Mapping the Portage

The day is warming up. On my portage to the lake I note the sun baking the south side of a hill in a pine grove and that the scent of old pine needles is dense in each breath. It is an old smell, something preserved in the memory of my youth.

I put in and talk with visitors from San Jose. The eagles are soaring above us.
A long line of canada geese is swimming ahead. It is 15 adolescents (3/4 the size of an adult) and 3 or 4 adults. It looks like a junior high school field trip.
An otter pokes its head out of the lily pads on the south side of Marsh Island. There seems to be two of them, but the other is back in the brush. It has been awhile since I have seen an otter and I note that I have never seen them in the same place twice.
The breeze is unusually fresh today. It is a comfortable and pleasant wind, just the right amount that you could live with it everyday.
Two cinnamon teal are in the cattails on the north shore. Across the bay, I see the big female eagle circling. Then I notice the male above me. I watch it fly to the perch at the mouth of the NE lagoon.
I head for the big lake and south to a takeout.