owl prowl 2010 sans owls

From Lend me some sugar, I am your neighbor!

So we called the park the other day and they called back yesterday morning while I was in the shower and gave my oldest the message. The message I got was "Mom. They said go to the South side of the park at 7PM." Later that same day: we were just leaving my  house at 7PM and got to the South side of the park, and saw a few trucks but no people. We took the nearest trail down to the campgrounds. On a hunch. I took some pictures. We saw some deer but I'm never quick enough with the camera to shoot the deer, the whole hike, one deer shot.

One deer in this picture.

We went down to the first primitive campground and J. saw a cardinal. We saw some geese and trees and wood ducks and water. Wood ducks sound different from regular ducks, I can't explain it. They sort of sound like squawking little children.

No wood ducks in this picture.

J. of course began to pick up trash. We followed the trail to the -only in the broadest sense of the word modern- campground. At this point we had walked a little ways and saw no other humans. No sound of humans. So called Owl Prowl. We didn't see owls. We didn't hear owls. Owl Pub Crawl. We took turns swigging what was left of our beautiful Clos du Val cab out of my snazzy new $1 Rubbermaid water bottle from Dollar Tree. Cabernet decants beautifully into plastic. Tastes like California, I said.  We wished we could go live there at Clos du Val. We could take care of the dogs or something. Rake up fallen leaves. We don't take up much room. Mind if we stick around?

J. mentioned some men hunting deer antler sheds found a dead woman out in the woods not too far from where we live. I hadn't seen that news, probably because I do not pay attention to the news. The world could be scheduled to end tomorrow and I won't know about it unless someone mentions it in casual conversation three hours before.

 We saw plenty of deer poop and cloven hoofprints. So he/we decided to follow the deer trails up in the woods and search for deer sheds until it got darkish.

Because I guess you never know what you might find.

The morning was freezing when I went out to pick up my prescription, so I figured I'd die if I didn't wear enough clothing that night. (I'm always cold, thank you Hashimoto's disease.) I prepared for the trip by putting on long underwear, jeans and a teeshirt, I was already wearing socks (alert! tiny invisible socks are the wrong socks for boots!), my warm snow boots, a large down coat and a hat and a scarf and some mittens in my pocket. By the time we climbed down the hill via dirt road, and up the hill via deer trail zig zag sumac and stickers watch out for twigs don't poke your eyes, I was hot. I didn't lose my scarf, but almost. J. had a handful of trash by then and miraculously found a plastic bag to put it in. Where does it all come from?

We arrived at the North side of the park, which is where the snow-tube activities take place. The park has a hill set up with a rope lift, where a person may slide down the snow hill on a tube, and the lift will pull you back up. I have always wanted to bring the boys to this park for the snow tubing. I think next year is the year. Everybody will be old enough to just turn 'em loose.

Lo and  behold, this is where everyone was parked for the Owl Prowl. The North Side. Go figyah.

We walked around, picked a likely trail, walked down, and it became not a trail. We started left, climbed through a fjord, up a deer trail, and finally it was dark and I was tired so I sat on a log and started talking about nothing, the regrettably small socks and fact that I had a blister by then. Wrong socks. The wine level, which wasn't much to begin with, went down sip by sip. I began taking photos in the darkness of the branches. And contemplating the walk back to the truck. With a blister. I'm a whiner I know! Blisters are my absolute downfall. I hate them. I think my ankles are narrow or oddly shaped. I have special blister covering bandages at my house especially because I hate them so much.

We suddenly heard footsteps from an area where we could see an electric light. It sounded exactly like a person. J. told me to be still. The footsteps came near and then further away. I practiced being still. It sounded like the person was jogging then. What was he doing out there walking around in circles? Oh, finally J. said, it's a deer. He's downwind of us, do you see him? I stretched around without adjusting my previous seated position (back to the noise). No. I couldn't see anything. How did he see a deer in the dark when I have the best vision on the planet and saw nothing? I guess I dunno.

A little later we heard the people move around and begin to start up their trucks and vans and cars. We hiked back up the hill and their headlights began to light up. They must have been on the opposite side of the hill, which makes little sense to me, considering it is mostly open field and not much woods. Maybe the owls fly out over the field? Wouldn't we have heard them though?

By the time we walked back to the truck, my foot didn't hurt anymore. Thank you Clos du Val. Or I was just so happy to be getting back. It was a good hike though. Very nice to go out in the woods and sit around and do nothing. Oh and then we went for sushi & sashimi @ Sushi Bamboo and omg that place fries the best egg rolls and coconut shrimp.

One day years ago we drove up there and saw an elk on the way home.