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/
Fairies |
More Fairies |
Cranes |
More Cranes |
Me watching Cranes |
My Favorite |
OK It's a little small but friendly |
Eileen |
No comments:
Post a Comment