Delaware River, Summer
After a long stretch of long days at work, I went on an overnight trip on the Delaware earlier this week. I hadn't been back since May when I paddled 180 miles down it after heavy rain. Those months were the longest time I spent away from this place since I started kayaking just over 2 years ago. My third time in a kayak in my life was an overnight trip down the Delaware alone that was almost identical to this one. I wanted to see the Perseids which were spectacular that year. (There was widespread misinformation that this year's were going to be great but that year they truly were special.) I woke up in the middle of the night, packed up and paddled into them. I had never paddled at night and I was startled by the slap of beaver tails and geese but I could see the Milky Way and fireballs and trains reflected in the flat water, one after another. There was no moon and clear skies but I turned a bend and hit a wall of fog like I had never seen. I could hardly see the end of my boat. Then I heard the roar of rapids. The same thing occurred this time. I saw some meteors then disappeared into the fog. This time there was no anxiety thanks to my familiarity with the river and the 4000 or so miles I have paddled since then-a ridiculous number of them in the dark. I enjoyed the way the fog misted my face and the sight of the steam that rose from the river. I saw no bear cubs and there were none of the four foot waves from my last trip down the Delaware but this place will always be special to me and it was good to be back. The next morning, I came across a bunch of green herons (and that giant spider next to the first one) who let me watch them fish. Green herons are one of the most intelligent birds in the world: they use insects, crumbs in order to attract fish. This makes them one of the only tool using animals on the planet. One of them that I encountered found fish that were leaping out of the water and caught them as they did. Earlier in the trip I took these pictures of this beaver it swam 30 yards to my boat and touched it with its nose.