Back to the basics

During the summer I frequently go camping. Most of the time is spent fishing, hanging out in a kayak, or sitting by the fire. When the previously mentioned actions aren't taking place, I am probably out hiking with my camera. Without much money it is hard to go to any place real exciting. W.J. Hayes State Park in Michigan is a one an ideal place to visit when I do go out. There is a small lake only accessable to resident campers, it is a no wake lake with great largemouth bass fishing and a couple of LARGE swans. The edges of the lake are overgrown with lillypads and bullrush and anything with a motor cannot get to the banks. With half of the park closed to cars, it is only accessable from the lake, if you can get there, and having a kayak to get to the banks lets you do just that. If you want to have a little more fun, then you go through a small and short channel to get to an all-sport lake with a beach. The latest visit was the past summer and I spent almost a half day just wandering around the lake taking pictures. First up on the list was a small turtle who so politely found my presence no harm. Like any other occasion, it is impossible for me to find a snake, frog, turtle, fish, or anything else without picking it up. As I picked the turtle up he did not pull his head inside like most, he actually seemed to smile at me! haha. Setting him down I noticed a small frog resting on the shoreline. He jumped in before I could get my hands on him, but not until after I could take his picture. Walking through the woods again, something made a noise in the leaves. Calmly staying in place waiting for the creature to make a move again, the leaves in front of me moved, but there was no wind blowing. Closer inspection revealed a juvenile garter snake trying to get away from me. Since that will never happen, I took his picture a few times and then.............................picked him up...........so I could take his picture again. The water was fairly close, and if he went in, the camera was not going to follow. Deciding to leave him alone, the water called my name again. In some places of the lake, you can walk out nearly 50 yards before the water reaches your waste. Being able to walk around the bullrushes, and lillypads is fun, with a camera or a fishing pole. The water is relatively clear for these parts, and you can see almost 10 feet down. Once the dirt settles, you can see the fish swimming around your feet. The little bluegills are even brave enough to nip at your toes. After the evening started to set in, the air started to grow chilly and I made my way back to the site. My eyes grew tired from trying to figure out exactly what "fire" was and the batteries to the camera died trying to get a picture of it. Without getting a picture of the fire, it slowly burned out during the night while I layed zipped up in a sleeping bag.