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This was an outing that was a long time in coming it seemed, due to prior engagements, inclement weather and whatnot. My friend Dot and I went back to the St. Mary's river on Saturday 12/3/05 and did the Stokes Bridge run again, paddling upstream into the current then floating/paddling back downstream. It was a beautiful day to be out. We initially tried to go up Brandy Branch where I had been before by myself, but there was a freshly downed tree that blocked progress in that direction. We also came across another 'new' downed tree further into our trip that necessitated a small portage to get around. Such is life on the St. Mary's river.
This first picture is starting out around 9am or so.
This is on Brandy Branch. The photo doesn't do this tree 'justice'. The trunk of this tree is truly a 'piece of work'.
This was a stop we made to 'break' up the trip. Dot and I both like to stop and get out of the boat and walk around. This stop turned into quite a surprise. These were some oddly colored fungus Dot found.
There was an apparent 'old' stream bed that led off into the woods. Note all the cypress knees.
Along the way we came across these huge holly trees. They were easily 30 feet high.
We have seen this patch of cypress knees before, except from the water side.
Following the old streambed back into the woods, we came to a hidden pond, now cut off from the main river. There must have been over 50 ducks on the pond. Unfortunately they heard or saw us before we saw them and they took off. The whole bank of this pond was covered with cypress knees. These knees are between 3 and 5 feet high. Easily as tall as Dot, peanut that she is. The whole area had a very surreal feel to it.
This is the view looking across the pond. As I said the entire bank seemed to be covered with cypress knees.
This is back near the end of the pond. The water went back into the woods as far as we could see, which wasn't very far.
As I said the whole area had a very surreal feel to it, like something from a fairy tale. This is the stuff that dreams (or nightmares) are made from. But it was a sight few have seen without a doubt.
An interesting dead tree.
Looking upstream on the river.
It was at this point we had our lunch. All morning Dot kept saying she hoped we would see a deer. Rounding a bend near this point we were blessed with a wondrous sight. A deer, a buck, was just emerging from the water onto the bank. He was easily a 6 or 7 point buck and truly magnificent. Since it takes time for my camera to 'power up' from being off, by the time it finally came on he was long gone. But he got out of the water, turned around and looked at us then headed off into the woods. What a beautiful animal to see in the wild. It was truly the highlight of the day. So we decided so stop and have our lunch at this point. While sitting on the tarp in front of a small campfire we made, we saw this wasp/hornets' nest across the river from us. It was easily 2 1/2 feet high if not 3 feet and over a foot in diameter.
This is just to show how beautiful of a day it was. And it was like this most of the day. It was a bit cool in the morning but a perfect day for kayaking. I hope you enjoyed this small 'show'. See you next time.
Jack Woodward mailto: jackwoodward66@hotmail.com
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