M.A.W.B. Squad

Lookin' Out My Back Door: Fall 2005

Sometimes it seems like I never get away from this computer.  I'm sure none of you can relate. Uh-huh.  It turns out there's a whole world out there, and as of today I don't need multi-layers of Thinsulate if I step out the door, (a situation that can change tomorrow here in the north woods.)  A sample of what you might see if you take the plunge:

Share the whole experience by clicking here.

I've also invited the folks from the Political Teen to share a peek, even if this is so not political.  I bet they wonder what's outside too.

Flying Fish (Mobulas)

There couldn't be more than 60 minutes of light left. My brother begins   to set up camp while I scramble to unlash the kayak resting on   the roof of my pickup. As my kayak arrows towards the activity,   I grow anxious, willing the sun to stay up a just a bit longer.   About half an hour later, I am paddling among them, in the middle   of a pancake commercial, flapjack-like creatures tumbling over   themselves, flying everywhere, some of them off in the distance,   some only feet away. From the shore, which is now far away, the   impromptu camp too small to be seen, you'd think there were a dozen, maybe   twenty, but here, sitting on my kayak surrounded by them, it becomes immediately   clear, there were hundreds.

Cool pictures and the rest here.

Now Where Did I Leave that Waterfall?

Apparently we just rediscovered a lost waterfall. In California.

Four hundred feet (122 meters) of raging whitewater sound hard to miss—let alone to find, lose, and then rediscover. But that's what has happened in a California park.

Officials at the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in northern California announced recently that a park ranger has discovered a giant waterfall that had languished unseen for decades because of rugged territory and inaccurate maps.                                        

Park Ranger Russ Weatherbee discovered the cascading falls in late 2003 after years of hearing tales about a mammoth falls hidden away in the park.                            

After trying to use a map that had the falls at the wrong location, Ranger Weatherbee spotted a white strip running over steep terrain in aerial photos of the park, and later located it on a hike to the location.

I've never managed to lose something that big.