Hunting (Ambiguous)

Playing catch up I have a few mini posts worth a few minutes just so they don't get lost.

Late fall about the time I get the packraft I need to connect a stream to a lake for a link-up and it may require a tunnel of sorts. We are hunting for a line of weakness from where we are to a large body of, presumably, disgusting water that leads to the river. That will allow a long ride north about 10 miles to a put in that may look like the pictures below ...connecting to a lake and then a river. Packrafting back to the start but only if I can connect the trail to water. I'm going to call the post the "Don McLean" :-)

But the levee was dry. And them good old boys were ...

But of course the levee will not be entirely dry.

Seriously, like this doesn't make you curious about what is around the corner. Are you wondering if I'm going to tell you?

OK. The grade drops faster and ends with a downed poplar tree with its canopy jammed into the narrows creating a dam. The branches clogged with leaves and trash back up the water and it's spilling over the wall and making a pond. With the steep grade the pond reaches back 50 feet. I could not pass it and if I could the levee would not be safe to reenter. I might entertain clearing it with a few well placed cuts...

Unexpectedly we come across a lot of deer bones. I can't explain it but its not natural causes. Hunting is obvious and a local may just use this parcel of land as a dump. I suppose its ok to put what you can't use back into circulation so nature can recycle it.

I can make a logical guess about the bones and putting the minerals back in to the soil but what good can an old engine do? I see trash everyplace these days. Just last Saturday I found a dresser, baby stroller, Armchair, and 2 large child toys just dumped next to the trail I was riding on.

This day I do not make the connection to water that I wanted but I get far enough to know it sumps and may not be navigable.

I go hunting for a trail and find the hunted. One belongs to nature and one does not but when I look at each I still wonder about its life and how it came to rest here. Fortunately I was just passing through but my hunt was over for the day.