Mississippi River Valley

Large Timber Rattlesnake

The Mississippi River Valley in South Eastern Minnesota is one of Minnesota's greatest attributes.  My father, Dr. Daniel Keyler, Dr. Phil Cochran, and I have been part of an ongoing study in Timber Rattlesnake populations in South Eastern Minnesota.  This Sunday, temperatures were in the mid eighties and the humidity was high. We managed to find 8 Timbers on our hike.  Most were 2-3 year old juveniles but 2 or 3 were gravid females.  Finding both juveniles and older snakes in an area is a good indication of a healthy population. 

 We also stumbled across a few black widow spiders.  The female was encasing a june bug while 2 males sat nearby.

A Royal Wulff protrudes from this Brown's jaw

In the afternoon, I headed off to a local stream to do some fly fishing.  Large browns were rising and taking small dry flies such as Royal Wulffs and black gnats. These trout were in slower water than I am used to, and would arise from the depths of cloudy pools.  I caught 2 or 3 fish, but many fish rose to my flies and missed the fly.  Even though I only took 2 fish, seeing the rise makes it very enjoyable.

On the drive home we saw the sun setting over the river while the fishing boats cruised back to their docks.  I also stopped by the harbor in Lake City (the township where waterskiing was invented) to take a photo of all the sail boats that were docked.

Lake City Harbor

 After the sun set, there was a june bug hatch and our windshield became so encrusted with bug juice that we had to stop in Hastings and wash the car off.  We got home late that night, but it was a an ideal day in the Mississippi River Valley.

June bug-covered windshield