The New Lake
I am a big fan of topographical maps. I have every map of this county and I study them often. The Internet also makes it possible to view satellite maps which can be just as much fun.
Recently I was looking at Google Maps and I saw something strange. There was a lake where there hadn’t been one previously. I dragged out the maps and looked them over. No lake in that spot…ever, but there it was on the photo from the satellite.
I showed this to my brother, who is seven-years my elder and equally excitable by maps. He immediately went to study my evidence and concluded that an expedition was in order. I am pretty familiar with the topography because I often ride horses in the general area.
A few days later we mounted our mountain bikes and headed down the logging roads that would put us within a half mile of the new lake. We stashed our bikes and started bush whacking. There was some old logging roads and elk trails to walk on but the December storm fell trees making all path useless. It was easier making our own trails around the root balls.
This reminded me of when we were kids. We constantly wandered the Ramapo Mountains looking for Indian artifacts, caves, homesteads and mines. It reminded me that I don’t spend enough time with my brother and that I have very fond memories of or childhood.
We taught our selves at an early age to read maps and how to read the land and how distance and direction are related. We both seem to have the ability to not get lost. Within a half hour we arrived at the northwest shore of the lake.
The lake was a good find and yet a disappointing find. The water was murky and weedy, though there were signs of fish. There was a recently manicured lawn and a couple of docks and pick-nick tables. There were two paddle boats and two row boats. There was a port-a-potty. It looked like a private recreation area that can be used as a company benefit.
Though it was nice to solve the mystery of the new lake, I doubt we will ever return there again. Best of all it was nice to get back in the woods with my brother. It took me all the way back to when we started this sort of activity nearly a half century ago.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
15 Comments:
Never mind the disappointment in the (man-made?) lake. I like the thought of two brothers setting off on an adventure together - at any age.
What a dangerous activity.
Don't you know about the perils of bushwhacking?
-hantivirus spores from deer mice will get in your lungs and cause you death from internal bleeding (OREGON FIELD GUIDE)
-Deer ticks infected with lyme disease will bite you and umm, give you lyme disease (CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL)
-Pot Growers will shoot you, booby trap you, sick their german shephards on you, smoke you, play capture the flag with you against your will. (DEA)
-You will get lost and die of exposure or get rescued you after 3 days and become a folk hero (OREGONIAN)
-You will get attacked and partially eaten by 3 or 4 mountain lions until you fight your way to your shotgun and blow them away (FIELD AND STREAM)
-You will be terrorized by environmentalists on sabbatical from their usual activity of burning logging trucks
(DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY)
Be careful out there.
Beth we were a sight going down the road on our bicycles.
CP, It was the second day of bow hunting season. We are lucky we made it out alive. And dude, I deleted your last two comments. WTF where you thinking? I'm not sure which of the readers here you were trying to insult, but that just ain't cool. They come here in peace and I don't want them to leave in pieces.
So, did you find a "improved" road once you got there? How big was the lake/pond? It's still a pretty kool find.
Colonel is right...glad you made it back in one piece :)
Note: if you aren't even sure who is being insulted then it is not much of an insult.
In fact that was a test, Guy. You faltered at a word that is in every dictionary. Perhaps misplaced chivalry set off that knee-jerk reflex that we all witnessed. I am disappointed that you have no conscience whatsoever about deleting the words of others. It appears that your cerebral, free-thinking personage is a front. Your brittle behavior says much about the disparity between open-minded enlightened blogger and tightfisted, control freak narrowist.
I don't expect that you will respond well to this. Surprise me.
Ginger, yes, I suspect it comes from Peter Johnson Rd off, Youngs River Rd. If anyone knows who owns this piece, let us know here. Hey are you the Ginger that is giving the upcoming workshop?
As far as my safe return, I wouldn't mind drawing my last breath while looking up at the canape of overhead trees while smelling the scent of the soil below me.
Sure I'll respond, I detected someone getting flamed and accused of morality issues. There are a few people who may say some things with possible sexual overtones, but they usually say it about themselves or me. Control freak maybe, but I think of it as more of being defensive of the feelings of people who like coming here and being a part of this little community of readers. I would defend you and protect you from possible defamatory words as well.
Remember for the price of a new backhoe you can buy this blog and say what you wish, but until it shows up in my driveway I will reserve the right to delete words that don't fit the character of this space. As far as being rigid, everyone is ridged. Long time readers know all about how many issues I have with just about everything. I am one tweaky SOB, though I am able to change my mind and have openly done so on many subjects. I started this blog with a strong dislike for many issues and many people in public office and I've change my mind on most of it...except for one.
So to sum it up, I put the stories out there and I expect ridicule from time to time. I can take it, but please don't ridicule the folks that come here to share a slice of my life every morning with their coffee.
"someone getting flamed and accused of morality issues"
Again, you can't even define who that someone is. So rest assured, i did not define that person either. So how could anyone feel harmed?
Also you seem to feel the need to exaggerate the nature of this alleged mis-doing.
Where does that come from?
Perhaps if you had not deleted my words you and others could revisit them to see just how mild in nature and non specific they were.
But they are gone forever to that place where "bad" words that rubbed somebody the wrong way or were said out of turn or caused somebody to sit upright in their easy chair must go.
There is no way for you to know my background and in fact it might be a distraction to my point if you were to know but suffice it to say there is a lot I could teach you about the censorship of ideas and personal freedoms. But its better if you can teach yourself just a little.
Words are never the problem. Reactions are the problem. That's first day stuff right there. I believe its the first thing they teach you in Kindergarten.
BTW its curious that you come off as either tweaky or a SOB in your blog. If that's how you wish to be perceived I think you are failing.
CP all comments are sent to my email, and it is saved there. I read it again and it is in my opinion inappropriate for this blog. Sorry, but it's my call. Let's move on.
Lets move on, certainly.
I need to move to a lower horse. This high one is making me nauseous. But since you are standing by your deletion move after extending me the courtesy of reviewing my comments I do need to be allowed the final words
and here they are
that lake as viewed from google earth does have the shape of a certain orifice...
I grew up next to "the woods". Infact, throughout my life and including now I live next to "the woods". Great playground growing up. During my grade school days, we would take the trail and convene at the center of "the woods" at the rope swing. I wonder if that swing is still there.
NO, I am not the same Ginger giving a workshop. I give horse riding lessons. What kind of workshop?
Ginger, It's rare that there would be two Gingers in one community, but Jewell has it all and more.
I bet it was so exciting though to hang out with your brother and go on an adventure, not sure what exactly you are going to find! At least you made a new memory! :)
It's good to make memories before we lose them all together.
Post a Comment
<< Home