Anne La Bastille -- A New Perspective

(Adirondack loons in the early morning)

When Leslie Surprenant mentioned on Facebook that she was considering offering an overnight trip to Adirondack author Anne La Bastille's West of the Wind property, I responded immediately.  Anne's cabins and land are main characters in her Woodswoman books which describe her life in the Adirondacks and her career as a wildlife ecologist. Some of you will remember my 2017 blog post in which I described Anne's cabin, now at the Adirondack Experience museum:  http://nooksandvales.blogspot.com/2017/07/woodswoman-then-and-now.html

Leslie was a close friend of Anne La Bastille, is the executrix of Anne's estate and an Adirondack Guide.  In the eight years since Anne's death, Leslie has worked hard to honor the conditions of her will.  She studied and sorted every detail of Anne's material possessions, as well as clearing her 32 acres at Twitchell Lake of extraneous building materials and other detritus.

(The Twitchell Inn's boat house designed by Earl Covey)

In mid-July, five of us, including Leslie, left the boat launch at Twitchell Lake in the southwestern Adirondacks. We kayaked up the small lake, while Leslie described the vertical log architecture that we saw along the shoreline. "Earl Covey designed many of the buildings here and on Big Moose Lake.  The vertical logs make them very distinctive."  She also told about Anne's experience here, reminding us that Anne would park her truck at the boat launch and could only access her property by boat, skis, or snowmobile.  We thoroughly enjoyed our leisurely paddle up the lake, but if crossing the water or ice were the only way we could begin to go anywhere, this workout in every kind of weather might become less appealing.

(The "Point of Anne" marking her property on Twitchell Lake)

Leslie pointed to a line of rocks jutting into the lake from a wooded promontory and said, "We call this 'The Point of Anne.'"  We pulled our kayaks into an opening in the trees and explored the property.  Even though I had seen Anne's cabin, which she called "West of the Wind," at the Adirondack Experience, I was taken aback by its former location which only somewhat resembled my imagination.

The deck is all that remains of Anne's cabin, since the main structure is at the museum.  I remembered that Anne wrote in Woodswoman about a glitch in her deed that required that her cabin be moved farther back from the lakeshore.  Once moved, the cabin "perched in the woods like a long-legged marsh bird," but the new space created under her cabin by the move came in very handy for storage and for her bath tub!  As I looked at the depression in the land and considered Anne's use of the space, my mental picture of West of the Wind began to take shape.

(Two tents in the hollow where Anne's cabin and "basement" had been and one tent on her deck)

In her second Woodswoman book, Beyond Black Bear Lake, Anne told of her need to build a cabin even more remote than the one on the edge of Twitchell Lake. I had often wondered about this need for more privacy, since her early descriptions had made West of the Wind seem quite remote, especially in the winter.  However, here on this July Sunday, I began to understand.  Motor boats that seemed too large for this small lake zoomed by.  Even though there were trees between the cabin and the lake, I felt a sense of exposure that I had not expected.

(The memorial to Anne that Leslie had made, and its "spirit dog" bowl)

More surprising to me were how many little retreats Anne built.  One faced a different view of Twitchell Lake, another had sliding screen doors and served as guest lodging, still another actually had electricity which helped Anne with her ecological career as it progressed well beyond the Adirondacks.  All of these additional retreats each had its own character as places for Anne to write in solitude.

(A leanto Anne built facing a cove on her Twitchell Lake property)

The crown jewel in Anne's cabin world is by far Thoreau II, the subject of Beyond Black Bear Lake.   With the help of friends, Anne built this tiny cabin keeping in mind the financial and space constraints that Henry David Thoreau detailed in his epic book, Walden.

(Another structure, with sliding screen doors, reachable by a narrow forested path)

We hiked quite a long way through the forest and past marshes and ponds to reach Thoreau II, although Anne would not have trekked through the woods quite the way we did.  She had a canoe placed on one pond to take her to another.  While she still had to hike, her trail was shorter and in a slightly different location.  Add trail-building to the tasks that Leslie took on over the past eight years.

(Under power lines, this cabin is electrified!)

Thoreau II, with its loft windows looking out to the forest, is built on the edge of Anne's acreage along Lilypad Lake, the epitome of quiet and remote beauty.  I was smitten.  If I could have a wilderness cabin, this is the one I would want.  Surely a writer could find her muse here.  We spent quite a while exploring the cabin and sitting by Lilypad Lake. With reluctance, we returned to the woods and our path.

(Charming Thoreau II)

Back at West of the Wind, a couple of people said that they were going in the lake for a swim. I hesitated since the day was cool.   "No pressure. No pressure," Leslie said.  I knew I would regret not swimming off of Anne's dock.  After a few minutes, I dove in.  The water was a perfect temperature -- cool enough to be refreshing but without a deep chill.  In the end, every one of us went in.  How could we not?

(Exquisite Lilypad Lake at Thoreau II)

Leslie had promised us a slide show describing Anne's family background and her drive to become a woodswoman.  We would see the pictures "if I can make technology work for me...," she said with hesitation. 

Leslie chose the cabin with the screen doors for this presentation. To create ambience, she covered the rough floor with a green tarp and put a copy of every one of Anne's books on a shelf, standing Anne's pack basket and one of her Guatemalan blankets alongside.  All of these items she had carefully transported in her canoe.  The colors of the tarp, books, and blanket brightened the mellow pine boards of the shelter as late afternoon shadows from the tall trees outside grew long.

With a battery and a tiny projector connected to her tablet and a cloth screen tacked to a log wall, Leslie's technological set-up worked.  We were fascinated by the pictures and narrative.  At the end, Leslie reminded us that Coke was one of Anne's favorite drinks, as was a shot of whiskey.  From a cooler, she produced an 8-ounce can of Coke for each of us and a small bottle of Jack Daniels which she passed around.  She also shared a plastic container of homemade brownies.

(the sun begins its descent)

Like an Adirondack Guide from a century past, Leslie prepared dinner for us.  Beginning with an appetizer of crackers topped with cream cheese and guava paste and ending with black beans and rice, we felt very pampered.  "I don't want any leftovers." she said.  I know that I ate my share!  Despite offers of help, Leslie cleaned up the cooking dishes by herself while we each washed our own plates, cups, and flatware.

(Sunset on Twitchell Lake)

One activity remained -- a campfire and s'mores. Leslie had thought of everything.  We chose some dry pieces of wood from a stash under the deck and found sticks for marshmallows.  As always, a campfire brings out conversation as darkness descends. The sun set over the lake and the moon rose.  Eventually, we put the fire out and went into our tents to the call of a loon. Then quiet settled on the lake.

(Moonrise behind the pines)

In a tribute to Anne's lake and wild lands, I planned to go for a morning paddle.  I woke early as I usually do, looked at my watch, and saw that it said 6:45 a.m.  I was almost too late!  I would barely be out before 7:00!  I quickly and quietly put on some clothes and my life jacket and pushed my boat into the water.

(The Point of Anne in the early morning)

Mist was beginning to rise as I dipped my paddle and headed back down the lake towards the boat launch.  I had heard a loon call from that direction and hoped to get a picture of one in the early morning mist.  Before long, I came upon a group of six loons, more than I had ever seen at one time.  I let my paddle sit idle as I watched them.  They dipped under the water and came back up, always in a different place but steadily closer to me.

(Loons in the morning mist)

The loons seemed unperturbed by my quiet presence.  A few times I turned slightly to watch the mist lift from the ridge behind me.  I knew I had been out quite a while and checked my watch.  6:30??!!  So I had actually gotten into my boat at 5:45 not 6:45?  This is very typical of me, taking a cursory look at the time without putting on my reading glasses and then being shocked later.  I was glad that I had misread my watch.  I had gotten out in plenty of time before the sun rose and cleared the lake of mist.

(Sunrise on Twitchell Lake)

A few of the loons had moved farther away and I headed back towards West of the Wind.  As I approached the Point of Anne, a loon popped out of the water near the namesake rocks.  The sound startled an otter who was perched on the largest rock.  It watched the loon as I again sat silent in my boat.  All of a sudden, in a great flurry that surprised me and the otter, the loon ran across the top of the water and took flight.  The otter dashed into the woods.

I paddled close to the dock where Leslie was filtering water and anticipating a swim before she began making our oatmeal breakfast.  We chatted quietly while our other companions slept.  Before I pushed away from the dock to continue my paddle to the other side of the lake, a dark head moved fast, cutting a noiseless path through the water.  "A beaver," Leslie said quietly.  I was thrilled that I had seen so much wildlife during my early paddle outing.  I was grateful for this morning that was bathed in the nature that Anne La Bastille loved so much and spent her life trying to protect both here and around the world.

(Our wonderful guide, Leslie Surprenant)

(End note:  Very recently Anne's property has become part of the Pigeon Lake Wilderness.  New York State requires that all man-made structures be removed from wilderness lands.  It's hard to say when Anne's structures will be taken down, but two weeks before our trip, the Department of Environmental Conservation removed Anne's outhouse -- no chance of us sitting on the throne with a view of the pines as Anne had!  Leslie told us that Anne's property is the only public land on Twitchell Lake and that people have reported being very pleased that there is a place for them to go as a paddle destination with a picnic or camping spot and paths to hike through the forest. "Anne's property belongs to you now," Leslie said.)