Wild Adventures Along Bald Eagle Creek

My husband had a car appointment with his mechanic down below Skytop, and I walked from there across the road, across the railroad tracks, and into the Soaring Eagle Wetland, where he would eventually join me and we would spend a gorgeous, sunny afternoon along Bald Eagle Creek.

Winter's first kiss gave us snow at the edges and ice on the creek, which made the reflections even more interesting. We had a couple of pretty cold days, cold enough for frozen bubbles, but it has warmed up, and this Thanksgiving week, we have some really lovely days on tap. The colors along the creek on this day were honey-gold and sunshine-warm.

I walked along the creek and through the trees by myself, with my daysack and my camera and my chair. About half-way through, I startled a huge hawk, feeding on a kill. Based on color and size, I guessed red-tailed hawk, and a female. She lifted up not more than a dozen feet in front of me and startled the heck out of me! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! went her wings.

I watched as she flew to a nearby tree, where she sat and looked back down at me. I did one of those "Hail Mary" maneuvers with the camera, and got three decent shots, straight out of the air. You may see her wild gaze in the extras. I thought it looked like she'd been banded; note the mechanical looking stuff around her feet.

Then I finally got to check out the brand new accessible walkway and fishing pier, which was recently completed under the oversight of the Wildlife for Everyone Foundation. There was lots of construction and busy-ness there over summertime, and we had not visited the wetlands for that reason. But now that that phase is done, it is amazing!

As a former Manager of Access, I have to say that it warms the cockles of my heart to see access granted. And yes, wild spaces truly should be for everyone! But to see the artistry of the work on the pavers of the walkway, well, it blew me away. They went beyond access and made it beautiful. Kudos, paver person; you are an artist and this is a-ma-zing!!!! (Photo of ADA walkway in the extras.)

My husband joined me at that point and we spent the rest of the sunny hours hanging out along the creek, in our chairs, with him reading and me leaping up every now and again for pictures. Then we walked through the wetlands and back to the car.

He was leading, and as he leapt across the marshy stuff to climb up to the railroad tracks, we encountered ice. But it was the iffy kind of ice you get in a wetland. Will it hold? Will it not? Hmm. Only one way to find out: step on it!

And yes, this is a tale told by the little girl who followed her brother into the swamp in the woods below our house and fell in, ending up with stinking swamp mud all the way up to her knees, so no, this is NOT my first rodeo!

Back to present. Now, I heard the ice starting to crack as I leapt onto it, and there are only two things to do if that happens. One is to back up and get the heck out of Dodge. The other is to move as quickly as possible in the direction you were headed, which I did, and made it! Whew! Just another sunny-day wetlands adventure by Bald Eagle Creek!

Now, it is my custom to include a soundtrack song. I have three pictures, so here are three songs (yes, I know I 'm running OUT of extra photos and the year is not nearly gone, but I just HAD to show you the wild beauties of this day!):

One, for the vestiges of winter's first kiss, we've got: Lita Ford, with Kiss Me Deadly.
Two, for the beautiful hawk with whom I spent just a few wild but precious moments: Starling Arrow, with Wild Sweet. Thank you, my beauty, for those few wonderful moments, which I hold in my heart and cherish: my heart pounding, the huge bird rising, rising . . . .
And three, from this former Manager of Access - who always told everyone who listened that accessibility was not about NO, but about getting to YES, Yes for EVERYONE - here is Yes, with I've Seen All Good People.