Beavers Make a Dam Mess

A few weeks ago while on an overnight hike my brother and I stopped to admire the handiwork of some furry little engineers.

While we were initially amazed at the pond that the beavers had created we were more than a little bummed when we discovered that their calculations were just a little off in determining how much area they would flood with their project.

The next section of the North Country Trail was flooded as a result of their dam. What a mess. In order to keep our shoes dry for the rest of hte hike we had to "ford the river" barefooted. 

After drying our feet we stopped to check out the area below the dam that continued to flow. To our suprise there were fish making their way up to spawn. 

Once their business is done the fish expire and give themselves over to help sustain other creatures of the forest. It is such a beautiful little drama.

More on the remainder of our hike later.

-j

 

Back in Nor-Mich and loving it. Expect to see new posts from all the usual places and a few new ones 

Yesterday my friend Matt came for a visit so I had to show him my new favorite spot, Old Baldy. After the half-mile barefoot hike we descended the face of the dune. The thrill of rushing down the dune, bounding almost weightless and at tremendous speeds is somewhat overshadowed when you finally reach the bottom by the sudden realization that lingered in the back of your head the whole way down, "oh my God, look how high we have to climb."

Though the ascent was challenging it was not impossible and I urge any of you who make your way out to the end of the trail to make the extra effort to let your inner child out by barreling down the sandy chute.

On another note, while walking around at nearby river we saw a few salmon. Maybe this week I could hook into my first one!

Wish me luck.

-J

(PS. Gosh it feels good to be done with this semester's classes)