Our weather this July has been unbelievably hot and humid. It seems that almost every day is 90+ with 70% or more humidity. We had one day last week where they said it was even more humid than it typically gets in the Everglades of Florida! So for that reason and some other travels, I've not made too many posts this month.
I was away last weekend but I'd heard that the Twin Cities received some pretty intense rain. I think the city of Roseville measured 4 or 5 inches and there was even a part of a railroad track that washed out and derailed a train in Fridley, MN. I had no idea that the park was so severely flooded when I arrived on Wednesday evening. Long stretches of both the wood chip trails and even the paved path were completely underwater and impassable. I had to take a major detour around the ball fields on the west side.
On one of the wood chip trails that wasn't flooded I found the Cooper's Hawk nest again. I couldn't see any chicks in the nest this time but as I was looking I scared up the parents who were both roosting further down below the nest. One flew along the trail and perched again just a little ways further down. I walked slowly right underneath it and paused just once to snap a quick pic. As I continued around I came across more and more flooding. For some odd reason I'd started on the north side and went counter-clockwise today which proved to put me in a predicament. Coming around the south east side, I found the paved trail completely flooded. There was literally no other way to get back to my vehicle -that is unless I wanted to walk along 69th Avenue. I decided to just go through the water versus backtracking. I couldn't tell how deep it was but I soon realized it was pretty close to the tops of my shoes and my feet were quickly soaked.
After I'd gotten through, I came to yet another flooded portion of trail. Since I was already wet, I kept going and found this portion to be even deeper, way above my shoes. Yuck! In just minutes time I reeked of stale swamp water. Just before getting back to my vehicle, I noticed 5 or 6 Great Egrets hunting in the water which used to be the baseball fields. This is officially the highest water I've ever seen at the park.
I was away last weekend but I'd heard that the Twin Cities received some pretty intense rain. I think the city of Roseville measured 4 or 5 inches and there was even a part of a railroad track that washed out and derailed a train in Fridley, MN. I had no idea that the park was so severely flooded when I arrived on Wednesday evening. Long stretches of both the wood chip trails and even the paved path were completely underwater and impassable. I had to take a major detour around the ball fields on the west side. 
On one of the wood chip trails that wasn't flooded I found the Cooper's Hawk nest again. I couldn't see any chicks in the nest this time but as I was looking I scared up the parents who were both roosting further down below the nest. One flew along the trail and perched again just a little ways further down. I walked slowly right underneath it and paused just once to snap a quick pic. As I continued around I came across more and more flooding. For some odd reason I'd started on the north side and went counter-clockwise today which proved to put me in a predicament. Coming around the south east side, I found the paved trail completely flooded. There was literally no other way to get back to my vehicle -that is unless I wanted to walk along 69th Avenue. I decided to just go through the water versus backtracking. I couldn't tell how deep it was but I soon realized it was pretty close to the tops of my shoes and my feet were quickly soaked. 
After I'd gotten through, I came to yet another flooded portion of trail. Since I was already wet, I kept going and found this portion to be even deeper, way above my shoes. Yuck! In just minutes time I reeked of stale swamp water. Just before getting back to my vehicle, I noticed 5 or 6 Great Egrets hunting in the water which used to be the baseball fields. This is officially the highest water I've ever seen at the park.
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