Saturday, December 22, 2007 - Foscue Creek Park, Demopolis AL
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The Bobby Joe James pushing its charges out of the lock at Demopolis AL, December 21, 2007
A visit to the lower pool
That's the lower pool below the Demopolis Lock and Dam on the Tombigbee River, Demopolis AL. I arrived just in time to watch a coal barge pushed by the towboat Bobby Joe James work its way down through the lock and out onto the river. It took close to an hour for them to negotiate the lock, moving ever so slowly and carefully. From my vantage point it seemed as if there was barely room enough to slide a piece of paper between the barge and the sides of the lock.
Fish tale (tail?)
Yesterday a bit after sunset I had the good fortune to find myself seated in the green chair with binoculars trained on a nearby great blue heron who, after taking more interest than I might have imagined (to the extent of moving closer to get a better view) in a nearby 5th wheeler being maneuvered with some difficulty into a tight site, went back to standing hip deep, fishing, in the cove. A quick jab into the water and up came dinner, clamped in great blue's long beak. A nice, fresh flopping, 6 inch fish dinner. A quick head toss to turn it 'round and head-first down the hatch it went, flipping and flopping all the way, sending waves of feathers fluffing and flouncing to mark its course.
A changing of the guard
There are only two rigs still at the park that were here when I arrived on December 7th. Several pulled out today and were replaced by a new group for the weekend and beyond.
This Wal-Mart is green
The Demopolis AL Wal-Mart Supercenter is not painted the usual Wal-Mart blue and tan but a nice quiet green and tan. For some time I've been wanting to get a picture to post on the page journalling my first night in Demopolis so while running errands at Wal-Mart yesterday I grabbed a couple of pictures. The color scheme is a nice change. I would like to see Wal-Mart use it at more of their stores.
Night camp
Site 42 - Foscue Creek Campground, Demopolis AL
- This is a well maintained US Army Corps of Engineers campground with level paved sites, most with full hookups
- Many sites overlook the water of the inlets off Demopolis Lake on the Tombigbee River
- There is good biking on the park roads
- The campground is pretty full Thanksgiving week and is generally booked solid the weekend of the Demopolis Christmas on the River festival in early December.
- Poor Verizon cell phone service - access is via Extended Network, roaming
- No Verizon EVDO service - access is via the Extended Network and service varies is slow but reliable
- Only 3 miles to Wal-Mart and other services in Demopolis AL
- Find other references to Foscue Creek
- List the nights I've camped here
- Check the weather
- Reserve a site
- Get a map
Listening
As the poet Gary Snyder said so well, "Beyond all this studying and managing and calculating, there's another level to nature. You can go about learning the names of things and doing inventories of trees, bushes, and flowers. But nature often just flits by and is not easily seen in a hard, clear light. Our actual experience of many birds and wildlife is chancy and quick. Wildlife is known as a call, a cough in the dark, a shadow in the shrubs. You can watch a cougar on a wildlife video for hours, but the real cougar shows herself only once or twice in a lifetime. One must be tuned to hints and nuances." After more than thirty years of living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and spending a great deal of that time out-of-doors, Snyder has seen the mountain lion on just a few occasions. One of these sightings was most unusual. Gary had been visiting a neighbor and was walking down from the nearby ridge to his home when he observed a cougar sitting near one of the windows of the house. The animal appeared to be listening intently as one of Snyder's stepdaughters practiced the piano.