We’ve had near-drought conditions in SW MI and today was the last day of a heat wave. The Paw Paw is low and running less than 300 cfm like late summer.
I like to just stop and look around. Today as I was eating my PB&J there was commotion in the shallow water right in front of me and then the hump of a snapper emerged gliding along and then it raised it’s dinosaur head. Reminded me of Godzilla. Then I saw the smaller snapper that he was chasing, presumably a female.
Took me forever to do 12 miles because I was happy to just putter along. About 90 degrees when I launched but it felt like it cooled off throughout my paddle and when I popped down to Lake Michigan after my paddle it was a delightful 64 degrees.
Last week I went on a rare trip with a paddle partner. High tide gave us access to the little tributaries. We heard crashing sounds in the reeds that had to be an adult deer. A few minutes later, two fawns rustled the vegetation then swam across the stream. Then a short while later, a muscrat crossed into vegetation behing out rest spot. To our suprise, it emerged undeterred to grab a snack less than 10 feet from our boats. We both just pulled out our phones and got a shot.
Swimming deer, five bald eagle sightings, red wing blackbirds, turtles, an Alewife jumped in my boat, purple and yellow water iris, and a muscrat snacking with us.
