3 Steves

Got a Light?

3 Steves

I have 3 buddies all named Steve and the 4 of us have been camping and kayaking since we were kids. All born in the same town, went to the same school, had the same friends, but grew up uniquely different. On a recent trip to Lake George, we met at our campsite in separate vehicles with tons of accumulated gear. The electric bike ride up the steep incline of Roger’s Rock captured the panoramic view of the lake from Fort Ticonderoga along the mountain range of the Vermont side. It’s a beautiful sight. Later, I rented a speed boat down in Fort Henry and buzzed up the 25 mile lake, under the drawbridge at Diamond Point, past Anthony’s Nose where on a previous trip my sailboat got flipped over in swirling winds, to the cliff diving ledges near the historical campsite of Cap’n Roger himself, where surely he saw the same northern lights that we did lighting up the sky like multi-colored fluorescent lightning bolts. Legend has it that as hostile indigenous people were surrounding him below, he threw his backpack off the cliff and believing it was Roger who had bounced to his death, the local savages gave up the chase. When he was spotted later, the more spiritual of the group figured his soul had lived on so they let him be, as long as Roger nor his spirit ever pushed their luck and tried to wander off. Some of those blood-thirsty marauders were likely decent people living on the same lake fish and gamey meat as us. The belief that Mother Nature will always provide got confirmed every time an unsuspecting meal strolled on by.

At Assateague State Park in Maryland we camped on the beach, hiked backwater trails, fished but didn’t catch anything, and carved up some nice waves on surfing style kayaks. Nearby Wallops Island had a rocket launch that week, so we hopped in my Jeep and witnessed the lift-off. A gigantic stingray riding curls out in the surf was equally impressive. Wild horses raided our coolers at night, ate our uncooked meat and discarded the lettuce and tomatoes. Carnivorous horses? Tourists love them. Cell phone service? Zero bars. Only an hour from D.C. and the sky was so dark we could see the Perseid meteor shower put on its annual show. Every 365 days for thousands of years, according to historical records, the comet rains particles from its dusty tail into our atmosphere incinerating like shooting stars to be captured in Steve’s camera. Hundreds of millions of satellites orbiting around billions of worlds and somehow gravity remains the only misunderstood force of nature. Why is it that everything everywhere obeys the same laws of motion? Is it all by chance or is there a better explanation for the perfect order of natural events in the universe?

Our beloved constellations make seasonal appearances so reliably that mystical horoscope charts have earned credibility in predicting the personality of anyone born under its sign. The vast amount of energy required to maintain the bond between the twins of Gemini or hold the tail of Leo the Lion in place fuels the mystery and the North Star is so consistent that it has been used as a navigation tool by adventurous travelers ever since seafaring ships were wooden. Now astronomers using modern telescopes are learning that it is dark matter that generates the gravity necessary for celestial formations leaving Einstein’s curvature of spacetime theory on shaky ground. Maybe the force responsible for cosmic choreography is the same simple magnetic attraction that guides a pocket compass.

Our next camping trip will include the Block Island Ferry ride to Hither Hills, NY near Montauk on Long Island, providing another photo-op of the Perseid meteor shower. We won’t get any closer to knowing if there is a higher intelligence at play, but I will definitely have a good time hanging out with the 3 Steves.