Beaver Pond Journal 2013 #3

Journal entry for September 8, 2013  Mary and I were on the road by 7:15 A.M., a rather late start for us. It was nearly 9:30 A.M. when we arrived at the Cedar River Flow gate. We only observed a few small flocks of wild turkeys and one whitetail deer along the drive from home to the gate. Signed in at the register and drove through the gate into the Moose River Plains Wild Forest. About a mile beyond the gate we stopped to pour our coffee and unwrap our fritters. Continued the drive towards the beaver meadow, eating our breakfast as we went.

Driving towards, and then across The Plains, we didn't observe any wildlife at all. Not many campers about, only a handful of campsites were occupied. Very quiet.

It was nearly 11:30 A.M. by the time we arrived at the Indian Lake trailhead. One Jeep was in the parking area, but no people around. When we left home the sky was completely crowded with clouds. As we traveled north the clouds began to break up and continued to do so until the sky was nearly cloudless. Not what I was hoping for!

Shortly after arriving at the parking area Mary and I walked down to the beaver dam and meadow to look things over. Too much contrast was the verdict. Well, we were here, might as well give it a try. By  1 P.M. I had shot three separate panorama series. The first was the best although not great. Repacked all my gear and we went back to the truck for lunch.

Beaver Meadow Panorama

With lunch out of the way I went to the north side of the beaver meadow, adjacent to the dam. My goal was to photo document the amount of dead, downed and standing timber that littered the area upstream from the dam about halfway up the meadow. I was also interested in shooting images of the beaver lodge and feed bed. As I was shooting two guys on trail motorcycles stopped to look over the break in the dam and the beaver meadow. Finished shooting the detail shots, packed up my equipment and returned to the truck.

Detail Images of the Dead Timber

Scattered Over the Meadow

The Beaver Lodge and its Entrance

The Beaver Lodge and Feed Bed

During the trip home as we reached the eastern edge of The Plains, just beyond the spur road to Lost Ponds, we saw a garter snake sunning in the road. Stopped and shot some images of the reptile.

Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sintailis)

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Beaver Pond Journal 2013 #2

Journal Entry for August 25, 2013  Mary and I were up at 4:00 A.M. and on the road at 4:30 A.M.,destination Moose River Plains Wild Forest and the new beaver meadow that was the beaver pond.

 Arrived at the Indian Lake Trailhead parking lot at 8:40 A.M.  After parking the truck I grabbed my 5D Mark ll camera with the 100-400mm lens attached then walked across the road and down to the meadow to see if any wildlife was about. All was quite, suddenly the silence was broken by loon yodels and wails from the area of Squaw Lake.

Looking across the meadow I noticed over thirty dew drenched, backlit spiderwebs along the south edge of the beaver meadow. I couldn't resist, just had to shoot a few images of the spiderwebs.

 Early Morning Spiderwebs

Headed back to the truck to arrange my packs for the bushwhack around to the far side of the meadow. Stopped to retrieve my cached set up pins along the way. After getting the set up pins I'd only gone a few steps when a movement caught my eye. I had nearly stepped on a toad, an American toad I believe. The toad hopped back into a depression it appeared to have dug. Again I couldn't resist, shot an image of the toad nestled below ground level in the depression.

Toad Nestled Down in a Depression

Mary and I arranged our packs then completed the bushwhack that was far more difficult than I had anticipated. We made the bushwhack O.K. but won't go back the same way.
After a short break I positioned my tripod, then assembled the panoramic gear to shoot the beaver meadow. The light was very harsh, lots of contrast, this was going to be a difficult shoot. Put in nearly two hours of shooting five panorama series as the light continually changed. None of the light was
great , but the changing shadows did help.

Beaver Meadow From the Southeast Corner

Meanwhile Mary shot some images along the southern border of the meadow and collected a few flowers and leaves and put them in her flower press.

Packed our gear and began the hike back to the truck before noon. Took a break for lunch, then went over to the beaver dam, found the Dam set up pin and shot an image as close as possible to the original Dam Detail image. Next I moved the tripod about six or eight feet to the right and higher, then shot a few more images of the dam area. That done I moved my gear over to the location of the Timber Detail set up pin and shot five more images.

Dam Detail

Two More Dam Images

Two Timber Detail Images


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Thanks for visiting my journal,

Bunch

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