On
Wednesday, October 23'rd, a time when my outings would normally have long since ended, I had my
6'th and final outing of 2013! We had a "warm" airmass over us, but because the days were so short, the nights long, and the sun so low, all the colder air settled in the valleys (strong temperature inversion), with persistent fog and low cloud keeping things chilly in the valley bottoms. But, up in the mountains, it was nice and sunny, and in the middle of the afternoon, just marginal t-shirt and shorts weather while it was heavy coat weather down in the valleys!
After exploring a previously undiscovered meadow to the west of my Crescent Road pond and finding no deep mud around the water, which was into the grass (perhaps I should check it out again this coming summer when water levels are lower), I returned to my Crescent Road pond. I changed into t-shirt and shorts, noticing that while the air felt cool, I was still feeling on the verge of sweating, even in lighter clothes!
Sun felt warm, shadows felt cool. At the pond, I was disappointed to see that the water levels were even higher than last time, with water once again pooling on top of the mud, a bit more so than last time, and also into the surrounding grass. So, in order to get to the edge of my sinking spot without getting my shoes and socks wet, I had to walk barefoot. However, even in the warmer air, the long nights and low sun had taken their toll.
The water in the surrounding grass was partially
CrUnChY due to it being partially shaded from the sun by the grass, and was therefore painfully cold on my feet
, so no more sinking to be done until 2014.
It's no wonder why I don't go on outings at that time of the year very often! I took some final pix of the area:
Here are two pix of my sinking spot, showing how the water pooled on top. Too bad it was too frigid to mix the water in, or to add more mud on top:
2013 10 23 6A Crescent.JPG
2013 10 23 6B Crescent.JPG
After that, I took pix of other patches of mud, around the west side of the south end of the Crescent Road pond marsh area, partially covered with fallen Alder leaves:
2013 10 23 6C Crescent.JPG
2013 10 23 6D Crescent.JPG
2013 10 23 6E Crescent.JPG
To Be Continued...