DESERT FILLED WITH WATER

My job entails pulling up to fishing boats, determining and documentating the species of fish they have caught and weighing them.  I dispense a short lake survey to the anglers also.  To accomplish this task;  I rove over predesignated areas of my assigned lake.  Cherokee Lake is 58 miles long and is broken up into eight areas.  I rove a different area each day in my boat.  Today, as I cruised along and searched the shoreline with binoculars, a weird sensation overcame me.  Imagine that.   I found myself associating this vast waterway I was travelling on with Death Valley desert in Nevada.  I have been across Death Valley many times over the years on a motorcycle and let me tell you;  it's vast, impressive and by all appearance;  empty of life.  Of course, it isn't empty of life;  that's just an impression one gets.

Well;  I was on the water for six hours this morning and didn't see another boat.  Not one boat.  Nothing.  I roved about on a course I set that would take me clear around the perimeter of my area and back to the start.  As I cruised along I could feel my face take on the feel of a smirk and in my minds eye I could see the scenes of the Death Valley Desert and my mind immediately associated that thought process to Cherokee Lake.  I was in a vast desert alone, a small dot upon an endless sea much like I was a small dot upon a motorcycle crossing an endless desert alone.  I took some photos this morning that may indicate to you why I felt the way I did.  I am a practical thinker but, I like to romanticise on occasion. 



A Rock Pile is Marked



The buoy actually marks the tip top of an underwater mountain



A secret passage



Through the cliff and into a large meadow



A very foreboding and dangerous shoreline



A few weeks ago I put a photo up here with a comment that I felt Douglas would like this spot.  Below is a picture taken today of the same relative area.  Below it is the original taken about four weeks ago of the same area only a bit to the left of this shot. 

The picture directly above shows the water much higher up on the land. 

The day wasn't a total bust, however.  I ran into two fishermen at the end of the shift.  It usually is that way on the "big water" parts of the lake.  The anglers like to stay in the river system and the out of the way coves off the big water.  The surface is calmer and they don't have to deal with jet ski's and ski boats.  The problem is that as the water is lowered in the dam;  the small out of the way coves will eventually be dry land.

 Come to think of it;  I didn't even see a jet ski today until 1PM.  Good grief!