Kayaking Lake Adger, NC

While I'm not able to hike much anymore and my rock climbing days are certainly over, on good day I can still get out on a lake in my kayak. Cutting quietly through calm, glassy water with no motor has its advantages; especially for an eager photographer. Animals don't seem to mind a paddler as long as you aren't trying to break an Olympic record.

On Lake Adger, five minutes from my house, it's possible to sneak up on a large variety of wildlife, from birds and squirrels right on up to otters and deer. I always set my boat in at the public landing and as the fishermen and pleasure cruisers zoom off to deep water in a blaze of wake and gas fumes... I slip unnoticed through the shallows where the Green river feeds the lake with cold mountain water and sand bars.

If my luck is good I'll be able to spot a tribe of river cooters camped on their favorite old sun bleached basking log. They never let you get too close though, scooting into the water in a flash and a splash, I suppose that's why they have lived long enough to reach basketball size. My last trip in however, I was able to slide up next to a log where a painted turtle was enjoying the sun. He posed quite well and made a nice picture.

Painted turtles are pretty amazing. They will bury themselves under three feet of mud and in temperatures of 3° Celsius (37.4°F) they can survive without oxygen for up to five months, longer than any other known air-breathing vertebrate.

This is the beaver who so graciously lends out his home

My destination is usually a mud bank next to a beaver dam. The beavers make for some cuddly pictures as they really don't pay me much attention, just a quick glimpse and back to gnawing. The real excitement comes when Mama otter zips in. You see, Mama otter has borrowed an apartment in the beaver's dam to make her nest (It is quite common for otters to be such claim jumpers). If I sit quietly in the tall grass of the mud bank I can hear her whelps cooing and burping down under the sticks.

Mama Otter

Mama otter has warned me several times, popping her head out from amongst the brush, grunting and barking. I'm not sure exactly what she thinks of me, there by my big blue thing with my funny white face... but I do know that she'd like me to stay away from her babies. So usually I try to slink off in another direction without much commotion.

I leave the beaver dam behind, happy with snapping some pics of mushrooms and water spiders. Often, as the sun dips down, I'll catch a glimpse of a deer or a raccoon as they catch a stealthy sip of water. Then when my ears tell me they are cold enough for my toboggan, I head back to the dock breathing in the mountain sunset on the way as the river willows hurl their feathery seeds all around like flurries caught in the very last light of the day.

Another Painted Turtle with Friend (Musk Turtle)

Spider that I unfortunately found with my face

Cooters prepare to dive