OVER THE BOW: LAKE JENKINSON

Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night. ---Hal Borland

Strapped together like double-stacked freight cars on a train, I pushed each kayak off the dock into the water one by one. The floating caravan gently rubbed against the dock frame until Current Adventure's Dan Crandall circled back in his kayak and lashed the lead kayak to his PFD.
With his first stroke, the kayaks went nowhere. It took two more powerful stokes before the Dan could build enough momentum causing the parade of boats to lurch forward. Several more heaving strokes to pull the straps tight and line up the kayaks in a single file. Then slowly they began to inch forward across the water on their not so arduous trek back to the boat launch.

After a busy summer season, Sly Park Recreation Area's Lake Jenkinson was an eerie quiet like an abandoned playground in the first week of school with all of its inhabitants nowhere in sight. Our small boathouse and dock where we quarter Sly Park Paddle Rentals on the upper part of the lake was the only remnant left to remind us of summertime. And with all the boats now leaving, it would be even a lonelier sight on the water.
The flotilla of kayaks lumbered along in pursuit of Dan. It was not more than 200-yards back to the boat access on what would be their shortest and final trip of the season as we were closing down the boathouse for the season.

Living in the northern tier for most of my life, I learned to play the doleful game of rotating between seasons. In spring and summer, I usually had my kayak, paddles and camping gear accessible and ready to pack, but with the inevitable approach of winter, which included iced-over lakes and streams, my boats were locked away in hibernation until the springtime.
That made for a sad goodbye to summer, its memories and to the lake. Back in Minnesota on our last family campout of the season, my daughters slipped away while packing at the end of the fun weekend. I had just finished loading up the van when they returned and I asked them where they had been? And much like a scene from On Golden Pond, they explained to me they were just saying goodbye to the lake and the loons till next year. 

“We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away," wrote Swiss writer and philosopher Pascal Mercier, And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.”

I told Dan a collection of my summertime memories after we had loaded up all the kayaks on to the trailer and filled the van with paddles and gear. I told him about the quiet mornings and the busy afternoons. About leading sunset paddles, and the trips to the waterfall. But, mostly I told him how amazingly successful the summer was and how I couldn't wait for next year to do it all over again. 

As we drove along the meandering road out of the park, the lake flickered in the late autumn sunlight. And silently, I said to myself, goodbye Lake Jenkinson. See you next year.

Sly Park Paddle Rentals is open May through September.
If you want to go on a canoe or kayak trip at Sly Park contact:
Current Adventures Kayak School and Trips 
PHONE: 530-333-9115 or Toll-Free: 888-452-9254
FAX: 530-333-1291
USPS: Current Adventures, P.O. Box 828, Lotus, CA 95651
info@currentadventures.com
owner Dan Crandall dan@kayaking.com

Over the Bow is a feature from Outside Adventure to the Max, telling the story behind the image. If you have a great picture with a great story, we would love to see it. Submit it to us at nickayak@gmail.com

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NOVEMBER SKIES

 

I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. So I have spent almost all the daylight hours in the open air. --Nathaniel Hawthorne 

"We seldom think of November in terms of beauty or any other especially satisfying tribute," wrote American author and naturalist Hal Borland, "November is simply that interval between colorful and dark December."

Paddling in November is an anomaly for many. The cool temperatures just seem to out-weigh the beautiful fall colors and golden light from the autumn sun. In my recent trips to both the Lower American River and my neighborhood lake, Lake Natoma, the waterways have been virtually abandoned by the summertime crowds, leaving an empty view of the glistening water. The refreshing clear and crisp autumnal air and sky and uncrowded shores make me wonder why November paddling doesn't get its homage and due.

When I look back on my last paddling day. I did nothing special. There was no grand trip to a lake or river I had never paddled before. There wasn't a thrilling ride through rapids or ocean waves. Sorry folks, but to celebrate my own personal record of the most paddling days ever in a calendar year, like always, as of late, it was a simple trip to the lake. One hundred and thirty-five days of paddling was spent floating in the twilight listening to the sounds of city and nature intermingle along the sloughs and islands in Lake Natoma.
It's an accomplishment for me to get to 135 days of paddling in the calendar year. In the past, vying for 100 days took some serious effort. This year has been mostly confined to local waters. Lack of money but mostly time with a very active work schedule has kept me away from exotic trips to faraway rivers and lakes. But I'll keep dreaming.
I'm content to enjoy my time on the water when some are locking their kayaks away for the season and with almost two months remaining in the year, I'll keep chipping away at my own personal record.

Paddling Forward, The 2018 Mid-Term Election
While the results can’t be called an unqualified victory for environment and climate advocates gained crucial purchase to push for clean air and water. Voters passed or defeated 10 state ballot initiatives favoring the environment to curb greenhouse gas emissions (Washington), increase the use of renewable fuels and increase spending on land preservation (Georgia, California), protect wildlife habitats (Alaska), limit fracking (Colorado). Montana voters, however, shot down an initiative that would have helped regulate new rock mines.
Leaders from environmental groups said they're thrilled with the election's outcome and Democrats reclaiming the House of Representatives to rebuff President Trump's most egregious environmental policies.

“In the last two years, we’ve seen the most anti-environment president in history and most anti-environment Congress in history—and the voters said, ‘Enough,’” Gene Karpinksi, the president of the League of Conservation Voters told Sierra the national magazine of the Sierra Club, “The green firewall in the Senate is still intact. We have new leadership and a pro-environment majority in the House, and that’s a big step forward. As we’ve said, if we’re going to make progress in the short term, it’s going to come from the states. And we have many, many new governors and statehouses that are committed to fighting for clean energy and action on climate.”

In water-related initiatives, Alaska voters turned down a measure that would have forced the state’s Department of Fish and Game to hand out permits for projects and activities that might harm fish. In Florida, voters came out against offshore drilling and will put an end to oil and gas mining on lands under state waters. While in California, voters have rejected an initiative would have allocated close to $8 billion in funds for surface and groundwater storage, watershed protection (habitat restoration) and water infrastructure.

This past election brought out a lot of ugly rhetoric about persons of color and both immigrants and refugees, women, and the LGBT community. But as American Rivers President William Robert (Bob) Irvin wrote after the 2016 election, "Rivers don’t care where you came from or where you’re going, what you believe and what you don’t believe, who you love or who your parents were. At American Rivers, we respect the dignity of every human being who works for us, who works with us, and who we see on the river."

I Boated
And major kudos to Relise Design Company of Knoxville Tenn, for creating the I Boated, #GoBoatTN emblem during this year's election as a way to show off Tennessee boating pride. We should all exercise our civic duty and get out there and BOAT!

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The official feed of Outside Adventure to the Max. Follow us on river trips along the American River and the lakes of the Sierra with Current Adventures as we count my paddling days of the year.