Most people who live beyond the official borders of Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes, will never sink their toes into the cool waters of Lake Vermilion. But author John Abel and photographer Tom Hill have created an immersive experience of a book that almost tele-transports readers to the shores of one of America's most spectacular natural features.

America's Lake Vermilion...its Seasons, Stories and Spirit takes readers on three journeys. One is a sensory trip around the contours of the lake itself, capturing the jarring shrieks of loons and the lap-lap-lap of the water against the side of a boat.

The second is a gentle, slow, reflective pilgrimage through winter, spring, summer, and fall - how the four seasons, through uncounted years, have annually transformed the colors, sounds, and textures of these 40,000 acres - much like this poetic description of Vermilion's harshest season...

Winter's invitation uses the strength of its cold dominion to welcome us outward. While nature rests beneath us, one can walk across the stilled water and listen to the magnifying sounds cut through the air above, clean and pure. One pauses at the resonating boom of expanding ice or the crack of a pine as the wind embraces its branches.

The third is a uniquely human journey. Abel and Hill document, in words and pictures, the ways that the lake has shaped the hearts and minds of those who live nearby.

I noticed a man standing on a dock gazing pointedly across the water. We navigated close enough to say hello and I asked him if there was something we could help him find. He assured me, 'I'm not here to find anything. This is the place I go to lose things. I've lost anger here, and jealousy and the fear of death. Sometimes, the answer to my prayers is not about finding things, but losing them.

Love of God, love for neighbors, and a relentless desire to preserve a uniquely beautiful place are the cords that bind this community together.

One day you may be blessed to see Lake Vermilion for yourself. Until then, consider this book an indispensable preparation for that experience.