Swamp Maze

At this very spot in June, I broke my kayak paddle when the log I threw out of the tree snapped it in half.  I was climbing it to get a better view from above so I could find my way through the snarled mess of vegetation beyond  

 A couple weeks ago when the temps were cold enough to make some ice for a couple days, I thought it would be a good idea to checkout (solo of course) a route through a local swamp that I paddled in the summer when it was flooded. What I found was a really fun and sometimes scary, maze, zig-zaging it's way in every direction. The large amount of beavers at work in the area created large "safe" pools to ride over. Immediately following the dams were smaller channels of fast moving open water. These channels would be frozen a little further down stream and made for some fast single track type riding, until you hit a area of thin ice again and break through or stop just in time. There were also some channels that were obviously man made as they appeared to be dredged, running in straight lines. these were the safest routes as they had no activity from the large rodents. I ended up breaking through about a half dozen times and going over the bars once at full speed but I never got wet! I did however get covered in those cattail puff-ball thingys. I'm trying to  make the most of/take advantage of, our winter so far without much snow to play in.