Day 4 September 17, 2020

Another lazy camp day today. I could get used to this. Especially with this weather. I sat on my vast granite overlook and watched the sun rise in the east and make its way across the sky all day until it set in the west. Simply cathartic. Time to think, not think, and reflect. And maybe have a nip or two...

A personal aside (perhaps inspired by the nipping): As I sat and truly immersed myself in the beauty all around me for another day, I found it impossible not to think of a man I never got to meet. Germano Silvistrini, my great-grandfather, arrived Ellis Island from Sassoferrato, Italy aboard the La Bretagne on November 7, 1906. The ship’s manifest said that he was 18 years old and traveling alone. He had $14, could read and write, and he was meeting a friend in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He eventually made his way to Eveleth, Minnesota where he worked in one of the mines, met his wife, and started a family. My grandmother, Elsie, was born in Eveleth on February 21, 1921. Germano eventually took his family west working, again, as a miner in Red Lodge, Montana, and finally to El Cerrito, California where he worked in a chemical plant. Germano was killed in 1926 in an accident at the plant.

Germano likely had little time in his life to recreate, but I couldn’t help wondering if he ever got a chance to take in the majestic beauty of Northern Minnesota. Perhaps he got a chance to go fishing with a friend. Or maybe he took notice of the beauty on his journey across the country. I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and privilege as I sat at my camp site in absolute comfort, perhaps taking in a view like one he might have had almost a hundred years ago. I inventoried my free time and my gear, and I realized that this man that I never met (in addition to dozens that I have met and loved) enabled this experience for me. His hard work and his tragically short life are in some way connected to my joyful experience in this amazing place.

Just months before (literally days before the pandemic shut everything down), I got the opportunity to visit the grand reception hall at Ellis Island, and I got to see the Statue of Liberty with my wife and daughters – sites that Germano certainly saw albeit under vastly different circumstances and higher stakes. As I sat at camp and reflected on that experience, I couldn’t fathom that young man’s bravery. Weeks away from his birthplace; alone; a future totally uncertain and unknowable. But he persisted because he had to. And because he did, I got this opportunity to enjoy this amazing world and this amazing place in the world. I hope that he got the opportunity to take it all in at some point. Whether he did or not, I was determined not to waste a second of this precious time feeling anything but gratitude and humility.

A chilly start to the morning made the coffee all the more sweet!

This guy was a frequent visitor over my days on northern Little Saganaga.

Another visitor, but he was loud and obnoxious, so I was happy when he left.

My setup for some more Milky Way photography.

Sunset looking south on another beautiful night.

A different framing for the Milky Way with a blended foreground object.

My great-grandfather and great-grandmother, Germano and Maria, with their first child, my great-aunt Elda, in Eveleth, Minnesota circa 1912. Special thanks to my sister who does all of the family genealogy.