We returned to camp on Sunday from Angie's and Chad's to find Chewy #4 in the trap that stays under our truck. Quite a surprise considering the truck was gone overnight. He ate all the salt-soaked cotton and chewed on the old brake lines that we threw in the trap.
When Lauren opened the truck hatch, it was laying on its back with a front and back foot in the air. Very docile creature.
When the trap door opened, it skedaddled out the gate and ran into the woods. The last we saw of it was its tail up running through the brush.
As we traveled to and from the release spot, we saw a lot of beauties along the way.
Monday, we spent the day with Angie. Lauren and Angie cleared beaver dams from the water structures and culverts. We recorded water levels at water control structures. We picked bouquets of soapwort blooms and treated several patches. We spent about 6 hours riding around the refuge, stopping for some photo ops and getting our work done. Some of the roads we had never been on, and from the looks of the overgrown roads, not many others have been either.
We woke up to a Chewy #5 in the trap at Camp Chewy Tuesday morning. It was in the trap where Sarah's car was located last week. It was mad, growling, and shedding quills.
We spent most of the day doing a Karner Blue Butterfly survey. We saw lots and lots of Karners.
We also found where the wolves have been hanging out. They left their chew toys, (beer cans), in the area.
After several hours we are back at camp chilling out.
We spent the morning doing a Karner Blue Butterfly near the Lupine Trail. We didn't see the first one. Oh well, it was a 70-degree day with the wind blowing enough to keep most of the bugs off.
The afternoon we checked on water control structures. While we were out and about, we saw a crane family with fledged twins fly from the dike.
We also saw a couple of nice bucks. One of them was a hoss!!
Thursday was a double feature Karner Blue Butterfly survey. This morning was really nice and crisp. A rare time that we run a heater on a July morning. The bugs weren't bad, and we saw lots of Karners. A very enjoyable morning.
The afternoon warmed up. We found some Karners, but only after going through lots of tall, thick, vegetation. It's a good thing we found Karners when we made it through the jungle.
This evening was spent getting all packed up for our mini vacation weekend!
Friday was the start of our getaway. We traveled about 400 miles to Bemidji, Minnesota, it took us about 9 hours to get there with a stop at Lake Superior. Lake Superior is our first great lake to visit.
We were humored by the size of the Mississippi River. It looks more like a creek than a river. The further we went, the smaller the river got.
We are staying at the Super 8, sleeping with Paul and Babe for the next few nights.
Saturday was a gorgeous day of sightseeing. First stop was downtown Bemidji. We took pictures with Paul and Babe and checked out the arts and crafts fair.
The arts and crafts show had some great stuff, including a mountain lion jawbone handle knife that Lauren really wanted, but not bad enough to pay $700 for it.
We did a little bit of nature chasing walking around the trails of Lake Bemidji.
We continued our sightseeing, riding around Lake Bemidji.
We dined at Bar 209 and had a fabulous meal!
