Places Unknown

S and I set out from a silty sand beach on the edge of a medium sized river for a trip to a place that S has never yet seen.


It is an easy paddle on a slow moving river with just enough shade along one bank for some relief from the sun.  I point out the old railroad trestle foundations where several people died in the 1870's when their train went into the frozen river on a January night.  The water level is low enough that we can see that the foundations are not just piles of rock, but engineered shapes designed to shed currents and ice.

 But, it is the O cove that I am guiding us to.  And when we get to the big bend in the river I turn us to the outside bank and up to a low disheveled beaver dam.  S gets out onto the dam, then I get out and slide the canoe over.  The O cove at this time of the summer is a primordial oozing swamp...beautiful and seldom visited as most people can't see the wonder of it.  I steer us to the right and we push through a narrow gap of broad leaf swamp plants with purple tassles of flowers with dozens of very happy bees.  As we get farther up the cove, the water becomes decked in bright green, a surreal smooth surface of liquid meadow.

And, we take time to rest in the shade and see what might happen next.