kayaking – Page 14 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

March 10 The Wailua River

No trade winds are blowing this morning, everything is quiet as the winds do their spring time turning. It’s humid and still, the surf is low, and the clarity that was so incredible the first couple of days that we were here isn’t as striking today.

We were up reasonably early for vacation time, since we were to meet in Wailua for our guided tour before 9. We looked at several options for this first-time trip, with a large number of choices available, but thought that maybe a guided trip would be ok for us and there might be some information we would get this way that we might not on our own. Of course, there was also the problem of how to get a rented kayak from the store to the river on our little rental car, so that problem was solved with the guided trip as well.

We went with Kayak Wailua, http://www.kayakwailua.com/ and our group was led by a young man born on Kauai whose father actually owned the company. He seemed fairly quiet and reserved until you asked a question, and then it was clear that he loved to talk. He told us all about the family business and the interactions of his mother and siblings with his father, the reason Hawaii became a state, and how it was really the Hawaiians that sold out to the US because of the money involved in the sugar cane business and the powerful politicians connected to that industry. He said Hawaii was definitely a Democratic/Liberal state, although he seemed to think that it was originally more conservative and was the antidote to the entry of the liberal Alaska to the union. He talked about the trees and the plants and the people and it was all kind of fun in a way that we wouldn’t have experienced on our own. There were 12 people on the tour, the legal maximum, and who knows why but they were all young people, 3 couples from Utah traveling together and another young honeymooning couple from Minnesota. Our guide Jonathan, led us up the hidden channel to the hidden trail and all its twists and turns that went to Secret Falls. I suppose we could have found it all on our own eventually if we had followed the rest of the kayakers on the river, but for 50 bucks each, we both decided that the trip was a pretty good value.

For me, Sue, this was the highlight of the trip. The river is easy, with an easy current that makes paddling effortless, and hiking through the forest along the stream was what I had somehow imagined our Kalalau hike would be. Lovely, green, soft ground underfoot, wading streams and gentle ups and downs until we came to the falls. Secret Falls itself is all that you might imagine a tropical waterfall to be. It’s about 120 feet tall, and ends in a perfect pool surrounded by lava rock. Of course, there were people there, but somehow that didn’t really matter. The water was about 64 degrees on this day, a bit cool when you first get in, but wonderful once you are swimming. I can’t really describe how it feels to be in this place, but it is everything magical that I wanted to experience on my dream trip to Kauai. I swam to the waterfall and felt that water pounding my body sharp and hard, and surprisingly at least 10 degrees warmer than the pool itself. I then floated on my back looking up at the falls for a long time, finally ending with another moment of the falls pounding on my head. Looking at pictures of the falls and the pools, even being there and looking at people swimming and watching the falls doesn’t come close to the actual experience of being in the pool and feeling the energy of the place. I’m so grateful for this experience and won’t forget the feelings, even though I can’t even come close to describing them at all.

We hiked back down, and enjoyed the kayak trip back to the marina, although the time on the river itself seemed much to short. If we ever go back, we will definitely rent a boat on our own and take our time in this place, exploring much more than we had the chance to do on the trip.

Home in time for a rest and a shower before driving again to Kapa’a and Wailua State Park to experience the Smith Family Luau and Tropical Gardens. As with everything else on Kauai, there isn’t really any kind of dress code, and many people, including us, were wearing the standard shorts and sandals. But others seemed to use this luau as a chance to dress up, and dressing up most of all seems to be the classic matching Hawaiian shirts for the men and dresses for the women. We even saw an entire family in the same matching print, all from Hilo Hattie’s, of course. It was fun. Especially fun were the young couples, obviously honeymooners, in their matching outfits.

http://www.smithskauai.com/luau.html The gardens were lovely, and made up a bit for our choice to skip the botanical gardens. Lots of beautiful plants and trees all with name tags and introduced to us by the driver of the tram. “and on your left….” We enjoyed the silly tram ride, and the luau itself was fun. The “Imu” ceremony was classic, with the conch shell blowing, and the strapping young guys in their native sarongs taking out the pig. The food was served in a large open shelter and there were close to 500 people there, with free MaiTais and drinks and huge buffet lines. The food itself wasn’t exactly memorable, the kahlua pork isn’t as smoky as it smelled coming out of the pit, and it pretty salty. There was some fried rice and salads, some teriyaki beef that MMo liked and some chicken thing that was forgettable. But we had been forwarned that Hawaiian tastes were different so we didn’t really expect fabulous food anyway. I ate poi with lomi lomi salmon and actually thought it was quite good. Mo had tried poi when she was in the islands a long time ago and had no desire to experience it ever again.

The music was classic kitschy Hawaiian with ukeleles and a lovely hula dancer. I had expected something a bit more traditional, but it was still fun. The show after dinner was held in the theater area, with a fake volcano spitting fire and dances from many places. Tahitian dancing always seems to be popular in Hawaii because it’s faster and wilder than traditional hula, and of course the fire dancer thing is always dramatic and a crowd pleaser. The whole thing was fun and the moon through the clouds silhouetting the palms against the sky made it especially lovely. We went home feeling satisfied with our Wailua day.

The Silver River

http://www.clubkayak.com/cfkt/trips/silver_river.html

Today I fulfilled a dream I have had since 2000 when I first started visiting Bel in Florida and saw the Silver River. I wanted to float my kayak down that river in the midst of the wonderful sights and smells of Old Florida. Of course, I didn’t even have a boat at that time, so it was only a dream. I remember one day hiking out the ¾ mile trail from the Silver River State Park one afternoon and seeing an old woman come floating down the river. It’s a 10 mile paddle with no place to put in except that one spot and she laughingly said she had to pee so bad she thought she would die. I talked a bit with her and listened to her stories of traveling alone in her motorhome with her kayak, and how much she loved the Silver. I’m not sure when that was, but it’s been awhile, before I got the kayaks, at least.

Today we paddled the Silver River. It was still a bit cool for December in Florida, but I knew that I didn’t want to miss the chance to do the thing I had dreamed of doing for so long, no matter how cool it was.

I guess I always get a little bit worried before we start down a new river or a new place we haven’t paddled before, something about the unknown part of it, and especially here in florida with alligators and strange water and such. It’s certainly an unknown, and that adds a bit to the allure of it all.

By the time I was in the water it was noon, and the sky was still overcast, but not too chilly at all, maybe in the mid 60’s. The put-in place is at the Row Park off HWY 40 not to far from Silver Springs. The launch area is rather simple, with cement boat ramps that pour into a quiet pool lined with willows. It was still and quiet and Mo managed to get in her boat without too much trouble, although we weren’t sure how the getting out would be. Her rib is healing slowly.

Once you put in, there is a narrow canal lined with lily pads and overhanging trees that leads to the confluence of the Oklawaha and the Silver Rivers. I used the GPS because it would be easy to miss that canal on the return trip, everything blends together.

Once we turned up the Silver River the water showed that legendary clarity. There are springs all along the entire reach, not just the big Mammoth Spring at the headwaters of the river. Some of them are 30 feet deep, some of them are 80 feet deep, and as you float over them you feel the boiling churn of the waters and can see huge fish, including the prehistoric looking alligator gars that are 6 to 8 feet long.

The river winds and turns through what feels like a tropical jungle, with a 5 mile per hour current that didn’t feel as difficult to paddle as I thought it might. I knew that we would make the return trip a lot quicker than going upriver, so wasn’t too worried about our time. We planned 3 hours to the spring, and originally didn’t think we would necessarily go all the way, but once we went a few miles it just seemed silly to not actually go all the way.

The last mile or so of the river is amazing because it seems to get bigger instead of smaller with more and more springs. Some of that water must be going underground again, because downriver has quite a bit less volume. The most amazing part of the paddle though was the wildlife. Every bend would reveal dozens of water birds, not just a single bird here and there, but cypress trees on either side of the river filled with white Ibis by the hundreds, that would take off ahead of us in clouds. Sometimes they just stayed in the trees and it was a bit disconcerting to see the huge plops of bird poop that were falling in the river under those trees, and sometimes you just had to take your chances and hope you wouldn’t get bombed.

In the midst of the Ibis were Great Egrets by the dozen and Great Blue Herons, and they would fly in front of our boats 2 or 3 at a time. Rounding one curve I remember the spectacular vision of 3 Great Blue Herons, at least 6 Great Egrets or white herons, not sure which,, several hundred Ibis, a dozen annihingas and 5 turtles on a log. It was overwhelming to see so much at the same time. Another bend revealed our only alligator, a 6 foot baby, dark chocolaty gray, sunning on a log. He didn’t move at all while I took his photo from a healthy distance. About midway along we saw the monkeys that are wild now in the Silver River State Park, released either from some concession in the 30’s or from the Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies that were filmed there about the same time.

When we finally began the approach to the Silver Springs Park, it was surreal. The Jungle Boats and Glass Bottom Boats were coming down the river with the captains telling the stories of the springs on the microphones, the train ride in the forest was hooting the horns while the conductors called all aboard, and Christmas music was wafting through the trees. After so many miles on this seemingly wild river I felt as though I was in some kind of strange Disney ride. We paddled all the way into the main area of the springs, looking deep into that chasm of blue and boiling white water. I have been to Silver Springs several times, but on this day I saw it from a completely different perspective. I can only imagine how the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto felt back in the 1500’s as he paddled up this magic place for the first time.

The Indians of course, used the river for hundreds of years and considered it sacred. Mammath Spring is called just that because the mammoth bones that have been found there also showed spear marks, and they believe that the springs have been inhabited by humans for more than 10,000 years. Silver Springs is a magical place, a piece of old Florida with a beautiful ecology and a campy recent history of movies and theme parks that makes it unique in the world. I loved it, and I loved being there in my kayak.

Reluctantly we turned back downriver, realizing suddenly that we were looking at nightfall and darkness and that we needed to get moving along. The ride back downriver was twice as fast at least, with the 5 mph current gliding us along effortlessly. It was difficult to keep from just letting the boat glide along listening to the silence, but we managed to get back up the canal, out of the boats and get them loaded onto the top of the Geo just a bit before dark. A perfect paddle, a perfect day, a perfect dream. I felt like it was some kind of jungle ride, but because of the frost the night before, we didn’t even have a single bug to worry about. Maybe green trees in the summer would have been a bit more colorful, but I’m not sure the price of bugs would have been worth it.

Ahh. Another reason for the trip.

Edisto Beach State Park SC

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyotesue/Dec14EdistoBeachStateParkAndTheACERiverBasin#

This day was planned to be a short one driving to Edisto Island, another part of the Low Country and not far from Charleston. Took our time packing up and wandering down the back roads to our new digs at the Beach State Park. This place turned out to be our most favorite of the trip, at least thus far. The campground is right on the beach, with our campsite just over the dunes and within ear shot of the waves.

Stopped at the grocery store to get groceries for a spaghetti and salad dinner and decided to eat the salad for lunch and the spaghetti for dinner later. Perfect plan and easy to manage in our small kitchen space. The temperatures were still warm and balmy so we set up the chairs and table outside and relaxed a bit to the sounds of the sea. Perfect. After some relaxing time we took off walking the beach hunting for shells and letting Abby swim. I even relaxed enough to read my book and enjoy a quiet supper and a little local tv.
Friday December 14
This morning I got up early enough to watch the sunrise over the beach and see the flocks of pelicans and pods of dolphins swimming south along the shore as if they were going to town to work. We skipped breakfast and went to town to talk to the local kayak shop about local kayaking areas. I can’t believe that I never thought about the tide part of estuary kayaking, but I am sure glad that someone mentioned it. We found out the tides were just right for what we wanted to do if we left quickly, so we headed for the Live Oak dock on Big Oak Creek and turned uptide towards the refuge areas. At first the ride seemed a bit boring, without much variety in the views, but as we continued, things started to become more interesting. It’s as though it takes a bit of time to settle into a new area, and feel what it has to offer. There were a lot of birds, egrets, herons of several kinds, terns, and others that I didn’t recognize. Along the waterways are big southern low country houses with boathouses as big as cabins and big sailboats moored. I bought a waterways map so had a bit of an idea of which way to go and found a place called “the Neck” which turned out to be a very exclusive neighborhood off huge homes along the waterfront. It was fun wandering around in there for a time before the tide turned and it was time to head back down. For once, the kayaking was downhill both ways instead of the usual uphill hill where we are either fighting current or wind. This time there was a bit of wind, but the tide was stronger and the paddling was fast and smooth. Both of us were getting a bit tired, though, and ready to be home when suddenly a dolphin surfaced in front of me. Talk about highlight, kayaking with dolphins is really something. They are so graceful and beautiful and very fast. Of course, there’s a bit of apprehension that accompanies the excitement because who knows if they will bump your boat or something!! One particular dolphin stayed with us a long way, surfacing and diving sometimes within 20 feet of us, but most of the time he was a few hundred feet on the right.

It was the final delight in a lovely day that was marred a few moments later by a nasty fall as Mo tried to get out of her kayak at the landing and slipped and fell on the cemented oyster shells along the rocks. She was cut in several places and bruised or broke a rib, blood falling everywhere into the water and that sick sick feeling when you don’t know how bad it is and if you need a doctor or not. We had laundry in the car so tore up a towel for bandages and managed to stop the bleeding but it was scary for a time thinking she might need some stitches. I did the classic thing that my daughters will remember clearly. Someone gets injured I get sick, really sick, to the point of throwing up. Now that’s really helpful! We managed to get to the park headquarters only to find out that the nearest emergency care was 50 miles away in Charleston. Maybe there was a doctor on the island, but who knows if we could have found her if necessary. After lots of soaking in salt water and a drive back to the campground, we found the first aid kit, cleaned it all up, and decided that butterfly bandages for the cut would be all the doctor would do anyway, and a broken rib is one of those things that you just deal with as well, so we nixed the need for a doctor.

Mo is so incredibly stoic in these kinds of situations, and just plodded along dealing with it. After I got over being sick, I did ok as well, and all turned out ok in the end, except Mo is pretty sore from the fall and banged up a bit here and there. Her finger seems to be closing up just fine, however, and I’m grateful for that.

Ended another day with a long walk on the beach after eggs and potatoes for an early supper. All in all, a good day, in spite of the moment of scariness. It did make me think of how scary it can be to deal with that kind of thing sometimes, especially if it’s really bad. I’m so glad it wasn’t.

September 2006 Camping at Medicine Lake

The following was written on my old laptop and saved. At the time, I had lived in Jamestown, California for about six months and was incredibly homesick for Oregon. It was wonderful to go back north for the Labor Day weekend and a long camping visit with Mo.

It’s around 6pm September 1 2006, and I am sitting at a picnic table at the campground at Medicine Lake. We are in space 43 this time. Once more we have a site on the lake with the Baby MoHo. It’s windy and cool however, and this afternoon we spent a lazy time reading and napping, waiting for the chance to kayak in the quiet evening when the lake is usually pretty smooth. Maybe not tonight, however. 02camping 9-3-2006 8-25-52 AM

I arrived in Klamath last Saturday afternoon and Mo and I left fairly soon after that for the Blues Brats and Blues Festival at the Pelican marina. It was smaller than last year it seemed, with fewer people. The brats were good though, and it was great just hanging out there at the lake and listening to the music. They had a hard time getting things going with the sound, but finally we did manage to get some dancing in and stayed until 9 or so enjoying ourselves. It was fun. Mo and I practiced our swing steps and laughed a lot. We got home in time for a great hot tub under incredibly brilliant stars and some quality time catching up. Just a little comparison: This is my survey area near Jamestown, on Table Mountain. Gorgeous in spring, not so much at 114 degrees in the summer.

Sunday morning we got up and had a good breakfast and decided that maybe it was a little bit too much to try to kayak the Wood River and then still get to Jacksonville for the Britt Fest, so we did some house chores together, cleaning up a few things things, blowing off the roof, Mo blowing the roof while I basically hung around to be sure she didn’t fall.

We left for Medford, went to Costco and to Fred Meyer for some food and then over to the festival to stand in line early enough to see the KD Lang show. It was hot, but we parked ourselves under the shade and just waited and watched the people lining up. Even getting there at 3:30 we were number 38 and 39 on the south side and when the gates opened we still didn’t manage to get down in front. We decided that was ok, though, since it was hot and probably crowded down there anyway.

The show actually was really good, and KD Lang reminded us why we like her. Her voice was so smooth and controlled. She made some jokes about aging gracefully in the music business as she sang some of the old standards. It made for a better show, really, and Mo and I love those old Peggy Lee songs anyway.

Driving home again late, over the pass, I was glad it wasn’t snowing and that Mo can manage the night driving thing pretty well. Slept like a rock that night and woke up Monday morning with a plan to drive to LaPine and get a load of wood from Roger’s place there. The drive was nice, still good weather, and I entertained myself with lots of phone calls back and forth with Chris Gebauer, the new project leader for my old soil survey project in Klamath, trying to get a handle on the big diatomaceous soils tour for the next day. 000-DiatomTour 8-30-2006 8-

The tour was excellent, with soils people from all over the west participating. Diatomaceous soils have some specific properties that are very different and at times hard to quantify. Evenings during the tour were spent in town with favorite friends, David Marr and Jeanne Skalka.

Thursday morning was the last day of the tour, and Mo and I loaded up the kayaks early in the morning so that she could get an early start to find a camping spot for us. The drive to town that last morning was gorgeous, with a beautiful sunrise to accompany my commute. As soon as the work day ended, around three so that folks could travel back home, I headed south for the two hour trip to Medicine Lake.

It was a good thing that Mo went to get the space in the afternoon because people were starting to show up by evening on Thursday and by Friday morning there wouldn’t have been anything left for us that we liked. We still like the Hogue campground the best. Hemlock is way too open and Medicine is really open and full with the campsites close together. We just have to be sure to come mid week to get these great spaces on the lake in our favorite spot.

We had both eaten before I arrived that night, so Mo had a fire and we drank some wine and talked before going to bed. Nice to be back in the MoHo, though. I have missed it.

Friday morning we got up slowly and had a good breakfast. When we first got up, it was smooth as glass out on the lake but by the time we actually got out there it was pretty windy. Still had a good kayak though and I remember the lovely patch of knotweed in full bloom on the lake. One time I didn’t take my camera, darn! Back to camp and we went for a little walk around the campgrounds, had some chicken and macaroni salad for lunch and then thought a nap sounded good. Pretty relaxing afternoon for sure, with reading and napping. I really wanted to relax on this trip and we seem to be doing a good job of it. I think I knitted for a bit as well in the early afternoon, but all in all it just about watching the water and the sky and doing nothing. Great.

I cooked pork chops and broccoli for dinner and for no reason either one of us can figure out it was pretty tasteless. Then on the way out the door of the MoHo I tripped on the lower step and went crashing to the ground. Bummer. I was so mad at myself and so frustrated and it really hurt, but thank goodness nothing broke. I’m pretty lucky that way, I guess. I hope that luck holds up since I seem to be pretty clumsy more and more lately and always seem to be tripping or crashing or something. Dumb.

My hand hurt most, but we decided to get out on the lake while it was again smooth and quiet and had a lovely kayak toward the swimming beach as the sun set. Perfect timing as we arrived back to camp just as the sun went over the hill and things cooled off. Gave me a chance to drag my hand in the water as well and I think that was good for me.

Mo made another fire for us and we sat outside and watched the evening change to night and went to bed plenty early in spite of the afternoon naps. I still slept well and didn’t have a bit of problem falling asleep. Relaxing! Yes!

Today we woke up closer to 8 than 7 and it wasn’t quite as cold, but by the time we were half way through breakfast the wind was up fairly strong so we didn’t go kayaking today. Decided to go for a drive and explore a little bit to the west and go up the lookout at Little Hoffman and then drove down around Little Glass Mountain and across to the giant Lava Flow and found Chimney Crater. It’s hard trying to scramble around all the crunchy lava but it was pretty dramatic looking down in the crater.

Back to camp in the afternoon, pretty early, but fairly late for lunch, so we ate sandwiches and now dinner seems as though it will be pretty late. The wind hasn’t died down yet at all, and maybe it isn’t going to this evening. We had hoped for a kayak but I am sitting out here at the table and the wind is cold and strong and the lake looks gray and choppy. 01Hoffman 9-2-2006 1-28-43 PM

It’s different not having access to phones and internet and such, no television, no news. No clue how things are progressing out there in the world. Here the world is dominated by our own little space and all the campers that have come in to Medicine Lake for the weekend. Across from us there is a huge family with lots of kids and relatives from Mt Shasta. They must have 5 rigs and half a dozen big pickups and a dozen little kids. What better way to haven fun.

Battery down so I guess I am finished writing for now.

Later: In spite of the choppy lake last night, as things began to darken we decided to go out on the lake. It was a beautiful ride. We paddled toward the sun at the west end of the lake and then turned and came around directly down the center. It was really incredibly lovely with a magnificent sunset as an extra treat. We stayed out an hour and a half or so and returned just as it got dark. Mo built the fire and we cooked our steaks by flashlight in the dark. They tasted fabulous and eliminated any idea that we had of losing our tasters. Great dinner, even in the dark.

To bed after 10 and we read awhile before going to sleep. Neither of us slept very well though, not sure why.

Woke this morning to a rather chilly sunrise and wondered if we were really going to have the guts to get out there on the lake. But it was actually warmed out on the water than it was back in our camp so we took our coffee and wearing jackets we headed out toward the pink flowers. Right away when we got on the water it was warm enough to take off our jackets. I don’t think we have ever experienced such a perfect lovely morning. The lake was like glass, and so crystal clear we could see fish swimming around in the roots of the polygonum plants. The ospreys were catching fish and there were just enough clouds in the sky to give a good reflection on the water.

Sometimes floating along I felt as though I was soaring through the sky instead on the earth. We paddled along the south end of the lake to “our” meadow and then headed straight across for camp. Took just 12 minutes to cross the lake and as we headed in the wind came up really strong. It blew us right home at just the right time. Mo started the fire for breakfast and we cooked bacon and potatoes and eggs again and spent a little bit of time cleaning the MoHo.

By the time we left for Glass Mountain it was 11:30. we drove the back way along Arnica Sink and then walked the old path up to the black obsidian outcrop and then down the road with a bag of some pieces of really nice arrow making rock for Ed’s friend. Then we headed west again along 49 over the rim of the caldera down toward Lava Beds. By the time we got down there we realized that both of us had actually forgotten our wallets so our ideas of going into the park and maybe even driving over to Tunisia to get gas were nixed. We realized that we had to pay attention to our gasoline consumption since the truck was already down to half a tank and I filled it back in Klamath. Always the issue running out of gas and water and power.

Back to camp in the afternoon, we rested a bit and listened to music and then filled the water tank with about 17 gallons of fresh water from the faucet across the street. Nice to have good water around even if we have to pour it in. Mo is going to get a better funnel though so we don’t lose so much water in the process. Our battery was getting low this morning as well. So we ran the generator for about an hour while we charged up the MoHo and I charged up the computer so I could keep up my journal here.

We can go about 3 days without recharging things and we each just took one shower and had to get more water. Our propane is holding up ok, maybe down one notch after 4 days of running the refrigerator. The waste tanks are still just at 2 lights each so we should be fine to make it for the full 5 nights and 5 days out without using shore power. When we go to canyon country we are going to have to remember to try to bring a lot of extra water along.

I’m missing Southern Utah canyon country a lot. I can’t believe that it’s been two years since I’ve been to Utah. Last year Shera and I didn’t go because it was too much for her by then. (Shera passed from cancer in early 2006). I miss it, although the lake here is wonderful and after such a long hot summer it is pretty wonderful to be by water and have cool breezes and cold nights for sleeping. I love it that Mo handles the fire, although at the moment she is moving a big log around and I keep wondering if it’s going to flip on us. My fire lady! It’s so nice to wake up in the morning and have her out there building the fire when I can’t make myself get out of the warm bed.

So here we are with the sun setting, the dusk coming, the fire warm and crackling and the music playing on the MoHo porch. Shania. Oh yes, this afternoon we decided to go for a walk before dinner and walked up through the campground and then across the road along a motorcycle trail that we didn’t have a clue where it went. Sure enough after a mile or so we came to Arnica sink, which surprised us because we thought it was a lot farther away. It was a really nice walk and Molly did just fine, although she is sleeping now and will probably sleep well tonight.

Great day. And more to come tomorrow.

Monday evening

I am standing at the sink boiling some navy bean soup from a mix, bear creek something or other. It smells as though it will be really good. We put our steak and pork leftovers into it. Today was lovely. Fun watching all the people leaving as the holiday weekend comes to a close. We slept better last night than the night before.

This morning we did our morning kayak before breakfast again, and it was great. Got some really nice photos of the ospreys. Came home to our last campfire breakfast, we have used everything up pretty much this time. The morning went by simply and we decided to go for another kayak ride to go to the swimming area that we had seen earlier. It was pretty windy, and even though it was shallow over there it was still too cold to swim. I did manage to go in for about a minute and it never really warmed up at all!

Molly was Mo’s wonderful dog who went to Doggie Heaven not long after this trip in October of 2006

Came back and walked around the campground and found some good firewood and Mo got a maul and a hammer. Left Molly in the MoHo for another walk while we took the main trail out of Hogue camp to the medicine glass flow. We aren’t sure if we have done this before, but I laughed and said I would write it down this time so we don’t forget!

Played cards today, but neither one of us could remember the rules exactly. Mo beat me anyway though. 2 out of 3. Right now she is playing savage garden on the outside speakers, the house is clean the air is fresh and lovely, and we both decided that we really don’t want to kayak again tonight.

04camping 9-4-2006 7-29-59 PM

We had a great evening fire and Mo put all the wood we had on there so it was big and warm and really beautiful. We also had a little ceremony of burning her Birkenstocks bought back in the 60’s. They were somewhat worn, and she decided to let them go in the fire. It was fun, and we even got a photo of it.

Tuesday morning we woke early and decided against trying to kayak before I left for California, a good decision since it was only 34 degrees anyway. Managed to get out of camp after a cereal breakfast by 9:30. Drove together to dump and the new dump station on the Arnica Sink road. A great trip!!

Tomorrow I’ll be heading back to my life in Sonora, heat, smog, traffic, too much to do. Ah well. Hopefully I can remember these peaceful clear lovely fresh days when I am back there in all that.