23 - The Northern Great Lakes Visitor Centre

After Bayfield, we soon reached Highway 2 which stretches across the remaining northern part of Wisconsin. We back-tracked for a couple of kilometres so we could visit the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Centre, not far from the town of Ashland.
Here we learned about the history of the area which always includes the story of the First Nations. Interestingly, there was also some information on Aldo Leopold the environmentalist, forester and ecologist who taught in the University of Wisconsin. Before embarking on our trip, I had written an essay about him and his land ethic which is perfectly encapsulated in the quote from his A Sand County Almanac, "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." I became extremely involved in the topic and found it fascinating pondering on the significance of our membership of the biotic community (a local community which involves all living things, not just humans, and their sustaining substrate).
Anyway, the visit to the centre was enjoyable, especially since I got yet another stamp on my Lake Superior Circle Tour Admiral Certificate. There was also a tower which we climbed to get far-reaching views of the mostly-agricultural surroundings. At the three binocular viewpoints there were corresponding stories and photos to explain and show what the view had been in days gone by.
After our visit, we took the boarded 20 minute walk at the back of the centre which took us through bog land where we tried to identify many of the different tree and bird species.