Turtle patrol, and the uncooperative water level

Dwight Peck's personal website

Summer 2026

A photographic record of whatever leapt out at us

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Turtle patrol, and the uncooperative water level

Back to the far end of the South Bay, determined to better our meager results for basking turtle photos -- only three at one time so far. 27 August 2026

And behold -- do our eyes deceive us?

Four in a row, all present and correct.

And very self-confident they seem to be, too. Not one has yet taken the dive.

Here from the other side, and not far off . . .

. . . here's another. That's five so far -- not like the old days, but a welcome result for today.

If we had to guess, that would be a disintegrating mass of the 'horned pond weed' (Zannichellia palustris) that's been seen in drips and drabs all round the lake, mostly in individual strands floating near the surface, but here, and in parts of Tomahawk Bay (where Gary the DJ has been hauling out bunches of them), they seem to be traveling in disorganized little gangs.

'A widespread submersed aquatic perennial plant found in fresh to brackish waters across the globe -- long, hair-like, and thread-like in opposite pairs or whorls, creating a fine, grass-like mat' (that's a Google AI paraphrase). One doesn't recall ever having seen these things before. Apparently, they're not invasive.

That's enough for today -- we'll wave goodbye to our tiny friends (though from this angle, one of them seems to have plooped).

.

Ah, one more. What a fine turtle day we've having!

(We'll note this in our Turtle Diary.)

Out of South Bay now, and under the bridge, and past the bridge's vigilant sentry.

And past the little reefy thing that sometimes briefly becomes a sort of shrine or memorial

And past the ginormous boulder near Ryden's island that, in these days of the lowered water level, is easier to see just in time before smashing up against it and possibly drowning alongside it.

We won't find this sort of sordid mess up in the North Bay, where the fancy houses have well maintained shorelines.

But then there's this, a tree that went down some years ago just south of us along the North Bay shoreline, and has been sawed off low down to move it out of the traffic flow.

That's the same tree on the now-reduced point of (what we call 'Pradt's Point' because they're longtime residents there),

The Deadhead Museum (my term for it) in Tomahawk Bay, 31 August 2026 -- we've never known anyone, even Cousin Rob, who could explain how they all got along the shoreline here, though one friend mentioned that she'd heard rumors that it was all about festive teenagers rolling them down the hillside back in the day.

The entrance to the canal appears to be reforming its dam again. Next year, Bog willing, if the water level's back up, we should consider some kind of major clean-out all the way to the other end of it, at last.

Of course, there may politics involved in that, and perhaps economics too, and maybe we'd better think this through.

Part of the vast undeveloped shoreline of the lake (now part of the Forest Reserve)

That, in the right light and at the right angle, could be taken for a fine work of art.

That couldn't, but it does show the main lake just behind the 3-meter wide promontory near the entrance to Tomahawk Bay. And here's the view . . .

. . . just out onto the main lake, looking west on a grey day: George's Island on the left, Adjidaumo on the right, and about 1.4km across to the far side, where the Public Landing resides.

A welcome elegance

The sadly-afflicted shoreline of the crescent east side of Adjidaumo, 1 September 2026.

It's a calm and quiet day, good for relaxing on the shore a bit, but . . .

. . . on many days, there are always the passing skiboats.

-- Steady on! Just hold still, they'll leave us alone.

2 September 2026, the sort of mirror lake that we seldom see here.

Back in the South Bay, the same setting but with only two actors for us this time.

The season's almost over for them, before hibernation (one presumes), and thus much less idle basking for them.

And once again, another solitary one basker-sighting for our pedal home.

This is from near the Public Landing, a view of the fine old multi-boathouse at Point o' Pines.

Farther south along the west side, just past the Public Landing, a view of this brilliant cantilevered dock.

And next is this well-appointed and likely very fun place (amongst some circles), with . . .

. . . masses and masses of amenities, and an apparently huge house.

5 September 2026, and the old Grumman Fun Ship is still there, stolidly awaiting its passengers, now with . . .

. . . a full overhaul of the interior facilities, a year or two ago. Well done all (but it's still got one of the very few 25 hp outboard motors pontoon boats on the lake).

[We've got one family with a 500 hp on theirs. If they really opened it up, it might very well fly off from the lake.]

Tree-bearing rocks, in the South Shore Bay, and . . .

. . . a passing view of the lake's second eagles' nest.

Passing by our Crossing of the Bar reef, we are horrified to discover this appalling desecration.

The little Shinto temples are bad enough, but the malefactors have strewn sizable rocks across the passage. We're certainly glad that Cousin Rob's not here to see this.

(On second thought, we wish that he were here to see this.)

There's evidently something up, but they're refusing to tell us what it is.

They're just parading off to see to matters themselves. Oh, fine then!

They seem always to be up to something.

We can get bouncy waves anytime during the summer, but once September comes along, it's nearly every day.

We really enjoy these bouncy days, and are looking forward to it all getting serious in a week or two.

[Some did, in fact a good foot-and-a-halfer coming from perpendicular directions on 9 September. ]

Earlier in the summer we had an arboral calamity -- a hefty magesterial, fully loaded branch crashed down -- not on the houses, not onto the lake -- but just onto the shrubberies.

It might be fun to see what all this looks like by next summer.

Cats gathered for an afternoon snooze

They do get along so well, mainly.

They're dedicated friends. Some 80% of the time.

Grey September days, fun bouncy waves, and the grassy reef by Raymond's, on our way down the 'Strait of Tigertail' to South Shore Bay.

There's sometimes something about cats and septic vents.

Now we've snuck back to take care of that reef desecration, 11 September 2026.

This side of the shrubs never suited our competitive instincts at all, the sand's a few inches higher there.

But here we are -- their little temples have been knocked down, but the loathsome rocks remain.

Ryden's (aka Beaver) Island, from the Bar

But we're making progress with the rocks.

-- Just wait there, I'm almost finished!

That'll do it. If the water level comes back up next year, we'll be flying over this thing.

Hollering 'Whoopee' and waving our $5 hat!

All said and done, there's something about Choupette that can always seem a little unsettling.

The Lake in the Wisconsin Northwoods

Mussent Point is at no. 12.

The text overlays are updating a few names to our current understanding. We've noticed, though, that the Lake Katherine Association newsletter is mostly sticking to the original names, Beaver and Crescent Island and Manila and Indian Bay. [The former two are cute, but the latter two seem unwelcome these days, if 'Manila Bay' celebrated the Battle of Manila Bay (when Cmdr Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in 1898, about the time that our lake's canal was being dug out), and 'Indian Bay' sounds rather awkward these days, especially up here adjacent to the Ojibwe/Chippewa Lac de Flambeau Reservation.

The Northwoods Land Trust has produced a 7-min YouTube film, 'Land & Water: the heart and soul of the Northwoods', that features a number of beautiful aerial passes over Lake Katherine.

Next up: We await further dispatches.