Otter Creek

Otter Creek

May 11^th and 12^th, 2023

Sorry for the delay in posting this blog ... it was all written up, but we have not had cell phone service at our campsites for a while.

We arrived at Otter Creek State Park in the late afternoon.  The campground of the park runs along the side of the lake, which seemed quite nice.  Unfortunately, the other side of the camping area is right up against the road.  The road is not excessively busy but it is very fast!  Having found our site, we started to set up the tent.  Once again the wind was quite forceful and we had a bit of struggle with Big Agnes. We had dinner and investigated some of the bird life on the lake before retiring for the night. The weather had looked a bit threatening with bands of cloud moving over.  Quite unexpectedly, the temperature plunged overnight.  We both struggled to add enough layers to our bedding to stay warm.  We awoke to find a hard frost on the top of the stove case!   This was the coldest night so far.

With so much water nearby, there were plenty of birds around the campsite.  The many swallows darting across the sky made for a distracted breakfast.  We explored the outflow from the lake and were rewarded with a close-up view of a Clark’s grebe.  Most of the morning was spent birding, including a drive to the south where we saw a nest with a bald eagle and later, a golden eagle.

We returned to the campsite and hit the showers, trying to take advantage of the warmest part of the day.  In the afternoon, we drove to Piute state park where we found some shade at picnic table.  This brings me on to the topic of picnic tables...

Traditionally, the picnic table was made of a frame that supported a top composed of several wide wooden boards.  The bench seats were also made of wood.  These tables had certain advantages—a plastic shopping bag handle could be stretched over one of the boards of the tabletop thus creating a suspended trash bin.  Additionally, while the wooden bench might initially seem chilly the insulating character of the wood made seating tolerable.  There were problems however with longevity.   The table at Piute Park illustrated many of these. The paint on the wood was pealing off leading to cracking of the planks.  More dramatic was the large burned area where some jolly camper obviously got carried away with the cooking chores.  Many campsites now seem to prefer picnic tables made of different materials.  We’ve seen a number that are fashioned from a wire mesh coated with plastic.  These have uneven tops that make it difficult to keep a water bottle standing up.  Also the plastic coating is subject to melting when a hot pan is place on the surface—making the top more uneven than ever. Don’t get me started on the comfort of the wire mesh as a seating surface!  But the prize for the worst design (at this moment) goes to the picnic table made from concrete!  It may have good longevity but it’s like sitting on an iceberg!  Enough of that rant...   

Gloria

Early morning at the Otter Creek Lake

Clark's Grebe ... very similar to the Western Grebe, of which we have seen dozens, we had to search long and hard for this species

A yellow headed blackbird ... another species that was roving elusive until now!

A mayfly clinging to the underside of the handle of our pan lid. There were lots of these insects around, and presumably this was the food source attracting the swallows