Snake Rapids along the Net River
June 12th, the day called for rain most of the morning so I decided to scout for locations to check if/when the weather improved. I saw this location noted in my gazetteer and saw a sign near Amasa giving a distance of several miles from the main road. Some trout fishermen I saw later were surprised I made it to the river in my car since the road must normally be in bad shape. This side road looked to be recently graded so travel was fine in my car. There are many roads that connect to the Net River Road so I was never sure if I was going the right way until I arrived. A couple of nice sightings were made on my drive to the river: a Black Bear lumbered off the road about 1/2 mile from the boat launch and a Connecticut Warbler was singing a bit further away.
I was pleased to see the sign when I arrived:
View of the lake below the rapids:
The rapids themselves looked great for some wading and dragonfly searches on a dry weather day.
Looking back towards the lake / boat launch area:
During the rain, I found several exuviae along a log at the edge of the river.
Surprisingly, this included one of my target species for the trip with one female Extra-striped Snaketail (O. anomalus). I believe this is a new river system to confirm this species' presence. The others were also snaketails (O. rupinsulensis or carolus).
To access the log in the picture above, I had to go back to my car to put on my water shoes since I needed to wade in knee-deep water. While changing my shoes at the car, the swarm of mosquitoes filled the interior.
It took me a day and a half to eventually get the little biters out. It is annoying to be swatting mosquitoes as you're driving down the road, while others are sitting on the dashboard filled with blood. That may have been the thickest swarm I have experienced.
However, this location looked spectacular and another visit is deserved in the future, with good weather.
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