January 24th the ice finally melted from Church Creek and I went out for a little [kayak] navigation.

Tide was real high so I decided to go up one of the branches of the creek by the the house. Based on Erik Michelsen’s blog in the South River Federation web pages (www.southriverfederation.net), I thought I’d see if I could get up to the beaver dam that he found.

I didn’t get to the dam, but I was surprised to find this BIG BEAVER LODGE — it doesn’t look like much here (and note Aris T. Allen Blvd bridge in the background), but the lodge is AT LEAST six feet high, above the water in this picture, and that was on a very high tide — maybe 1.5 or 2.0 feet above normal high tide.

Those little beavers have been working on this for quite a while — obviously busy as beavers. (sorry).