Vermont – Lake Champlain, Edge of Missisquoi Bay
A year ago in the fall, I spent a few days visiting family on the shore of Lake Champlain in the far northwest corner of Vermont. From the cottage, you can see the Canadian shore of Quebec across Missisquoi Bay, a shallow lobe at the north end of the lake that’s divided by the international boundary. Montreal is a short drive away.
It had been a hot summer, and a severe drought had caused the lake level to drop that fall to an exceptionally low level, up to six feet below normal. Early one cool morning, as the sun was rising, I walked along a rocky stretch of shoreline and noticed mats of white, hair-like threads coating rocks recently exposed by the receding water. These were the remains of filaments of green algae that had grown profusely on the submerged rocks during the summer in the shallow bay. As the water receded, the algae were left high and dry. Exposed to the October sun, the filaments lost their chlorophyll and the algae died off, leaving a delicate white mat of hairs on the stones. Fall leaves and occasional mussel shells nestled in the gaps between the stones, creating little still lifes of contrasting textures and colors in the soft morning light.
