Dear Editor,

Throughout our 25 years living here, we have often walked or skied (usually from our back door) to Mud Lake, that exquisite little jewel that sits close to town. There we’ve enjoyed watching wild ducks, grebes, and muskrats raise their families, and have also enjoyed seeing crawdads, salamanders, moose, and one time a great blue heron.

But we’ve often wondered why this sparkling gem was given such a dull name. Finally, after all these years, it dawned on us that under certain circumstances it does indeed have a strong hint of chocolate brown. And we realized why.

Most lakes are fed by streams flowing into and out of them, but there are no streams feeding or exiting Mud Lake. Instead, it’s fed by ground water. And as the water seeps through the ground before entering the lake, it picks up particles of soil and carries them into the lake. This gives the lake its color, and hence its name.

This morning I (Arden) took a predawn walk to Mud Lake. The lake was a perfect mirror, broken only by an occasional fish coming up for a bite of breakfast. The silence was complete. It was a wonderful respite from busyness and from the awful news filling our minds these days.

It was also a good farewell to our mountain paradise; in a few days we’ll be moving down to the flatlands. We’ll really miss living here, and we’ll especially miss all you strong, adventurous, good-hearted folks that we've known!

Arden and Betsy Buck

Nederland