Ah...mazing!

     Thank you to everyone that responded to helping me out! The most popular photo was of the Fall Path down through the woods. Fun fact, that was taken with my pocket camera on a day I trucked 8 miles. When going through my photos on the trail challenge folder, I saw that one and fell in love with it again.

I am pretty shy about photo contests. Yesterday I visited our County Fair and looked at the photo displays and the flower displays. So much beauty! 

Anyhoo, I did enjoy my night hike. I got there just as the sun was setting. I walked over to one of the ponds to photo the sunset.

Imagine my shock of seeing the result of the drought on the pond that was full this spring! This is the view from the blind. Aurora would know how the pond usually looks....

Wow...

The sunset was rather pretty. And even if it was a bit boring, I liked it because the skies were clear!

Slowly but surely the Milky Way started to become apparent in the SW skies. The glow at the bottom of the photo is from LaFarge Wisconsin.

Then I tried one with me in it...

It turned out just with my legs showing, but that is okay.

I turned to the North to watch the Big Dipper.

In 15 minutes, it made some star trails that were pretty amazing...

I guess it is disappointing to see all the trails of the satellites and airplanes that show up in the night sky. But it is what it is! Still, it was beautiful.

I tried to get some reflections of the stars in one of the ponds. The ponds are pretty scummy and dry but heck. I got what I got!

It took me a few hours and a LOT of experimenting to get these shots. I've had some acquaintances ask to go with me on these night hikes. I do love the company, but I'm not sure they would tolerate all the fiddling I do to try and get 'that' shot that is decent.

Is photography a solo 'sport'??? 

I took a lot of shots and they didn't all turn out the way that I wanted of course.

I had some fun while walking back to the car. I thought I'd frame myself in the opening of a covered bridge.

Then I added the moon as if I were doing Wall Balls in CrossFit. I had a good laugh over that.

And this last shot. It has the moon added too. It would be impossible to see the Milky Way with a full moon...but I thought it was neat.

Enjoy the night skies if you can get to a 'dark skies' area. 

I smiled all the way home on the drive.

Night skies are amazing if you can see them.

I got cold!

I totally misjudged the temperatures last night! 

When I left home it was 60 degrees. I was warm and toasty. When I arrived at the Reserve, it was 50. I'd only brought a light sweatshirt and a windbreaker. 

Note to self. Next time, add some jackets to a bag and leave it in the back of the Subaru. I thought I was getting good at figuring the weather out. Obviously, I forgot it was October.

I did get there just before sundown and enjoyed watching the sky and listening to Red Wing Blackbirds as they settled into the branches around me on their migration route. I didn't get any photos of them, but I could identify them by their song and the songs of Robins too.

Just as the sun dropped another flock of Canada Geese went overhead to the east. I think I was enjoying the sounds and songs of the birds more than anything else. 

To stay warm, I hiked around the pond trails and finally settled on a spot to watch the moon come up. I had 20 minutes to wait for moonrise and at least another 10 minutes before it would appear over the bluff to the east.

As the light faded, I watched some beavers -- or muskrats -- swimming in the east side pond. I think it would have been beavers because when they swam closer to where I was standing, they alarmed by slapping their tails against the water.

Oh, the sounds of nature when you can be right in it!

When I got to Bridge 18 I stopped to glance at the moon on the river. It was so beautiful. It seemed to glow orange.

I wanted to stay longer but my hands were freezing.

And as I put away my camera I heard a Hoot Owl calling out. I smiled, I love the sound of those owls.

Then I heard a blood curdling screech. I actually stopped a moment because it did actually sound like a scream.

It raised the hair on the back of my neck until I recognized the call of a Barn Owl. Yes, they do screech and it sounds pretty awful at first.

Another terrifying night sound is a fox screaming. But I haven't heard that in a long time. I did hear the coyotes calling out to each other when I reached the car.

It seems that all the creatures were enjoying the beautiful moonlight with me.

Enough about my night time wanderings.

Looks like the weather will change for the cooler and perhaps I'll be smarter about what I wear!

The Subaru said it was 39 degrees when I left for home. 

Night Walkers

I have a 'bucket list' of sorts for things I would like to photograph. One of them is the moon rise from Blackhawk Rock. 

Another is a photo of the moon reflecting on the beaver pond at KVR. On Friday evening, Olive wanted to know if we could go for a moon walk. She hadn't really ever been on a moonlit hike before.

I decided to take the Old 131 Trail and we arrived at KVR just after sunset. While we walked the wide blacktop trail the western sky was still light and the moon [Gibbous Moon] was rising to the east. 

The Hoot Owls were very talkative and we stopped a few times to listen to them. A raccoon ran across the trail in front of us. Olive was startled and I laughed. Of course there would be night critters. It is the way of the forest.

By the time we reached the beaver pond area the moonlight had taken over. 

Both of us just stopped in our tracks and gazed. It was brilliant and beautiful.

Gibbous Moon 

Here is a photo of the moon reflecting on the beaver pond. 

In my mind, I think there should be a way of shooting the moon so you can see the moon surface and see it properly exposed in the water also. 

I haven't worked that out yet.

But now I can think about it because I know how beautiful it is. 

I tried this last month at a another pond in KVR and it was a bit of a failure due to the heavy fog and the angle of the moon. I got Jupiter's reflection but the moon was like the shot above...blown out and hazy due to the fog.

September Gibbous Moon/Jupiter on the ponds
near the Visitor Center

At the Beaver pond, I turned around and decided to get a shot of the Kickapoo backwaters.

I used LiveComposite mode to catch a bit of star trails and let the camera do its work for 4 minutes. I didn't have a lot of extra time to experiment like I normally do. Olive had a time she wanted to head back home.

This turned out pretty neat and since I was happy enough with it, 

we turned around and headed back.

We were back home by 9PM which fit her schedule just perfectly.

Sunday night I met another friend and her children who wanted to see the full moon on the river and by the ponds near the Visitor Center.

We watched the moon come over the top of the trees and then shine down on the pond.

We took  the grass trail around the other ponds and the bird observation point and then walked to bridge 18. It was a short walk. The kids -- being kids had left home arguing with mom about what to wear to stay warm.

The daughter got really cold and since she was all hunched up inside her fleece jacket looking miserable, I just snapped a shot of the full moon and we headed to the vehicles.

You cannot force a teenager to enjoy themselves if their heart isn't in it. The younger one was more interested in the on/off switch of the flashlight. Mom was frustrated because she wanted the kids to enjoy themselves.

I actually think they did as there were a lot of wows said and we had fun trying to identify the north star. The teen pointed to Jupiter and said it was the north star.

I hugged her and laughed. "I'm not getting lost in the woods at night with you!"

We all laughed. I picked up the youngest one and made to throw him in the pond when he was arguing with mom about a shower. "After getting slimed in the pond, you WILL want to get a shower!"

More laughter.

We wrapped it up and said goodbyes in the parking lot.

I'd told hubby that I'd be back home around 9 so I left.

BUT...

I want to go back tonight without distractions just before sundown and explore ...

Besides, the geese coming in last night were pretty cool. This shot from the parking lot.

[Not a very good shot, but I liked it!]

I know my son thinks I am annoying when I hiked with him and had my camera along. -- Roll of the eyes -- indeed I was on that trip.

Recently I've just put my camera away while hiking with friends. They don't really want to stop and see me take photos. 

And now I realize that unless I am with another photographer. Photography is a very solo sport. 

That is okay. I can live with that. Charlie is always patient with me anyway. If I take too long in the woods, he gets busy by digging a hole nearby. I don't know why, but that keeps him busy and he rarely complains!

Tonight? I'm going solo. Sometimes it is just better that way.

Bear & I

I know it is silly, but I sometimes like to take my favorite old beat up Bear with me. I think it is fun. Bear was purchased at a Thrift Store and was piled in a shopping cart with other stuffed animals. $1 each. He had a fancy Christmas sweater on him that I took off. 
He was intended to be a woods bear and after losing him twice to floods, he got tossed into the wash machine and became my pal.

I want to take him to the bluff with me yet this year so I can have coffee and just sit with him. 

I think a photo of him reading a book on a bluff would be a fun thing to try too....

So, Bear & I headed out before dawn and arrived at the KVR buildings while it was still dark. I stuffed him in my backpack and off we went down to the river bottom and took the short muddy and wet path to old 131 and viola, we arrived.

It was far from spectacular but I decided to watch and see what would present itself. 

I could hear the Sandhill Cranes calling out. Wow! Are they ever noisy! I think they flew overhead and landed in the pond behind me. But the brush was so dense as was the fog, I never got to see them.

This is really difficult stuff to work with: heavy fog and low light. So I actually brought a tripod so I could steady the camera to do some 'minimalist' type of photography.

I walked around and then decided to see what interest, I could find in this spot of the pond. It looked really bleak.

Focusing was really hard. The camera couldn't find what I wanted and so I went to manual focus and even that was difficult.

The grass clumps were interesting and that little island behind the first clump was host to a family of Canada Geese this spring.

A different look in that same area...

And one more closer look at some grasses.

Bear started to complain that I was ignoring him so we took a short walk to for some other things of interest.

And we found a cool spider web.

When the sun burst through the fog it gave a whole new look to the place. The fog got heavier for a few minutes. The photo below is a six second exposure.

Bear and I shared some coffee from my thermos and hiked back through the muddy trails to the 'Ru.

On the drive home the sun would come out at moments and when we got right down next to the river, all light was shrouded by dense fog.

I had to pull over and stop.

I'm still undecided on the above photo. Should I have shown more reflection? Should I just crop it to the two right trees? 

But I am happy with this as it is. I think if I brightened it a bit, it would make a great black and white canvas type photo.

Side note: A friend of mine sent me an email asking for scenic photos of interest. She specifically said she wanted people, bicycles, and happy sunny photos. No fog shots as they make her sad. These are for publication in a brochure for tourism in the area.

Hmmm. I do Infrared, fog, forest, and rarely people photos. I happen to love my fog shots. 
They are so wonderfully moody. 

Bear says I should do what pleases me. I like Bear's advice.