kayaking – Page 3 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

08-13-2014 Four Days in Kaslo

Current Location: Home in Rocky Point Oregon

I spent a lot of time reviewing the few options for RV parks in the vicinity of Kaslo before we made our reservation. I know that reviews are not always accurate, but if there are bad reviews, I try to check for the date and then see if the good reviews are a response to the bad ones. Sometimes it is fairly clear that the park owners or managers have tried to offset the negativity.

In this case, I decided to ignore the few bad remarks about the Municipal Park and pay attention the bad remarks about some of the other places. Turns out I made a good choice. I wanted hookups, and what I didn’t learn from the reviews is that anything more than 15 amp power is rarely available. The Kaslo Municipal Campground had just three sites with 30 amp power, so I was extremely glad that I had made a reservation.

When we arrived, there were a couple of other rigs in line, and as I walked up to the crowd of people, the manager said, “Excuse me, but I need to attend to Sue here before I check you in because she has a reservation”. She knew who I was from our rig! Pretty nice. Then she gave me a choice. We could take the nice shady site on the hill, not very level, and with 15 amp power, or we could take the crowded sunny (hot) site with a sliver of lake view next to the park and 15 amp power until the next day when we would get the 30 amp post.

I was all for the shade, but Mo opted for the 30 amp. Either way, our first night was going to be a hot one. Once again, we put the fridge on gas only and didn’t even bother trying to turn on the air. The fan had to be enough and with the temps a hot and somewhat humid (for the west) 90 degrees F we waited for a breeze.

Nice thing about our site, however is that it backed up to the park, with just a few hundred yards to a spot where we could launch the kayaks. With fairly strong winds on the lake, we didn’t unload them the first night, deciding to wait for better weather the next morning. Instead we had supper before taking a lovely stroll along the lake and up toward the sweet little town of Kaslo.

It still had the charm that I remembered, but just a bit more so, with many eateries, little shops, and the beautiful Kaslo Hotel right above the shoreline and the marina. Even with the smoky skies, the surrounding mountains were magnificent.

My favorite moment, however, was spying these two ladies in their rigs visiting along the park in front of their lovely retirement home. If it weren’t for winter, this might be a really nice place to spend your last days.

The next day we launched the kayaks, in spite of the strong breezes and managed a few miles south of town along the shore, and then back north and into Kaslo Bay. The water was deep and clear, but the beaches near the campground are made up of large rocks, making for some gingerly walking to get the boats in and out of the water.

On another day we decided to explore the road north toward Duncan Lake, and took the long dirt road to the towns of Argenta and Johnsons Landing. We read about these two historic places in the Kaslo travel guide and Mo loves old small historic towns, so 30 miles or so round trip on a dirt road seemed worth it. To our surprise, Johnson’s Landing is completely locked up and private, and we didn’t drive as far as the world famous trailhead at the entrance to Fry Canyon. There are a LOT of day hikes and longer hikes in the Kaslo area.

Someday, when Abby doesn’t need to be pampered with short walks, we may come back and hike the canyon, but on this day we knew long hikes were not on the agenda. Abby is doing well, but long hikes are out of the question.

On a bit more sober note, I took several photos of what looked to me like a glacial outburst type of landform, adjacent to the lake near Johnson’s Landing. Nowhere did I find information about this until today, researching links for this blog, when I found the story of the devastating Johnson’s Landing Landslide of 2012. (link here) It is somewhat disturbing to me that I could blithely drive around this area, that I could talk to people in Kaslo about being there and going there, and not one local person mentioned this tragedy. Just for perspective, here is another ( link ) to what we read about Argenta and Johnson’s Landing from the BC tourism website. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

We did finally find something to look at in the community of Argenta, where the travel guide said “there are many self sufficient types located here.” I imagined hunters and fishermen, but instead we found huge organic gardens and lovely tanned men in colorful sarongs and young women with beautiful hair driving older SUV’s. Not many mind you, but enough to realize that this area was an enclave to hippies in the best sense of what that word can mean.

Today, while researching this post, I found this rather fascinating story about Argenta that wasn’t in the Kaslo Visitor Guide. Seems as though a group of California Quakers established the community, building the Argenta Friends School where they taught homesteading skills and welcomed draft dodgers. The school was closed but the nature of the community has remained intact. Peace loving, simple living Quakers and peace loving, simple living hippies have a lot in common.

north of Kaslo (18 of 46) We drove north toward the Duncan Dam, found the beautiful overlook and gorgeous lake, and then traveled north even further to the tiny hamlet of Howser.

There is a lovely Provincial campground at the end of the road, and we were really sorry we hadn’t put the kayaks back on the car after our day on the water at the bigger and windier Kootenay Lake. I took photos of campsites where the MoHo could fit, with only a couple of miles of dirt road to navigate. I am sure we will return to this place. Both of us loved Duncan Lake more than Kootenay Lake: it was far more remote and protected with the glassy water kind of kayaking and bird life that we love.

We also checked out the two Provincial campgrounds right on Kootenay Lake just a few miles north of Kaslo. Both Davis Creek and Lost Ledge campgrounds are on the water with beautiful views. No hookups and no reservations, but there were spaces available on the day we visited, so we do hope to someday return and camp. We decided a few days of boondocking would be interspersed with a day or two at the Municipal Campground where we could charge up and dump before going back to the north.

A nice advantage of returning to Kaslo was the delightful outdoor eatery, boasting gluten free sourdough bread, and non GMO foods. Healthy alternative lifestyles are the norm in this part of British Columbia and it was so refreshing. Of course, I had a Rueben hot dog, not very healthy or gluten free, but oh so yummy! They had home made ice cream there as well, but we never managed a return visit.

Kootenai Lake and Kaslo (54 of 71) Our last day turned out to be cooler and rainy, and we just took some time to relax, go for town walks, and in the afternoon Mo drove me 12 miles or so back south along Highway 31 to Ainsworth Hot Springs, high on my list of todo’s in this area. Mo didn’t want to leave Abby for an extended time, so while I went to the springs, she explored the lakeshore toward Balfour and found a gorgeous beach with beautiful water and sand where Abby played and swam. Mo said she even swam all on her own just for fun without Mo having to throw something to encourage her.

(I took no camera or phone to the springs, so these photos are from the internet)

I spent two glorious hours, for the paltry sum of $11.00 Canadian, soaking in the hot odor free mineral waters that have made Ainsworth famous. The springs are no longer in their natural state, but the water is wonderful, and in the big pool the exchange rate is about 6 times per day. I was glad it wasn’t a weekend, but the place was quite crowded with kids and people, mostly Canadians, but I heard many different languages being spoken. French, of course, but also Russian and I heard a woman with a beautiful accent from South Africa.

It was fun being there alone, and I didn’t engage much, but listened to the Canadians talking about their country and their towns. Especially interesting were the conversations about Calgary becoming way too big with crime coming into the neighborhoods and Lethbridge being a gorgeous place to live with a wonderful university. I do love my country, I wouldn’t choose any other, but I did find myself unwilling to give away my US accent. I felt like a true foreigner in a foreign land. Don’t let the similarities fool you, Canada is NOT the USA.

ainsworth_caves2 The best part about Ainsworth Hot Springs are the caves. They are shaped like a big horseshoe, and the water is about waist deep and the temps were 104F on the day I visited. You enter the cave, and then walk through into the dark hot steamy interior. Part way in a very hot waterfall provides a great neck massage if you can stand it and by the time you reach the other end of the horseshoe you are ready for some cool air! The cave ends in another hot pool, and adjacent to that is the ice plunge pool. On this hot day, the ice plunge was a balmy 49 degrees F, but after the heat and steam it was still enough of a shock to get your blood tingling. The ice pool also has a waterfall that is a bit harder to stand under than the hot one.

After a few rounds through the cave and the ice plunge, I would go back to the main pool and eavesdrop on all sorts of nearby conversations. When Mo returned two hours later to pick me up I was limp as a dishrag. Once again, don’t pay attention to the negative reviews. Ainsworth is a treasure to enjoy for exactly what it is. Not fancy, not natural, but a special place.

There is so much to see in the area, great art galleries and some small museums in Kaslo, including the beautiful sternwheeler the Moyie, but on this trip even three full days and half another didn’t give us enough time to enjoy all of it. The S.S. Moyie is the world’s oldest intact passenger sternwheeler and has been lovingly restored in the last few years. It represents a great era of the history of Kootenay Lake and Kaslo. I loved hearing the loud steam horn blow in the afternoons.

Kootenay Lake kayak (27 of 27) It was with a bit of melancholy that we left on Thursday morning. But there was something very special waiting for me back in Klamath Falls on the coming weekend and I wasn’t about to miss it. We knew our time wouldn’t be long enough but it was OK. We saw enough to know that this is a place we will return without question. It is under 1,000 miles from home and best of all, it isn’t at all crowded! After being in the Canadian National Parks of Banff and Jasper when it felt like a crazy zoo, it was so refreshing to enjoy the beautiful Canadian Rockies in such peace.

If you are interested in ALL the photos, they are here in my SmugMug trip gallery:

Next: the Long Way Home

Medicine Lake Once Again and Some Sad Abby News

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon 59F and smoky at 7AM

It has been hot here this summer, hotter than we are used to in Rocky Point at least. We don’t have air conditioning at this house, and except for a very few days in the summertime, that is just fine. The forest cools us and the open windows let in the evening breezes for good sleeping. Most of the time. The big fans spin high above us to keep the air moving. Even so, when it is in the high 90’s in Klamath Falls, in the triple digits in Grants Pass, our low 90’s out here in the woods can feel pretty darn warm.

Great time to head 100 miles south to our favorite little lake south of Lava Beds National Monument high on the Medicine Lake Highlands at 7,000 feet or so. In the last post, I put in a link to my writings from our previous camping trip here last summer. (Here is the link again: Medicine Lake 2013). With a simple 2 hour drive from home, it is a great getaway.

Many things we love about this sweet little campground, not the least of which is the absence of mosquitoes. I have no idea why that is the case, but for the entire six days we were there, I delighted in being outdoors without having to fight the little stinkers.

When I read what I wrote last year I thought there was just no way I could write about this place again. We often do the same things when we visit. The highlight is kayaking at least twice a day from our campsite, having beautiful sunset campfires, and sleeping well through the chilly dark night skies. This trip was a bit different, however. We managed to convince our neighbors, Wes and Gayle, to spend a few days with us. They have a sweet little Casita that they brought north from their Tucson home for the Rocky Point summer and it was a perfect time to show them our favorite little camping lake.

There are three campgrounds lined along the northern shore of the lake, and our favorite is the Al Hogue camp. We planned an early arrival, just before noon on a Tuesday, hoping to at least snag some kind of site with a lake view. The local tribe has a Medicine Gathering at this sacred land every year, and we arrived on the weekday after the official gathering was over. They close the third campground, Medicine Campground, for this gathering, but there is usually quite a spillover after the weekend. It is expedient to check with the Modoc National Forest for the dates of this gathering. It isn’t open to the public as a pow wow might be, and things can get quite rowdy and very busy around the lake during their celebrations.

MoHo view site 43 Imagine my delighted surprise when we pulled into the campground with our two rigs and found not only our favorite site 43 wide open, but our second favorite site 45, right next to it, open as well. Without a bit of difficulty, we unhooked our trailer and parked the MoHo in our favorite spot overlooking the lake with the short easy trail down to the beach.

Wes and Gayle parked their little Casita in 45, with a gorgeous view, albeit with a steeper rocky path to the lake. It couldn’t have been a more perfect introduction to Medicine Lake. On that first afternoon, it was cloudy and 15 degrees cooler than the Klamath Basin, with thunderstorms predicted and even a bit of wind and hail to greet us. Maybe that is why we managed to snag the best sites in the entire complex.

With the cool temperatures and windy conditions at the lake, it was a perfect time to show Wes and Gayle the trail from the campground to the Medicine Lake Glass Flow, just 1/4 mile north. The trail was a simple one, and there was barely a breeze once we were away from the lake.

Gayle and I had planned shared meals, with each of us being responsible for one dinner, and then a shared meal. Our first night was a delight of BBQd beef ribs that were tasty and in addition provided Abby with a nice stash of bones that lasted the entire week. Gayle and Wes also have the Happy Hour thing down pat, and Gayle arrived at our dining table before dinner with a shaker of perfectly concocted cosmopolitans and some yummy “snacks” as she calls them. We were very happy to have room at the dinette for four people since it was too chilly and windy outside to sit at the picnic table.

Of course, Jeremy is quite polite, but thinks he should be at the table as well. He doesn’t beg much, and will patiently wait for someone to decide to give him a snack as well. Gayle was very good at dispensing the tiny bites for my geriatric cat.

Jeremy also entertained us in the evenings with his daily walk down to the water to drink. Reminded me so much of a big old lion at the watering hole. He would lap and lap and watch the horizon as he did so. Jeremy loves to be in a campground where he can roam free, and he especially loves the lakes.

In the last few years, when we have camped here, we only bring the trailer with the kayaks and bikes instead of hauling the baby car. While that makes for a relaxing week, there are some local sites that are a bit too far for walking that we were able to explore this time with Wes and Gayle along to drive their car. Hoffman Lookout_032

Wes drove the ten miles round trip of dirt road to the high point at Hoffman Lookout, where Mo and I went a few years ago. The skies were incredibly clear and we could see Mt Lassen to the south and the Klamath Basin to the north. Mt Shasta was shrouded in clouds, only adding to her mystery and beauty.

This morning as I am writing, smelling the smoke from the fires south of us, I realized how lucky we were to have chosen last week for this trip instead of the current week. On July 30th, a lightning storm exploded in the Cascades west of us and east of Ashland/Medford, burning thousands of acres so far. Currently the fire is only 5 percent contained, and has grown south into California. I am sure the skies are thick with smoke over Medicine Lake this week and the views from the Hoffman Lookout would be nil.

But last week was different, and we had gorgeous blue skies during the rest of the time we spent in the Highlands. After our trip to the lookout, we relaxed at the campsite a bit before embarking on another dirt road journey to Glass Mountain. The Medicine Lake Highlands and caldera have been volcanically active in the last 1,000 years, with the obsidian of Glass Mountain formed about 950 years ago. This link from USGS has more detailed information about the Medicine Lake Volcano. In addition, if you want even more detail, here is a link to the volcanic history and types of lava that erupted during five major stages of volcanism.

We had a great time hiking around Glass Mountain. It is extremely important to have good shoes when you are here because that obsidian is sharper than any knife. I wish I could share the sound of walking on tinkly glass shards. The weather had warmed quite a bit on this afternoon and the breeze lightened up enough to be only a slight deterrent to the heat.

(Notice the difference between the first photo in this post in the afternoon and the morning stillness on the water in this photo)

The next few days we stayed closer to camp. With the winds dying down and the heat returning, we enjoyed early morning kayaks on the glassy water, and afternoon paddles across the lake in the evening winds. One morning was so chilly that we woke to ice on the kayaks, but once out on the water it was perfect. 31 degrees on Thurday morning

The most dramatic difference this year, however, was the lake level. I have never seen the lake like this, with the severe drought in California reflected in the extreme low water at Medicine Lake. Across from our camp was a sweet man with his grandsons, who said he had been coming here for 50 years and he had never seen the lake this low either.

Medicine Lake lower than we have ever seen it Surprisingly, when we took a morning to hike to Little Medicine Lake, we discovered that the level of the water in this small spring fed pond to be perfectly normal. Medicine Lake has no outlet and is fed by a few springs and snow melt. It is a closed system, with no outlet, however the ground is porous pumice so who knows where the water is going. I can’t imagine that evaporation can account for the visible daily drop in water levels that we saw while we were there.

That same sweet man and his boys were catching a LOT of trout, and one afternoon he came over with a bit string of fish and asked if we might like to have some. I looked a bit guilty as I said, “I don’t know how to clean them”. He laughed and said, “What if I cleaned them?”. The result was a fabulous supper of fresh caught trout on our grill, with a couple of sweet pink native brookies in the mix. Yum!

Fishing is very popular on this lake, with rules that don’t allow fast boats until after ten in the morning and before 5 in the evening so people can fish in peace. We saw only two jet skis on our last afternoon at the lake, and they weren’t out there very long. Nice. I even managed to get in for a swim when the weather warmed a bit. The lake was chilly, but not so bad that I couldn’t get my head all the way under water a couple of times.

We got our friends out on the water in the kayaks and they found it was much easier than they thought it might be. As experienced canoe paddlers, it took a bit of convincing, but once on the water they were hooked. Who knows, a couple of kayaks might be in their future.

I have no reason for adding this photo of Mo I took at Little Medicine Lake other than the fact that I just love it.

Wes and Gayle left a few days before we did, and Mo and I continued to enjoy days on the water and evenings by the fire until we left last Sunday to return home. The week ahead was supposed to be leisurely, with time to prepare for our next big trip coming up, the Oukrop Family Reunion in Spokane, Washington,with an extra trip north into British Columbia for the MoHo.

Instead we spent a few days camped at the Grants Pass Cottage, working with the plumber to rework the cottage bathroom and trying to stay cool in the MoHo with temperatures at 104 degrees each day we were there. Whew! I did manage to finish the cottage curtain tab top panels that I worked on for much longer than I had thought it might take. Sewing something with all that fabric and all those long seams takes a very long time! I can’t believe I never got a photo of the finished product, but I can do that next time we are there. I think Daughter Deb will enjoy have pretty lined curtains to keep out the heat rather than the 80’s nubby heavy drapes that were too dirty to clean and were also ugly!

Coming back home this weekend to Rocky Point was quite a shock, because the smoke from the Beaver Fire is hanging heavy and dark over much of the landscape. Highway 97 east of us has been closed due to smoke, and our neighbors had heavy ash raining down on them the day before we returned. We are safe enough here for the time being. The fire is many miles south and west of us, and the many lightning fires triggered by the storm that started nearby in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, near Crater Lake, and on Pelican Butte behind us were suppressed almost immediately by diligent fire crews. local current smoke 08-04-2014

On a final note, our lives were saddened before we left for our Medicine Lake trip with Mo’s trip to the vet with Abby.

We knew that things might not be good, and Abby was tested positive for lymphoma. We have decided to not subject our sweet 12 year old dog to chemo or radiation, which would be terrible for her, and instead she is on a special diet and prednisone.

For the time being, she seems her sweet self, and isn’t unhappy or uncomfortable. She is slowing down a bit, but aren’t we all. The vet said maybe three months, but that doesn’t seem real, and we are hoping for more. We are taking it a day at a time, and treasuring every extra day with our sweet girl.

What is it about the Fourth…

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon 88F and clear with a predicted high of 95F

I got an email this morning from friend Jeanne telling me all about her great weekend on the lake in Vermont, shared with family and friends and her sweetheart. I don’t know what it is about this holiday that triggers such summertime nostalgia, but I love it. Loved reading about Jeanne’s adventures and loved remembering the holidays of my childhood as well as the more recent family times we have managed to share.

Fourth of July 2014 (26 of 63) At the moment, I am at the computer in my home office, windows wide open, breezes cooling the house from the morning banana bread bake, and sunlight lighting up the elm leaves under the forest canopy. The elms were supposed to be a hedge, purchased a dozen years ago by Mo from a mail order catalog. Some are still hedge size, but most of the row have morphed into tall if rangy trees, reaching for the tiny bit of available sun. They are home to lots of birds and bugs this time of year, and make a great backdrop for gazing out the window instead of focusing on the task at hand.

Fourth of July 2014 (1 of 63) Sorry to say, it certainly isn’t patriotism, although I do like flying the American flags on this day. I love my country, but am not rabidly patriotic, celebrating the Fourth as the birth of my country. I celebrate the Fourth as a reminder of family tradition.

As a kid we got up before dawn and foster mom Dorothy would pack up all the fixings to make biscuits in the coleman camp ovens on half a dozen coleman stoves. We made biscuits for the entire church picnic gathering at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia. There was a “plunge” for swimming, baseball diamonds for one up softball games, lots of grass for sack races. We had a huge breakfast, and usually there were more than 150 people from the church that participated in the day’s activities.

Fourth of July 2014 (31 of 63) Bocci Ball at Rocky Point

By evening, after the hot dogs and potato salad, we gathered up our blankets and found a spot on the grass to watch the fireworks, shot high above the park. There were sparklers and smoke bombs and of course those amazing fountains that everyone loved. There was the smell of sulfur and the fear of stepping on a hot sparkler wire among the blankets. In California in July, the days were always hot and the nights were warm. The fireworks were spectacular.

Arcadia Park (1) Arcadia Regional Park in 2014

I searched the internet to find that the park is now the Arcadia Community Regional Park, administered by the county of Los Angeles, and nary a word about a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. Some great memories are destined to fade into the past, much like the old Firefall at Yosemite. Not many remember what that was like either, but I do, and treasure that memory as well.

Now we make new memories. Most of the time, in July, we are close enough to Rocky Point to gather at least part of the family for a celebration. Potato salad is always part of it, but I no longer force my kids to do sack races. Sometimes we don’t even bother to go to the fireworks, even though there are displays in Klamath Falls at Veteran’s Park and just 15 minutes away at Lake of the Woods.

Traffic, crowds, mosquitoes, midges, all have a bit of a dampening affect on our best laid plans. Instead, we stayed right here and played bocci ball into the dark of night. No fireworks here at Rocky Point. Not a one at our place. Even though we are on the edge of the national forest, where fireworks are illegal, the drought knows no boundaries and there is no need to take chances with fire and explosive stuff.

Instead, we listened to distant neighbors shooting either guns or firecrackers or both. Maybe next year we will actually get a reservation at Lake of the Woods and go camping 15 minutes from home so we can watch the fireworks and not have to drive anywhere when they are finished.

Fourth of July 2014 (23 of 63) Daughter Deborah

Daughter Deb came up from Grants Pass, and daughter Melody and my grandkids came out from Klamath. We ate lots of summer fruit and veggies, with sinful dips to offset the healthy stuff, and Deb shared her Dijon marinated chicken with all of us. Melody came with three, yes three watermelons and we did manage to eat two of them.

Fourth of July 2014 (24 of 63) Daughter Melody

I made brownies that were perfect and my favorite potato salad that wasn’t so much. I learned that if you put too much celery and onion into it, the dressing gets watery as it sits. Can’t believe I didn’t know that, and also am amazed at the world we live in where I can type in “watery potato salad’ and get answers in seconds.

Our closest neighbors, Wes and Gayle, are here for the season, and we were delighted to have them join us for supper and lawn games.

Fourth of July 2014 (3 of 63) We got out on the lake twice, a nice long paddle up Recreation Creek toward Malone Spring in the afternoon wind and then the next morning another beautiful paddle on the glassy bay toward the main lake. Midges are just beginning to hatch, the lake is just beginning to show an algae bloom so it was great to get out there before the season progressed further.

Paddling out on the main Klamath Lake from Pelican Bay. That is daughter Deborah out there.

We punctuated the day with a few silly old movies that I converted from ancient VHS to DVD. It was a happy sadness as we laughed at my deceased husband Lance making silly jokes and watched my iconic grandmother, also deceased, being her famous self. Melody made sure the grandkids watched, since they have no memory of this matriarch of our family.

Granddaughter Axel

Of course, there was a “flower walk”, another tradition that has followed us through many homes in many places since I started gardening in earnest back in the late 70’s. Gotta share all that is blooming, all the successes and some of the failures. I think the grandkids disappeared into the cabin before the flower walk, checking out facebook and phone messages. Some things stay the same and others definitely don’t.

Grandson Xavier

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July. And oh yes, don’t forget Halloween. Somehow these days have come to mean far more than what they stand for in our family. They are the times that we all do our best to get together and participate in some of the old family rituals that have come down through the years. Our family is small, it is me and my kids and their offspring. I do hope that the grandkids will remember some of the times that we have shared in the same way that I remember Fourth of July at Arcadia Park.

Out the door and down the road, another day on the water, Odessa Creek Launch

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon 59F with a predicted high of 83 and sunny

When we returned from our gorgeous paddle the other day, I thought, “Let’s keep the kayaks on the truck and then we can go out again without reloading!” It isn’t that much trouble loading up our lightweight boats, but it is still nice to put on the hats, grab the sunscreen and simply jump into the truck on a sunny morning for another day on the water.

Mo suggested that we drive down the road a piece to a launch site that we haven’t been to for some time. Odessa Creek Campground is about 6 miles east on Highway 140. It is a quiet little camp with no fees and a small launch site to the wide creek that meanders out to Klamath Lake proper.

It is a pretty place, with lots of cover and shade, but it as usual, for this time of year, the mosquitoes are horrendous. There was someone camping in a big tent and I didn’t envy them in the least. We made quick work of the launch knowing that once we were out on the water, we would escape the nasty little critters.

We were on the water by ten, a bit later than originally planned because we waited for the temperature to rise a bit. The weather was perfect, and the lake was calm and glassy for most of our 7 mile paddle.

We love paddling meandering streams, but being on the lake near the shoreline has meandering ins and outs as well that provide interest. Paddling around the hills west of Bell Bay, we found the little cabin that was one of our first paddle destinations when we got our first kayaks back in 2005.

This time, with the glassy water and good weather, we decided to strike out across the bay toward another peninsula, marking the entrance into Shoalwater Bay. We camped on the east side of this bay back in 2011.

Being on the lake, even as close to the shoreline as we were traveling, was surprising. The perspectives change and shift so much when traveling at lake level. Klamath Lake seems huge! It is a magnificent lake, in spite of its quirks. A shallow lake formed in volcanic sediments, the lake is naturally high in phosphorus, and thus home to lots of algae during the summer months. The algae is actually harvested and sold as a food supplement.

Paddling through some of the green stuff yesterday, I thought how great it would be if we could eventually figure out a way to create fuel from algae. Then again, the empty solitude of Klamath Lake on a sunny warm early summer day is quite a treasure. So many places we have traveled, and many waters we have kayaked, don’t offer that great empty silent solitude.

The only noises we heard were the birds and from 20 miles away across the lake we could sometimes hear the trains that follow along Highway 97 north from Klamath Falls.

The most fun to watch were the grebes, both Western Grebes and possibly Clark Grebe, and either a pair or rednecked grebes or eared grebes. They dove too fast for me to get close enough to them to be sure. The best part was watching the grebes do their amazing water dance, again too far away to photograph, and too sudden to catch them in the act. It is really something to see, however, and worth just sitting around in the water waiting for the pair to do its thing. Of course, I was delighted to find several of my white pelican friends soaring over the water. Such amazing birds.

I did steal this photo from the internet with kudos to whomever managed to catch these birds doing their mating dance, running along the surface of the water. Before they start the run, the pair will paddle beside each other with their heads going up and down, extending their necks and retracting them, and then suddenly they take off in perfect unison. Odessa kayak_044 As we approached the shoreline on the east side of Ball Bay, I was surprised to see eagles in the trees. There were two adults and a very large youngster with the brown and white colors typical of juvenile bald eagles.

By afternoon, as we meandered back to our launch site at Odessa, the sun was high and hot and we were glad we were ready to get off the water. We even had enough time to get back home, unload the kayaks, and fill up the truck for a load to the dump. Our rural dump is now only only open one day a week, and we were surprised that there wasn’t a line of waiting folks. With the price raised to $13. for a small load, I am glad we don’t have to go very often.

Evening was a treat with wine and snacks at Wes and Gayle’s place next door. It is always fun when they come back from Arizona to spend a few months here in Rocky Point. We have some fun plans in the works for the summer with them, including an evening at the Britt in Ashland for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. Looking forward to sharing our favorite little camping spot with them as well, with a trip to Medicine Lake in the works for late July.

The flowers are blooming, the iris and peonies are opening at last, the lupines are reaching their full height. Ahh…June. Probably the best flower time here at Rocky Point.

Out the Back Door Kayaking Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge

Current location: Rocky Point, Oregon Sunny and 50F at 6am, predicted high today 79F

Ah yes, finally. We managed to walk away from yard and house chores for a day and loaded up the kayaks. I was appalled when I realized that the last time we had the boats in the water was back in Florida in March. Sheesh. As I wrote in the title, some of the very best kayaking in the country is right out our back door. The Rocky Point boat launch is just a mile from our house, but yesterday we decided to travel a few miles north on Westside Road to launch at Malone Springs.

Yes, some of you know my last name is Malone, but no, the springs were named long before I arrived in the Klamath Basin in 2002.

We were on the water by 9:40 AM, and a big surprise was the lack of mosquitoes at Malone Springs. The Forest Service boat launch site has two free campsites, but the mosquitoes can often be daunting during the early summer. In fact, most of the east side of the Cascade range in Oregon is plagued with a heavy mosquito population, including some of the more lovely lakeside campgrounds. Maybe not as bad as Minnesota or Alaska, but definitely something that requires planning. Don’t forget the mosquito spray for shoreline activities! However, once out on the water, mosquitoes and bugs are almost never a problem.

Skies were perfect and the temperature was cool enough that we wouldn’t get overheated out on the water. Winds were light, coming from the north, so we had a bit of a breeze and a very little bit of current to paddle against on our way north to Crystal Spring.

One of the great pleasures of working soil survey in the Klamath Basin was the opportunity to map the soils in the Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. With more than 14,000 acres of organic soils supporting wetland plants, the marsh is directly adjacent to the forested lands of the Cascades. The complex vegetation patterns provided endless riddles of soil and vegetation patterns to decipher. Crystal Spring_032

Looking north as we paddle along the creek, we are treated to a view of the Crater Lake Caldera, still covered in snow.

Unlike the spring runs in Florida, the waterway we travel here is fed by hundreds of springs that come from the pumice soils all along the eastern slope of the Cascades. The water is cold, and there are a few large springs that are named, but many others feed the creek that flows through the marsh, as well as the thousands of acres of natural wetlands that are on the northern side of Klamath Lake.

The refuge canoe trail is famous for fly fishing. These 3 guys were the only folks we saw on this day on the refuge.

Different kinds of soils support different kinds of vegetation, and this is true of subaqueous organic soils as well. One of my major accomplishments mapping these wetlands was figuring out the complex relationships between different types of organic soil and vegetation patterns.

Remember that old saying, “out in the toolies”? These are the real tules, bigstem bulrush, that dominate the marsh.

They provide amazing cover for the many birds that we heard but did not see as we paddled along, When the tules get tall, they hide the sandhill cranes, great egrets, and blue herons that we heard calling throughout our paddle.

sedges Other major native plants that occur in the marsh are several species of sedge (carex).

The sedges seem to like the organic soils that are less weathered, more fibrous, and the willows occur in areas where the fibers are the least weathered, soils that are peaty rather than mucky. You have no idea how many holes I bored in this marsh to finally figure this out. As they say “What difference does it make?” Maybe none to the casual kayaker, but for the refuge managers it is helpful to know how to manage the refuge, and soil information has a big influence on refuge management decisions.

Other plants have colonized in some parts of the refuge, such as cattails and Canary Reedgrass, beautiful to look at, but not natural to the environment and detrimental to the existing plant communities.

Beaver dams are plentiful along the route.

No houses along the route except for this vacation property where our fishermen were staying.

Just a bit more than 4 miles of paddling brings us to beautiful Crystal Springs.

Traveling along Westside Road by car will lead to a roadside rest area with a trail down to the spring, but launching from this spot would be a bit of a pain.

North of Crystal Spring is a well known bed and breakfast called Crystalwood Lodge, visible from the channel north of the spring that I am reasonably certain was dredged for spring access.

We turn around for the paddle down the creek, with current in our favor and no southern wind coming toward us from the lake. The winds often come up about 2 in the afternoon and on this day we beat them.

There aren’t many places along the route that are conducive to landing, but back at the area where we saw the teepee, there is a rocky point that provides a place to get out of the boats and give both Abby and Mo and me a bit of a break before we continue back along the meandering route to return to Malone Springs.

The snow is still deep on Pelican Butte. Our home is at the base of that long slope below the mountain at the left side of the photo. The reflections on the return route are always mesmerizing to me, and I can’t tell you how many photos I have from this spot.

I paddle slowly, sometimes simply drifting along with the current, taking time to photograph the beautiful wocus, sacred and important plant to the local tribes for centuries.We slide into Malone Spring once again, still quiet with no other campers or paddlers around on this Wednesday afternoon. It has been a perfect paddle.

With the marsh vegetation providing great cover, the birds that we actually saw were a redtail hawk, redwing and yellow head blackbirds, and as Carol Herr would say, lots of ‘little brown birds”. Later in the day I did have one great blue heron fly gracefully across the creek right in front of me, but the camera was in the dry bag by that time so no photo. I made a sound recording of a bird call I didn’t recognize at all, and hopefully I can get Judy or Carol to tell me what the bird might be. I know the sounds of the herons and the cranes, but this one was completely new to me. No snakes, turtles, or alligators are in these waters, and I found myself missing them a bit.

I mapped our route with the Motion GPX app on my phone, just over 4 miles each way.

Here is another map that is related only peripherally to the kayak trip.

The black line on this map refers to the known wolf activity zone in the Cascades for OR7 or Journey, as he was named by Oregon schoolchildren. If you haven’t read about him yet, here is the story. There are many newspaper articles out there for this event, but I chose to share this one because it was written by the son of a good friend.

I call Journey “my wolf’, not because I have actually seen him, but because one night back in 2011, when he first began his journey to southern Oregon and California, while he was traveling through the Wood River Valley, Mo and I heard his howls during our evening time in the hot tub. Liz Parrish, owner of the Crystalwood Lodge actually saw him near her place, no doubt interested in her pack of sled dogs. Crystalwood is probably the most dog friendly lodge I know of!

“My” wolf is a daddy.

For the first time in nearly a century pups have been born in the Oregon Cascades. I believe we need to live in a world that includes predators for balance. Some of my local Rocky Point friends are all up in arms over this wolf near us. They are cattlemen, and ranchers, concerned for their livestock. Journey and his mate are hidden high in the mountains, and in all his travels he has never approached any domestic animal. I support the right of the wolf to live in Oregon, in this part of Oregon. There are great ranchers who have figured out how to live with wolves, and I pray that here in the Wood River Valley they don’t ever lose an animal to a wolf. I pray for Journey’s safety and I celebrate his new family.