Somehow Gary got me loaded in the canoe. The Wenonah is longer than the canoe wew usually share and tippier. I didn't have wading boots along so I had to crawl in from the shore. I managed to keep my feet dry but graceful I was not.
Then we were off, paddling along the shore and grooving on the fall colors reflected in the calm water. Soon, a bald eagle flew over. Soon after, we saw a turtle sunning on a log.
We aimed for the area Gary has named Bat Cove because one fine summer night he took me in there when the bats were swooping after water bugs. I was terrified, he was laughing at his little joke. Yes, I know bats are good animals who do awesome service in clearing out mosquitoes. Still, hundreds of them missing my head by inches....
In daylight, Bat Cove is colorful with maples and poplars emphatically making statements in front of the latticework of the pines.
We cruised past an area we avoided all summer. Here, the DNR placed a loon nest. (The national forests are federal but the lakes belong to the state.) Now the hatchlings are long gone though egg fragments remain.
Our second eagle was perched on a tree. He kept his eagle eye on his as we cruised past but stayed put while we photographed him. with my little Nikon that hasn't much of a scope capacity.
He's only a white dot on the photo but he was one of the biggest eagles we've seen.
There were chickadees, jays, and red-breasted nuthatches along the edge of the lake calling down at us. A single kingfisher swooped over the water looking for minnows. And all around was the lake, autumn glory reflected in the lake. This photo is not upside down. It is what I could see over the side of the canoe.
The perfect reflections in the water doubled the orange, red, yellow and green foliage on a perfect day we'll hold in our memories during the long winter.
Then we were off, paddling along the shore and grooving on the fall colors reflected in the calm water. Soon, a bald eagle flew over. Soon after, we saw a turtle sunning on a log.
We aimed for the area Gary has named Bat Cove because one fine summer night he took me in there when the bats were swooping after water bugs. I was terrified, he was laughing at his little joke. Yes, I know bats are good animals who do awesome service in clearing out mosquitoes. Still, hundreds of them missing my head by inches....
In daylight, Bat Cove is colorful with maples and poplars emphatically making statements in front of the latticework of the pines.
We cruised past an area we avoided all summer. Here, the DNR placed a loon nest. (The national forests are federal but the lakes belong to the state.) Now the hatchlings are long gone though egg fragments remain.
There were chickadees, jays, and red-breasted nuthatches along the edge of the lake calling down at us. A single kingfisher swooped over the water looking for minnows. And all around was the lake, autumn glory reflected in the lake. This photo is not upside down. It is what I could see over the side of the canoe.
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