Woods & Waters: Scenes Along Bald Eagle Creek

We've had a spell of just amazingly nice weather in central PA, and so it is that my husband and I spent most of another day outdoors. There was a free community turkey dinner at a local church later in the day (4 to 7 p.m.) that my husband wanted to go to, but before that, we set out for local woods and waters at Soaring Eagle Wetland.

We took along our water shoes, but I wasn't sure that we would need them. Once I'm there along the creek, just walking around and looking at stuff is often enough. But when my husband put his water shoes on around 2 p.m., I put mine on, too, and into the creek I went.

The water was astoundingly, bone-chillingly cold. And I mean COLD. I am a cold water swimmer, and can tolerate surprisingly low temperatures when I am out and about. But it was well beyond my comfort level. Within minutes, my feet were numb and felt like they were being stabbed with icy needles.

I have to tell you, though, that those water shoes were a good call. The creeks around here are a bit low this time of year, and the shoes gave me access to the other side of the creek quite easily. So one of the first things I did was to walk up and down the creek with my camera around my neck, taking lots of pictures, being careful not to drop it in the water, or slip.

There is a handicap-accessible fishing pier that is easy to get to, right along the creek. It is the destination many people are seeking when they stop there, and rightly so. It is top quality, and lovely, and affords some grand views of the stream.

The scene in the shot above is somewhat below the fishing pier. There was light on the water, and color, and shine, and it just looked beautiful there. I had reached the end of my journey and turned around to snap some photos along the creek before starting back to where my husband sat with our chairs and our cooler and our daysacks and the Moose and Tiny Tiger.

And then I walked back UP the creek and back to the fishing pier area. And when I turned and looked at the spillway, I saw some amazing reflections of trees. They were all wild and weird and wobbly, and full of golden swirls, and you may see one of my abstract reflection shots in the extras. The trees looked like they were dancing. What fun!

I've got two photos so here are two soundtrack songs. For my husband and me, with our creek shoes on, we've got Marc Cohn, with Walk on Water. And for my dancing trees in the extras, here's Led Zeppelin, with Dancing Days.