Today started with a stop at the G&R Tavern in Waldo, for a famous fried bologna sandwich. I had been craving them for a few days, so I figured I'd get my fill. After munching on that and some fries, I decided to take an off trail hike in a part of the Delaware Wildlife Area. I had been back in here a couple of times before, but I never had my GPS with me to record a track log. I started out parked right by the levee on Panhandle Rd. I walked west along the levee until I saw a bit of clearing in the woods to the north. From there I followed a small spring until it ran into the reservoir at the cove near the dam. I walked along the ridgeline above the water, until shortly after the mouth of the cove. From there I dropped down into a wash out, and down to the water level of the reservoir. I continued along the edge of the water until I got near to the spot of a former cache I placed, actually the first cache I placed, that was taken a long time ago. I looked around a bit just in case it would happen to be there, but of course it wasn't. For reference it was Where Eagles Soar ( http://tinyurl.com/dlxvw ). After that I headed back down to the edge of the water, hiking through some mud. It seems that they're in the process of letting the water out to bring it down to winter levels, so it was a bit of a mess there. Eventually I made my way back up the levee and took a look at the dam. I had been there earlier in the year when we had all of the bad floods, so I wanted to take another look to compare that day to today. Below you can see comparison pictures. The one with the level marked near 45 is when it was flooded, the one where it doesn't register on the scale is today. After that it was an easy walk back to the car, following along the levee. I took a bunch of pictures from here, since even through the day started out gloomy and overcast, it started to clear up, and bring the fall colors out a lot. The whole trek was about 2.4 miles round trip.
Just after leaving the levee. It's too dark to make out anything. I suck at pictures.
Another one too dark.
Near the beginning of the small spring.
Just a look at some of the brush and stuff.
The woods on top of the ridge along the eastern edge of the cove.
A look northward up the cove. The spring runs into here at the right of the picture. The cove bends a little to the right nearer the top of the pic, then turns back left into the reservoir.
Not sure what I was after on this pic. Again, I suck.
Some bright yellow foliage along the ridgeline.
The work of some busy beavers.
A nearby tree where the beavers have just begun.
A look north on the reservoir.
Another northernly view of the reservoir.
More woods along the reservoir.
The wash I dropped down into, to get to the edge of the lake.
Looking north west.
Once again, looking north.
North again, looking along the eastern edge of the lake.
More industrious little beavers.
Not sure exactly what this is. The other end of the chain is attached to some telephone poles. Looks like it may have been a dock or boat ramp or something.
Looking westward over the reservoir, and look the water even goes uphill here. Amazing!
Looking north from the levee
Pic from early in the year, during the floods.
And the comparison pic from today. If you look at the flood pic you can also see the little island of trees in the background are, well, and island, but not today.
North again, from the dam.
And why not, one last time, north from the dam.
Looking east along the levee.
A little fall color.
A little more
More yet
The orange tree in the distance is right where Panhandle Rd. crosses the levee. The car is parked across the road from the tree, more or less.
Closer to the tree from the pic above.
Closer yet
Very close..looking northward.
Very close, looking up.
The aerial view of my trek. It was done in a counterclockwise loop.
The TOPO view
The terrain profile.
No comments:
Post a Comment