Winter - Milltail Creek 

When I arrived on North Carolina's Outer Banks last Thursday night, the temperature was 26° F and Currituck Sound was fringed with ice. The weather conditions did not seem promising for another visit to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge for further explorations of Milltail Creek in the inflatable boat. We had spent two days at Alligator River in October (see here and here) and wanted to make one more trip this year.

Friday morning was warmer, the sun was shining and there was little wind. With forecast temperatures in the mid to upper forties, we set out for the mainland with the boat in the back of the truck. When we reached the launching area at the end of Buffalo City Road, there were patches of ice on the ground, but the water was free of ice, and we launched the boat in the cold morning air.

The morning was quiet. There was no wildlife to be seen; even the birds were still. Along the swampy shore, the dull orange of the cypress and the evergreen foliage provided the winter color, more subtle but just as lovely as the lush colors of fall. The low winter sun came and went behind the thin clouds, making the scene look warm and peaceful one minute, cold and gray the next.

We stopped and ate lunch on a small clump of dry land at the base of a large cypress tree and enjoyed the quiet and a peaceful sense of being surrounded by nature. Other than our small boat, there was no man-made object in view.

By three o'clock, the sun was already low in the sky, and the temperature was starting to drop. For a few brief moments, the sun found an opening in the clouds, and Milltail Creek was flooded with golden light.  It was a perfect ending to another great day.