A change of pace.....

 August 15, 2023

 We did get more rain, another half inch plus for a total of 4 inches since the first of August. 

Sunday was threatening moisture, so a last minute planned outing to meet a couple of friends at a half way point between their place down south, and ours up here was postponed to Monday. 

Yesterday, we were up and away in good time to watch the very orange orb of day rise behind us as we headed down the highway. We were heading to a bit of old stomping ground, to a lake we have bass fished quite a few times. 

We'd been told that the crown land around had been logged over the winter, but were totally gob-smacked to see the familiar road sides so decimated. Around each bend, the bush was gone, the land brutalized, just the white pines left standing tall and alone, with this summer's undergrowth of young poplars and berry canes growing at their feet. Mother Nature abhors a vacuum. Bare areas of  bedrock were visible, the rocks looking bleached and naked, the scant topsoil exposed and washed away once the sheltering trees were gone.

 It used to be a slow, bumpy drive in low gear, watching the boat trailer bump and jostle behind, always wondering if this time, will we be able to get there. Of course the winding road has been improved for the log trucks, no longer so many hogs backs of bare rock to traverse, no longer the curiosity of how deep the overflow of the beaver dams along the way would be, as those flooded areas would have been fixed for the trucks. Consequently, more people are accessing the lake, and at the "parking" area, sure enough, folks were camping, several tents set up and a fancy fishing boat tied to a tree beside the launching area. 

The loggers had left the prerequisite screen of trees along the lake on the side that had been logged, but the derecho that blew through the area last summer had toppled those pines, so all along that shore were large tree trunks sticking out into the lake, their brown, dead tops submerged, the barren landscape so very visible behind. 

Sad, so sad. We could not recognize parts of the road and questioned each other about which spot held a specific memory of years past. 

Enough of that. 

We were at the lake first, and had been fishing for a good hour or so before we saw our friends coming across to say hello. We chatted for a bit, then headed off separately to fish, agreeing to join up at lunch time, tie our craft together, eat lunch and catch up on all our news. That happened, and we had a nice time, even staying tied and fishing out of the opposite sides of our respective craft to continue our conversations. 

So... some pictures...none of the devastated land.

It was a little foggy and cool earlier, but cleared to a beautiful day. The far hills seemed shrouded in fog. We assumed it was the trees respiring all the moisture we've received lately, but on returning home, found out it was at least partially smoke from the fires in Quebec.
 

The biggest catch of the day......

Sadly, not ours!