Driving through the Indiana countryside on a holiday weekend is my idea of relaxing,
and it was on a drive like this with my son Brian that I was called to remember Mike Bachner ’70.
South and west of Crawfordsville in a pretty little piece of Indiana known as Balhinch there is every good reason to think of Mike. Here you’ll find the Bachner Nature Preserve, 28 acres of former cornfield alongside Sugar Creek. It was dedicated on a sunny day in April 2009, when dozens of Mike’s friends, family, and co-workers turned out to honor his memory. We also planted 5,400 trees in that field.
Drive out there now and you see a burgeoning forest next to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Sugar Creek Access Site, a great place where people can put in their canoes and kayaks. Mike was passionate about public access to the creek he loved.
It was a place that nurtured his soul and rejuvenated his mind.
It was a place that nurtured his soul and rejuvenated his mind.
Going up you really learn to read the river. The eddies behind the rocks become a ladder if you see it.
“When I need to relax, I close my eyes and work my mind up a favorite section of the creek.”
This “little wilderness” inspired him to poetry: “Sliding down the snowy bank, spraying into the Red-tailed hawks serenely soar above, watching belted kingfishers scold me off their piece of real estate. I’m not alone, but I find some refuge.”
Today you can find refuge, read the river, or paddle with friends in this quiet place, the legacy of Mike Bachner, his nature preserve growing along the banks of this beautiful river.
Beth Swift, Archivist