Cottle Lake

Flies droned in the humid morning sunshine, bullfrogs sang from their lily pads, and baby ducks purportedly paddled the waters, although we missed the photo op for Mama Duck and the fuzzy younglings.

We ran into a trio of wildlife photographers .. massive camouflage colored cameras propped on tripods with their telephoto lenses trained upon the swamp ... they were a bit evasive and seemed hesitant to share exactly what they were trying to capture.  "This and that," "anything," "well, maybe not birds."  Seems they didn't really think highly of birders and 'looky-lou digital photographers."  They did open up and get chatty about gear -- "probably looking at $30,000" ... animals in the area -- "you probably won't see cougars or bears" .. and did share that they all sold their photos to various magazines.

I like traveling with Bev particularly for this reason.  Left on my own, I wouldn't approach other people I meet on the path.  However, with her there, I often strike up conversations with other trekkers and people we meet .. makes the day interesting when you can see it from other person's view.   They often share interesting tidbits and give you pointers to places where you can find great photos, such as the young father with kids in tow who told  us about the ducklings out for their morning exercise session.

These pictures are from the Cottle Lake area of Linley Park, which is massive.  I've shown some pictures of smaller zones in the park before, but we've barely touched the pathways yet. 

All but one of these photos will open larger, so click on them for a bigger view.

The little stone bridge at Cottle Lake

The area had a multitude of little creeks running into or around the lake and most of them had picturesque bridges.

Trail's End - that wee log across the creek didn't realllly promise a solid
foundation for further adventuring, so we turned around.

Cedars along a creekside provide a protective awning

Logs and lilypads

Cattails and bullfrogs

I'd love to tell you how the morning smelled of lazy summer days, but ..
it smelled of this .. skunk cabbage.  At least until we were a good distance away.

This cherry tree was all cozy with the massive cedars.

I'll bet he'll be happy when he can exercise and forego the fleecies on warm days.
Keith was full of goofy grins today.

A reflective moment.  Harrrr, I kill me!