October 22nd, 2021

What a pretty morning! It was cool and golden and felt fresh and new.  What's that you say?  It's perfect for  hiking.   Why yes it was, you are absolutely correct.  And that's exactly what we did. Which of course means that it's time for the Photo Safari Report!  This one is for sure the Bug Bite Hike.   It was bad. It was so bad that we ended up leaving the first preserve and moving on to another for fear that Joy was going to need a transfusion before we were done.  Poor little thing. She had mosquito bites on her mosquito bites!  

To be fair that particular preserve is the perfect environment for biting sorts of insects  It's by a river, it's very shady and, of course, it was early on a beautiful autumn day meaning it was cool and damp.  Hiking near bodies of water can afford some gorgeous and unique photographs.  But other times, it's just bug heaven. This was the latter.  And for whatever reason, those mosquitos just love Joy.

That particular hiking spot, the Sleeping Turtle Preserve has some beautiful trails.  The early morning light, as I've said umptyump times before is gorgeous.  The early morning hike meant wet trails but not to worry. Wet shoes do not stop us.  In fact the mosquitos didn't stop us either. Just had us moving a little faster than usual.   Some photos of the beautiful trails:

We honestly did not take as many pictures as we normally do at our first stop.  We heard a Lot of birds, but didn't see many.  It was still not warm or sunny enough for many butterflies or dragonflies and there were remarkably few pretty flowers or interesting seed pods.  Here are a few of the things I did see:

We decided to move on to Curry Creek Preserve.  Despite the "creek" in it's name, it is a much less "buggy" hike with sunnier spots.  We hoped that would also mean more pretty photos.  We were not disappointed on any level.

Here are some of my favourite shots of creatures both big and small from the second preserve:

I have to show you how tiny that adorable little tortoise was.  Here is a comparative of Joy's shoe to that sweet baby:

Honestly, I didn't even see him at first. Joy is the one who spotted him.  We were concerned because there was a workers truck driving around the trails while we were there and nobody would ever see him from a truck! So Joy gently moved him to the other side of the trail where he could continue on his travels unharmed. I'm sure he was very grateful!

​We spotted a lot of pretty flowers and other growing things:

This time of year, the seed pods are as pretty and unique as the flowers:

I don't have think I have anything for the Rando Files today.  Ratz.  BUT there's always next week.  Another Wednesday, another hike, another Photo Safari Report.

​I will leave you with one last photo.  Joy took this one and I just love it. So for no reason at all, Joy's photo of my camera!

Have a Great weekend Ya'll
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