Forest Legend: The Tale of Ol’ Split Toe

Split Toe was born in the deep Michigan woods with a mark no deer should carry: the duty to remember what the land has endured.

Drawn from one era to the next, he moves through centuries while remaining rooted in the same forest. When time begins to shift around him, this majestic buck is pulled through centuries without ever leaving his home deep in the Michigan woods.

He watches Ice Age hunters cross the snowfields. An Ojibwe tracker moves through swamp and pine. Logging camps bite into white pine forests. Homesteads rise where old trails once ran. With every new era, the wilderness changes, and Split Toe feels the cost of each loss more sharply.

As human ambition tightens its grip on the land, Split Toe’s role turns from witness to responsibility. Then he meets a boy who makes the forest’s story personal, and the journey becomes more than survival. It becomes a test of memory, courage, and what it means to care for something you cannot control.

A young adult novel of magical realism and wilderness adventure, Forest Legend blends folklore, history, and environmental tension into a mythic story of memory, stewardship, and the cost of looking away.

Dan Ellens is an outdoor enthusiast who is passionate about connecting people with nature. He spends nearly half of each year in an isolated, electricity-free treehouse on Winterfield Pines Nature Sanctuary with woodstove heat, handpump water, and oil lamp lighting. His daily off-grid life includes caring for the sanctuary, hosting the sanctuary's guests, all of the activities of a self-sufficient lifestyle, observing the natural surroundings and animal behavior, and drawing and writing. Dan has written four nonfiction books intended to inspire adventure, promote self-sufficient lifestyles, and connect people with nature. He is also author of the email-blog, Michigan Forest Life, which includes more than 850 posts since 2018.Dan was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is retired from a full career in industry and international business. When asked, Dan says his education places him in a large group of people with mechanical engineering and MBA degrees.Dan is an accomplished woodworker and carpenter. He is a hobby artist and is passionate about rescuing, restoring, and finding new homes for fine art. He loves exploring the possibilities of off-grid electricity-free cooking and baking. While not in the wilds, Dan's home is in the small community of Salem, Michigan.