Going Someplace

I put in on the big lake as I have done so many times before. This is the shortest route to the water but I don't ever seem to get bored with it as I always take out an some other spot - no matter how many times I traverse the same waters, I in my head, in my heart, I am always going someplace. As familiar as I am with this place, I never find it the same any two days in a row.

I stop first at the mouth of the NE lagoon (Yesler Swamp). An eagle sits high in one of the trees that stand behind and over the north beaver lodge.


A low soft chattering semi-quack comes from the narrow opening that I call the summer sneak, and a cinnamon teal shows itself. I sit until it moves off on its own accord, then I slip into the lagoon.

The north lodge

In this tiny spot, I move as quietly as possible, deep smooth strokes of the paddle and then letting the boat move as if it is drifting. The head of a turtle, no bigger than my thumb, watches me and then slips below to safety. I decide to paddle into the little forest swamp behind the lodge. I find two ducklings hiding in the grass beneath the eagle. But the crows show up right then and after harassing that big bird for a couple minutes, it moves off.

Over on the west side of the bay, I stop in the unnamed inlet by the osprey tree to check on the marsh wren. It is bird silly here this morning. I can hear three different marsh wrens and at least a half a dozen redwing blackbirds. A heron perches in a tree, just visible to me over the tops of cattails. I hear a twirping whistle and look up to see an osprey. Another twirp and I spot the second osprey.

Across from #2 Island

I find the #2 island marsh wren again. So, he is not gone after all. And he must be building more nests as I catch him grabbing a mouthful of cattail fuzz, the primary ingredient of a well built wren nest. There is now a second male wren just across the channel. They are becoming my favorites...I find their activity fascinatingly deliberate. I take out at Portage Bay, and as I begin my portage, I run into M and D again, which of course, only makes the trip that much better.