Beaver Pond Journal 2013 #1

Journal Entry for August 11, 2013   As we approached the new Indian Lake trailhead and parking area I noticed recent roadwork had been completed. The old culvert under the road was washed out on or about June 6th when the old beaver pond dam gave way. A new and better culvert had been installed.

Pulled into the parking area at 9:05 A.M.  Mary and I walked across the road to look over the situation. There was nothing left of the pond. Stacks of dead timber scattered about, the beaver lodge high and dry. A small brook has replaced the pond, only a beaver meadow remains. It will be interesting to observe and document the changes over time.

Returned to the truck to retrieve my camera gear. The panorama set up pin was somewhat difficult to locate. The four small alder stumps that had always guided me to the set up pin seemed to be missing, or was I looking in the wrong place. After poking around some more I discovered the pin, its marking tape badly faded. I had been looking for the four short beaver cut stumps that formed a square. Two of the stumps had been broken off, probably by floating timber during the June flooding of the beaver pond.

Positioned my tripod over the set up pin, then I began assembling the panoramic gear and leveling the the rotational base. After attaching the my camera I corrected for parallax and was ready to shoot by 9:30 A.M. The harsh light didn't look promising, but I went ahead and shot a panorama series anyway. Just as I thought, no good, some portions of the images were overexposed.

Now the waiting game began! It took some patience and finally some clouds, acting as a large diffuser covered the sun, allowing me to capture two good series of images. The last series was the one I chose for the 2013 panorama. This years panorama was shot longer in length than normal to show the entire beaver meadow.

2013 Panorama

Next I turned my attention to reshooting the stump detail image, plus three more images of the lower end of the beaver meadow with its piles of dead and downed timber.

Stump Detail

Dead Timber Shots Just Upstream of the Dam

The Break in the Dam Just to the Right of the Two

Standing Tree Trunks on the Upper Left

I need to return to the beaver meadow later this month to shoot a panorama from the far side of the meadow, plus more detail shots.

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Thanks for visiting my journal,

Bunch