Last weekend I did a canoe trip on the Kickapoo River near Wildcat Mountain State Park with a group of people that the River Alliance of Wisconsin organized. Besides being the only person paddling a solo canoe (to be fair there was another person paddling solo but it was in a tandem canoe) I was the only one to tip over. It was only in about a foot of water and the bottom was nice cushy sand so everything was fine...it was just a little embarrassing to have half of the group float by me, go around the same corner, and under the tree that tipped me over, and NOT tip over. It would have made me feel like less of a moron if someone else had tipped too....

Anyway, after the canoe trip I took the opportunity to go do a little photography in the area.

The bedrock in that area is mostly sandstone (there were some pretty cool rock formations along the river but I was generally too busy paddling to think seriously about doing any picture taking. I didn't want to make the group I was paddling with wait for me. I really hate to have people wait for me...I don't mind waiting for others but I have a thing about making people wait for me) and there was a little stream which had dug out a shallow cave in the sandstone. It had also dug itself a waterfall of maybe 20 or 30 feet. It is a very small stream and in the winter the water falling splashes as it hits the ground and freezes. No surprises here, most waterfalls do that. What was surprising was that there was a big chunk of ice still there (keep in mind this was May 10th). Yeah, I wouldn't believe it either unless I saw it so I took a picture of it to post here for all you doubters. It was irregularly shaped but was something like 12 inches thick and maybe four feet across. I can only imagine how big it was in February.

I did other stuff yesterday but I got out with my camera again today on the Rountree Branch (a stream that feeds into the Little Platte which feeds into the Platte which feeds into the Mississippi River) in Platteville after getting off of work at the bike shop in Platteville. Now I am sitting at my computer typing this while listening to the radio to try and get local weather. I am not a big fan of the station I am listening to. I, actually, am not a big radio fan at all. But this has nothing to do with photography so I'll shut my yap.

[PS In another entry I kind of highlighted that taking good pictures isn't as easy as falling off a log. My point was not to bitch and moan and say that you have to work your ass off to get good pictures. The point was not to get down on yourself for not taking pictures that you think are good.
I actually don't think I take pictures that are all that good...but enough people have said otherwise that I think it's worth trying to get my pictures out there where people can see them.]