Last Friday my two daughters and I went on a Rudding Expedition, their first real formal Rudding Expedition.
These are shots from that expedition.
The expedition began around 1100 hours and we finished up about 1830, right before the sun began to drop. We spent most of the afternoon and evening in the forest and exploring ruins.
More on that later.
As promised here are some of the photographs from that little expedition. I'm not posting many shots from the trip here now, only about four because of time constraints and because I have other work to complete tonight. I'll post other shots later.
Of the shots I'm posting now these involve an old abandoned Mill outpost building near a man-made lake which is part of the County Reservoir System. I had originally intended to do some bridging this time out, but instead discovered some abandoned ruins. Having found the ruins I then intended to Vad the abandoned building but the river crossing was a little rough for my daughters and I suspected that the building itself might prove dangerous for two young and inexperienced girls. So we merely explored the near bank and the old collapsed steel dam and floodgate where some recent but abandoned construction had been underway in the summer.
It was humorous to me because when we first started this expedition my oldest daughter said, "Dad, it's just like I'm Lara Croft and you're my daddy!" She was very excited. By the end of the day both my daughters were complaining about how exhausted, dirty, afraid (of being in the dark woods and swamps we had trudged through), thirsty, and hungry they were, despite the fact that I had made sure we were well equipped and provisioned. They're just unused to long expeditions. They'll get used to it as they train and become more experienced.
Construction Site: Lain up along a partially dammed section of the lowland outflow from the lake. The water in this area is probably twelve to fifteen feet deep and we saw many large fish in this little area as well as abandoned lures, meaning it is occasionally fished by those who know of the secluded spot. The water is dark green and is frequented by a large collection of various forms of wildlife as evidenced by the tracks and scats we encountered..
Collapsed Outpost Dam and Floodgate: Old metallic and improvised dam and floodgate. It had been partially supported by large stones bulldozed in but the secondary metallic wall had already collapsed from force of the water pressure. I crossed to the middle area until reaching a metallic section which nearly collapsed under my weight. Rather than risk further advance I turned my daughters back to the near shore after scouting that far. I'll return later to cross and reconnoiter the building that you can just barely see in the upper left hand corner of the shot.
Abandoned Outpost: The abandoned building itself. It rose three stories into the air and was mostly covered on the exterior by rather heavy growth of local vegetation. There was an entrance I could visually scout from a distance as well as one area that was climbable by thick vines.
Dam and Outpost: A shot of the dam with the abandoned building in the background nearly entirely covered by vegetation.
I'll post other shots from my expeditions in future posts.
Below however you will find shots I have recently taken of other subject matter. Personally I think my photographic skills, regarding taking shots of the microworld, continue to improve.
My Great Bernard - half Saint Bernard, half Great Dane: the Greatest Breed of Dog in the world.
My Great Dane bitch, about 7 months old
A local Katydid
A Spider feeding upon a Dragonfly
A Pregnant Mantis
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