Thursday September 28th 2023

Today’s weather was variable. It started with light rain followed by a period of clouds. Just when I thought it was going to rain again the clouds parted and the sun came out for a little while. Then the pattern repeated complete with another short period of light rain. Currently we are in the cloudy period following the third cycle of light rain. Overall the weather is infinitely better than a year ago on this date. This area was subjected to the wrath of hurricane Ian. All of the local TV stations have been reliving the storm, the aftermath and the recovery with almost continuous coverage today.

I attempted to hike a couple of my favorite trails in the park today. The water level still hasn’t retreated enough to make that possible. At the first trail I tried looked promising. I was able to leave the parking area and head into the woods. About 100 yards along the trail I found water. There wasn’t any way around a huge area of three to six inch deep water and I wasn’t going through it. The second trail was worse. I couldn’t leave the parking area without walking on very squishy ground. It became impassable a little ways further along.

The water level is going down. The river level gauge shows about a three inch improvement since Monday. Back in the woods along the road the standing water is also dissipating. Most of that water I assume is sinking into the ground. There is still a lot of flooded ground. The deer continue to be close to the road. I have seen them each day I’ve been here. Some days I’ve seen them more than once. Today I was on foot walking back from the river. A couple of deer came across the road about twenty feet in front of me. One of them clearly saw me, but just continued on her way across the street before starting to forage for food again. As I walked closer to pass by she and her companion moved a little deeper into the woods, but clearly not in a panic.

I saw a lot of the same species of wildlife today. The alligators were all back in the water. I think I was very lucky seeing one on the river bank yesterday. By far the bird I’m seeing the most are egrets. In addition to all the egrets feeding in the grass along the river and lake there was one tree that had dozens of white birds roosting in its branches.