July 3-8 was our week to enjoy some time on the lake. I don't think we've ever been out when it was so warm. In fact the weather was HOT: but the lake was great for swimming. Mike always likes to go to Cross Lake to 'his' campsite. It's a nice spot but in the past I've been cautious about swimming there because there are some big snapping turtles around. This week Mike didn't try to lure them in with fish remains until later in the week and we didn't see them (although I'm sure they were there) so I told myself it would be fine to swim. I still have all my toes and 'apparently' the turtles are not normally aggressive when in the water.
We went out with my parents and they parked just across the bay at their own special spot where it's deep enough to catch smallmouth bass off the back of the houseboat. We had a nice time, sharing suppers together, playing some games, fishing and even my parents went in the water.
The fishing was good although it was windy at times. We caught a little bit of everything: some lake trout, some smallmouth bass, some northern pike, some pickerel and a whitefish.
It was great weather for resting and reading. The bugs were not bad at all...until the sun went down that is! Then you had better hope you were inside because the mosquitos were hungry after not being able to eat most of the day ... poor little things.
On the way home we stopped at the opening to the Tetapaga River. Even though it was windy I really wanted to put my kayak to use and travel at least part way up the river. I've been up it by boat but there's something about travelling by kayak: you get to see so much more. I saw what could have been a black duck with six ducklings. They were a little way off as I was entering the Tetapaga so it's hard to be sure exactly what kind of duck they were. I followed a great blue heron for a while. I'm sure he thought I was chasing him but really he just kept flying a little way ahead of me. I also saw a muskrat minding his own business. I was downwind from him so I'm not sure he ever noticed me. He took a small 'stream' off the main course through the wild rice. I also saw the cutest little flowers. They looked like they were growing in a patch of grass on rocks that would have been covered by water last year at this time. They were yellow and probably less than a centimeter across. I wish I'd been able to take a camera with me but even though I've never tipped the kayak I didn't want to chance getting the camera waterlogged!
It's a good thing we did not head down to cross lake and take 'Mike's spot' we may have had a campsite war!
ReplyDeleteAnd how come no one warned me about the snapping turtles!!! ahhhhh
Cheryl
Mike might have considered sharing 'his spot' with you Cheryl ... if you asked really nice ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry, the snapping turtles aren't as plentiful where you were going. We have one at home as well but we hardly ever see it: he's never nibbled at my toes either although he gave me a good scare one day while I was swimming. I thought he was just a stick in the water and I swam quite close by him before he ducked underwater and swam away.
At 'Mike's spot' in Cross Lake, however, they usually show up as soon as they hear the houseboat park and they hang out waiting for supper. One year there were three of them there at once. Needless to say I was not brave enough to swim then, even if they aren't supposed to be aggressive in the water!