Loveland Reservoir

Loveland Reservoir is part of the Cleveland National Forest.  Like Pine Creek Wilderness, i have not been here in almost four years.  To say i was shocked when i arrived, would be an understatement!!

Drought has severely affected this body of water:

Where this picture is taken, is actually the bed of the lake.  It is dry as far as the eye can see.  All the green off in the distance are reeds and cattails. All this area should be under water and not a foot or two, but ten plus feet.  When the lake is full there are times when just getting to the trail is impossible, that was not the issue today.

This too should all be water and this is the route i used to take,  Off to the left, along the ridge and around the lake.  I still could have taken that route, but it just seemed too sad to look at that dry lake bed.

the Lake bed is now a 'trail' to the shore

way off into the distance (where the arrow is) shows where the dock is. Now instead of floating, it's sitting on the ground.

this is the map at the trail head. Everything to the left of the white line is dried up.

But rather than dwell on the dry areas, i carried on and enjoyed nature.  While the area has changed, nature's creatures have persevered. and while the drought has taken a good portion of the lake, the new reeds and cattails have created a habitat and food for many of my winged friends.  The red winged blackbirds serenaded me the whole time while walking through the dry areas (and that's never a bad thing)

a lone Cormorant hanging out.

a squirrel pretending to be invisible.

It was a beautiful day, low 80's, cool breeze and i had this lake all to myself, not a person in sight.  Just me and the flora and fauna.