Duck Egg walk... & Charlie

 Sunday was very windy and a bit chilly in the morning for those used to 80 degree weather. It was in the 60's when Charlie and I went to Duck Egg. Really, I don't know why it is named that, but it is a county park with a huge dam that was built ages ago to deter flooding from the Springville Branch of the Bad Axe River.

In the 1950's this Bad Axe branch wiped out most of a small town called Newton in a flood with a mere 4" rainfall that came down hard.

I chose to walk through lower Duck Egg because it is easy to get out of the wind while in the steep valley. I decided to go early in the day to check out the leaves and the light. That first shot is from the trail looking up at the west ridge above the valley taken with my cellphone. The colors look pretty flat but the light wasn't that great.

It didn't matter, the air was crisp and Charlie was having a ball. 

He does love cool morning walks.

Thank goodness he went up on the foot bridge where I could stand on the ground and get a ground level shot of him. He has 3 inch front legs. Seriously, how can he hike like he does?

The vet said to keep him active and let him be a dog and not a couch potato. Charlie seriously loves his cuddly blanket and snoozing on the couch.

He also loves snoozing on a chair we have for him. In the morning when hubby and I are having coffee together, Charlie jumps up here and curls up. 

The walk was quite nice. Not as nice as the spring walks I take there to find bluebells and so many other wild flowers, but still very quiet and pleasing. The winds whistled above us on the trail.

We eventually made it to the pond and I was surprised to see whitecaps on it. The wind was gusting so hard there were waves on the valley pond.

On our way back to the car, we encountered a young man carrying a bucket, a fishing pole, and to my utter surprise, what looked like an AR-15. 

"Holy Crap," I said to him, "are the fish so huge out there that you have to shoot the suckers???"

He laughed and said, "No. I'm going to catch some fish and hunt squirrels on my way back." He smiled and nodded at us and continued on. They make AR-15 style rifles that are .22 caliber. But I've squirrel hunted a lot and you don't need an automatic to shoot them if you are going to eat them.

I carried a single action bolt kid sized .22 when I squirrel hunted. Generally you only get one shot to get the job done.

I shrugged and kept my thoughts to myself.

I was out to enjoy the scenery and the fresh air and that is what we did.

Hiking Wildcat Mountain State Park

I went hiking with Aurora again for our Fall hike at Wildcat Mountain State Park. We were too late for the peak fall colors but we still had almost picture perfect weather for our hike. The Old Settler's Trail drops from the ridge to a valley where we walked in peace and out of the gusts of winds.

We had our 'fearless' leader lead the way. Funny how he seems to know the trails by heart. He has only done this trail three times.

There are a few very steep parts of the trail and one is at the trail head where you descend log and dirt stairs down into a valley. The part we all forget is that this is a lollipop loop which means you have to come back up those stairs. 

The other steep part is coming around the base of the outcropping of rock and following the steep log and dirt steps up to the top of the rock. There is a look out on top with a guard rail to keep the idiots from climbing out on the prepuces and falling. 

I hopped over the railing and stepped to the edge as I have done for years.

In the summer you have to walk through poison ivy to see the tip of the rock.

Really, it isn't that scenic and wild at the end of the rock. The beauty is all around when you look down at the forest and valley below from the proper place behind the barriers. This rock and the scene it looks down on are best viewed in early spring and late fall.

I love the visuals on the trail. My favorite it this long bridge. This trail is also used for snowshoeing in the winter.

Same bridge in August 2020:

How different things look in different seasons. Try the winter! 
December 2016:

The trail through the pine stand was one of the trails I was so looking forward to. In years past, this has always been so incredibly beautiful no matter what the season. However, last years heavy wet snowfall combined with high winds took its toll on this gorgeous part of the trail.

August 2020:

and early morning in 2016:

Much to our surprise we were lucky enough to spot a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers. I was only able to get these two halfway decent shots of one of them working on a tree.

I have two nesting pairs of these in our surrounding forest. They are shy birds that generally are hard to see unless you are deep in the forest. This was one of the rare times that I/we got to watch them work while seemingly undisturbed by our presence.

Another look at the trails that run through the woods in the summer.
August 2020:

Meanwhile we headed back towards the parking lot with the late afternoon sun shining down into the trees below us just before having to climb back up the steep stairway.

I really think these trails are stunning in any light and any season.

Last but not least...there is the overlook next to the parking lot. The view is downright stunning.

Our view on Wednesday:

and just below the overlook a view of the river taken at the same outlook at a different angle in October 2018:

This view looks down on the Kickapoo River.

Aurora and I had fun walking, talking, moving slippery leaves out of our way so we wouldn't slip and fall. The fun part of hiking with Aurora is that she has taught me to look at things differently with my eyes and camera.

Last note.
There are also up to 15 to 20 miles that are for equine and hikers. That may be my next challenge. 

I like night. Night shooting.

Well what do you do when you have to work the 'graveyard' shifts or get off at odd times of the morning and there is a clear sky and bright moonlight....

you almost can't pass up the chance to experiment a bit with night shooting in the moonlight.

The biggest issue is that even in bright moonlight your auto focus cannot pick up anything. I solved this when I had my friend stand and I could shine a light and focus on her. Without another person, it is a bit harder.

For this shot I turned on the vehicle headlights, got a focus and pressed the shutter with a 12 second delay. I ran back to the car and flipped off the lights.

Bravo! I got a 60 second shot!

Then I thought the moonlit road would be interesting.

And...it really wasn't interesting other than only being lit by moonlight.

And then a 'shot' in the dark. I used to moon to get a focus and then pointed the camera an tripod behind the car.
At least there are stars in this one and the colors are more interesting.
The picture is noisy and has some funky pixels in it.
I was too cold to continue at this point, the temperature was 10 degrees.

So I packed up and went home to bed.

Since I had to work another midnight shift, I thought I'd take a few moments on my way to work to try out some other night shots.

I went to the pedestrian crossing near the Genoa

This shot was a total mistake. I didn't use the timer to prevent a jiggle in the exposure and the plant lights were too bright.
But one has to make mistakes in order to improve.

6 seconds of exposure at f 4.5 was too much. I should have gone to an f 11 perhaps.
I didn't have time to really take other shots, I had to be at the plant in 10 minutes after taking this shot.

However I pointed the camera with the same settings in the other direction towards the dam and got this shot. The color version was a mixed back of odd colors from the bright lights at the dam and the different kinds of light they have, so I turned it into a Black and White shot.

This turned out much better.

It was cold and I had little time to experiment, so I wrapped things up and went to work.

On my way home I couldn't help but pull over and take a shot in Romance, WI. The Bad Axe river was steaming and the trees were full of frost.
I pulled onto a side road and walked through the ditch to try and get a decent shot.

The light was so glaring and different from Night shooting.
But it was worth the walk through the crunchy snow.

Tonight the 15th will probably be my last night for any moonlit shots for this month. I can look forward to this again in April.

Perhaps I can convince my night hiking pal to help me go out tonight and take some of the snow lit up by the moon.
We will see!