I believe I heard the singing wilderness for the first time.