Walking The Dike

Tonight LC, Kory and I walked along the ever-growing shore line on the South Fork side of Buffalo Bill Reservoir.

The water level continues to be dropped lower and lower, and in return we continually find new shore line to walk.

That is now, but back in early August the lake was high.

So high in fact, that on one of our regular trips to the lake we looked at the water and realized with surprise that every piece of shore line had disappeared.

Under water.

Looking at the water in dismay, we spent a few minutes both absorbing the sight in front of us and brainstorming what to do next.

We wanted to walk and Kory needed to run, but neither of those things were going to happen because of this unexpected development.

There are two dikes on the South Fork end of the reservoir.

One of the dikes (massive earth and rock walls that act as a barrier to separate the lake from the homes that exist close by) was about five miles away.

The other was immediately up and to our right.

The dike it was....................

By this time of year the edge of the high-water lake was swamped with drift wood.

Drift wood that had flowed down the Shoshone River from the mountains during the spring run-off and which had in turn been pushed into the lake, eventually making its way to the shore line that edged the lake in all directions.

As we all three headed towards the dike so that we could walk, I looked down and was surprised to see this flowering vine growing in and around smooth-edged pieces of wonderful driftwood...............

From our elevated position on top of the dike we could see just how high the water really was.

There was no shore line at all, and the trees that we had stood under only a few weeks earlier were now standing in water.

At that time we did not know how long the water level would be so high, but as we headed along the gravel trail that spanned the length of the dike, we were all just pleased to be out, and surrounded by beautiful on a late summer afternoon................

By the time we had walked half way along the dike, the scene in front of us reminded me SO much of Alaska.

The water, the trees, the islands, the mountains...........all of it..............

Raucous seagulls perched on boulders..............

The evening was warm but not hot this late in the day.

We were used to walking right down at the lake, so this elevated perch provided us with a perspective that we had not received before, and suddenly I was glad that the shore line had disappeared and that we had decided to walk the dike.

A quiet, peaceful and beautiful walk.

We weren't out for long.

An hour or so.

Just one of many small adventures that we took part in day after day after day all summer long.................

Go outside. Don’t tell anyone and don’t bring your phone. Start walking and keep walking until you no longer know the road like the palm of your hand, because we walk the same roads day in and day out, to the bus and back home and we cease to see. We walk in our sleep and teach our muscles to work without thinking and I dare you to walk where you have not yet walked and I dare you to notice. Don’t try to get anything out of it, because you won’t. Don’t try to make use of it, because you can’t. And that’s the point. Just walk, see, sit down if you like. And be. Just be, whatever you are with whatever you have, and realise that that is enough to be happy.
There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it..................Charlotte Eriksson