THE WETLANDS

The Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve lived up to it’s name on our second visit. It all started with a guy that could see the future…

PREDICTION

We stopped at the visitor’s center before heading on our adventure. While inside we were warned by the guy working there, “It’s gonna rain in 8 minutes and it’s gonna be a downpour.” We looked at each other and shrugged. Then headed on our quest. Amanda hadn’t packed any rain gear. Adam in contrast had seen it raining off and on lately and had packed a few ponchos and umbrellas. And wow did they come in handy!

RAIN? WHAT RAIN?

As we started our adventure into Jackson Bottom it didn’t seem like it would rain in 8 minutes. Let alone hose us. But the guy had some weather magic technology thingy that had it figured out so we planned on getting wet. On our trip to Jackson Bottom the previous week it was a warm sunny day perfect for reading. This time – as predicted – the rain abruptly came and was really powerful. It was showing off how much rain it could toss at us.

TIMELY RESPONSE

We wasted no time getting geared up. With that much rain there was no time to waste. The previous visit we started with the trail along the river. This time we headed on a direct path towards the wetlands and planned on hitting some of the trails we hadn’t seen on our last visit.

BIRDS?

We were hoping to spot some cool wildlife such as a huge, white, Great Egret or a Great Blue Heron like we’d found on our previous adventure. Not this time though. The birds took to sheltered areas when the rain struck. We followed one lengthy trail and kept on the lookout for any animals we might find.

WE SHOT A DEER?

We were walking along a curve and Adam happed to look to the right… and suddenly, quietly said, “Shh shh, STOP! Shh shh.” With big eyes he nodded his head towards the area on the left. Amanda turned and saw what had caused all the no-sudden-moves behavior. We were about 15 steps away from a deer. We really wanted to shoot pictures of it. But had to be careful not to scare it off. Fortunately the rain had calmed down quite a bit.

STAY CALM

Adam slowly unzipped Amanda’s backpack to get to her camera. Luckily we were able to get plenty of photos without startling the deer. We were there for 5-10 minutes for our quiet, calm photo shoot. The deer stayed calm after it first noticed us. It stood very still, trying to decide if we were a threat or not. Then did some nibbling. Then looked at us some more. Not quite sure what to think of us.

OFF WE GO

The time came when we decided to say goodbye and continued our journey. We hiked to the end of that trail and headed back. When we came to the area where the deer had been we found that it had gone off on an adventure of its own. We headed down a new trail and kept our eyes out for any other deer or animals.

MAGICAL MOMENTS

This hike was so fun and satisfying. While some hikers would have been miserable from the rain, or been too loud complaining about the weather, we try to be prepared for the weather and have often enjoyed the unexpected discoveries along the way that might not have been there on any other day. We’ve learned to enjoy our time together and take the time to explore and search for the small things that might be missed by another small group of hikers. Like a rain drop on a leaf. Or a ripple on the surface of water. Or in this instance… a deer.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

Everyone has an opportunity to choose their own adventure. And has the freedom to decide if they’re gonna see the rainstorms in life as a chance to moan and groan or an maybe just maybe it’ll be one of those rare opportunities to see something good. Something rare. Something you don’t commonly see. When we headed home we knew we had to come back soon. There were still some trails to explore and we’d seen some pretty impressive animals on our two visits.

About us: We live by the motto, “My unicorns made me do it.” Subscribe if you like to smile. And. Thanks for reading our blog! ~ by Amanda & Adam