With daylight hours rapidly receding, it’s hard to say how many more lake outings we’ll get, but you couldn’t have chosen a nicer evening to cap off the season. Comfortably warm temps, a pretty sky, nice waters, and (later) a beautiful sunset! Far more special than the paddle conditions were the paddlers present. It was a smaller group of a dozen or so, but that dozen included both Doreen and my wife (Julie) – both of whom have been rarities this summer. I think it was only Doreen’s 2nd outing with us this year, and Julie’s 1st. Dealing with some medical issues, Julie’s goal was to get on the water with the group this year, and so it was a real blessing to finally see it happen.
All of our group paddled kayaks today, with the exception of Julie and me; we pulled out the tandem outrigger canoe. It’s a great way to ensure we stay together the whole paddle. 🙂
Starting at the public launch, we headed left to circumnavigate Gem Island before heading through the channel into the the central basin of Sylvan Lake. Running closer to the south shore, we crossed below Cook Island and Hathaway Island into the far eastern basin and to the far side, before circling back around Big Island and heading north to the northeastern basin. Circling Twin Island and passing under the bridge brought us back into the central basin as the sun was getting low. Staying north of Bishop Island we ran a straight course into the channel, where we divided up for the last stretch to the launch. Some turned left and ran through the tunnel, while a few others of us circled around the top of Kerr Island.
As we retrieved our paddle craft from the water and proceeded to load up, daylight was fading fast and some of us finished up as darkness crept upon the land. But even in the dim evening light, a spirit of cooperation prevailed: several of our gang, after helping others carry and load their boats, joined in to help Julie and me load up the 24′ outrigger on top of our rather tall pickup. Ever resourceful Lori Blaylock, while being too short to help from the ground, hopped into the bed of the truck to greatly smooth the process while the guys helped me at ground level. We definitely have a bunch of nice folks! Unfortunately, cookies were lacking for this episode, so after a bit of chit chat we all headed to our respective destinations.
Many thanks to all for a great evening on the water!
Steve
