August, 2025
I had a fun surprise today, three of them in fact. Well, they were sort of fun, and sort of scary. But mostly fun. Well, no, mostly they were scary actually. Do you dare to come on this walk with me? Let’s go. Be prepared!
This morning I simply took a very short walk over to the the edge of Lake Quigg from my campsite and snapped the photo below. As I stood there looking at the water and trees (oh how beautiful), I noticed “something” there in the distance … way across the lake, under the foot bridge that’s right in the middle of the photo below. It looks large, what could it be?
So I zoomed in with the camera … see photo below. That is one HUGE tree stump, HUGE, in that waterway, under that bridge. Wow.
So what could I do but get my breakfast eaten pronto then put on my walking shoes and take a walk around the lake, going west to that bridge first, in order to get a look at whatever it was that was there in the water.
I approached the bridge (above). Just before I walked out onto the bridge, I looked through the trees to my right and saw that large stump. By now, the tide had come in a bit, and the stump didn’t look quite as large, but still, it was LARGE.
And it looked to me as though it had an eyeball on it, right at water level, and boy was it angry!
Then I did walk out onto the bridge to get an unimpeded view of the stump (below). It didn’t seem as large from this angle, but obviously the stump was sitting on the bottom, in the mud, so most of the stump was under water. I hoped that the next high water would help move the stump further west, away from Lake Quigg, and away from the foot bridge, because the stump seemed large enough that it could damage the bridge.
As I stood there, enjoying the views, I also began studying the stump. And then, not surprisingly, I began to see faces. Of course there’s the eyeball right at water level and the big snout on the right. There were also three or four small faces in various places. But also I really liked the large head that was sticking out of the left side of the stump … the head with white “hair” sticking straight up.
Here’s a closeup below. Right in front of the white “hair” is a big upright bump sort of like a unicorn’s horn. And, in the photo below, right at the bottom of the photo, it looks to me like this animal has one arm or paw that it’s holding out, reaching for something maybe. It also has quite a large nose or some other bump out there near its mouth. And it has a very tiny, tiny eye that’s right below the “unicorn horn”, an eye that looks to be mostly closed, maybe because the sun is so bright?
Here’s a closer photo of just the head … it seemed a friendly creature, not at all angry like the other side of this monster stump and its large angry eyeball.
I wished the stump and all of its creatures well, and then walked on around the lake.
This little Douglass Squirrel sat right there while I got close enough to get a photo of it. Then it scooted off into the bushes in a nano-second. Gosh they are fast!
A bit further on around the lake was this bunny rabbit who also held still for a photo op, then hopped into the bushes.
Further yet around the lake, almost back at the campground was this little bird that I believe is a Killdeer, yes? Oh my it was fast, too! But it did let me get one good photo of it.
By now I had walked almost completely around the lake and was back at the eastern end of the campground. I figured I would stop at the boat “ramp” and check it out for the possibility of launching my kayak there later this week. It’s a rugged area for sure, but I wasn’t going to back a boat trailer into the water, just walk in and carry my kayak into the water. It looked ok. But, what is that HUGE stump out there in the water … another HUGE stump!
Oh my gosh it was big. And it too was sitting on the bottom, in the mud, so most of it (just like that other monster stump) … most of this one too was underwater and there was no telling how big THAT part was, or how close to the water surface any hidden parts of it were.
And then I started seeing faces, and whole animals, in this stump. I can see a hedgehog on the right end of the stump, and several faces in the middle parts and on the left. I also see something that is sort of duck-like, an orange duck, right in the middle that has its head pointed down such that its beak is in the water. And immediately to the left of the duck, I see a small orange human being with its arms outstretched reaching way up as it’s trying to climb up out of the water and not drown! Yikes. At this point, with both of these huge monster stumps in the water, I wasn’t certain that going kayaking here was a very safe thing to do. I could get swamped and eaten!
I decided to walk on. The path led around a bit more of the lake before it headed inland to the actual camping area. So on I went.
And then I came around the last corner of the path and saw a third monster stump. I didn’t see any faces or animals in it … at first. But I took a couple of photos and then looked at it again and then noticed that really odd face on the right side of the stump, reflected in the water. Here’s the photo that I took …
And then for some reason I turned my camera sideways while looking at the photo above and THIS is how that monster stump looks when the photo is turned sideways …
Ok, I’m thinking maybe this week is not the best week to go kayaking on Lake Quigg all by myself. In fact, I scurried on along that path and got to my campsite as quick as I could. I climbed up into my trailer (safe Towhee the Trailer who protects me) and locked the door behind me! I’ll have to think about kayaking … or maybe NOT think about kayaking. Wish me well!
Dear Ms Travels With Towhee,
We are so pleased with your recent blog which featured several of our more interesting members. Therefore we are pleased to award you honorary membership in our Stumpelicious Society. To fully participate in our events, please send us a portrait of your Honorable Stumpyness as soon as possible. We look forward to seeing You again soon!
Dear Stumpelicious Society,
Thank you. That is very generous of you. Your stump members are certainly fascinating. I must, however, decline your generous offer of honorary membership and full participation as I remain hidden in my travel trailer in fear of that last monster stump. I hereby cancel and rescind everything!
Thanks Jan, that was fun. 🙂
Yikes! Scary, and fun! 🙂 Great blog.
Thanks Nevada. 🙂
We loved this! We’ve seen such “monsters” in our RV travels too whether stumps in the water or on land or even clouds in the sky that are scary, not to mention one or two humans that were pretty odd. But this takes the cake. That last photo was wild! Thanks for the fun. 🙂
Oh, yes, clouds can have faces or look like animals or scary stuff too. Almost forgot about that. Thanks Marge. 🙂
Wow, stunning photos, especially that last one!!! And yes, it’s a Kildeer. 🙂
I really like all the faces you find. I’ve started doing that too in many other sorts of areas or photos or whatever. It’s fun. And they really are there!
Thanks for the bird ID confirmation, Ben. Yep, it’s fun to look for faces. 🙂
You are known for attracting eagles, now you attract stumps! ha! 🙂 Pretty cute tho. That last picture tho, wow scarey!
Gosh, I never thought that I might be attracting! stumps. Maybe I better take a shower more often. ha! 🙂
Those stumps are wonderful! I see most of what you see. Wouldn’t have seen that orange human trying to pull themselves out of the water if you hadn’t. I also really love the animals and bird, the REAL ones, in this blog post. 🙂
Life is fun, isn’t it? Even imaginary life is fun. Oh, I liked those REAL animals best too. Thanks Jamie.
Delightful! You find life everywhere, and you enjoy all of it. Well, except for that last stump photo, wow!
Oh, no, I sure didn’t enjoy that last stump, no ma’am! 🙂
Wow! I’m scared!! 🙂 Great photos of really big root stumps in the water, that was cool beans. And the photos of the other real animals too. What fun. Thanks! Looking forward to see if you really do go kayaking here or not.
I will follow up with kayaking info for sure, Nebraska. Hold onto your socks! 🙂
This was great! What fun to see those huge stumps. I wonder how they got there, up on the lake and probably under the foot bridge or how else could that one, that second one have gotten up there? Ah, but the third one … wow! Scary stuff indeed. I’d run to my camper trailer and hide out too, Ann. Hope you slept safe and sound without any troubling dreams. 🙂
I wondered how those three stumps got to those three different positions too, Cindy. There isn’t a large river that flows into Lake Quigg, just a few very small streams, with the water mostly flowing out from Lake Quigg and then into the Chehalis River. But maybe a tree (or three) fell from the bank of Lake Quigg, into the lake. Or maybe a SUPER high tide brought one or more of those stumps up into Lake Quigg from the Chehalis River. This was my third camping trip here and I’d not seen any stumps in the lake before. Lucky me! ha! 🙂
You’ve got a good imagination!
Ah, yes, FG, evidently I do! Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes I wish I didn’t see all those weird things. I love your photos.
All of us agreed this was brilliant! Frightening! And fun! Thank you. Very nice real animals too.
Oh those real animals were wonderful weren’t they? Please let your mates know how much I appreciate all of them, and you! I’m so glad you’re here. 🙂
Definitely some monsters in those stumps. Particularly that last one! I often see faces in the trees and fallen timber during my walks in the woods. I don’t see stumps under water so much here. I bet the fish love them!
Hmmm, hadn’t thought about what the fish might think about those stumps but yes now that you mention it, I bet the fish love them, great places to hide from air-borne predators. Ok, maybe I should make friends with these stumps. 🙂 They are good stumps after all!