Taking Advantage of Our Indian Summer

I know we aren't the only ones enjoying these implausibly gorgeous days this first week of November, but we're doing our best to take advantage of them. Yesterday we headed to Taylor County and a nearby state park we haven't visited for quite awhile.

Lake of Three Fires was the state park my family visited most often when I was growing up. It was the closest to our farm South of Corning. The above clip is from a 1937 Iowa State Parks and Preserves publication I found online. 

In a previous post about the Lake of Three Fires (January 2016), I shared some childhood photos and memories - one of those memories was about crossing the bridge from the beach area to the campgrounds. I remembered it as being a long trail and a long bridge. I loved crossing it because I felt so grown up. When I saw that bridge yesterday I was flabbergasted. "It's so little!!"

Toward the northern end of the lake, I was taking pictures of muskrat houses and dead water lilies when a flash of white caught my eye.

Is it?

Yes! It must be our week for eagles.

The water was so still.

Those leaves floating on it weren't even moving.

Still water and clear. There was a tiny frog swimming around, but I couldn't get a photo.

Dead lily pads; dead tree branches - a study in still life.

There is an area north of the state park shown on a map as Simmons Tract Park. I couldn't find any information online about it, so naturally I wanted to see what it was.

Signs identify it as a Wildlife Management Area open to public hunting. And there was a pickup parked along the road. I assume pheasant hunters were trying their luck.

My photo is of a dry stream bed along the west edge of the tract. 

It is a water source for Lake of Three Fires - when we aren't in a dry spell. 

It was the swampy area across the road from the public area I found most interesting - and photo worthy.

A sea of algae didn't deter these ducks.

Upon my approach, dozens of frogs jumped into this stretch of water, its verges marked by hundreds of critter prints.

There must have been some kind of crossing here once upon a time.... and old road?

For me, this waste land was more interesting than the state park - a serendipitous find.

"Sometimes you sense how faithfully your life is delivered, 

even though you can't read the address."

        (Ted Kooser)