LIGHT SWITCH

The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.--- John Muir 

It's fall back time. This Sunday, Nov. 5 at 2 a.m., the time flips back an hour to standard time. Great if you are an earlier riser in this light switch from evening to morning. However, losing the hour at the end of the day always surprises me. I'm not ready for the darkness, as the sun seems to slam into the horizon before my eyes. Exploding into little bits before disappearing into the night.

“There are very few things in the world I hate more than Daylight Savings Time," said author Michelle Franklin,  It is the grand lie of time, the scourge of science, the blight on biological understanding.”

She is right of course as many who don't enjoy the practice of Daylight Savings will attest. We don't lose or even gain for that matter a dose of sunlight with the time change, we lose it astronomically as the sun approaches its southernmost position, aka the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Still losing that golden hour at the end of the day seems unforeseen and unexpected for me. I can remember a fall paddle on the north arm of Folsom Lake. I had gotten a late start when I slid my kayak into the water on the south side of Doton's Point. The sun was already dipping behind some clouds and hovering over the horizon. It would be a race against it to see if I could finish before it set.

Now I had won the contest against the setting sun many times before while on summer nights camping. I would paddle out across the water watching that giant orange ball dissolve into the lake while I still have enough light to paddle back to the beach and light the campfire before nightfall. Twilight lingers in the summer, but not in autumn.

This time I was humbled. I didn't beat the night. I had paddled out too far and still had to come back. I tried to hurry back as fast as I could. My fingers and feet tingled as I pressed into the foot pegs and paddle. But, no matter how fast I tried to paddle, the sun was gone and night had prevailed.

As a full moon rose over the foothills, I paddled back along the shoreline towards the lights of Folsom Dam.  The land and water amalgamated into the murkiness of the night. I can't say I was lost. I pretty much knew the lake and how to get back. But, without my headlamp, it was more like fumbling around in a dark bedroom trying to find the light switch. My truck was out there, I just had to find it.

The moonlight glistened on the water as I paddled up to Donton's Point. In the shadows, I could make out the silhouette of the truck's body parked along the beach. I was back at my starting point tired and a little relieved. I loaded up and drove away thinking, I better get an earlier start next time. It was only a little past 6 p.m.

That one-hour daylight switch from evening to morning as we fall back to standard time begins this weekend. We don't go back to daylight saving until Sunday, March 11, 2018, about a week before spring begins.


Fire Closes Boating on Oregon River

Photo courtesy of North Umpqua Outfitters

One of Oregon’s most popular rivers for rafting and kayaking will remain closed for an extended period following wildfire damage this summer. The Statesmen Journal reported that U.S. Forest Service officials said The North Umpqua River, east of Roseburg, will remain closed to boats for 23 miles until next spring or summer.

Forest Service officials said the decision was for safety after wildfires burned numerous trees along the stream sighting those trees will likely fall into the river during fall, winter and spring storms, creating dangerous hazards in what’s already a rapid-filled section. Local outfitters are frustrated by the decision and called the closure length unnecessary and arbitrary.

Photo Courtesy of Randy Lathrop

Canoe Rises from Hurricane

The New York Times reported after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma battered Florida, one Florida man came upon a what may have appeared to be a large piece of driftwood while riding his bike near the shore in Cocoa. it turned out to be an old cypress wood dug canoe. The boat could be hundreds of years old says state authorities, who are working to learn the canoe’s origins.