Eliza: Photo Journal – A Walk in the Woods

After a depressingly gray weekend, I got out on a walk through a portion of Bulow Woods. I hadn’t been there for a couple of weeks after all. I wanted to see if any progress had been made on repairing the northern portion of the trail. It didn’t appear so… but the water has receded from the path through Cedar Creek wetlands so I could approach the bridge, so some progress.

I’m experimenting with the color saturation on my photo editor. The high humidity grays out the photos. Yes, the grasses above were this bright sorrel color, quite pretty even in the soft lighting.

By now some of you are probably thinking, “Hmmm, one hammock looks like another one…” and you would be right, except these trees being slightly further inland are taller. Some of the oaks, hickories and pines soar well over 50 feet tall and lots more. Remember, these same trees have endured hurricanes for decades. The coast is just a couple of miles away across a salt marsh, smaller hammock, and coastal strand scrub.

Due to the high humidity (over 80%) and recent warm temperatures (up to 80F) there were swarms of mosies (mosquitoes) present. Every time I paused to take a photo I was engulfed in a buzzing cloud of irritating critters. I had to keep moving…

Like I said above, I was able to reach the Cedar Creek bridge today after stepping delicately through a patch of mud… which was a pleasant sight. The last time I visited the woods, the low-lying wetland path was under several inches of water. It was a wet rainy season… more moisture than normal even for Florida short of a hurricane or two.

The bridge at Cisco Ditch was still officially out of commission, although I would guess some bolder bikers probably have made their way across the leaning bridge and into the muddy forest beyond. I noted some bike tread tracks on the middle and southern sections of the trail which runs 6.8 miles from Fairchild Oak to Plantation Ruins. In the past, I’ve hiked every mile.

Despite the bugs and the continuing gloomy weather, it was a pleasant walk. I just could not linger any where due to the swarms.

Let me know what you think of my attempt at color/saturation correction? Decades ago I worked for a season or two at Eastman Kodak on 35 mm, 26 mm, and 10 mm. My specialty was color correction. I didn’t like the hours, but the pay was good.

Enjoy your week.

Eliza

Camera: Nikon Coolpix L830

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