CREATURE FEATURE: 13 Places to Paddle this Halloween to see Ghosts, Monsters, and Spacemen

"When convention and science offer us no answers, might we not finally turn to the fantastic as a plausibility?" Special Agent Fox Mulder

It is no doubt that the waterways of our country are extraordinary places of beauty, history, and of course...lore. It is easy for us to conjure up happy summer memories exciting kayaking trips, and peaceful and serene canoe outings. However, the stories of the lakes or rivers' darker reputation are likely to be floating along with them. Mysterious tales of ghosts, monsters, and space invaders have been infused into their watery realm, possibly activating our overactive imagination.
“These are tricks that the mind plays," declared Gillian Anderson character skeptic Dana Scully in the Television Series The X-Files, "They are ingrained cliches from a thousand different horror films. When we hear a sound, we get a chill. We see a shadow, and we allow ourselves to imagine something that an otherwise rational person would discount out of hand."
But for some, there is no rational theory or explanation. In the backwater of our minds, we are inherently fascinated with the unknown and the unexplainable.
What's out there along the shoreline? A ghost? Or worse, a horrifying monster? Or is just some urban legend meant to scare us while sitting around the campfire on a full moon night in October. Like the X-Files exclaimed, "The truth is out there."
So whether you're, daring or doubtful, here are a few creepy and spooky waters you might want to paddle (if got the nerve) this Halloween or anytime for your opportunity to see a ghost, a flying saucer, or a monster.


Big Moose Lake, New York

Big Moose Lake is the perfect getaway spot. The quiet remote Adirondack lake is known for its scenic beauty and lake hamlet charm. But looks can be deceiving because the lake's placid waters are haunted by the restless spirit of a young woman who was murdered at the lake.
Grace Brown was just a country girl of humble means when she met Chester Gillette in 1906. From an affluent family, Gillette was considered a catch for any girl with his handsome looks and good family.
Pregnant with his child, she thought her it would be happily ever after when Gillette invited her on a romantic getaway to the Adirondack lake. Surely he would propose to her, or maybe they would get married while they were there, Brown must have thought. But Gillette had other plans of evil intent. A womanizer concerned about his social status, Gillette was about to let Brown upend his pursuit of the finer things in life.

The boathouse on Big Moose Lake 1906

On a bright and beautiful day in July, the couple rented a rowboat for a tour of the lake. While Brown reportedly didn't bring any luggage along, Gillette brought a suitcase, camera, and tennis racket. They never returned.
The next day the search party recovered the capsized rowboat and pulled up Brown's submerged lifeless body from the lake. She cuts on her face and mouth as if someone had beaten her. In the meantime, Gillette was nowhere to found.
The police caught up with Gillette at a nearby hotel under an assumed name. In their questioning, he told investigators that Brown had become distraught and leaped from the boat, and not knowing to swim, she drowns. The police weren't having any of it, after they found his broken tennis racket buried along the shore, they arrested Gillette.
The murder of Brown became one of the most fascinating crime stories of the early 1900s. In the subsequent trial, the prosecutor said Gillette planned out the murder in meticulous detail by beating her repeatedly with a tennis racket then tossed her body overboard. He was found guilty and was executed by the electric chair in 1908.
But our story doesn't end there. After over 100 years, people are still fascinated by this tragic tale of a woman who falls in love with the wrong man. Over the years, many books, movies, and even songs have been by the murder. But the most usual postscript is that even today, people claim to see the ghostly spirit of Grace Brown sadly roaming the shore of Big Moose Lake.

Scape Ore Swamp, South Carolina

Paddling at Scape Ore Swamp does not seem to be a recommended activity. First, there doesn't appear to be enough water. And most important, Its number one resident seems to have an appetite for chrome and possibly your aluminum canoe.
Thick overgrowth, oozing with mud and silt, the murky black amber water of the Scape Ore Swamp is a dreadful and eerie scene near Bishopville. And that might be the very reason some say a scaly creature just might refuge to go unnoticed by humans…well, almost unnoticed.
Like in an opening scene of a low-budget horror movie, our story of the Lizard Man began in 1988, after you guess it, a teenager blew a tire on his way home a deserted road late at night. Cue scary music. After putting on the spare, the man looked up and saw something running towards him out of the darkness of the swamp. What he would describe would become legendary. It was a seven feet tall reptilian humanoid with glowing red eyes, green scaly skin, and long black claws. The kid quickly got into the car, locked the doors, and gunned the engine. Trying to speed odd he looked into the rearview mirror and saw the green blur chasing and then jumping on his car. Cue even more scary music.
Swerving in the car from side to side, the teen managed to escape from eh clutches of the monster. However, the side-view-mirror was damaged, and scratch marks were found on the car's roof.

Scape Ore Swamp

Throughout the summer, area law enforcement started getting reports of cars getting mysteriously damaged. Monster type vandalism of fenders being ripped off, the antennas were bent, deep scratches along the body, and chrome trim had seemingly been chewed off. But even more, alarming were the witnesses saying they had seen or even attacked an enormous scaly green humanoid lurking in the woods and swamps.
Overnight the Lizard Man became famous as folks theorized what this creature might be. Was it a long lost dinosaur? A cousin of Bigfoot?
A South Carolina Marine Resources Department spokesperson said the tracks neither matched nor could be mistaken for the footprints of any recorded animal. A local radio station wanted to know and offered a $1 million reward to anybody who could capture the creature alive.
But no ever cashed in, and the Lizard Man is still out there many think inhabiting the swampland. Over the decades, there have been a few sightings along with and some auto maulings. In 2015, a woman claimed to have taken a photograph of the creature with her cellphone, while leaving church. Cue scary music

The Ohio River, West Virginia, and Ohio

The Mothman

 It was the deadliest bridge disaster in US history when in 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed under the weight of rush-hour traffic, sending 46 people deaths when they went into the frigid Ohio River. The investigation ruled a structural defect led to the tragedy, but while others suggest a more weird and disturbing theory.
In November of 1966, a year before the deadly accident, numerous witnesses reported seeing a large grey man-like creature with glowing red eyes and wings spanning upwards of ten feet and flying over 100 miles hour.
Skeptical police said the mysterious creature was likely a bird. But more and more sighting reported saying it was a man with wings, possibly an alien visitor or military went horribly experiment, and the legend of the Mothman was born.
Described as a nightmarish demon, many of the terrified townfolk thought the Mothman to be a sinister prelude to doom. And when the bridge collapsed only a year later, many thought the Mothman sighting and the bridge disaster were connected. 

In 1975, in the book, The Mothman Prophecies, the creepy folk legend took flight with conspiracy theorists and fans of the paranormal saying that visitations from the Mothman were a foreboding of disaster. In 2002, a motion picture popularized the creature's prophetic powers. A couple years later,  a 12-foot-tall chrome-polished statue of the Mothman complete with massive steel wings and ruby-red eyes was placed in front of Point Pleasant's historical museum for all to see.
The last sighting of the Mothman happened in 2016 when a man produced a photograph of the creature. How many disasters can we think that came after?

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area Park, Kentucky/Tennessee

The Land Between the Lakes encompasses hundreds of miles of wilderness lakes and river shores between Kentucky and Tennessee.with easy access points for kayaks and canoes to enter the water to enjoy picturesque views of nature and wildlife. It's a relaxing way to get away from it all, that is until you hear the bloodcurdling howls, but then it might be too late to get away.
The Beast of the Land Between the Lakes is said to be a werewolf, a frightening half-man, half-wolf creature that stands over seven feet with fiery eyes, razor-sharp teeth, and long jagged claws.
Stories have been told about The Beast since before the first white settlers came to the area. Legends told by Native Americans recounted how a massive beast, half-man, and half-wolf, would howl into the night when the moon was full, leaving behind a trail of mutilated animals carcasses. The French tappers called it Loup Garou, meaning werewolf.

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area Park

Before long frighting and gruesome folk tales emerged from the area's woods and bays. Hikers would hear its howling and have sensed something stalking them. Hunters would find deer carcasses that had been brutally torn apart or odd footprints and unusual tufts of hair. While canoeists would see it from the safety of their boats.
Of course, there were also horrifying rumors of the beast slaughtering a family of four in a camper and brutally killing a bow hunter by ripping his body apart.
In 2012 a hiker felt lucky to have survived the experience after coming in contact with the beast. In her first-hand account, she described the beast making the most bloodcurdling snarl she had ever heard. Frozen in fear, she began to pray as she looked at the massive growling beast. Her prayer was answered. The beast left in one direction, and she ran as fast as she could in the other, vowing to never return.
Just as in Bigfoot sightings, there is little physical evidence that the Beast of the Land Between the Lakes is indeed roaming about in the wilderness of the lake country, but don't take our word for it schedule a full moon paddle and listen for the howl.


 The Honey Island Swamp, Louisiana

The Honey Island Swamp is menacing enough with alligators, poison snakes, bears, and wild boars. Add in a few tales of pirates, buried treasure and haunting Indian Spirits, and mysterious green lights flickering, and becomes a bit foreboding. But throw in a swamp monster, and the place becomes downright creepy.
Named because after honeybees were associated with a nearby isle, the swamp borders Lake Borgne on the south and sandwiched between the Pearl River on the east and the west by the West Pearl River and is considered by many to be one of the most pristine swampland habitats in the United States. It is also said to be the home of the Honey Island Swamp Monster.
According to the local folklore, a pair of hunters encountered an enormous creature standing over the body of a bloody dead boar and accompanied by a foul smell in 1963. They would describe it as a terrifying monster, at seven-feet tall with long, orange-brown gray hair and fiendish yellow eyes. Of course, they had never seen anything like it before in the swamp. But where did such a creature come from?
The story that was told was that a traveling circus' train crashed, and the monkeys had escaped and interbreeding with the local alligator population. Experts discounted the claim, however in 1974 hunters found tracks and made a cast of web-footed, four-toed tracks appear to be somewhat similar to an alligator's rear foot supporting the theory. However, the idea of a large, half-ape half-gator lurking in thew swamp has drawn a few doubters over the years, So don't take our word for it. Go see for yourself. There are several swamp tours of the area.

 Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana

And while we will always recommend a reliable guide to lead the way, you just might think twice before following any creepy light blue light zipping through the trees along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, especially if you are a would-be treasure hunter seeking lost pirate gold.
Lake Pontchartrain is an estuary located north of New Orleans. Its brackish water can hasten the storm surge of any hurricane coming inland from the Gulf Of Mexico. As the first water route to New Orleans, it has a bewitching history of missionaries, soldiers, and pirates.
Pirate legend tells of a haunting tale of before the buccaneers would bury their booty, they would kill a member of their crew and toss his body into the hole with the treasure. His spirit doomed to guard the chest would take on the form of an ethereal orb of light known as a fifolet.
Now it was said, in the dead of night along the lake, two men witnessed the ball of blue flame and became mesmerized by it, knowing it would lead them to fabled treasure riches. They frantically chased the light till it stopped over the site and sank into the ground.
Furiously the two men began to dig until they uncovered a treasure chest. Greed overcame one of them as he hit the other head with his shovel monetarily knocking him out until he awoke to the screams of his assailant and treasure being sucked into the darkness of the swamp.
Fearing the same fate he ran away from the sinister spot only to return in the daylight where he found no trace of his partner or the treasure and found only undisturbed earth to mark the nightmarish tomb. Getting Scared?

Deer Island, Mississippi

Just as when Ichabod Crane encountered the Headless Horsemen, if you paddle to Deer Island right off the coast of Biloxi, you might just meet the Headless Skeleton. According to the local folklore, the pirate captain used his cutlass to sliced off the head of one of his crew and left his body behind to guard the buried treasure
As we all know, dead men tell no tales, but fishermen still do. The story goes back to the 1920s, two fishermen were exploring Deer Island when they heard rustling in the bushes, which they assumed was wild hogs. To their surprise, they came face to...well a terrifying headless skeleton ghost that chased them back to their boat. It seems ghost don't cross bridges or know how to swim.


Lake Worth, Texas

Texas is known for its tall tales. I'm sure that why one of the weirdest tales you'll ever hear comes from the Lone Star State. The legend of the Lake Worth creature has been told and retold since causing a widespread hysteria near Fort Worth in 1969.

The Goatman

A banner newspaper headline screamed “Fish Man-Goat Terrifies Couples Parked at Lake Worth” as witnesses claim to see a foul-smelling seven-foot-tall a half-man, half-goat type creature covered with both fur and slimy scales. Reports of hair-raising attacks followed as folks came forward to tell their story of their miraculous escape from the beast by the lake. One man saved himself by throwing leftover chicken at the attacking beast.
The paranoia was fueled even more after newspapers published fuzzy photos of the man-sized "white furball" they called The Goatman," and reports of dead sheep and blood and tracks too big for a man.
The alarm went out went. Texas has its Big Foot monster lurking on the shoreline. The quick draw Texans loaded up their rifles, shotguns, and six-shooters and headed to the lake to hunt the creature dead or alive. According to Dallas Morning News, the posse was at a clearing known for dumping near the lake, "When the monster made another appearance. It appeared on a cliff, looked angry, and threw a tire 500 feet. Everyone, including a group of sheriff deputies, ran away in fear."
The mystery of the "Goatman" was never solved. Real or imagined, even Over 50 years later, the Lake Worth Monster is still feared by many. And as the tale continues to be told and retold around Texas campfires, the legend of the Goatman only grows bigger.

 Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Minnesota

The Great Lakes has always a destination for tourism. It is out of this world for picturesque lake views of scenic coastlines and beautiful beaches. And maybe that's why it gets lake visitors that are not of this world. The two lakes have been the backdrop of many well-documented UFO sightings.
In 1953 over Lake Superior, the U.S. Air Defense Command noticed a blip on the radar where it should not have been. It was an unidentified flying object. An Air Force jet with two crew members was sent out to intercept it. On radar, Ground Control tracked the fighter jet and the UFO as two "blips" on the screen until they converge. Something had happened. And then the first radar blip UFO, return quickly veered off and vanished. Attempts were made to contact the fighter jet without success. The subsequent search and rescue operation failed to find a trace of the plane or the pilots.
The Air Force tried the usual explanation for the disappearance, while others speculated that the jet had crashed into the UFO’s protective beam or beamed them aboard their spacecraft. To this day, it's one of Great Lakes' great mysteries.
 

But the so-called close encounters did stop there. In Duluth, Minn, in 1965, several eyewitnesses reported seeing a flying saucer over Lake Superior. The flashing object was reported at traveling in an erratic path and at high before disappearing in a few seconds. While back on Lake Michigan on March 8, 1994, 911 calls flooded dispatchers with reports of eerie lights filled the sky along nearly 200 miles of lake's shoreline as hundreds of people claimed to have seen the UFOs. Witnesses describe four lights in the sky that looked like "full moons hovering in the sky before vanishing. While the sighting of UFOs continues to occur to this day, that appearance of floating lights was one of the largest UFO sightings in Michigan history remains a mystery.

 Lake Many Point, Minnesota

For years, scary tales around the campfire at Many Point Scout Camp have spooked many a young scout after sundown. Like many spine chilling stories, it's only when glowing embers are at their last that the legend is told. As one of those scouts, my son Taylor Carlson recalled this account from a campfire long ago.   
The story begins with how glaciers formed Lake Agassiz and how that formed the land of Minnesota's lakes. In an Ojibwe legend. A young man was hunting a bear. They fight and both of them die in a river. Their blood mixes and flows back into the man and he awakens as a monstrous Yeti.

The Ojibwe people who had settled along "the lake with many points, " warned French fur traders and lumberjacks. They told them to stay away from the bog on the southeast shore. But, nobody listens, and people died.
In 1946, Wint Hartman opens a summer camp on the shores of the lake. It was said that in those early years, a brave boy and his two nervous friends went on a camp out on a hill near the bog while trying to earn the camping merit badge. They are never seen again. All that was found was a ransacked campsite. It's was ruled as a bear attack, but the Ojibwe knew better and claimed it's was the yeti.
In 1971, Daniel Kaiser is a popular camp commissioner at the camp. He's a beloved big man and certainly not afraid of any stories about a yeti. He builds Flintlock Lodge across the road from the bog.
It was on a cool night in June when Daniel tells jokes and stories at a campfire Ten Chief's Camp. As he leaves, he forgets his flashlight and walks alone in the dark woods back to Flintlock Lodge.
It was before sunrise when Daniel finally bursts into Flintlock Lodge in a terrified panic. The alarmed staff awake and discover him craving into a piece of leather a picture of the yeti. White with fear Daniel, passes out and sleeps for 3 days. He then quits the job and is never seen again.
Meanwhile, the leather picture is framed and hangs in Flintlock Lodge until it is lost in 1995 after a violent windstorm destroys the old lodge.
Sleep well, little campers.

Walgren Lake, Nebraska

In prehistoric days, in what now is Nebraska, there was an inland sea and filled to the brim with scary creatures from the deep. However, today you wouldn't think of finding any ocean creatures outside of fossils anywhere for a state known for its Great Plains. But you would be wrong. In Nebraska's Walgren Lake, stories have been told about the serpentine sea monster that has been circulating the lake for nearly 100 years.

Originally called Alkali Lake, Walgren Lake is a small lake located near the town of Hay Springs. As the story goes, the first sighting of the lake monster happened in 1921. Folks described a creature that was dull grey or brown and similar to an alligator, but much larger and heavier with a horn between its eyes and nostrils.
“There is something there, and very large too,” an eyewitness told the local paper. “Or it could not splash the water as it did.”
In 1923 the Giant fish story only grew, when eyewitnesses reported seeing a 40 feet long single-horned alligator-esque creature in the lake. They said it let out a “dreadful roar” from the water and began to devour anything in its path with its razor-sharp teeth, and it also had an atrocious smell.
Sightings continued throughout the 1920s with second-hand reports of claims of seeing the monster nearby ranchers reporting the loss of many livestock to the beast. The last sighting of the beast was reported in 1885, and it hasn’t been seen since. Unless you count, being celebrated in the community during annual parades.

Rogue River, Oregon

When it comes to UFOs, the Pacific Northwest includes some of the most famous reported sightings in United States history. One of the most famous reports of a UFO happened in McMinnville in 1950. However, almost a year before that sighting, 5 fishermen near the mouth of the Rogue River on Oregon’s Southern Coast near Gold Beach witnessed an object similar to the one in the McMinnville case.

They described it as a shiny plate-shaped object, shaped like a pancake about a mile away and hovering at 5,000 feet. Like the flying saucers from science fiction, it had
no wings, no antenna, no lights, no propellers, and no jet engines.
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations looked into the sighting, and subsequent independent investigations report it as a UFO. Now that is a fish story.

Avocado Lake, California

Avocado Lake Park, located about 23 miles east of Fresno, California, is a great place to enjoy family time paddling and picnicking. Don't believe us? Just ask any member of the local Bigfoot family living near the northern California lake?
Now spotting Bigfoot here and there in Northern California is nothing new. The first report of the hairy, muscular, bipedal ape-like creature was over 60 years ago. But, according to a local farmer near the lake, he said he saw a family of five or six Bigfoot running on his ranch in the middle of the night in 2017.
 “One of them, which was extremely tall, had a pig over its shoulder," he told the local media about the incident.

Avacado Lake

Sightings are not that uncommon near the lake. A woman who said her two sons saw a Bigfoot in their orchard and one from a man who saw five creatures in the same orchard. However, the most frightening account came from 2014 when a man described what felt like 'a pair of hairy arms wrap around both of my legs and started to pull me under' Fighting to getaway the man the escaped the disturbing attack like a....hmmm, a greased pig.

So are you a believer or skeptic? Are there really ghostly spirits, flying saucers, and terrifying monsters lurking along the shoreline? Or are they just some invented imaginary anecdotes told to try to scare us. That's up for you to decide when you paddle these spooky places for yourself. Go ahead. But don't say we didn't warn you. Happy Halloween!

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OVER THE BOW: LAKE TAHOE

"When quietly floating upon the placid surface of Lake Tahoe, the largest of the "gems of the Sierra - nestled as it is, amidst a huge amphitheater of mountain peaks - it is difficult to say whether we are more powerfully impressed with the genuine child-like awe and wonder inspired by the noble grandeur of nature, or with the calmer and more gentle sense of the beautiful produced by the less imposing aspects of the surrounding scenery."  John Le Conte  

I have kayaked bigger lakes by far. Under Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior, Lake of the Wood on the border of U.S. and Canada and into sea caves along Lake Michigan in Door County Wisconsin.  All of those lakes are massive in size.  At their edge, you look out into a sea swell as far as you can see. The horizon falls off into waves. However, at Lake Tahoe, you look across to see the gleaming Sierra Nevada Mountains rising from its blue depths and feel the majesty of the place. American writer, Mark Twain described the thoughts we all must experience when seeing the lake for the first time or one hundredth.

"...at last the Lake burst upon us—a noble sheet of blue water lifted six thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and walled in by a rim of snow-clad mountain peaks that towered aloft full three thousand feet higher still! ... As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords."

You will need waterproof pocket Thesaurus to come up with all the different types of color blue you will see when paddling around the lake. Its cobalt color was long credited to the unusual clarity of the water, however surprising new research suggests that the real explanation lies with algae that live in the lake.

“The result was totally unexpected, since we all expected that clarity and blueness of the lake is correlated,” Dr. Shohei Watanabe, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis, told The Huffington Post, “Clarity is mainly controlled by fine inorganic sediments but blueness is mainly controlled by algal populations.”
Using help from NASA, Wantanabe, measured the lake’s blueness and then combined this “blueness index” with measurements of a Secchi disk, a white disk commonly used to measure its transparency of water that remains visible when it's lowered into it. His results showed that the bluer the lake, the lower the clarity of its water, and the lake is actually bluest when algae concentration is low, suggesting a possible need to change in conservation efforts, which traditionally have focused on controlling sediment to keep the lake water clear.

The blueness of the lake is extraordinary along the massive granite walls of D.L. Bliss State Park's Rubicon Point. There it is hard for me to take my eyes off the water as it changes in hues blues as I paddle along with my son Taylor. Under the point, it is the most stunning shade of indigo I think I have ever seen. North of fabled Emerald Bay, this area is a  popular spot for boaters as well as swimmers, who brave the cool waters. Kayaks and speedboats rock along in the waves along the shoreline. For me, finally paddling towards the horizon of mountains proves to be an exhilarating experience.

"This place is spectacular because it is one of the highest, deepest, oldest and purest lakes in the world." said President Barack Obama told a crowd of about 9,000 at the 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit,  "It’s no wonder that for thousands of years, this place has been a spiritual one. For the Washoe people, it is the center of their world. And just as this space is sacred to Native Americans, it should be sacred to all Americans."

He challenged all of us, to keep the lake's spirit alive through conservation and combating climate change to protect its pristine views, keep its air pure, and most certainly its waters clear and blue.

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, submit it to us at nickayak@gmail.com

This article was originally published Outside Adventure to the Max on September 9, 2016.

 

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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Photo by Josh Bastyr @steeringsouth via ViralHog

Crews this past month have begun working on clearing away the tons of rock and rubble that have blocked the bike trail alongside Lake Natoma since 2017 when winter storms caused a landslide to cover parts of the trail between the Nimbus Dam and Negro Bar Recreation Area that is within California State Park's Folsom Lake SRA just east of Sacramento.

"We're finally fortunate enough to have a contract executed that will start the first phase of the project," Rich Preston, state parks superintendent told ABC 10, "This first phase will last a couple weeks during the initial cleanup, but the trail is going to remain closed until we can do the rest of the stabilization."

Negro Bar Recreation Area

State parks officials say the trail should be back open later this year, but so far no specific date has been  given.

Since the landslide area, many area bikers have ignored the warning signs and climb over a rocky trail to continue on their way, while local paddlers on the lake likewise came up for a closer look. But after seeing three sensational online videos of up-close encounters with massive collapses of ice and rock along the shoreline one might not be to tempt in getting up close.

In Alaska, kayakers, Josh Bastyr and Andrew Hooper, who operate the YouTube channels Steering South and Home With the Hoopers, respectively, ventured out near Spencer Glacier this month. The 11-mile long glacier rises about 3,500 feet above a glacial lake in the Chugach National Forest, located just 60 miles south of Anchorage, Alaska.

As reported by ACCUWEATHER, the two were paddling around the area, when they heard the sound of calving in the distance.
“We keep hearing calving happening and big splashes happening,” Bastyr explained as he narrated his video while paddling up close to the giant glacier. “It sounds like a gunshot going off. We’re going to try to get over to where we think it’s happening. It looks like that’s where it just happened.”

As they continue to move closer in front of the glacier, chunks of ice continued to break and fall in front of them, But moments later just like out of a Hollywood movie, a massive chunk crumbles away and careens into the water. On impact, an enormous splash sends an explosion of a spray of water and a huge wave in their direction.

“Oh my God, look at it,” Bastyr can be heard saying as he furiously paddles away from the scene. “Oh my God. Oh my God, we’re lucky to be alive right now.”
While some viewers to his Youtube channel will point out that the two were too close to the glacier for their safety, Bastyr does not disagree.

“It was the most intense thing I have ever experienced. We know we were way too close, and that we are lucky we didn't get hurt,” Bastyr wrote in follow up on his Facebook page.

Photo courtesy of Jon Smithers and Craig Blacklock

Meanwhile, also this month at Lake Superior's scenic view at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore a tour group of 18 kayakers escaped injuring when a section of cliff broke away and fell leading to some frightening moments on the water.

Closest to the rockfall was paddler Maxim Rigaux who said it was the sound of the collapse he'll remember most.

"It was like experiencing an explosion from very nearby," he told WLUC-TV

The colorful sandstone cliffs of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along with its beaches, sand dunes and waterfalls are a popular destination for kayakers on the big lake. Rising up some 200 feet over the lake,  the cliffs are a unique landscape that is shaped by the power of Lake Superior and are very susceptible to erosion from natural weather conditions along the lake.

In a television interview with WLUC-TV, Rigaux recounted how he started recording when he saw some small rocks falling from the cliff.

"We thought the worst was over, and then actually," he said,  I don't know why, but I just started recording another one,"

Moments later the massive rockfall started raining down into the lake, raising a plume of water and dust covering him and his kayak with a cloud of dirt

"You're beneath the massive rockfall and you have no idea how much more will fall down," he said. "It was quite frightening, especially for a few seconds."

At that same time, Jon Smithers, a nature and wildlife photographer from Saint Peter, Minn. was piloting a drone from a pontoon boat just outside park boundaries with fellow photographer Craig Blacklock when he turned the drone toward the sound just in time to see a huge rock shelf crumbling down and hitting the lake in an explosion of dust and water near the group of kayakers.

“I was really shocked,” Smithers told MLIVE.com, “I had never seen anything like that before. That entire shelf just fell off right in front of our eyes. It was just really incredible. The aroma of old dirt was just ridiculous. Honestly, that was as cool as seeing it fall.”

In all cases, experts urge caution whether hiking or paddling along cliffs or near glaciers. Staying on the trail and fighting the urge to get too close is key to safety.

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THE PINEAPPLE EXPRESS

The usual placid waters of Lake Natoma bolster a fast current now with releases coming down from Folsom Dam.

A Pacific storm system known as the “Pineapple Express” blasted California earlier this week dumping waves of water and snow across the west coast region raising risks of flooding and mudslides.
Drawing its name from a weather phenomenon that periodically heads east in long and narrow bands of water vapor formed over an ocean adjacent to the Hawaiian Islands this past weather system was one of season's strongest in series of storms this winter.

“The (Pineapple) Express is no joke,” Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland told Reuters. "We're talking 3 to 5 inches of rain in San Francisco and coastal areas."
Those torrential rains beginning last Tuesday shattered daily precipitation records in Sacramento and led to flash-flood watches across the region. Water releases from Nimbus and Folsom dams increased as the storm moved through the region.
While at Lake Tahoe a winter storm warning from the National Weather Service in Reno remained in effect for much of the week as some ski resorts on Thursday morning did report over a foot of fresh snow.

The snow is great news for those heading to the Lake Tahoe slopes. The latest in winter storms have increased snow depth at area ski resorts to above-average levels delighting would-be skiers looking for fresh powder. While whitewater kayakers like world-class kayaker Carson Lindsay know that the higher snow means the bigger the water come springtime.
"I’m not only looking forward to some bigger flows in the rivers this spring during the peak runoff but also longer and more sustained flows into the summer as the snow melts!" said Lindsay, "My friends and I have our eyes on some epic whitewater missions and adventures this spring.

The biggest winner however just might be California's water supply which has face uncertainty over the past decade. The snowpack, where the state gets one-third of its water supply, always plays a pivotal role as it slowly melts filling the state's reservoirs, rivers and streams. In wet years, the runoff begins in April and can continue to flow through into August. But in years with less snow accumulation, therefore less precipitation, the runoff can run out as early as May.
The latest statistics from the California Department of Water as of Wednesday, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has an astounding snow water equivalent of 136 percent of historical average for this time of year. That's a big jump from a month ago when the snowpack was at just 69 percent and huge from just last year when it was at only 18 percent of normal.

Californian boaters are cautiously optimistic those numbers will translate into longer high flows and even bigger summer rapids.
"I'm hopeful this year will be better than last. December was drier than normal, but January was above average, so we're off to a good start," said Shingle Springs, Ca., based photographer and paddler Martin Beebee, "I'm looking forward to having more time to run some of the rivers that are really dependent on the winter rain and snow, such as the North Fork American. The more rain and snow."
Lindsay agrees even though he says that typically with these bigger snow packs it makes access difficult in the higher elevations until much later.
"The weather quite a bit nicer and it helps spread out the season a bit more," said Lindsay, "Also, this will help fill the reservoirs so we can have guaranteed world-class commercial rafting 7 days a week."
Although hopeful, Beebee emphasized the uncertainty of the weather and a past history of droughts over several years.
"It's so hard to tell anymore what's going to happen," said Beebee, "Call me a pessimist, but it could just as easily stop raining and snowing after this next storm and leave us high and dry again. 2017 was really an anomaly in the last decade or so when we've mostly been dry"

Landmark Conservation Bill Protects Nearly 620 Miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers

In a landmark conservation bill, the US Senate earlier this week, passed legislation to protect nearly 620 miles of wild and scenic rivers across seven states from damming and other development. With bipartisan support, the bill is the biggest step forward for Wild and Scenic River designations in nearly a decade.
"The overwhelming local support for these protections are the reason why they are moving through Congress despite the gridlock that usually dominates Congress when it comes to natural resource issues." wrote David Moryc the Senior Director Wild and Scenic Rivers and Public Lands Policy for American Rivers on their website this week.

Some details on the rivers protected compiled by American Rivers:

• 256 miles of new designations the for tributaries for the Rogue River, the Molalla, and Elk Rivers in Oregon;
• 110 miles of the Wood-Pawcatuck Rivers in Rhode Island and Connecticut;
• 76 miles of Amargosa River, Deep Creek, Surprise Canyon and other desert streams in California;
• 63 miles of the Green River in Utah;
• 62 miles of the Farmington River and Salmon Brook in Connecticut;
• 52.8 miles of the Nashua, Squannacook and Nissitissit Rivers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Tour boat will change kayaking at Pictured Rocks

 

Courtesy of Moran Iron Works Inc.

Paddling at Lake Superior's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore will get easier for some folks after Moran Iron Works Inc. announced the production of the first-ever kayak launching vessel, designed to take 72 passengers and 36 kayaks. The 64-foot-by-19-foot vessel will be used to take passengers and their kayaks around the Pictured Rocks for guided tours. The custom-designed kayak launch system will be tailored to allow passengers to launch their kayaks offshore once the boat is parked.
Tourism companies on big lakes such as Lake Tahoe will surely take note.

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HAUNTED LAKES: ELEVEN SPOOKY PLACES TO PADDLE

Photo Illustration by Deborah Ann Klenzman

Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvelous beliefs, are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. ---Washington Irving 

By the light of the day, all lakes both large and small provide a vision of tranquility. They are the most peaceful and serene places we have come to know. We take comfort in their beautiful views, bathe in relaxing waters, and have found solitude paddling along their wild and whimsical shorelines.
But beware; after the sun falls behind the horizon, the darkness and the lake will conjugate their mystical powers casting a bewitching spell of uncertainty, dread, and fear. It's on that rim of darkness we will venture, seeking that surreptitious boundary between the water and the night, and real and imaginary.
"Some places speak distinctly," American author Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, "Certain dark gardens cry aloud for a murder; certain old houses demand to be haunted; certain coasts are set apart for shipwreck."
So what's lurking out there in the lake? Is it a spirit from beyond? Or a blend of frightening folklore that exposes our innermost fears and sparks our imaginations? Whether you’re spooked or skeptical, here are few haunted lakes and ponds you just might want to paddle (if you dare), this Halloween or anytime, for your chance to glimpse a ghost.

Gardner Lake, Connecticut
You will find more humor than horror in Connecticut's Gardner Lake. In 1895, the area grocer decided to move from the south side of Gardner Lake to the east side. While many would simply build another house at their new location, the grocer wanted to keep the two-story house he already owned. His solution was to wait till the lake was frozen over and sled his house and contents, including a piano, over the ice.

Gardner Lake

All went well until the ice cracked and the house slowly sank into the water. Not being able to pull it free from the lake's icy grip the home sat there till the spring thaw when it plunged the rest of the way into the bottom of the lake
OK so nobody died and the event is funnier than frightening. So why is lake considered haunted? Well, it's said the ghosts of the people who drowned in the lake can be seen and heard around the lake. That's no big deal for a lot of places. But the most unusual thing some say is on quiet nights, the piano that went down with the house can be heard playing from the spot on the lake where the home met its watery fate. Cue spooky piano music...

Haunted Lake, New Hampshire
The local real estate listings say Haunted Lake is a peaceful and tranquil place featuring shallow pond rimmed birches, pines, and summer cottages. The lake offers fishing, scenery, delightful shade, and unexplained weird noises.
According to the area's folklore, centuries ago a massive forest fire swept through, killing everything and everyone living around the lake. The Native Americans and Europeans settlers in the fire's aftermath were more than a little spooked by the charred trees and burned out landscape. After that, the little pond was called Haunted Lake.

Haunted Lake

In 1753, surveyor Matthew Patten only added to the little pond's lore when he wrote this in his diary while camping near the pond's outlet: "Soon after darkness set in, there commenced groaning and shrieks as of human being in distress, and these continued, most plaintive and affecting, till nearly morning."
The pond took on the identity of Scoby Lake when a family by the same name built a mill there. Of course, that didn't end the spookiness surrounding the pond, especially after they uncovered some skeletal remains on the lake shore. Its pseudonym as Haunted Lake would only endure.

Lake Ronkonkoma, New York
The creepy tales told of Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island’s largest lake, say that it's a deep dark abyss with no bottom. It's so cold that spirits of ice skaters have been seen skating across it when it wasn't even frozen. However, the most prominent legend involves an Indian maiden who was not permitted to marry her white boyfriend. Overwrought with despair, she drowned herself in the lake, but not before vowing to drown one young man every year from then on.

Lake Ronkonkoma

The story that prologues the curse of Lake Ronkonkoma has all the ingredients of a Shakespeare tragedy. Two young star-crossed lovers; a beautiful Native American princess and her steadfast colonist pledging undying love for one another on the banks of the lake. Forbidden to see each other, they use the lake to float love notes written on birch bark back and forth to one another, proclaiming their enduring devotion.
Finally, they agree to marry and run away together. But they were found out. A fight ensues and our brave young colonist is killed. Overcome by grief, our young maiden paddles her canoe to the deepest part of the lake. Tying a rock to her body, she then casts herself into the water, but not before casting a sinister curse over the entire lake, saying because her love was unfulfilled, one young man will drown in the lake every year from then on.
Now here is where it gets bizarre. Folks around the lake say at least one person has drowned every year over the past 200 years, with most of them being young men.

Lake Lanier, Georgia
Is there something sinister happening at Georgia's Lake Lanier?
The 38,000-acre lake 40 miles north of downtown Atlanta is one of the state's most popular getaway destinations. The grim stats however also show that for many, it was also their final destination.
Constructed over 50 years ago, the lake is cursed with a ghoulish legacy. In making way for the water, workers unearthed and relocated the remains of nearly 20 cemeteries before flooding the valley. Those empty graves and scores of ghost towns were then entombed under fathoms of lake water, bestowing a fair share of strange mysteries to the area.
By far the best ghost story is the spine-chilling tale of Susie Roberts and Delia Mae Parker Young. Driving home in 1958, they missed the bridge and met their fate in the murky water. For over a year, it was a mystery of what had happened to them, until the lake released Delia's body from the deep. It must have been a terrible sight; wearing a blue dress, her body was missing both hands and her left foot was minus two toes. Ever since the accident, there had been rumors circulating about the Lady of the Lake. A ghost with no hands wandering on the bridge in her blue dress trying to find her hands.
It took 32 more years to recover Susie's body. In November 1990 a construction crew working on the bridge discovered a car with Susie's remains inside. It was a mystery solved, but tales of Lady of the Lake appearing near the bridge still persist.

Lake Lanier

Add that to the fact that over the years there have been a disproportionate amount of deaths associated with the lake, ranging from boating accidents, drownings, and drivers careening off the road into the water, as well as several unsolved murders, giving the lake a menacing and spooky reputation. According to 2017 article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, since 1994 at least 160 people have died in or around the lake. It's not hard to see why the local population thinks the lake is cursed.
The stories from accident survivors and near-drowning victims concur that the waters seem to be damned. There are accounts of boats hitting something where there is nothing, watercraft capsizing for no apparent reason and sudden waves without warning. In drowning incidents, the survivors have described the sensation of being pulled under by unseen hands.
Could they be the missing hands of the Lady of the Lake, or could it be the Angel of Death come calling?
For many, the lake's latest ghost story may be its most frightening. It has been reported that several eyewitnesses have seen in the dead of the night a mysterious ghostly raft piloted by a shadowy specter. Similar to the boatman on mythological River Styx, the phantom is holding a lantern and guiding the craft with a pole. The apparition appears out of nowhere before disappearing in the darkness.

Manchac Swamp, Louisiana
Nothing is creepier than a swamp. Adrift in the murky water, be on the lookout for snakes, gators and in the Manchac Swamp, the spectral spirit of a voodoo priestess who just happened to leave behind a death wish that to this day still plagues the swamp.
Located near New Orleans, the Manchac Swamp is a web of waterways through a forest of bald cypress, water tupelo, and freshwater marshes. Its resident ghost is said to be Julia Brown, who before dropping dead in 1915 made a terrifying prediction to the townsfolk, singing, “One day I’m gonna die, and I’m gonna take all of you with me.”
She was true to her word. The day of her funeral a devastating hurricane ripped through the entire village, killing hundreds. So many in fact, that locals claim it’s still common for skeletons to resurface today drifting in the muggy swamp.

1915 Hurricane

“The water was washin’ in the front door," Louis Barbier, recounted his experience. "We thought we were gone. All the camps down there are gone. On the big lake, that had big timber, big cypress timber, it was just like a big boar went along there."
Today, the only thing that remains on the island where Brown’s village once stood is a mass grave where the dead were buried. Over the years, hundreds of people have experienced the sound of a ghostly voice singing Bown’s infamous song.
Both the 2009 A&E special Extreme Paranormal and 2013 SyFy series Haunted Highway believe they caught substantial evidence of the unexplained paranormal activity on camera while filming an episode in the swamp.

White Rock Lake, Texas
One of Dallas' best-known ghost stories is the Lady of the Lake, who haunts White Rock Lake Park. It starts like any late night campfire tale, a young couple on a romantic moonlit drive around the lake encounter a young beautiful girl dressed in a sheer white dress along the road, dripping wet and soaked from head to foot.

That first account was published in the Texas Folklore Society’s publication, Backwoods to Border, in 1943. Ever since then, the legend of the Lady of the Lake has grown. One account has the apparition as a drowning victim from a boating accident in the 1930s, while another has the lost soul being a distraught bride a victim of a tragic suicide.
Dallas-area newspapers published reports of ghostly encounters in the 1960s, while on Halloween night in 1985, several psychics held a candlelight vigil trying to contact the Lady without much luck. But if you want to take a drive along the lake, we recommend waterproof seat covers just to be safe.

Veteran's Lake, Oklahoma
The stories related to Veterans Lake read more like a script from a low-budget Hollywood horror film. A pair of vengeful phantasms that wreak havoc by luring unsuspecting people into the water and drowning them after sundown.
As the story goes, back the 1950s a woman was watching her son play in the small man-made lake in what is now the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The mother, distracted for only a moment, looked up to see that her son had disappeared under the water. Being a good mother she rushed into the lake to save her son, only to be pulled under herself, resulting in them both drowning.
But the story doesn't end there. A few years later, it was said that another girl drowned in the lake as a result of a boating accident, and now as the night nears the two apparitions can be seen hovering over the lake searching for their next victims.
Considered one of the most haunted places in all of Oklahoma, the lake often induces a feeling of unease and panic in visitors after the sun sets. Linked to a 2015 murder and kidnapping and 2009 incident where a man drowned while trying the save the life a young child that had difficulty swimming, the lake's reputation for creepiness has only increased.

Lake Superior, Minnesota, Michigan & Wisconsin
Mariners say Lake Superior seldom gives up her dead. Icy and cold, it's called the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" with harrowing tales of shipwrecks, spooky lighthouses, and ghost ships.
While not as famous as the Edmund Fitzgerald, the freighter Canada Steamship Lines SS Kamloops disappeared in 1927 with 22 people onboard while steaming towards Isle Royale. The search continued for the next 50 years before divers found the vessel in 1977. While exploring the engine room, they reported a preserved body that appeared to follow them around the room.

SS Kamloops

The lake's lonely picturesque lighthouses also produce a wide variety of ghosts. Witnesses at the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse have described the ghostly figure of a girl, seen staring out the upper floor window, peering out at the horizon towards the big lake.
At the Big Bay Point Lighthouse B&B, to this day, guests are awakened by the ghost of an elderly groundskeeper with Coast Guard attire standing at the foot of their bed in the middle of the night morning the loss of his son, before then vanishing back into the walls.
Meanwhile at Split Rock Lighthouse, local legend says a visitor in the mid-1980s saw a man in a lightkeeper's uniform on the catwalk long after the museum had closed for the evening. When he returned the next day, he was told no one was in the tower after hours.
The sight of ghost ships has circulated throughout the big lake's history. The latest account happened in October of 2016 when Jason Asselin and a friend were taking in the fall foliage in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. When they stopped to photograph a gorgeous rainbow over the lake, things got spooky.
“We were looking at it [the rainbow] and noticed the object”, Asselin told CBS News, “I zoomed in and still couldn’t understand what I was seeing. I’ve been there before and never saw it before. It really just didn’t belong there, I’ve seen ships before and it looked nothing like that."
They watched it for a while before it just disappeared.

Spirit Lake, Idaho
Near the Coeur d'Alene, nestled in a scenic mountain valley, Spirit Lake paints a dreamlike view of Shangri-La. Often a veil of mist floats over the lake intermingling with through dark silhouetted pines standing guard at the water's edge. It's a virtual happily-ever-after with the lake's crystal clear waters and gleaming mountain views.
However, the legend of Spirit Lake doesn't have a romantic fairytale ending for our two forlorn lovers. They are united only in death, where their spirits now haunt the lake making it one of the spookiest places in Idaho.
The saga has been told for generations of Hya-Pam, the beautiful and faithful girl whose name means Fearless Running Water. She was the daughter of the tribe's chief and madly in love with one of the tribe's handsome braves.
But a villainous chieftain from another tribe threatened war if he could not have the lovely Hya-Pam for his very own. Wanting peace for his people Hya-Pam's father could only agree.

Spirit Lake

Now the story from here on has several endings, so pick your favorite.
One says, on the day of the marriage ceremony. Hya-Pam's true love kills the evil chieftain and rescues her in a canoe. But in their escape across the lake, a rain of arrows fall upon them, killing them both. In another version, Hya-Pam's true love is killed in the battle as she escapes in a canoe. But seeing he has been killed, she paddles to the middle of the lake and throws her body overboard. Meanwhile, the last story has the two lovers tying themselves together and leaping from Suicide Cliff into the lake, never to be found again.
All the endings of course resulted in the same tragic conclusion, so don't plan on there being a Disney movie anytime soon. So sad in fact, that the Native Americans changed the name of the lake from "Clear Water" to "Lake of the Spirits." because in the spring they hear mournful and haunting sounds emanating from along its shores.
And to this day, people often report seeing the two young lovers ghostly silhouettes on moonlit nights paddling the lake in their phantom canoe till it disappears into the mist.

Lake Tahoe, California
Rising 150-feet out the water, Fannette Island, Lake Tahoe's only rocky isle, is found in scenic Emerald Bay on the west shore of the lake. It's been called many things over the past 100 years; Coquette, Baranoff, Hermit's, but by far its creepiest name was Dead Man's Island.
Captain Dick Barter lived on the island in the 1870s. A retired British sea captain, he looked after a railroad tycoon's five-room summer villa. A recluse who enjoyed the company of drink, he would pilot his dinghy he called The Nancy to Tahoe City or the South Shore to visit the local saloons, often coming back sozzled.
It was one occasion in January 1870, Captain Dick capsized his boat in the chilly waters of the lake.
"The night was of inky blackness, the weather intensely cold, the mercury being many degrees below zero,” Captain Dick told a local reporter, “I knew it was useless to call for help. I also knew if I got in my boat and attempted to reach the shore, I should certainly freeze to death.”
He made it back but ended up amputating his own toes after the harrowing experience.

Captain Dick's Chapel

Fearing the lake had his number, he chiseled a tomb in the island's granite and erected a wooden chapel and mounted a wooden cross on top. He let it be known to his bar buddies that if it ever happens again and his body washes ashore, he would like to buried on the island.
The lake did in fact have his number and claimed Captain Dick's life on October 18, 1873, as he was returning from Tom Rowland’s Lake House Saloon. His boat was found smashed to bits against the rocks at Rubicon Point.
They never found his body. His tomb on Dead Man's Island remains empty to this day. But it is said, on chilly evenings in October when the mist provides an eerie bridge to the isle, the ghost of Captain Dick can be seen rising from the lake's icy grip and climbing up the steep weathered rock in search of his final resting place on Fannette Island.

Stow Lake, California
Of all the sights to see San Francisco, Golden Gate Park's Stow Lake is understandably not necessarily at the top of the list. Surprisingly, however, it's the site of The City by the Bay's favorite ghost story.

Stow Lake

Created in 1893, the 12-acre doughnut-shaped pond is a perfect spot daytime for a stroll, a picnic, or pedal boat ride around Strawberry Hill Island. However, for those brave enough to visit after dark, you just might encounter "The White Lady". Not a shy ghost like most, she will rise out of the lake as a glowing white apparition and in a haunting yet terrified voice, she will ask you only one question, "Have you seen my baby?"
The story is as old as the lake itself. A young mother had brought her baby to the park in a stroller to enjoy the day. Stopping briefly to talk with another woman sitting on a bench, she does not notice that stroller and baby have rolled away from her and into the lake. When she realizes her baby is gone, the scene turns into every parent's nightmare as she frantically rushes around the searching for the lost child and asking everyone she sees if they have seen her baby. Her horror is only magnified when she comprehends that stroller and baby must be in the lake. She goes into the lake herself and never resurfaces.
The grief-stricken mother is never identified and the only clue that the story could be possibly true comes from a newspaper account. On July 10, 1906, The San Francisco Call reported that two girls living in a nearby camp, set up after the Great Earthquake, said they saw "the naked body of a baby floating" in nearby Lloyd Lake. According to the newspaper, police investigated and even dragged the lake but could find no trace of the body.
Over the past century, the narrative has only grown. A popular urban legend says you can even summon the lady by chanting “White lady, white lady, I have your baby" three times at the water's edge. Of course, answering her question will lead to either a lifetime of haunting or instant death, so it's probably not a good idea when you visit.
Although that pedal boat ride sounds fun. But in the daytime of course.

So do you believe in ghosts? Or are they just creepy stories passed down over the years? Whatever the answer is, these tales have become intertwined with the history and lore of the lakes. They have captured our imaginations and provide us an opportunity for a spooky paddling adventure to go see for ourselves.

IT'S NO PICNIC

When I paddle I usually pick up trash along the way. Over the years I have taken part in river cleanups and made a pledge with American Rivers to pick up 3 pieces of trash every time I paddle. I'm in the habit now, of steering toward a floating plastic bottle or fishing a beer can or plastic bag out of a tree. As a steward of the lake or river, I feel it's my obligation to pick up and pack out litter along the waterways I travel.

According to Mother Nature Network, The earth's oceans have a big plastic problem. They receive roughly 8 million metric tons of plastic waste every year, washing there from its shore and carried thereby inland littered rivers.
Those plastic bottles and bottle caps we all use aren’t biodegradable, but they do photodegrade. That means that the plastic breaks down into small parts in the sun, and releases chemicals into the environment. The worst part, of course, is like the plastic crumbles into smaller pieces called microplastics, it often will fatally trick marine wildlife into eating it.

While plastic bottles are one of the biggest culprits. American Rivers listed the four most common trash items found at river cleanups other plastic bottles.

Cigarette Butts  Can you believe they weigh one gram or less, but they account for 30% of all litter in the United States.

Food Packaging  Tossed Food containers is the largest category of waste usually picked up during cleanup drives. It includes household packaging (i.e. milk jugs, juice boxes, and snack packaging) as well as fast food packaging (i.e. paper, Styrofoam, paperboard wrappings, coffee cups, and drink cups). Almost half of the litter in the United States is food packaging. Think about that on your next picnic and while some of these items could be recycled, most are not, and often these are found weighing down shorelines and waterways.

Plastic Bags  Plastic bags are so common in the United States that over 100 billion bags are used each year. Over three times more bags end up as litter in our forests and waterways than are recycled annually. Plastic bags take almost as long to degrade as plastic bottles, leach chemicals into the environment, and inhibit natural water flows. The good news, however, is after California banned most stores from handing out flimsy, single-use plastic bags, according to the LA Times, data has shown plastic bags (both the banned and the legal variety) accounted for 3.1% of the litter collected from the state's beaches during the 2017 Coastal Cleanup Day, down from to 7.4% in 2010.


Aluminum Cans  Almost 100 billion aluminum cans are used in the U.S. annually, and only about half of these cans are recycled. The rest goes to landfills or into the environment. Beverage containers account for 50% of roadside litter (though this statistic includes plastic containers), and much of that is washed into our waterways.

Of course, nowhere on this list did you find a picnic table, but my wife and I found one in floating in the middle of Lake Natoma last month. We could only assume it pushed or pulled into the lake by someone who doesn't love the rivers and lakes as much as we do. I find it disturbing that someone could have such destructive malice towards a body of water I love so dearly.
My wife and I did our best to push the floating picnic table to shore. I used the bow of my kayak to navigate to a spot on the shore where we could lift it out of the water. It was slow going. The table continued to fall away from my bow as I angled it toward shore. But each time I caught the table again and inched along closer to shore.
When we got to the shore, a fisherman on the bank helped pull that table as much as we could up on to dry ground. It was wet and heavy, but we got it mostly out of the water.

It was no picnic getting that table out of the water but it does remind us that pieces of trash and things like picnic tables seem to end up in our local streams, lakes, and rivers. So I encourage everyone making cleaning up the waterway part of your paddling routine. Take American Rivers' Clean Up River Pledge to pick up 25 pieces of trash over the next 25 days. Clean up our rivers and help build a virtual landfill! After you take the pledge, take a photo of your trash, and post on Twitter, Instagram or Vine using the hashtag #rivercleanup. Whether you’re out on the water or in your neighborhood picking up litter, show them how well you clean up.


MISSION COMPLETE 
Paddler Joseph Mullin ended his 5,000-mile solo kayaking journey to create awareness for Mission 22, a national organization aimed at suicide prevention among veterans and active military members on September 30, in Key West, Florida. Called the, One Man, One Mission, To Save Thousands Expedition, Mullin started his trek on April 30, 2017, at Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Maine. For more read our Q/A with Mullin.

Courtesy of Joseph Mullin

LAKE SUPERIOR SPITS BACK MAN'S LONG-LOST CANOE
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when skies turn gloomy, but it did exactly that when it mysteriously returned Paul Kellner's canoe that had been missing for over a year after a storm raged over Duluth, Minnesota, and Lake Superior earlier this month.
“It’s the weirdest thing,” Kellner told the Forum News Service, “Do I think the lake spit it back out? “No. I like to think it’s aliens, because why not have fun with it?”

Courtesy of MPR News

Kellner's blue 16-foot pale durable Old Town canoe vanished from his lakeside home over a year ago. Thinking it had been stolen, Kellner didn't expect to see it again. So it came as a big surprise when one of his teenage sons came rushing into the house amid the storm to proclaimed, “Dad, the canoe’s back!”"It's just an odd, odd story," Kellner said, “I’ve always thought there was something magic about Duluth, "
Especially when the gales of November come early.

BWCA TURNS 40
Forty years ago this month, on October 21, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act. The act amended the national Wilderness Act of 1964 to provide management to protect, preserve, and enhance the lakes, waterways and forested areas of Minnesota's BWCA while guaranteeing the elimination all logging, snowmobiling, and mining.
While an estimated 150,000 people visit the BWCA each year, the wilderness area is still under threat from the risks of proposed copper-nickel mining within its watershed.