sorry, man! that seems to be going around. currently not allowed in the water myself, until an infection needing some in-office surgical work to clean up and some mondo antibiotics. seriously cramping my fishing season right now.
iirc, you were ‘splashing about’ in the panhandle region and…
well, let’s just avoid gulfside waters altogether, shall we? certainly never splash about in florida freshwaters. (yuck, N. fowlerii and all those others beasties)
This time in Ocala National Forest. In the river and the muck. An open, already infected thing got rapidly moreso. Instead of a simple course of antibiotics, I ended up all the way under the anesthesia, and under the knife. Instead of a few days of recovery, it’s 4-6 weeks of packing. There’s a lesson in there somewhere, I’m guessing. Lol. Hazard of the outdoors.
Gives me a chance to do more cooking, I guess. Get caught up on some reading.
And may you get well soon too!!
do outdoor inactivities count
This is me under all that. I finally got to travel for pleasure after two and a half years of pandemic.
A fan-fuckin’-tastic long day on the river.
Entering Cave Spring
Minks
Mama heron guarding her nest across the river. These are wary birds and this is by far the closest I’ve ever gotten to one.
Fire Hydrant Spring:
Akers Ferry to Round Spring, about 20 miles in 8 hours.
Wow. Are you engaged in falconing?
No, the falconer just came up to me, handed me the falcon, grabbed my phone, took some pictures and then asked for money. It was a great day.
Great way to spend a day!
Lovely pics!
Not my outdoor story, but since you’re local, did you hear about this?
The bystander who rescued him was one of my friends. They were out for a walk and saw the guy, one stayed and called 911, the other scrabbled down from the bridge (different bridge, downstream) and charged into the water. It was a harrowing story!
@DukeTrout - very pretty! In case you didn’t know, a little history for the bitterroot flower:
The river is calling me. Unfortunately I’m still recovering from a medical procedure that keeps me out of the water for a bit. <sigh>
Bummer 
I just found this thread. We’re going canoe camping this weekend, a 3 mile paddle to an island in a lake. Hope to get some swimming in, avoid any scary infections or tick-borne diseases, and have photos to share next week!
man, i feel for ya! currently in the same boat (unfortunate turn of phrase there), doc says no water activity until mid August. i should be ready in time for lobster season and look forward to getting back in the water then.
hope your recovery goes well and you are out on and in the water shortly!
That sounds amazing! I’m probably going to try to get some paddling in next week, despite doctor’s orders to stay out of the water. “No falling in” is what I’m taking that to mean. I’ll be at a relatively smooth lake. So things should be OK, provided the bass boats respect my space.
Cool! Thanks for that link.
The Columbia River Gorge is a strange ecosystem. These bitterroot were at an elevation well below the stated lower range in that article - but so are the pika on the other side of the river. They are the lowest elevation population of pika in the world. Some live only a few hundred feet above sea level, compared to other populations that typically live above 5000 ft. There is permanent ice under the scree on the north-facing slopes in the gorge, and that’s what keeps the pika cool enough during the summer.
No, I hadn’t heard about it. Hope the man is recovering. What luck that your friends were nearby and had the ability and willingness to assist him! That is indeed quite a scrabble down the river bluff. And happening right at sunset too, not exactly the time you’d want to be entering the water to try to help someone. It would get darkest soonest on the west shoreline. Hope your friends have recovered from the harrowing experience too.
That is very local to me, just a mile from where I live. Taking a walk, alone or with a friend, usually means walking over to the river, and making a loop with the Franklin Ave bridge and the Lake St bridge.
And, thank you for the positive words about my pics 
We’re back! Turned out to be closer to a 4-mile paddle to the island, but totally worth it. I didn’t get any shots on the way out or back (too busy paddling and steering), but here’s the view from the campsite - the only campsite on the island!
And just to the left we could go over a little spit of land to watch the sunsets:
Will definitely be heading back there!
That looks so idyllic. Only a couple of weeks until we’re camping on the coast!
