Early Dawn – Thomas Creek
Today the fog did not elude me. Thomas Creek is about an hour north of the house, and even though I saw little signs of fog on the river, as I approached the boat ramp I had a big smile on my face. “Don’t worry,” I told myself, “the fog will dissipate as soon as I get the boat into the water.” Needless to say I was a bit hasty in the launching of the kayak and I was in the creek and heading east (downstream). I had never been this way before so I felt I was experiencing a new place and didn’t know what to expect. The fog wasn’t overpowering and I could see that the sun was trying to come through, but the cloud cover started to come in and the fog lingered for almost 90 minutes. This allowed me to paddle at least a mile with the current and as the creek widened, I decided to turn around. I didn’t realize how strong the current was and found myself paddling harder than usual to make any headway. I had to resort to using the anchor to stop the boat when taking photos and even then the boat would turn in seemingly random directions settling at just the angle that put me opposite of where I wanted to face. C’est la vie.
Foggy Passage – Thomas Creek
By around 9:30 the fog had largely lifted and the sun was shining from my back, which puts the landscape in a flat light. I kept looking back and seeing illuminated foliage but looking ahead everything was ho-hum. I decided to keep going as I knew the creek would take some twists and turns changing the direction of the light. I passed some familiar scenes and could not find anything that was freshly interesting. I don’t know if it was the light, the familiarity of the place, or my mood. I had just been blown away with the fog experience and I was still on a high from that. I decided to change to a longer lens (70-200) and this helped greatly to change my point of view and what I was looking for. I had gone for several outings with just my 24-70 lens which worked out great. But I was happy with the new eyes. The spring foliage is quite spectacular in terms of both the color and the freshness of new growth. I enjoy seeing the perfect, undamaged young leaves with their translucent glow. It is certainly as exciting as any peak autumn foliage, at least in Florida.
Spring foliage – Thomas Creek
Today I saw no one on the creek. I did hear gun shots from the firing range at the adjacent correctional facility. These rang out constantly, and I tried hard to tune them out but they were disturbing. I could hear the birds and feel the stillness of the morning but somehow hearing multiple rounds being fired constantly just makes me feel a bit uneasy. That was the only drawback all morning. Even the occasional jet passing overhead didn’t phase me. I’m enjoying spring immensely, and looking forward to the coming changes as the creeks continue to transform.
More spring foliage – Thomas Creek