After an afternoon and evening of wonderful thunderstorms, the spring-like temperatures of the previous few days left us, the dank, white skies continued , and the air was a chilly 34˚.

With that, I was back to the winter jacket, gloves, and bobble cap for today’s lumber. But there’s no snow, so I will keep my bitching to a minimum.

The woods were super quiet, with just the occasional squawk of crows or honking of geese in the distance to be heard. Even my footsteps on the ground, covered in leaves soaked from a day of rain were near silent as I lumbered over it.

The deer were few and far between and super skittish today, and 5 miles in, I had just a few crap photos on my SD card. Then, as I walked along the trail high above the riverbank, I spotted a juvenile bald eagle perched on a tree across the water. I took a few shots and then realized there was an adult on my side of the river. Just as I went to try to get a shot, it flew across the river and perched on a tree just upriver from the juvenile.

At one point, I was literally looking at TWO bald eagles at the same time, it was crazy cool! I once again tried to get a shot of the adult, but it was just a tad too far, AND its face was slightly obscured by a branch.

The juvenile was in no hurry, and I was able to get more than a few shots, trying my best to adjust my settings to deal with the flat grey sky and dark shadows. One of these days, I’ll get some good light.

Eventually, they flew off, and I stomped out the last remaining mile of the hike.

I ended the lumber with 6.13 miles and a smile on my face at having had another quality encounter with a bald eagle.

We’re supposed to get freezing rain and rain pretty much all day on Thursday, so my lumber will totally depend on how hard it’s coming down at hike time.

Later.