The canoe strikes a large submerged log and sends out a bass drum boom into the stillness of the forest. A large white tail buck with velvet stub antlers responds raising its flag and leaping off into the brush. It is the fifth deer that I've seen. The other four were a mile earlier, somewhere between the first and second beaver dams.
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| Two rather huge beaver scent mounds |
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| Wood Ducks perching |
I put in at 7 in the morning. Some of my most vivid canoe memories are being in a frosty marsh as the sun comes up. Everything comes alive with the sun on cold mornings like that. There's no frost today and it looks like there will not be a bit of sunrise as well. But being early and first into the swamp is as good a guarantee of animal sightings as anything.
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| Red Shafted Flicker |
I am not quite halfway in and so far I have spotted: 1/2 dozen Great Blue Herons, 4 Great Egrets, several Wood Ducks, several Mallards, several Canada Geese (week old goslings with one pair), sandpipers, a Red Shafted Flicker and a single Lesser Yellow Legs.
The rain started as a short duration of light sprinkle. Each time the rain returned it lasted a little longer and rained a little harder. I had four spells before getting up to Patterson, where I begin my return. Soon it rains again. But this one has all the markings of raining for the rest of the day. I dig out my rain gear. It rains for the next four miles. It's 50 degrees, so it's not too bad at all.
It was a round trip of 13 miles. I saw no one. It was a fine day.
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