The forecast looked promising –
Light winds up to 10 mph with light clouds … I was going to the eastern side of the conservancy to see if I could capture images of wildlife (or slow to wake insects with my macro-lens). Or so I thought.
When I arrived, the clouds were a bit thicker than I expected, and the light was very, very flat.
Undeterred, I proceeded toward the trails, but for only a brief time.
The mosquitoes were horrific. They were as bad as I have ever experienced: 8-10 of them swarming around me as a I walked; usually they are only a problem when standing still for a bit of time, not when I am moving.
So I went back to the car, donned my mosquito net, sprayed my neck and the tops of hands with bug spray, and forayed back into the swamp.
I was now going in confident. I was covered. Long pants (with long socks underneath). Long sleeve shirt. (Pants and shirt were both treated with permethrin, btw) Netting. Bug sprayed. I was good to go.
Then, not yet 50 yards into the trail, I felt something on my palm. The palm of the same hand that I was carrying my camera in, in case I saw wildlife.
Wouldn’t you know a little mutha fucka was biting me!
He paid the ultimate price, but turned me around. If the bugs were going to be that persistent, I was leaving. I had awoke at 0500 to go out and enjoy my morning, not struggle through it.
Once I returned to the car, I was posed with the choice of trying to go to another location to hike or to go home. I decided to do neither and instead picked up a coffee from a local convenience store and went to sit at the shore of Oneida Lake, listening to the waves lap at the shore until it was time to go home.
I confess to experimenting with ICM/blurs as the water moved over the rocks …
… but alas, there wasn’t anything of significant interest appearing on the screen, and I had already committed to not moving from where I was sitting so that I could enjoy my cheap coffee and the quiet solitude of the shoreline.
So I put the camera away and sipped my coffee … occasionally scratching at the palm of my hand.