Do you use a still camera or a digital camera? If digi, when you look at the LCD screen, do you see a small icon of a flower in the corner? If you do, that means you have a macro set to allow the lens to focus on close items in the foreground, not distant stuffs. I usually leave all macros off when I shoot, so everything is treated equally.
I use a digital camera. And no, no flower icon, so I don't know what's up there.
I'm hoping to go back on Sunday morning, and am planning on spending some time over near the creek to see if I can get a better shot. Or at the very least be able to focus on that rock with my actual eyeballs. That's the thing that really weirds me out, whether looking through the camera or not, that was the fuzziest rock I've ever seen.