PaddleWisers... Last weekend marked the end of a hideous streak of mean summer down here in bayou-land. Saturday morning had high 50's with 30% humidity and a front moving through with even cooler temps expected Sunday morning. This finally after about 45 days of +100 temps and a severe lack of rainfall. I decided to do a sunset paddle Saturday evening, and maybe catch moonrise too. I finished making ready a pan of focacia for delayed baking. GoodWife blessed my paddle-plan, even tho we had family coming for supper later tonight. GoodWife only asked that I make some bread and to not be too late coming in. How's that for a deal ! This is one of the few times I "got permission". I am usually trying for "forgiveness" for my paddling related excercises. I think the pleasant, cooler weather had great impact on my argument in the overall situation. Pour, guess, mix, mash, hurry, shake, season, and I shout as I leave, "About 20 minutes at 350 or so !" My VW bus can almost steer itself to the put-in. This area along Saline Creek is a huge open area of shallow water surrounded by dense upland and bottomland forest, all part of the D'Arbonne Wildlife Refuge. It is a very short drive from my house, and I paddle there often for the open water feel plus the wildlife viewing is excellent. There are numerous other deeper water channels and twisty creeks which braid through the woods and are an interesting paddle as well. However, this particular spot is closed for hunting so one is never competing with, disturbing to, or in danger of the heavily-armed, cell-phone, ATV hunting evolutionist that haunt many of our local woods. ( I'm not against hunting, mind you, but some of these folks are downright dangerous !). A man and his young son are swimming at the put-in as long-shadows time moves in. We chat briefly as I hurridly toss gear and think of other things ...then I pause. In mock seriousness, I ask the boy if he would help me carry my kayak to the water. He literally walks across the water in enthusiasm to assist. I show him a few things, and Dad says the kid is an excellent swimmer and it is okay if he sits in the boat. I put a line to the stern loop, help him get settled, and give an easy push off. Who knows, maybe this kid will be a paddling partner some day... The sun is just now dropping below the dark treeline to the west. Without glare, light and color play together in a magical dance giving a golden aura to the entire panorama. A fresh, evening breeze stirs and its cooling effect sends a ripple of goosebumps across my bare chest and back. I had been paddling away from the sun's glare and now notice what appears to be a cloudbank. Odd, because earlier it was a clear sky and we just don't get weather from the east. I swing around to enjoy the sunset and let the SeaLion glide to a stop. I remember something my Grandmother used to say : "Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sit." The mosquitos begin to swarm. They haven't been too bad this year because it has been so dry. An extended lack of rainfall seems to have taken its toll proportionately on everything ...mosquitos included. I decide to make some forward speed into the slight wind to at least make the mosquitos work for their vampire supper. Ahead I can see many dark flying sillouette shapes coming over the distant treeline, and then quickly swooping lower into the indistinct shadows, out of sight. A minute or so later and birds are flashing past me at high speed. White birds, lots of them, flying very low, their wing tips lightly flick catpaws on the water surface in neat geometric patterns as they swish by. There are hundreds of them, white egrets in a long erratic skein flying in groups of roughly a dozen or so. Following one group is another group, and then another group behind that one, and still another. In the dim light as I visually focus on them I have a sense of vertigo from the sheer speed and closeness of their pass. Each bird seems to make a quick swishing pulse of air noise as it flashes by. I hear and feel the disturbance of air from their passing. It is almost unnerving and lasts for about 30 minutes. The closest bird was probably 3 feet away. Many were skimming along right at the water's surface. Yet never, did one appear to be on a collision course with me. Finally, I turn to look behind me and there are large, fuzzy, shapeless masses of white against the dark treeline 1000 yards away. Not enough light now for any colors, yet the roosting birds are there in the distance. A few dots of white still fly and circle as they jostle for a perch. The mosquitos are gone too ...totally gone ! Did the birds eat millions of them ? Did the wind turbulence send them elsewhere ? Has the cooling night temperature sent them for cover ? My attention turns to the cloudbank which now resembles a huge mushroom cloud rising high and adding its own brown, black colors to the night sky. Finally it dawns on me that this is smoke ...something is on fire, something big. I stayed on the water watching the smoke cloud and a dim, eerie orange glow low over the treetops. A later than expected moonrise allowed all detail to be swallowed by the complete dark of night. I paddle slowly for quite a while in the darkness easing forward toward the unknown still-life drama playing out far ahead of me there. I read in Sundays paper that approx 100 acres were burned when a wildfire flared up from a carelessly discarded cigarette butt. When the moon finally decides to make an appearance the wildfire smokescreen adds an element of surreal beauty to the scene. After a while the moon rises above the layer of smoke and begins to illuminate stronger. I swing around and head back using moonbeams to find my vehicle there at the landing. The boat eases along through the smooth water and I settle into a slow cadence. As I paddle I become very aware of just how much the beauty of this planet, our planet, is enhanced by having 50 degree weather to enjoy it in ....cool changes, mes amies ! ...adieu ...Peyton (Louisiana) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Sep 20 2000 - 13:00:31 PDT
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