Onion River Exploration Project: Out Of The Sun

Out of the Sun

Day 5 (7/11-12/12)

Yesterday Eileen and I took off for an overnighter to Mauthe Lake. If you follow my blog at all you know that Mauthe Lake is one of our favorite destination spots. It was a great night to go. The middle of the week is usually a little less crowded but for whatever reason there were very few people out on the lake and trails. It seemed like the campground and beach was full but people must have just been hanging at their campsites and the beach. The first night we went up the river and didn’t encounter another boat until on the way back and that was guy who had seen us from a bridge crossing the river and asked us about how to get there. Mostly the trip was uneventful. The water was very low so we were only able to go up a little past the footbridge. The sun was directly in our eyes on the way out and even with sunglasses it was a little hard to see much. On our way back Eileen stopped to set up a few fairy villages and I did some fishing. It wasn’t until we were almost back to the lake that things started getting interesting. We had just rounded a bend when I noticed a crane standing on the edge of the river. I signaled Eileen and she slowly drifted around to the other side. Usually cranes are very skittish but these seemed mostly unfazed by our presence. There were three of them. They appeared to be a family with two adults and a smaller offspring. After about ten fifteen minutes of jockeying around to get better views they finally took off. We continue down the river and just before we got to the mouth, there they were again. This time we watched them even longer. Much of the time they were in tall grass and we would just see their heads pop up every once in a while to check out what we were doing. Eileen continued to photograph them while I tried to videotape them. Eventually they just took off but it had definitely been the highlight of our night.

Our plan was to get up early the next morning and see if the cranes were back but as they say “so much for the best laid plans…” Eileen’s Air mattress had lost all its air so she had trouble sleeping until I gave her mine. Then even though it only got down in the sixties we both woke up cold in the night. We decide that our sleeping bags which are rated down to forty degrees must require the use of a parka to do it. So, when morning came and it started to warm up it felt good to just sleep in. After a pot of possibly the best coffee I have ever tasted and a little breakfast we were ready to get back out on the water. Since it was late in the morning by the time we got out the cranes were nowhere to be seen but we did a little exploring and I managed to get a couple of fish. It started to get warm even on the lake so we decided to go in and finish packing up our camp. As always we ended our stay with one last bike ride but for that adventure you have to check out: http://donurness.blogspot.com/