Review by Jon C. Stott
“Travelling over the Mackinac Bridge always gives me a feeling of stepping back in time, where the pace of life slows a bit and folks wave as they pass on the road, whether they know you or not.”
This is how Bob Otwell, who, with his family, has spent over three decades at their Upper Peninsula camp on the banks of the Two-Hearted River introduces The Real Two-Hearted. In his book, Otwell writes about what he and his family have seen and learned and come to love deeply. It’s a feeling many “trolls” have experienced although their specific destinations may be different. The land and its people grow on you; you gradually experience what has been called “querencia,” a Spanish word for an almost spiritual response to place – the land and water, the flora and fauna, the history and the people.
The book is divided into four sections, each one presenting an aspect of the land and river about which the author has learned so much through observation, research, and sensitive emotional/spiritual response: “The River,” “The Land,” “Access and Development,” and “Boggy’s Camp.” The last is about the family’s semi-primitive cabin and the two acres that border the Two-Hearted River.
Unlike many areas of the Upper Peninsula, which have become over-crowded tourist hot-spots, the watershed area of the Two-Hearted River remains a relatively isolated wilderness, where the Otwell family is able to enjoy simple outdoor activities – fishing and canoeing, hiking and biking, skiing and snowshoeing. The river is, he writes, “one of the most undammed, untrammeled, undeveloped, unpopulated rivers [along the south Lake Superior shore].”
But, in spite of its remoteness and the limited access to the area, the Two-Hearted wilderness has not escaped the so-called march of progress. In the late nineteenth century, the use of the rivers to float cut logs to the mills caused bank erosion and a harmful stirring up of river soils; the increased sunlight that resulted from so many trees being felled caused the river waters to become unnaturally warm and damaged the “life-styles” of the trout within. In recent days, the advent of ATVs and snowmobiles has not only increased access and noise levels, but also has harmed the delicately-balanced ecosystem of the watershed.
Throughout the book, Otwell frequently makes short, pithy statements which could be called “maxims.” Here are four of my favorites.
“Rivers would all be pure and clean if we humans would tread more lightly on the land.”
“We care about these special beings [white pines], the history they have seen, the presence they have, how they pass on their gifts to their off-spring.”
“A tree in a forest has value if it is not cut down.”
And my favorite: “U.P. camps require not only a sauna, but also a camp dog.”
The Real Two-Hearted not only celebrates the land and the river, but also the joyous times the family has spent there, sharing their love for each other and the land. Some of my favorite parts of the book are the entries in “Boggy’s Camp Journal,” most of them written by the author’s wife and three children. One of them ends: “hope to return soon.” Sharing the cabin with friends and new family members (the daughters’ husbands) is a great joy. Otwell humorously ends an account of visits by friends and family with the remark: “Mice have been our guests – or are we theirs?”
At the end of the final chapter, Bob and his wife, Laura, sit quietly on the river bank. “The setting is normally quiet, often interrupted by a red squirrel chattering, letting us know that we are in their territory.” This short, sensitive book shares what the author has learned in the land they share with so many living beings. We would do well, if like Otwell and his family, we sat quietly in nature, looking, listening, and learning.
Jon C. Stott (author Summers at the Lake: Upper Michigan Moments and Memories
Otwell, Bob. Real Two-Hearted, The: Life, Love, and Lore Along Michigan’s Most Iconic Rive. Traverse City, MI: Mission Point Press, 2024.
Love the book and the Otwell family relationships to each other and the land and river. John Scott’s review captures what makes the book, the author and his family’s experiences so wonderful. Thank you.