Return of the Green Heron

Eileen at the Arch

Day 6 (7/20/12)

We had several days this week with temperatures at around or over 100 degrees. We, in Wisconsin, are experiencing, one of the worst droughts in recent history. All the lakes are low and a couple of small ponds that we pass on our way kayaking are all dried up. There is one in particular, where we always keep our eyes open for cranes that is totally dry with not even mud left. Yesterday, and the day before, we had trace amounts of rain and a break in the temperature so we loaded up the Yak Hauler and headed for Gerber Lake. Eileen wanted to check out the area for possible habitats for fairy houses and I wanted to check out the area for possible fish. Eileen was quite successful with her venture, I on the other hand should have known this morning when the pond fish were less than excited about eating that I would not do well. But as they say a day out fishing is better than… especially a day as beautiful as today. Eileen was happy to see the return of the green herons on Gerber. Our first year Kayaking she had spent hours chasing them around the lake to photograph and video them. She wasn’t able to get any real close ups but they stayed in the area for a long time. As I worked my way around the shore line, trying to scare up a fish Eileen set up habitats. She had a very successful afternoon but determined she needed a few more buildings if she was going to come up with new, different sites. By then our backsides were getting a little sore so we headed on back to shore. 

The Green Heron

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/

Fairies

More Fairies

Cranes

More Cranes

Me watching Cranes

My Favorite

OK It's a little small but friendly

Eileen

Question Answered

Beaver shot

Day 4 (6/27/12)

If a tree falls in a forest… So today Eileen and I had got up kind of early for us, had breakfast, and headed out for Mauthe Lake. When we got there it seemed pretty much deserted. Even the little booth for collecting money was empty and locked. We decided to pay on our way out and headed down to the boat launch. We had the lake to ourselves. It isn’t often or never that we are the only ones on the lake so we headed for our favorite part, the river. Unfortunately, there was not an overabundance of wildlife but it was still very peaceful. We worked our way up river and under the bridge, still no sign of people or wildlife. It was on our way back down that things started getting more interesting. First of all, the wind that we knew was coming started. We had seen on the weather channel that it was going to be windy and had actually thought about not going out. This year it seems like every time we have a chance to get out kayaking the wind is blowing. So as we started back down river against the wind we heard a load crashing in the woods as, we guessed but did not see, an old dead tree fell to the forest floor. Eileen looked at me and said exactly what was going through my mind, “well I guess we now know the answer”. We continued down the river a little further to where I saw a beaver with a mouth full of reeds swimming up river towards us. I slowly turned on the video camera but because the sun was at my back wasn’t sure if I was actually filming it or not. I thought sure that he would see us and dive but perhaps because of his precious cargo he continued making his way up river right past the prow of my boat. He then swam over to a brushy area along the bank, dove, and never appeared again. He seemed rather small as beavers go but industrious. When we made it out of the mouth of the river my fears were realized. The wind was blowing directly from the direction that we had to go to get back to our Yak hauler. By now people could be seen at the beach and running around on shore. When we finally made it back we loaded up, stop and paid for our stickers and were off. We took a different way home than usual and came across the Beachwood cheese factory. We had seen a article on T.V. about it so we decided to stop and try the wares. 

More of the Beav

Right before he dove

Against the Wind

Fairies at Gerber Lake

Waiting for a fairy

Day 3 (6/20/12)

We checked the weather forecast as soon as we got up and it was going to be another hot and windy day. Any other day we may have reconsidered our plans to go out kayaking but today Eileen was on a mission. She had spent the last week making little fairy houses and environments. It had all started when we became captivated with the wonderful little environments that you can find inside of an old stump or piece of drift wood. Although we could and have photographed these environments, how much cooler would they be with fairies living there? It has always been a slight problem that on some lakes while I am fishing, if the wildlife is uncooperative, Eileen has nothing to do. Unfortunately we have been to all the local lakes enough now that there is little left to explore so Eileen needed something to keep it fresh. Fairies were just the answer. As I said, she had been working hard constructing little structures that could be used in her environments. She loaded everything into a box and set out to build little fairy homesteads. While I was fishing, not very successfully, she would find new sites to settle and photograph. She did have one little house tumble into the water but that sort of thing is going to happen. As I mentioned it was hot and windy. Not often is it so hot that while you are on the water that you are sweating bullets but it was one of those days. The wind also made it a little hard to stay in one place but all in all it was a very fun and fruitful day. Eileen may actually start a blog of her own documenting her villages and she has all kinds of plans for new houses and paraphernalia.  

Eileen setting up a Homestead

The house that tumbled to the sea

Anybody Home?

Gnarly Build

Driftwood Heights

Blue Dragon

Fishies

More Fishies

Me fishing

Another Day at Gerber Lake

Gerber Lake

Day 2 (6/13/12)

We had been planning on going to Mauthe Lake Camping sometime this week but when I came home from school Tuesday and there was a dumpster in the driveway and the shingles were being torn off the roof we realized that was out of the question. Apparently the roofers had to change their plans and showed up early. We are glad to get it done but we won’t be doing any camping. They said they had to finish another job on Wednesday so they would not be back until Thursday. Eileen and I decided to take advantage of their absent and at least take a trip to Gerber Lake. Once again wind was a bit of an issue but as long as you stayed close to the trees it wasn’t too bad. I managed to get a little fishing done while Eileen explored. It is fun seeing how the lake changes from one year to the next. The biggest noticeable change was to the “Lady of the Lake” an old root cluster that looks like a female form. This year her once sleek body was starting to flake and peal. Gerber is surrounded with natural sculptures made from windfalls making it one of the more interesting lakes we go to. After checking out all the old haunts we headed home.

Some of the wildlife

One of the many sculptures

Turtle

Lady of the Lake

Sand Hill at Waldo

Sand Hill Crane

Day 1 (5/27/12)

I hope 2012 goes better than 2011 as far as Kayaking goes. Last year I only blogged eight times. I think that we may have gone out a couple more times but either nothing all that exciting happened or I just didn’t blog about it. This year seems to be off to a better start already. We really should have been out earlier since we had eighty degree temperatures in March but with school and everything else that goes on in the spring we had to wait until today. Because of Memorial Day weekend we decided to stay away from the more popular places and go to Waldo. When we left our house there was a slight breeze and beautiful temperatures. Perhaps because of the wind direction and lake layout when we arrived at Waldo the wind was quite strong. We are always a little concerned when the wind is at our back because we know that eventually we will have to return. We set out with much anticipation. As Waldo sometimes is, it was somewhat smelly. The water was high and muddy from the recent rains but we managed to spot some carp throughout the flowage. We soon encountered another problem with the high winds; it was hard to drift slowly to sneak up on wildlife. Soon after entering the river Eileen spotted the head of a sand hill crane bobbing through the tall grass on the bank. We tried to slow down to watch it and get some pictures but because of the wind it was impossible to slow down much less stay in one place so it took off and we only got a couple of fleeting shots of it. It was soon evident that the wind was not the only issue we were going to have to contend with. As I said before the recent rains had swollen the river and the slow easy current that we usually had to contend with had increased in speed and volume. Under other circumstances the fast current would have been fun but when you are hoping to drift up on some photo opportunities it can be trying. As we anticipated when we got back to the flowage our speed decreased considerably when we had to make our way back against the wind. We soon found that if you weren’t going forward you were going back. If you stop paddling to take a picture you would start blowing back and sideways before you got your picture taken. That said it was a beautiful May day. We can’t wait to get back out.

Eileen heading out

Up The River

Turtles

Coming Back Down

Nice Cedar

Worlds in Worlds