An Attempt to Canoe and Photograph

[After reading the start of this it would be reasonable to say to yourself, “What the hell does this have to do with photography?” Keep reading and I'll try and tie it together.]

Yesterday I went to Bertom Lake to canoe and photograph (actually it's not a lake at all, it's the backwaters of the Mississippi River), or maybe I should say I tried to go to Bertom Lake but the water was so high that I couldn't even get to it. Usually there is a road that goes under the railroad track to a parking and boat launch area. That road is under about 5 feet of water right now. I could launch my canoe from just about anywhere and could've tried but the water was moving pretty fast (maybe three mph...which is very fast for Mississippi backwaters) and was flowing between the trees and it was cold and it was muddy and it was...you get the picture, it was easy to justify not paddling. And when I got home and was unpacking my things I didn't have to unpack a paddle because I forgot to bring it in the first place. So even if I'd have wanted to canoe I couldn't have.

We've had some pretty intense rains here lately. It's pretty messy in the river bottoms. In lots of places water backed up behind culverts (or even bridges) and came up over the road. I've also seen some mini landslides. Where a road has been cut into hillsides and the uphill side of the road is steep sometimes a bunch of dirt comes sliding down onto the road. Kind of weird to be going along and you look over and there's a chunk of sod or a multiflora rosebush on the road next to you.

OK. To tie this back in to photography I didn't get to photograph from my canoe so I went to a State Park that is partially on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The park entrance is fairly low and a stream that flows into the Mississippi had flooded and washed part of the road away...and that is the only way up the bluff (by car anyway). So even my plan B was a bust. But, as they say, “when life gives you lemons...” so I tried to make lemonade by taking pictures of things that you don't get to see unless there's an over abundance of water.