Do you hear what I hear?

Do you hear it?

That's right - NOTHING! No whurring of computer fans, no ringing phones, and no "ding-dong" email notifications. Just the sounds of a cool breeze, trickling water and the occasional fish jumping at a water bug.

This is Mud Mill Pond. Doesn't it look relaxing?

I took one step out of my Jeep and inhaled deeply. Yup, that's nature. And I love it. I took a second just to survey the area and take it all in. (Like I do everytime I go do something out-doorsy) We loaded our gear in the canoes and set sail paddle.

The weather was perfectly overcast to keep the sun off of us and the rain had just let up enough to make it a little misty. The pond is there due to the existence of a dam constructed just to the left of the boat launch area. With all the rain we've had lately, it created a nice little waterfall effect.

We trekked north, entering a small hidden passageway that lead to the stream the feeds the pond and pushed forward. One guy had a single-man kayak and we would send him ahead of the fleet to explore and report back when areas got hard to navigate for a full size canoe. A valuable asset indeed, and he saved us a lot of unnecessary maneuvering.

Navigating under fallen trees and bridges was fun. It was almost a challenge to see just how far up the creek we could actually go. That's kind of the secondary point of the trip each year, after relaxing that is.

Last year we went about 6 miles round-trip. I don't think we made it quite that far this year. That was in part due to man. You see, the end of our trek came at a garbage pile. It was SO disappointing to have all that beauty of nature come to an abrupt end because of some ignorant people. Here's the end our road:

Oh, we also saw a rather nice, new Nike hiking boot float by us. I don't consider myself a treehugger, but come on people. Surprising enough, the water was shallow enough to see that the fish were still alive. Quite the troopers considering.

On the way back, our scout boat spotted this little monument:

This is a Mason-Dixon marker. The small sign in front tells you about the line itself and that, although old, it is not the original marker. It is a symbolic replacement due to the fact that the original marker lies in the bottom of Mud Mill Pond. Which only makes sense with the line splitting the pond.

Well, that about covers it for that little adventure. Nobody fell in this time. A relaxing time was had by all. Now back to work...:(