Ozarks and the BIG Piney

My mother FORCED me to travel south with her- she'd heard of the Paddy Creek Wilderness near the Big Piney river. It was not supposed to rain tonight, tomorrow, or even the better part of the day after that!

It was this first night by the fire- watching out for the toads- when I spotted a glowy-thing in the leaf-litter. The clouds again blocked the moon, but the sky was still bright! I went over to the greenish-blue light- it was dim, and went away quick- I turned on a flashlight and examined the spot where I'd scene it, but found nothing unusual.
The flash started again. The light was on for several seconds before I found the thing... A glow-worm-beetle-thing! The critter looked like a small, plated beetle larvae. .. It had six prickly legs as a grub would and a tiny black head. Its body was not 3mm wide- armoured like a pill-bugs' and the whole wormy thing could have been a cm long. The green-blue lit like a lightning-bug from the tip of his abdomen.
The aliens' light turned off and he went about crawling through the leaves. I returned to playing with the toads, who seemed to crawl up to the fire as if they were stalking it-- perhaps they were after me... I found one in my tent.

We woke to rain. - rented a canoe and paddled down ~7mi. of the Big piney river. The float was nice... our boat was a bit awkward and we both needed to refresh and refine our paddling!

The river is cold and clear- just the way its supposed to be! ! ! Both banks were covered in debris- for miles sometimes! The two major floods in March and april this year did some serious damage and reconstructed parts of the river. The beavers seemed to be working on clearing the sticks and logs and trees that'd been deposited everywhere.

A muskrat slipped through the water under our boat. We watched 'em swim for only a few moments; he blew bubbles from several feet under. Towards the end of our float, the river got wide and slow- The big flat rocks all over had to have sheltered some hellbenders! -lots of darters and suckers!

We saved a soggy caterpillar from the river. He sure wasnt a pretty creature!

The toads were back and the glow-things seemed to be everywhere. It was not until about 10pm that the clouds began to wore off. The full moon cast a beautiful, soft light on the ozarks.

Day three I fished; We visited a conservation area- the name of which I cannot remember. A blob of small, metallic whirly-gig beetles took refuge from the current behind a pillar of the bridge. They were not the whirly-gigs that we have in kansas city. Their blob was impressive; I tried to take some photos, but the thick cloud cover let no whirly-doodle appear sharp or clear. Very disappointing-the critters wouldve made for some cool pics!

Caught a few sunfish and a little bass.

We went over to a national forest access off of route AF- "something landing"

Spooked a huge group of Turkey vultures from the ground and trees around the ramp- smelled like dead fish. .. Maybe 30 birds! ..

I fished for a second from the shore... My first cast proved the existence of smallmouth bass in the river, and my fourth gave me what I was really looking for. A big, beautiful GOGLE-EYE!

Gogleeyes are restricted to the ozarks in Missouri- they resemble something of a green sunfish with their big mouths and bass-like figure. Big, red eyes and a tan-green body.

With that, I pulled the kayak off the car and pulled it to the water's edge. There were scales everywhere- big, shiny, stinky carp scales. They were so plentiful that it made it had to walk on the steep ramp. Off to the right of the boat-ramp were the remains of many different kinds of suckers and capr. Its gigging-season.

I spotted a butterfly on the ground-one with some really spectacular colors! I did not recognize it and chased it around the fish-guts for a pic. It flew under me and perched on a vertebrae to proboscitize the dead things.. A Pipevine swallowtail???

...It looked poisonous and I did not eat it.

Floated for a few hours; lots of bass and gogle-eye! The sun came out for the first time on our trip. My mother picked my up at the AF bridge- only about a mile from where I had floated. I harassed the crayfish and darters in a few pools off of the river before we left for Bennet springs.

Goofed-off on the Niangua for a few hours before we set up camp at the state park. It poured for a short while, and only rained until morning. We watched a couple across the street spill gasoline all over their fire... and campsite. A woman came to fill a bucket with water and rushed to put out the fire. ... that did not work too well. The fire grew and spread and light the whole area for a second... maybe thats why it had been raining so much!?

I got a limit of trout from Bennet springs and it threatened to rain again. It rained the whole way home, but the trip was nice and we found alot of cool critters! The Taranchula was caught crossing a country road on our way home from the canoe trip- he was BY FAR the largest one Ive ever found!