On my way to my next campground, I nearly had a catastrophe. I have a bad habit of taking pictures out the car windows as I drive: this time, a sudden gust of wind tore the phone out of my hand and sent it tumbling to the road. To make matters worse, there was a car on the side of the road just turning around. I pulled the car and camper over as fast as I could and sprinted back down the road, yelling “Don’t run over my phone!”. Goodness knows what the occupants of that car thought as they saw a wild-eyed woman racing after them, but they left in a hurry. Miraculously, I found my phone undamaged except for a scuffed case. 

I arrived at Lake Carlos State Park in Minnesota without further incident. Shaded, secluded, my site has electricity but no water, but water taps are nearby. The route that Apple Maps sent me on was lovely; quiet roads with wide shoulders through the Minnesota farming/lake country. I forwarded it to Russ as an alternate. He should catch up with me tomorrow.

Restless dogs woke me at dawn the next morning. Once I’d let them out and fed them, I was awake enough to check out some of the trails and do some birding. Of course, I forgot my phone, so I can only write of the beauty of a blood-orange red sun rising above a misty slough. We wandered down to the big lake, curved up around Hidden Lake (damn right it’s hidden—I couldn’t even see the lake over the cattails), and then headed back along the Maple-Basswood trail. Just as the sun made it over the trees, I came to an open area alive with birds busily feeding. More familiar birds greet me now—black-capped chickadees, hairy woodpeckers, a red-breasted nuthatch, clusters of cedar waxwings. Then—ooh! A black and white warbler! A catbird burst out of a hedge covered with rose hips. Empid flycatchers (Least? Willow? Alder? God only knows). A yellow warbler, so bright against the green of summer, now nearly camouflaged against yellow aspen leaves. I stood, binoculars to my eyes, while Scooby furiously tried to pull me back to camp. I haven’t been this excited since I saw nighthawks in Jordan, MT. On the trail, one more sighting—a female wood duck on a little pond. Back at camp, the boys drank their water bowl dry, and I finally had my breakfast. 

After breakfast, I got another birding surprise, when an ovenbird strolled through the campsite. Normally, these ground-feeding warblers are hard to spot (but not to hear) as they are shy and well-camouflaged in the leaf litter. This one was calmly walking not 12 feet from me, which gave me a good look at his bold dark brown and white streaked breast and rufous crown, bordered in dark brown stripes.