FOG

WE WERE'N'T ALONE

BUDDY USES HIS NOSE TO "SEE"

MOUTH OF THE SIOUX RIVER...

...DITTO, WHILE STANDING ON A NEWLY DEPOSITED SAND BAR

THE MARSH BEHIND THE DUNE, ENSHROUDED IN FOG

Monday, 8:30 AM.  40 degrees F, wind variable, mostly calm.  The sky is overcast, it is again very foggy, the humidity is 95% and the barometer is steady, at 29.77",  It is raining, at times quite hard. The fog horns are sounding.
   Yesterday it was densely foggy all day, but Buddy and I both needed to stretch our legs.  I had considered going out for what might have been a final grouse hunt but the weather just  wasn't inspiring, so off to the beach we went.  Looking straight out into the lake from the strand was like looking into, what else, a pot of pea soup. The lake was absolutely calm, with not so much as a ripple.  I could hear voices from somewhere but could not divine their location.  I hoped they were not out in a boat.  Buddy was absolutely charged up, so down the beach to the south he flew, and I followed.
   It is amazing how radically the beach can change from visit to visit.  I did not recognize the mouth of the Sioux River when we got there.  For a long time the mouth of the river spanned about a hundred yards, but here it was, narrowed down to a stone's throw by a new sand beach that has completely cut off the backwater that has been there as long as I have been a visitor. It must have been one whale of a storm that deposited thousands and thousands of yards of sand and changed the course of the river, but it will be a great place to cast a plug into the depths of the river mouth, and a fine destination for those August sun bathers and sand castle builders who care to walk the distance from the parking area.
   Just when we thought we were truly isolated from everything but the muffled sound of traffic on Hwy. 13, two dog walkers appeared out of the murky gloom.  We had a good conservation as Buddy and their two big dogs bounded up and down the beach playing, periodically disappearing into and then reemerging from the fog.  Eventually everyone had enough and we were alone again.  
   On the way back to the truck we met two young guys that I think from their talk and actions were Northland College students.  They were ecstatic about the solitude and mystery wrought by the fog, and about the prospect of bringing their kayaks to explore the lakeshore and the river on a more auspicious day.
   Dense fog may limit our ability to see, but it sharpens our other senses to compensate for the loss.