‘She taught me persistence’: Otter Tail County man leans on images throughout grief journey – InDiscussion board

BATTLE LAKE, Minn. — Sometimes an image is price a thousand phrases.
But generally, the artwork of taking that photograph is life altering.

At Glendalough State Park close to Battle Lake, one man has discovered nature and images to be the proper starting and finish to the day.

But it has additionally develop into a accomplice throughout his grief journey.

Glendalough State Park, outdoors Battle Lake, felt a bit completely different on Monday, March 23. It lastly sounded and seemed like spring.

Greg Gerhart ready for his nearly day by day hike into the Otter Tail County state park.

“In my backpack, I have up to four or five cameras,” Gerhart mentioned, as he snapped his backpack straps.

Gerhart’s images taken lately at Glendalough are rapidly turning into legendary.

The trumpeter swans, sunsets, eagles and otters of Glendalough. Gerhart has been out right here all winter photographing them.

Contributed / Greg Gerhart

“I have seen them pull up mud puppies, northerns, frogs and bullheads,” he mentioned of the otters’ weight loss plan.

People flip to hobbies for a lot of causes. But for Gerhart, it was a option to journey by grief.

“She was kind, compassionate, had patience. She gave it to me. I was never that patient, she gave me that gift,” Gerhart mentioned of his late spouse, Denise.

He lately misplaced Denise to most cancers. She cherished coming right here to Glendalough, he mentioned, and after she died, Gerhart turned to his digital camera and this park for therapeutic.

“I didn’t want to sit on the couch at home and sit in a depression and a rut, and there were days I made myself come out here and I was glad I did,” he mentioned of images and the affect on his life.

Contributed / Greg Gerhart

The digital camera and the images additionally saved Gerhart strolling down his path of sobriety.

“To be in sobriety, is to be in nature, camping or whatever, it is all about this,” he mentioned of his 40 years of sobriety.

To many, Glendalough is simply one other gem within the crown of Minnesota parks. To Gerhart, the park and its wildlife are a lot extra.

A day by day reminder of what saved him.

Abby Makay / WDAY

“Sometimes I don’t get a shot but I get just as much joy in seeing it and knowing it is out here,” he mentioned, as his digital camera clicked away.

And he’s sharing his love for images along with his grandchildren and even college teams that come out to Glendalough to take footage of nature and wildlife.

“You have to have patience,” he mentioned of nature images.