Cannon River Wilderness Area

We made a quick outing to the west branch of the Cannon River Wilderness Area late this afternoon. I love this old bridge that arches high over the Cannon.

It is almost literally a bridge to nowhere. There is a lone camping site on the far side, and the established trail seems to peter out into, at best, thin paths through the greenery to who knows where. I guess this is why they call it a wilderness area.

The view above is from the bridge looking upstream (southwest-ish at this point, I believe). Last time we were here, probably 2-3 years ago, we saw a magnificent great blue heron fishing from the right side of the river here. Today we were on the lookout for herons and kingfishers, but saw neither. (On the wooded path away from the river, we did see and hear an eastern wood-pewee and a white-breasted nuthatch, and near the parking area we saw a great crested flycatcher, with its yellow belly and rusty tail, flitting about.)

This is the more closed-in view facing downstream. It was very quiet and peaceful as we stood and leaned on the wooden railing. We heard an occasional crow cawing or insect buzzing, but very little else.

Looking straight down, the water was light brown but clear, and we were commenting on the lack of visible fish when this quite large (10-14"?) specimen swam into view, traveling downstream. I've enhanced the contrast on this photo and am quite pleased with the effect. I don't know what kind of fish it was, but it had a noticeably reddish tail.