Our morning ordeal

[A K20d Pentax camera and a 55-200mm Sigma lens]

The temperature got down to a low of 73 degrees and it was still 73 when we went downstairs to the Jeep.  73 doesn’t sound bad but there was no breeze at the river and it seemed humid and much hotter.  I was reminded of days like this spent on training exercises in the Marine Corps.  One of the exercises I especially recall was hiking all day on one canteen of water.  I understand that the Marine Corps doesn’t do that any more but they did in the Old Corps. 

The girls had their tongues out almost from the start, but there were several rabbits to take their minds off the weather.

Including the time spent on the lookout.

I thought that since I would be walking the girls late at night during the summer I wouldn’t feel the need for any new lenses, but there I was again at the river, catching some birds chasing a hawk out of their tree with my lens cranked out to 200mm, and I felt an overwhelming need for a lens that would get me closer.

We had to contend with an enormous number of flies.

The sky was dark for most of our time down there, but it didn’t make it any cooler.

 

A mourning dove sang a suitable accompaniment to the final leg of our hike: