Gary by the Little Sac River (365:108)
Today I went on a short hike,
it may have been short, but it made up for it with the need to bushwhack and climb over and under things.
The day started badly with a flat-ish tire, which delayed getting the kids to school, which meant I was delayed getting out of town to help Loyal check out the fence line on his father-in-law’s farm. There was no trail so we had to bushwhack our way through and negotiate some steep descents clambering over fallen trees along the way. When I got home I found my right leg was covered in blood from thorn scratches.
The north part of the farm ends in 90 foot bluffs down to the Little Sac River, we followed the fence line down a hollow to the river and stopped to take pictures along the way, and I suffered equipment envy at Loyal’s Hasselblad, but at least I don’t have to wet process my pictures. I took today’s self-portrait balancing on a downed tree.
We were accompanied by three dogs, two of which would have looked much more at home as pampered lap dogs, but they were very game and got very wet and muddy. One swam across the river which was running quite fast, and on swimming back got caught in a big pile of washed-up trees and limbs. We can only guess that in rescuing the dog Loyal got into a nest of ticks. He told me later he found over sixty. I only found two – both were having quite a feast though, one on my ankle and one on my backside!
I was treated to lunch and got back to Springfield just in time to pick up the kids from school.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.