I Ain’t Got No Worries
Today, Jocelyn & I took a long drive up to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in order to take advantage of the warm temperatures. We figured on taking a nice, long walk down one of their trails and hopefully spotting some birds who would also be out enjoying the weather.
What we learned, was that the crew at Blackwater have a talent for understatement. This is evidenced by the sign you see pictured off to the right. Now, any sensible person would take that to mean that the trails are muddy and a bit slippery. That was ok – we were prepared with extra shoes (boots, in Jocelyn’s case.) Mud wasn’t going to be an issue at all.
As it turns out, mud was the least of our worries.
This was not an easy hike to do while carrying the camera, lens and monopod. As you can see, the trail was positively flooded. In order to get anywhere, we had to make our own and try to keep the path in sight. The tennis shoes I chose were woefully inadequate and my reward was a pair of wet, dirty socks. Poor Jocelyn fell down trying to get over to a sign – we were hoping it might help us stay on the trail, but it only informed us that we were about to cross on to private property. That was our cue to backtrack and look for a drier trail. We never did see any critters.
I didn’t really mind, because all of the ducking and weaving through the woods reminded me of being young and wandering through the woods around where I grew up. Whenever we wander somewhere like that, it’s like having the shared childhood we never had.
After getting back to the car, it was time to slow down and do the “Wildlife Drive” instead. That’s where we got to see some birds, like this heron who was nice enough to sit still while I got the camera out.
As it were, the herons at Blackwater are much less flighty than the ones at Assateague. Those will fly away if you look at them wrong – these just sit there and wait for you to leave. I guess it’s normal for them, considering the amount of people who come through every day and stare.
It’s starting to get that way with me and tours at work – I just sit still for pictures, and wait for them to leave. 
There was a smaller walking trail that we found that was actually dry – and that’s where we found this little fella! This inchworm was sitting on top of an old exploded steam tractor – and he was also polite enough to pose for a picture.
I wasn’t sure he was alive at first, until Jocelyn got closer and he crept along…just a little bit! Then he just sat still, cursed us under his breath and waited for us to leave.
Once all that was done, we finished up the drive and got a few more pictures before heading to Target (of all places) for some errands. Oddly enough, nothing happened there that’s worth recounting here. Thankfully. So, enjoy some more pictures from the day.
