Back in the 1950s when the US government decided that we needed to do something about flood control, a dam was built on the Ottauquechee River not too far downstream from where it tumbles through this breathtaking gorge. This particular dam was started in 1958 and completed in 1961. The result is a pristine, you-can't-build-on-it (thank goodness) lake that is a major wildlife attraction around here.
We've kayaked North Hartland Lake with our friend Kristin before but always arrived later in the day and never made it all the way to the bottom of the gorge. I've been determined to correct that for quite a while and put it on my list of things I wanna do this summer.
Well, today, we made it. A four-hour trip with a 30-minute break for food and drink. Goldie played her usual starring role as figurehead on either Jay's kayak or mine. We saw a lot of Great Blue Herons, this incredible bird that resembles a piece of driftwood if you see it standing on the shore but when it flies, it looks like a creature straight out of Jurassic Park.
I've never seen more than two at a time but we saw six flying overhead and found out later that there's a community of herons in the marshy areas we passed through on our way down the lake.
There was also a hunting osprey, a hawk shrieking as it hunted, a fair number of turtles, some waterlilies, pinging frogs, two does with their two fawns who came down to the water's edge for a drink, and a family of ducks.
Oh, and did I mention it was a beautiful day which you can see from the sky reflected near the dam in the picture at the top.
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