A NEW YEAR AND NEW ADVENTURE

Well.....2008 is here and a new year for some new adventures. Like the last two years I decided the best way to get things going was with a walk in the woods and see what new things I might find. I did just that and got one surprise that was like getting the grand prize out of a Cracker Jack box...but that's to come a week bit later.

I decided the best way to get the year started was to do a full 12 miles on the Two Lakes Loop Trail, which I've talked about a lot on here. I got up to a temp of 26 degrees with snow showers later in the day. By 8:45 am I was all packed up and out the door to make a day of it. About 20 minutes later I was in Perry County, Indiana and by 9:14 or 16, somewhere in there, I was on the trail.

I must admit the first mile or so was a wee bit tough on me as I had done little since the November hike I told you about. The body tends to get a little out of sorts if it lays around much but by two miles I was feeling a lot better with both the muscles and lungs stretched out a little bit. I was happy to see the creeks flowing once again after having been pretty much dry as a bone the last time I was here (you can go back and see the difference from then and now from previous posts.).

I did see a few critters along the way this time. Two of the large, what we call wood hen woodpeckers went screaming through the trees. I'm not sure what they had been looking for although I'm guessing they were able to pull some of the hibernating bugs out from under some of the rotten tree bark around. At another spot three deer took off through some high weeds but the only part they were showing me was their tails.

But it was what I found when I got to Indian Lake that surprised me the most. I looked up to see a large bird silouhetted against the sky. My first thought was a buzzard but but the wing tips didn't look right. My next thought was a large hawk but then the bird dipped down toward the trees and suddenly I saw the white tail and white head. It was a full adult bald eagle!!! I watched it glide over the lake then land in a large oak tree where another eagle sat above it. This was totally amazing and I was the only one there to see it all. The pictures aren't great as the eagles were more than 300 yards away from me on the other side of the lake. I knew they could see me but I guess they felt comfortable knowing I was that far away from them. I didn't see it at first but after about a minute or so the lower eagle began to tear at something down by its talons. The way it ripped its head about I was guessing it had caught something and was feeding on it. After I looked at the pictures I determined it was a fox squirrel. What I'm wondering now was if the eagle had snatched out of a tree or grabbed it from the ground. However he did it he was making it his breakfast for sure.

I shot several pictures like the one above and then put the camera away because with 7 1/2 miles to go I knew I was going to have to get back on the trail soon. Of course you knew that was when everything was going to happen. It's almost like the eagles took it on cue to do their thing as I was getting ready to going again.

The top eagle began looking down at the lower bird and I'm guessing didn't like the fact the other eagle wasn't sharing in the bounty. All of sudden the top eagle jumped down off its perch and swooped down the make the steal, its talons outstretched for the grab. The lower eagle jumped off the branch and dove toward the lake and went swooping out over the water. I couldn't seen anything in its claws so I'm guessing he dropped the squirrel as he took off. The eagle spread out his wings, which were every bit of 8 feet across if not more, and glided down to within about 10 feet of the water. I first thought maybe he might have seen something he could grab on the water but instead the large bird pulled itself back up and landed in another large oak tree. The second eagle left its perch to fly over to the second tree. The bad thing was now neither one of them had anything to chew on so one's greed left them both without.

I watched the eagles for a few more minutes then took off on the trail again. Seeing the eagles had definitely made the trip worth whether I saw anything else or not. About an hour and a half later I came to my favorite place on the trail where my favorite stream flowed once again. It was good to see it running after having been completely dry on the last hike a few months before. It wasn't running at full capacity as it usually did but enough to hear the water running over the rocks. I sat down for a sandwich and listened to the wind beginning to pick up in the trees. It was telling me that something was on the horizon that I needed to be on my way. Normally I might spend half an hour here but this time I kept it down to just long enough to get the sandwich down and drink some water. That was something else. The water in my open bottle was beginning to get chunks of ice forming in it. The temperature was beginning to drop even more so I got up for the last 3 1/2 miles.

I walked across the dam that holds in Celina Lake and could see the clouds darkening to the northwest. The wind also made me raise my hood up over my head as the wind chill seemed to drop even more. At just after 1:30 the first flakes started showing up. Just a little flurry I thought to myself but I could tell more was on the way. With about 2 miles to the sky suddenly opened up and the snow really started coming down, enough so that the other side of the lake was just barely visible. As I entered a pine thicket the snow kind of resembled a fog that softened the outlines of the tree trunks. I began to get white, my pack began to get white and at one point everything was getting white as the squall began to get heavy and quickly whiten the ground. After about 20 minutes of it the snow finally began to slacken and the sun showed itself once again. That sun, however, wasn't warming anything up as the temperature began to drop even more. With my constant movement the air didn't bother me much. I had four good layers on plus both smartwool socks and gloves. Being comfortable and warm let me enjoy the snow and everything that much more. It had been a good day with the eagles being the highlight of it all. Now I'll give the body a little rest then before long look for something new to get into. Of course with me you'll know it'll be a little on the crazy side. But that's okay. I like it that way.