RETURN TO THE LAKE

I returned to the lake last weekend. Coming back to the quiet waters of Lake Jenkinson and Sly Park Recreation Area that's nestled in the western foothills of the Sierra, near Pollock Pines, California. The past several summers, I have spent almost every weekend working the Sly Park Paddle Rentals boathouse, renting out kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards to anyone wanting to paddle the lake. Driving down the park road and seeing the water shimmering through the trees, I felt like I had arrived back home. It had been a long time coming. My season was abruptly cut short last summer after I was unceremoniously tossed off the lake as the Calder fire raged nearby. 

I had come back a couple times. Late in the fall, I came to gather up all the gear I had left behind. Even then, the walk down to the lake to sweep away the ash from inside the boathouse was a long one. It had been a dry year from the beginning. All season, I watched the lake levels drop, exposing the lakebed and tree stumps. The wildfire only exacerbated the already parched season. The Calder Fire reported on August 14th went scorched some 221,835 acres, but luckily only singed Sly Park borders. 

When my wife Debbie and I visited the lake for a mid-winter hike along the snow-covered lakeshore, we were happy to see the lake was still low. But on the rise. We were optimistic that winter storms would yield much-needed moisture into the lake. 

This past weekend, the lake was up. According to the sign at the front gate was up to 81%. Not quite full, but a far cry better than the last time I visited. Now the lake glistened an emerald green. The boathouse had been lifted from the depths of the lake. The long pathway down to its gangplank was only a memory. Looking into the clear water below it, I could make out a few of the rocks I had placed to mark the trail where the sidewalk had ended. 

The canoes that Current Adventures Dan Crandall had brought up lay half-sunken under the boathouse dock. A heavy rain a few weeks ago indicated how much rain had fallen. The four canoes served as large rain gauges. They would require a bit of bailing if my group from Bayside Adventure Sports were to be using them that evening for a sunset paddle. 

Paddlers often debate the perfect time of the day to paddle. Some say it's best in the morning mist. When the lake is still quiet. And the fishing boats have yet to arrive. On Lake Jenkinson there is a 90-minute window in the early morning when the lake is calm and before the winds start to blow through the narrows. The afternoon fetch is always troublesome to paddlers when paddling against it. Others might prefer to sleep in and wait for sunset when the pines cast shadows across the lake and the western sky is ablaze. There may be a sunset every day but being on Lake Jenkinson in a canoe at twilight while watching the sun slowly sink down into the pines is a special experience no matter how many times, I've taken it in.  

"I was entranced by the loveliness of the sight," Egerton Ryerson Young, a Canadian missionary and author wrote in his biographical tale, By Canoe and Dog Train Among the Cree Ad Salteaux, "The reflections of the canoe and men and of the islands and rocks were as vivid as the actual realities. So clear and transparent was the water that where it met the air, there seemed to be only a narrow thread between the two elements. Not a breath of air stirred, not a ripple moved. It was one of those sights, which seldom comes to us in a lifetime, where everything is in perfect unison."

After spending two days camping with my group, I can truly, say I can't wait for more. I look forward to opening up the boathouse for the season and all the summer days at home on the lake.

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

Keep up with Outside Adventure to the Max, on our Facebook page and Instagram and now on Youtube.

2021 IN REVIEW: PICTURES OF THE YEAR

Before we take to the sea, we walk on land ... Before we create, we must understand. --- Ernest Hemingway

 
Cruising on a Carnival Cruise through the Bahamas really isn't the type of cruise. I'm a river guy more used to trail mix, power bars, and Hydro Flask half full of water, not an endless buffet and a boat I don't have to paddle. Still, who can argue with luxury, exotic ports of calls, and an endless buffet line?

Carnival Cruise

In all of my paddling days, I've never have lost sight of land. So, it was interesting to be out on the upper deck of the giant ship looking over the bow into the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean. Clearly an overpowering feeling of aloneness. I could help to think of those intrepid paddlers that have braved these vast seas, like famed Polish adventurer Aleksander Doba against this giant ocean, alone. He made three daring voyages earned him Guinness World Records titles, and in 2017 he became the oldest person to kayak across the Atlantic. "During the entire expedition lasting 110 days and nights," said Doba in an interview, "I survived 5 storms. One of them was special. It was 8, 9, and 10 on the Beaufort scale. The waves went up to 10 m. I know that no one had survived a storm like that in such a small vessel ever before. I proved that a Pole can do it! I was happy I got to survive a storm like that, although it lasted over two days and nights, and it was not easy."

Walking along the sandy beaches of Bimini, our first port of call, was pretty cool. Bimini is the westernmost island of the Bahamas. Located about 50 miles east of Miami, Florida, it's the closest point of the Bahamas to the mainland of the United States.
It was a favorite haunt of legendary author Ernest Hemingway. An avid outdoorsman and adventurer, Hemingway lived on Bimini from 1935 to 1937. While living there, he enjoyed fishing the deep blue offshore waters for marlin, tuna, and swordfish. It was from those fishing days that inspired his classics works of The Old Man and the Sea and Islands in The Stream.
In the opening chapter of Islands in The Stream, he wrote this about Bimini, "The water of the Stream was usually a dark blue when you look out at it when there was no wind. But when you walked out into it, there was just the green light of the water over that floury white sand, and you could see the shadow of any big fish a long time before he could ever come in close to the beach."

Like Doba, Hemingway had an intense passion for daring exploits and was always in search of his next big adrenaline-fueled adventure. 

Tybee Island with KDK

And while for me, 2021 wasn't that dauntless, I did gain some new invaluable new perspectives and insights during my experiences while traveling on land, sea, rivers, and lakes.
This year, my wife Debbie and I did get to some new places. We took a trip to Cancun, Mexico, a cruise through the Bahamas to the Dominican Republic. Going coast to coast this year, we took another cruise and sailed along the Seattle skyline in Elliot Bay and took a walk along the beach with my granddaughter on Tybee Island in Georgia. In May, another big trip. On the way back from North Dakota to see family, we went cross-country. We traveled through the Black Hills of South Dakota and along the old Oregon and California trails on the way home.

While I have been living in California for almost nine years now, I still feel a bit like a tourist. There is so much to do and see in this state. I explored Slab Creek for the first time, saw a bit more of the Mokelumne River, and finally made it down the famed Gorge of the South Fork of the American River. I snowshoed through the China Wall train tunnels at Donner Pass near Truckee, California, and logged another section of the Sacramento River south of Red Bluff. 

South Fork Whitewater

I also made a return trip to Loon Lake with Bayside Adventure Sports and enjoyed some great days on the Lower American River, Lake Natoma, and Lake Clementine. The Caldor Fire cut short my season on Lake Jenkinson with Sly Park Paddle Rentals, but now as the rain and snow have now returned to California, I look forward to a fabulous summer on the lake once again next year.

My desire to travel and experience the cultures of this world only grows with age. My long list of travels to all these splendid destinations this year will have a lasting influence on me for some time to come. I will forever remember the beauty and grandeur of these places. I can only hope that my pictures have somehow captured the spirit of these whereabouts.
Hemingway wrote, "It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end."
These travels have only fueled my yearnings for more adventures in years to come. And as the saying goes, as one chapter ends, another one begins. And I'll add, and the journey never ends.

Loon Lake with Bayside Adventure Sports

John Taylor at Loon Lake 

Lake Lodi

Lake Jenkinson 

Lower American River

Lake Clementine 

Lower American River

The Salt Flats of Utah 

Folsom Lake 

Glow Paddle on Lake Natoma

Slab Creek 

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KAYAK SUMMER 2021

Above the mountains which lay beyond the further shore, the sky was murky with the smoke of unseen forest fires, and through this the afternoon sun broke feebly, throwing a vague radiance to earth, and unreal shadows. To the sky-line of the four quarters--spruce-shrouded islands, dark water, and ice-scarred rocky ridges--stretched the immaculate wilderness. --- Jack London

When summer arrived as Jack London wrote in the Call of The Wild, it's time for us to pack our backs, "Rafted across blue mountain lakes, and descended or ascended unknown rivers in slender boats whip-sawed from the standing forest....through the uncharted vastness."
In Call of the Wild, London tells the beloved classic tale of Buck's (a mix of St. Bernard and Scotch collie) transition from a kidnapped pampered pup to Klondike sled dog to his evolution to embrace the deeper parts of his wilder side. 

Lake Jenkinson

"Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest,” wrote London of the Buck's instinctual call of the wilderness.
For those of us with a wanderlust soul, London's words stir our senses of adventure. For some, we have that need to answer that call of the wild. When summertime, comes it is our time to pack our packs, load our boats, and journey into the world around us. However, London's darker views can convolute our ideals of the inspiring novelist writing about dogs and the Alaskan frontier. In his time, London was an unashamed racist and a prominent advocate of socialism, casting a problematic shadow over his love of the wilderness and making him a bit more a complicated storyteller.

Much like London, summertime 2021 brought plenty of contradictions and complications to the great outdoors. Even as summer ends this year, we still don't have a handle on the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Delta variant increases, there is still a debate on getting the vaccine and wearing masks. Still the due to the upheaval from COVID-19, Americans across the country took to the outdoors. The 2021 Outdoor Participation Trends Report, commissioned by the Outdoor Foundation, reveals that in 2020, 53 percent of Americans ages six and over participated in outdoor recreation at least once, the highest participation rate on record. Some 7.1 million more Americans participated in outdoor recreation in 2020 than in the year prior. 

Lake Jenkinson

And it's secret that a lot of those folks headed to the water, and paddle sports sales exploded.
And as the paddling industry boom and people flocked to the water, there is still a huge lack of diversity. According to the same report, nearly 75 percent of outdoor participants were white. Participation rates declined 7 percent annually among Asian Americans for the past three years; stagnated for the last three years among Blacks and grew among Hispanics but remained well below whites.
Fortunately, the paddling community is recognizing people of color love the outdoors. Advocates are working to tear down barriers and diversifying the sport for all participants. California-based groups like Outdoor Afro and Vamos Afuera (Let’s Go Outside) have organized frequent outings to paddleboard, kayak, and explore magical places like Yosemite.

Climate change is another issue facing California. Summers get hotter, drier, and smokier due to another extended fire season. This summer, the Caldor Fire closed us down early at Sly Park as the blazed raged just to the south of the park and lake.
“These fires are blinking code red for our nation. They’re gaining frequency and ferocity, and we know what we’re supposed to do. Scientists have been warning us for years [that] extreme weather is going to get more extreme. We’re living it in real-time now,” President Joe Biden said after taking an aerial tour of land burned by the Caldor Fire last week. 

Sly Park Paddle Rentals on Lake Jenkinson

Despite the fire, my season at the boathouse was shortened anyway. Lake Jenkinson fell to record levels along with many other California reservoirs during this season of drought. All through the summer, the lake continued to shrink in size and depth. Each week I would return and find less and less water in the lake.

Regardless of all those arduous issues, my summer season flashed by again a golden haze. Once again, those months came and went so quickly.  Now in September, I'm looking back on a hectic summer of cross-country trips, boathouse days, paddling nights, and a very adventuresome trip down the South Fork of the America River. I've enjoyed hearing the sweet cadences of water ripples over rocks, seeing the vividly mirrored placid lake, and feeling the cool water on a moonlight swims while the stars danced over the trees. 

Moon over Wyoming 

But as London wrote in The Faith of Men, a collection of adventure tales set in the Yukon Territory, "Then came the autumn, post-haste before the down rush of winter. The air grew thin and sharp, the days thin and short. The river ran sluggishly, and skin ice formed in the quiet eddies. All migratory life departed south, and silence fell upon the land."

It's time now to transition into the colder months of the season while still, remembering fall which is still a great time to get outside. The appearance of autumn does not call for the disappearance of kayaks or standup paddleboards. Fall and wintertime waters offer a quieter and solitary experience. Who doesn't appreciate fewer bugs, crowds, and empty parking spots at the access? To provide a transition from swimsuits to wetsuits, I picked favorite images created over the past few months to help recall the past season to help you cruise through to until next summer. 

Bayside Adventure Sports on Lake Jenkinson

Canoeing on Lake Jenkinson

The South Fork of the American River. Photo by Hot Shot Imaging

Smoke over Lake Jenkinson

Power Paddle

Lake Natoma

Lake Jenkinson

Sailing on Elliot Bay in Seattle

Lake Natoma 

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BOATHOUSE DAYS, MY FOURTH SUMMER ON LAKE JENKINSON

After struggling through the Covid pandemic last season, I was hoping for a new bright season while working at the Sly Park Paddle Rentals located on the upper part of Lake Jenkinson at Sly Park Recreation Area in the Sierra foothills near Pollock Pines, California. For the past four summers, I had been there almost every weekend, renting out kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards to anyone who wanted to come out and paddle the lake.

When teeming with water, the timber-lined lake is a boater's paradise. Divided by a narrow channel, Jenkinson Lake's larger rounded half is where you will find the swimming beach and campgrounds along with a good share of speedboats. While the upper half of the lake, being smaller and, narrower has more of a summer camp feel where canoes are still paddled with glee. Two babbling creeks, a scenic waterfall, and its icy pool only add to the lake's beauty and charm. 

When we started the season, the lake level was already as low as it was, back in September when we closed for the season. The Park Rangers told me it would only get lower as the summer continued.
This year was also going to be different because we weren't the only showing town. There was a lot more to do. With no travel restrictions, people now were going to restaurants, movies, and ballgames.
We had to make the best of the time that we had.
So like I have done over the past couple of seasons before, I began collecting notes, recounting my daily routine along with my observations of my days at the boathouse.

Saturday, May 8...Moving day at Sly Park. We packed two trailers of boats and canoes and brought them up to the lake. The lake is low but still looks good, at least until the middle of summer. I don't know when the water will stop coming. It is likely it will be a very dry summer. 
Friday, May 28...A quiet day as we kick off the summer season. Not many reservations, and so far, only a handful of walk-ups. Tomorrow looks like it will be busier.
The lake is low and not ready for swimming just yet. It's a bit too cold. It could use some more water, but after the third driest winter in California history, I think this is the best of what I can expect this season. 

Monday, May 31...Memorial Day. Both Saturday and Sunday proved to be very busy. After locking up, I took off to Sly Park Falls. Usually, the water is very high this time of year. However, this summer, the lake is very thirsty. I had to hike most of the way on the trail after paddling to the creek. I love coming to the falls at the end of the day. It is when the place is quiet. All you can hear is the sound of rushing water. Peaceful and relaxing. This is how I wish it could be all this all season.
I have three young ducks living near the dock. They like to find food around it. They appear to be orphans since I have seen no mother duck nearby watching them. They go under the dock back and forth and appear to be doing well. Meanwhile, some angler caught and happily released a nice-sized bass, I think to be Roger, who swims under the dock. My highlight last night was seeing the eagle of the lake sitting on a stump near Sly Park Creek. 

Friday, June 4...The lake has plenty of beaches this spring. I tell my customers that they can pretty much have their choice of any beach spots once they get on the water. With the lake so low, it's not difficult to find a spot.
I miss those days when there was a bit more water in the lake. It was always pretty amazing to paddle up to the bridge toward the rumbling of the waterfall. Its roar got louder and louder with each paddle stroke.
Hazel creek has never had the same appeal. It's like a boring straight-laced sister compared to the 33-foot dazzling display of falling water. However, last Monday, the creek was flowing quickly into the lake. Cold and icy water came in a rapid flow down toward the lake. I was tempted to surf it for a while, but it was not quite deep enough. When I turned my kayak, I got caught sideways pouring the cold water into my cockpit. I nearly rolled. Of course, I laughed. It was funny to be such a spot like a boat that's stuck in the Suez Canal sideways against the wall. My kayak is 16-foot, while the channel of the Hazel Creek was only 15-foot at the most. It would have been embarrassing if I had rolled.

The waterfall didn't flow after June. In the past, I would paddle up to the waterfall on the 4th of July. But this year, it wasn't flowing. It had been shut off.
Sly Park Falls is the jewel of the park. The waterfall trail is always a popular hike. Ordinarily, in the summer, the falls were filled with rushing water, splashing, and laughter as families came to visit the shaded pool. Now it was just a dribble.
For the past couple of seasons, I had usually worked alone at the boathouse. But this year, Current Adventures owner Dan Crandall sent up a young assistant to help me out on the busy weekends.
Teddy was a likable person who enjoyed working at the boathouse as much as I did. Bright and friendly the customers liked him just as much as I did. 

By July, There was no paddling up to the waterfall. There was no paddling even up Sly Creek. Instead of rushing cool water, there were dry stones and mucky silt. Every week, the bathtub ring around their lake grew larger. Tree stumps and boulders were rising from depths, and the lake wasn't as pretty as it had been before.

Sunday, June 6...It was steady Saturday at the boathouse yesterday. I even have a new helper that day. Teddy is just 18-years-old and was there to help me out. We had lots of reservations and many walk-ups all day. A likable person who usually works at the River Store.
The lake is still very low, is also very inviting. I have been able to jump in and swim. The water is very comfortable.
Friday, June 18...A very hot day at the lake. A very hot day all over California. The highs are all record highs of heat over 100 degrees. Dangerous to even some. Down in the valley, they are really suffering and trying hard to escape the heat. Up here, It was much better. Early on, there wasn't even a breeze. Teddy and I felt it as the heat bounced off the aluminum dock right back at us, cooking us like bacon on a skillet.

Friday, June 11...I escaped a bit and spent a share of the time observing the eagle of the lake. I think it's a young male. He has been flying around the boathouse this morning. So far, he is my only entertainment on an otherwise quiet day on the lake. In Minnesota, it is said every lake has its own loon. I would like to think that in the foothills of California, every lake should have its own eagle.
Sunday, June 13...Another busy day. The highlight being, my friend, Kelly, dropping by with a plate of BBQ ribs, salad, and of course, apple pie. Needless to say, She got a free rental. Like my wife Debbie, this is one of her favorite places to visit.
Saturday, June 19...The night before, I lead a sunset/moonlight paddle for Current Adventures. I had 7 adults and 2 kids, one of which I had to tow for a bit. The lake is so low it doesn't attract the same thrill, but there is still something special about a quiet evening on the lake as the sun slowly sets. In the spring, when there is a lot of water, we can kayak all the way to the bridge and have a short walk to the falls, but last night with the water so low, we had to hike a good portion and to make it even worse the pretty falls were not flowing and, the water had been turned off. It was disappointing because usually, it is my star attraction on this paddle. 

Sunday, June 26...Our boat ramp now touches the piece of pavement. After this, it's all dirt and sand. When we started the season, I think we were at least up 3 or 4 blocks. It doesn't look good for the rest of the summer. The lake is sitting at 75%, which is dismal for the last week of June. I told Teddy that this is what it looked like when we closed for the season last September.
Crazy fun stuff. This is National Canoe Day, and we didn't rent a single one. I guess that means I'll have to take one out for a ride at the end of the day.
Saturday, July 3...A good day at the dock. We were busy throughout the day. All our tandem boats went hit the water, and a good chunk of our day, our dock was empty.

Week after week, the walk to the boathouse got longer and longer. I got handy with a rake and a shovel extending my path after the cement ran. I outlined the trail with rocks and dead tree branches. Meanwhile, around the boathouse, sunken tree stumps rose from the depths of the lake each week.
Keeping the boathouse inline due to afternoon winds and lowering it into the lake came almost a weekly routine.
Still, I did enjoy the fringe benefits of running the boathouse with some canoe time after hours and especially nice when the speed boats were gone.
Toward mid-July, the first sign of threat to fire came as a helicopter showed up hovering over the lake like a hummingbird taking buckets of water to a fire. Little did we know at the time that it would be a sign of things to come for the lake and area.

Monday July 5...Last night, while I was out paddling, the rangers came by and moved the dock further out into the water. We lost some 7 feet. Now my customers will have to walk over mud and sand to get to our dock. I created a little nature trail to outline the path of logs and stones marking the trail.
Sunday, July 11...It's going to be another scorcher here on the lake. With no breeze, it's especially hot out on the deck. Yikes, it burns my bare feet!
The excitement came in the afternoon when after a report of a nearby fire. A big Chinook helicopter showed and took several loads of lake water to dose the fire. It hovered over the lake, dropping in large buckets, and scooping the water up, and flying away. 

Friday, July 16...The lake is holding steady at 72%, according to the sign at the gate. It does look down several feet at the boathouse. A nearby tree stump where a kid was standing last week made him look like he is walking on water is now down about another foot.
Friday, July 23...It's a bright and clear day. There is a bit of a breeze, but that's OK. It's keeping the smoke away from the fire that is in the east. I can see the smoky haze over the pines of Sly Park Creek. This is going to be a very long fire season.
Friday, July 30...The water which we don't have much of all dropped again. They moved my dock down into the shrinking lake. I was greeted by a sign at the front gate saying 15 mph as of August 9th.
Saturday, July 31...When I got to the boathouse, I met up with the ranger staff as we again lowered the dock further into the water and straighten it out. It seems this summer it has become a weekly occurrence. After that, I raked out another section of my long path down to the dock. 

During our summer, my customers would ask when would be the last day we would be renting out our kayaking. In the past, we went into September weekends. I mean, who wouldn't want to take a boat ride after taking a trip to Apple hill. But this season, we hoped to end on Labor Day weekend, but it would depend on how much water was still in the lake if it would be sooner. Little did we know that the Caldor Fire would abruptly end our season on the lake by shutting down the park. Instead of watching boats come and go, I'm checking the fire maps And Facebook posts and praying that the park and my houseboat house Are not destroyed by fire

Sunday, August 1...The lake is quiet and still to start this morning. At this time, any sound would seem sacrileges. Breaking the stillness of the water would be like putting a black line through the Mona Lisa. I wish it could stay like this all day. It would be wonderful to escape the daily battering winds that drive the waves up in the afternoon. Yesterday it pushed my dock around more than ever.
A good evening paddle last night as I paddled to the island and back in the fading sunlight. Not much for waves as all the motorboats were headed for home. They will be off the water soon anyway as the speed restrictions will be put in place next week. Our days are numbered, also. We won't get so much past September with the current water situation. 

 

Friday, August 6...A smoky day in the valley and a very smoky day here at the lake. The sun barely shines through the smoke-filled clouds. It is a great day indeed. The haze intertwines through the tall trees. By 2 in the afternoon, I could not even see across the lake as even more smoke blew the shore became more and more obscure. The lake is has been disappearing with the loss of the water and now the trees. It's by far the worst I have ever seen here on the lake. It's been that kind of year.
Sunday, August 15...Quiet start to the day. It is very still with the new speed restrictions. It will be a paddler's paradise now with the big boats off the water.
The rangers came and set my dock once again. While in the afternoon, a helicopter appeared on the lower part of the lake, taking more loads of water to a fire burning just south of the park.

Like many, we're waiting for all clear to get back into the park. The good news finally came this week. El Dorado Irrigation District announced, in light of the recent downgrades of the fire evacuation orders, Sly Park Recreation Area will reopen this weekend. According to a news release, the park sustained minimal damage during the Caldor Fire. The only damage to the park was caused by a back burn operation below the dams that have necessitated the closure of the trail system in that area. Horseback riders cannot circle the lake due to the trail closure. Other than that, the park was untouched by the flames, which is great news.
However, while the park is open, Sly Park Paddle Rentals is closed for the season. We'd like to thank all the Rangers and park staff who helped us keep afloat during the season and our amazing customers for their patronage of making a long walk down the hill to our boathouse.
The good news is we'll be back next year. Until then, we pray for the firefighters and the people displaced by the fire. But most of all, we hope for rain and snow to come to California this winter. To dampen the threats of fires and fill our beloved lake with water.

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

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RESERVOIR LOGS

A popular question I get while running the Sly Park Park Boat Rentals boathouse on Lake Jenkinson is just how deep is the lake? My standard answer is, I don't know. Located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, near Pollack Pines, California, the lake is the centerpiece for Sly Park Recreation Area. Formed as a result of Sly Park Dam, built in the 1950s, the reservoir covers some 650 acres and can hold a lot of water. The lake is divided into two parts. The lower lake is the round bigger portion of the lake, while the upper part is much narrower. While offering relaxing summer weekends of camping, fishing, and recreation a the park, the reservoir, was also constructed to provide irrigation and drinking water to the area.

So just how deep is it? Well, this year, as the lake keeps dropping and dropping, I might find out.

California is once again facing another season of drought. Its parched reservoirs and rivers are reaching record lows this summer. The state's two largest reservoirs, Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville are on track for potential record lows this summer, now at 35 percent and 31 percent of their total capacities, respectively. Climate and water experts are growing increasingly worried about California's shrinking reservoirs.

Lake Jenkinson

“The reservoir levels in the second year of this drought are what they were during the third or fourth year of the previous drought,” said Jay Lund, a professor, and water resources expert at the University of California at Davis told The Washington Post, "Certainly, many reservoirs in the state will see levels lower than they’ve seen since 1976-77, maybe even lower.” A reference to California’s driest water year on record.

Down the road, at Folsom Lake, the water has receded to levels rarely seen. Remnants of a flooded away Gold Rush town have reemerged. Hikers can now see building foundations, bricks that were all once a part of the community of Mormon Island. The village was abandoned and covered with lake water after the Folsom Dam was constructed in the 1950s. While still not at a record low, the water has receded so much that a plane that crashed in 1986 was now visible from the bottom of the lake.

For paddlers, it's good news and bad news. Boat ramps on Folsom Lake are high dry for motorboats, and there is a 5-mph maximum speed limit established for the entire lake. Still, the water does offer some natural wonders to seek out. Paddlers can explore the lake and its rock formations without having to struggle in the wake of powerboats or listen to the whine of jet skis.

Lake Jenkinson is marked by large a bathtub ring around the lake. It's a barren and growing shoreline between the water and the shoreline of trees. It's a martian-like bone-dry landscape of rock, sandstone and ancient mangled decaying tree stumps of trees cut down to make way for the water. Bit by bit, the formerly submerged stumps have reappeared on the surface. Fishing lines and lures once thought lost have now reappeared. The park's jewel, Sly Park Falls a favorite hiking and paddling spot for many, is now a disappointing trickle. No water has cascaded down its green slope since early this summer. It is another reminder that each day the drought tightens its grip on the region and continues to shrink the lake day by day.

Due to lackluster rain, and snow combined with increasing temperatures due to climate change this summer, the question on just how deep is the lake? I might be reluctantly answering.

 

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Adiós and Vaya Con Dios

      

                         I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
                         Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
                         Life is good today, life is good today --- Zac Brown

 

We lounged there under an umbrella gazing at the unmistakable aqua splendor of the Caribbean Sea. The salt spray of the breaking surf hung in the air gave our lungs an instant feeling of ease. The snow-white sand sifted between our toes when we dared to rush toward the curling waves. The rhythmic waves seemed to leaves in a hypnotized state. It was hard to not look away. Not to peer out and wonder. I can't quite explain it, but there's just something so magical about spending a day by the ocean. 

Cancun paddling

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.'' said underwater explorer and conservationist Jacques Yves Cousteau.

The trip to Cancun, Mexico, was the kickoff to our summer. And after the last 16 months of living in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was a pure pleasure to sit in the sultry sun relaxing at a luxury spa. I know I could get used to this all-inclusive lifestyle. We even got to kayak one day, where I looked down into the clear water and saw dozen of starfish just below my boat.
Our days in Cancun floated by quickly. Before long, we high in the sky, heading for North Dakota to see our granddaughter and attend to some family matters. It was followed by a cross-country trip in a U-Haul truck back to California back to reality.
There was little time for a return-to-trip hang-over. A day after unloading the truck, I packed up my camping gear and headed up to Sly Park and the pine-lined views of Lake Jenkinson and running Sly Park Paddle Rentals for a long weekend. I never had it so good. 

Sly Park Paddle Rentals

“Travel changes you," celebrity world traveler Anthony Bourdain said, "As you move through this life and this world, you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you.”

 

Here is a look at some of our favorite images from this year so far.

Slab Creek Reservoir

Lower American River

Lower American River with Bayside Adventure Sports

Rattlesnake Bar

Snowshoeing the China Wall with Debbie Carlson

Folsom Lake

The Lower American River

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