MY WALDEN

"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature." - Henry David Thoreau

It's a right turn. Another right after a block. Then down the hill and across the bridge. To my right, is the river, to my left is the lake. A left turn towards the park entrance and through the gate. A wave to the park attendant gate and then turn left into the parking lot. The kayak comes off the roof and slides into the water.
I'm on the lake now and paddling hard to cross it. Only a little further to go as I  round the bend into quiet waters. My kayak whisperers as I glide through the culvert under the bike trail. I'm there now. My own personal Walden.

Walden or Life in the Woods written by philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, in 1854, is a reflection upon living simply in nature's surroundings. Thoreau detailed his daily experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond in the woods owned by his friend and mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson near Concord, Massachusetts.

"In such a day, in September or October, Walden is a perfect forest mirror, set round with stones as precious to my eye as if fewer or rarer. Nothing so fair, so pure, and at the same time so large, as a lake, perchance, lies on the surface of the earth. Sky water. It needs no fence. Nations come and go without defiling it. It is a mirror which no stone can crack, whose quicksilver will never wear off, whose gilding Nature continually repairs; no storms, no dust, can dim its surface ever fresh; — a mirror in which all impurity presented to it sinks, swept and dusted by the sun's hazy brush — this the light dust-cloth — which retains no breath that is breathed on it, but sends its own to float as clouds high above its surface, and be reflected in its bosom still." -Henry David Thoreau

Some 160 years later, I find this same peace and solitude paddling in the sloughs of Lake Natoma. There is only one way in and one way out. No rush after that. Only a watery path meandering through little islands that geese, ducks, and frogs call home. Along the way, I hear the plop of turtles falling off the dead logs into the water. I can see them for only moments before they slip under the dark water. I'm just a little too close, I suppose.

There is a touch of color along the banks. Bright reds and dull yellows in the trees give notice that it is autumn in northern California. Blackberry bushes line the water's edge. Weeks ago they were full of ripe berries, but they are mostly gone now. Up and away, towards the end of the slough, cattails take over the view. Ducks and deer are common here. The deer stand motionless hoping not to be seen before escaping into the woods, while the ducks swim about used to visitors.

The kayak makes little sound gliding through the water. My paddle slides in and out methodically.  There is no hurry at my Walden.

This article was originally published in Outside Adventure to the Max on October 31. 2014 

 

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MY WALDEN

"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature." - Henry David Thoreau

It's a right turn. Another right after a block. Then down the hill and across the bridge. To my right, is the river, to my left is the lake. A left turn towards the park entrance and through the gate. A wave to the park attendant gate and then turn left into the parking lot. The kayak comes off the roof and slides into the water.
I'm on the lake now and paddling hard to cross it. Only a little further to go as I  round the bend into quiet waters. My kayak whisperers as I glide through the culvert under the bike trail. I'm there now. My own personal Walden.

Walden or Life in the Woods written by Henry David Thoreau, philosopher, and naturalist in 1854, is a reflection upon living simply in nature's surroundings. Thoreau detailed his daily experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond in the woods owned by his friend and mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson near Concord, Massachusetts.

"In such a day, in September or October, Walden is a perfect forest mirror, set round with stones as precious to my eye as if fewer or rarer. Nothing so fair, so pure, and at the same time so large, as a lake, perchance, lies on the surface of the earth. Sky water. It needs no fence. Nations come and go without defiling it. It is a mirror which no stone can crack, whose quicksilver will never wear off, whose gilding Nature continually repairs; no storms, no dust, can dim its surface ever fresh; — a mirror in which all impurity presented to it sinks, swept and dusted by the sun's hazy brush — this the light dust-cloth — which retains no breath that is breathed on it, but sends its own to float as clouds high above its surface, and be reflected in its bosom still." -Henry David Thoreau

Some 160 years later, I find this same peace and solitude paddling in the sloughs of Lake Natoma. There is only one way in and one way out. No rush after that. Only a watery path meandering through little islands that geese, ducks, and frogs call home. Along the way, I hear the plop of turtles falling off the dead logs into the water. I can see them for only moments before they slip under the dark water. I'm just a little too close, I suppose.

There is a touch of color along the banks. Bright reds and dull yellows in the trees give notice that it is autumn in northern California. Blackberry bushes line the water's edge. Weeks ago they were full of ripe berries, but they are mostly gone now. Up and away, towards the end of the slough, cattails take over the view. Ducks and deer are common here. The deer stand motionless hoping not to be seen before escaping into the woods, while the ducks swim about used to visitors.

The kayak makes little sound gliding through the water. My paddle slides in and out methodically.  There is no hurry at my Walden.

This article was originally published in Outside Adventure to the Max on October 31. 2014 

 

Seal slaps kayaker in the face with an octopus

A kayaker in New Zealand has become a viral sensation after a seal slapped him the face with an octopus last month.
Kyle Mulinder was paddling with friends off the coast of Kaikoura when he felt the big wet slap in the face and realized it was an octopus that was whipped at him by a seal.
"Out of nowhere, it literally rose from the depths, as it was mid-fight, thrashed it around, and the rest is history," Mulinder told Australia's Network 10 News. “It was weird because it happened so fast but I could feel all the hard parts of the octopus on my face like 'dum dum dum'.”
Caught on camera by Taiyo Masuda, the octopus slap has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times all over the world and made Mulinder an instant star.
"My Uber driver who just brought us here (for a television interview) just goes 'you're the guy, you're the octopus guy'."

 

BOATHOUSE DAYS

        I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately -- Henry David Thoreau 

On a July day in 1845, Henry David Thoreau embarked on a two-year odyssey of living simply in a small house on the shores of Walden Pond. Nine years later after revising his manuscript, he published his classic Walden, or Life in the Woods recounting his time on the lake.

While I have to admit I'm no Thoreau, but through a series of events this past summer, I found myself embracing the charm, beauty, and tranquility of the lake, much like he did at Walden Pond, while running the small boathouse and rentals operation on Lake Jenkinson at Sly Park Recreation Area during the weekends.

Lake Jenkinson is an idyllic setting nestled in the Sierra foothills near Pollock Pines, California. Surrounded by a fringe of tall pines that reminded me of lakes of the Northwoods of my past. Divided by a narrow channel, the lake has two main parts. The larger rounded lower lake is home to the speedboats, picnic, and campgrounds and swimming beach, while the upper lake is narrower, much quieter and home to the boathouse. Over the summer, while renting out a slew of kayaks, canoes and standup paddleboards, I kept a series of notes recounting events and my daily observations of the lake.

June 17...It's Father's Day at Sly Park. Dan Crandall and The River Store took over the Sly Park Boat this season and so far it seems business is good. We have four canoes, a dock full of kayaks and seven paddleboards ready to rent. It's all fun stuff on one of the area's most beautiful lakes.  
Dan has two other employees working here, one doing the paperwork while other loads and unloads the people into the crafts to get them on their way. I'll be training most of the day to learn the operation. 

June 24...It was the summer solstice a few days ago. The long hot days of summer days, at last, sparking my memories like lightning bugs as each dazzling thought of summers past flickers in my head. If you would have told me I would someday be in Northern California running a boat rental house and dock on pine encompassed lake I would've never have believed it. How could I be so lucky? But, here I am, renting kayaks and canoes on the lake.
  

July 6...The sounds of children laughing and the waves rocking the dock is the soundtrack of the lake. It's my perfect world as the neighborhood eagle soars overhead. 
My wife Debbie is working with me today and it was a little slow at the start, but business picked up later in the afternoon. Single kayaks and SUPs are $20 dollars an hour while tandem kayaks and canoes are $30. It makes for a fun day for folks wanting to get out on to the water.

July 14...The lake is busy today. At one time, we had all the boats rented out on the water. The pace is brisk for me. Checking folks in and getting them outfitted to be on the lake. 
The canoes look fine, but I've not been able to paddle them yet. They're Old Town canoes and they look right out of my memories of Minnesota. We can get a family on the water with little problems with them. The big sit on top ocean kayaks are like the ones I paddled in LaJolla. The tandems kayaks are long, wide and mostly heavy.

From here on, my time at the boathouse turns into a more solitary experience outside a few visits from my wife Debbie. The two other employees who started off the season quit for one reason or another leaving me alone much like Thoreau 173 years ago on banks of Walden Pond.

July 27...A misty haze covers the lake and trees of Lake Jenkinson. There are fires burning all over California pushing their streams of smoke into the hills and mountains. I can see only the dark silhouetted shadows of tree points showing through the milky cloud. By the way, it looks I would think it would be cooler because it's more similar to the appearance of a marine layer's cold wet fog. But it's not so. Temperatures here have been boiling. Even an escape by jumping into the lake isn't as refreshing as it should be, being it's almost like bathwater at 78 degrees. 

August 3...A return to my roots today as I take the Old Town Discovery canoe out on the lake before I open up the boathouse. I can't go far. Just across the lake and back. Canoeing is how I got into paddling I told Dan when he dropped off a load of kayaks and PFDs that afternoon. That's when I learned to paddle by taking trips on the Missouri and Niobrara rivers. I'm still kicking my self that I didn't take the trip to the BWCA when I had the chance.
Like riding a bike, I remember. The bow slightly raised out of the water as I paddle from the side to side from the stern.

August 5...Finally a clear morning. Waking up the boathouse, I'm always taken in by the pine and aroma of the forest. Each prickly needle and cone giving off the unmistakable fragrance of the woods and lake. It stops me for a moment to breathe it all in.

August 10...It's one of those Thoureu like mornings. It's started off a very quiet morning on the lake only a few fishermen gently motoring by otherwise it's pretty much like it would be a 100 years ago. As I float in the stillness I think everyone should appreciate an escape to a quiet lake.
So it's more than little upsetting when loud music rap interrupts the silence from the upper campground. At times like these, as Sigurd Olson said, "All noise is sacrilege."

August 11...I think back on all the times I thought about how hard it was to roll a canoe, but with two people rolling over today within sight of the boat dock losing a shoe and cell phone in the process. I have to say some folks find a way.

As summer continued I followed a uniformed routine at the boathouse that usually consisted of getting up early on Fridays, Saturday, and Sundays and driving the 45 miles to the lake. Upon arrival, I would zigzag down a steep trail and open the gate and unlock the house floating on the dock.
The cumbersome part of the day was removing the heavy but sturdy paddle boards that I had locked away inside the house on my last visit and stow them alongside on the house. From there I would get all release forms and cashbox ready and wait for customers to come walking down the trail.
On command, the wind from the east dies just after nine turning the lake into glossy reflective paradise. It's only for a couple of hours before the west wind comes gusting back through the narrows.
This was my opportunity to take out a canoe or paddle board and float idly in the emerald green of the water a short distance from the dock. It's was time to reflect and observe. It's was my favorite time on the lake.

August 19...A rocky red bathtub ring emerges around the lake between the trees and the water. Without rain, it's common in the summer months as the lake is slowly drained away. The boat patrol guy that drops by daily says it's at 85% capacity.  But, he says he has seen much worse. 
How far to the waterfall? The customers will ask. It's not far, but it's not flowing, I'll tell them sadly. You will have to come back in the spring.

August 24...Paddle day one hundred this year spent in a canoe. Thoreau, Sigurd Olson, and Bill Mason would be proud. These guys will live on forever with every dip of the paddle. Not for showing how to canoe, but a thousand reasons why to canoe.
It's a nice way to spend a summer morning across from primeval pines silhouetted in mist and smoke on perfectly still water. with a mug coffee and brief bible lesson. In a canoe, I float in the stillness within an earshot of the boathouse. People are in such a hurry these days. They have little interest in the power of the paddle. We do have a motorboat at the boathouse that people ask to use. They're always disappointed when I say it's not for rent. 

August 26...I find it amazing how sound travels over water. While in the middle of the lake I can hear the clatter coming from campgrounds, kids yelling on the beach and each jogger footstep as they thud, thud, thud down the trail around the lake with theatre like acoustics.
The lake being an oasis for everyone,  I also listen to the many languages the coming from around the water. There is Spanish, German and Russian, Hindi, Farsi, and varieties of Chinese languages. I can't help thinking this what it would have sounded like during the Gold Rush. Now instead gold they are seeking the treasure of the water and the outside.
   

August 31...Other than visiting customers, my boathouse neighborhood consists of darting minnow and fish swimming in the dark shadows beneath the dock, two sunning turtles on stumps just out of the water and couple of lizards that quickly hide when I climb up the steps to the parking lot. In the sky two ravens and a hawk circle above. I haven't seen the eagle in several days, but he likes to sit in the high pines from across the boathouse. There are also a couple of forging ducks who hope I will drop a corn chip or two into the water.

September 2...It's Labor Day weekend and one of my busiest days of the whole summer season. At one time, all my boats except for a few were being rented. I did my best to keep everyone moving on and off the water with surprisingly good efficiency. But, when a lady rolled her kayak after getting bumped into by another, I told her to swim to the ladder and I'll retrieve the upside-down boat.
Quickly into the water, I got a hold of the kayak and hooked it to the dock. But, somewhere in process of the boat rescue, I  ripped a six-inch tear in my favorite pair of shorts. The only problem was I didn't notice it till a bit later when I was sitting on the aluminum dock steading a canoe for young lady when I noticed a burning sensation on my bare buns. Of course, I could change since my dock was so crowded customers providing some challenges. Let's just say I didn't turn my back on any of them.

September 8...We are going into extra innings at the boathouse. In the past, under the old management, they have always closed up on Labor Day. But, Dan thought let's just see what happens by keeping the place open for two weekends after the end of the summer holiday.
It turns out to be a good day renting mostly canoes and tandem kayaks Saturday afternoon as people want to try and get as many people as they can into each craft. How many does it fit they will ask? My answer is not as many as you would hope for. 

This weekend I'll wrap up my summer season at the boathouse. It's been as Thoreau called it "soothing employment" to bask in the warmth of the sun, overlooking the pond. Even though I had to push boats and canoes around throughout my day the time always seemed to go quickly. Every day brought smiling customers, visionary delights and solace on the water.

"How peaceful the phenomena of the lake." Thoreau would write of Walden Pond.

Indeed.

EARTH DAY 2018: CLEAN WATER AND A HEALTHY ENVIROMENT, IT BEGINS WITH YOU

Walden Pond 1908

Genesis 9:13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

I've never been there, but have been there hundreds of times. Naturalist and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau's made his beloved Walden Pond, "a perennial spring in the midst of pine and oak woods," near Concord, Massachusetts, come alive to millions of who have never seen it either in his best-known work, “Walden; or, Life in the Woods.” The pond has become a symbol of to most environmentalists as living simply in the harmony of nature.

Henry David Thoreau

An early recreational hiker and canoeist Thoreau was an advocate for conserving natural resources on private land, and of preserving wilderness in public land. He would influence generations of naturalists and environmentalists such as the likes of John Burroughs and John Muir.
Recounting the two years, two months, and two days he spent at Walden Pond in 1854, Thoreau recorded a virtual Eden with phrases describing the pond's divine purity, beauty and solitude.

The scenery of Walden is on a humble scale, and, though very beautiful, does not approach to grandeur, nor can it much concern one who has not long frequented it or lived by its shore; yet this pond is so remarkable for its depth and purity as to merit a particular description.

 This water is of such crystalline purity that the body of the bather appears of an alabaster whiteness...

The water is so transparent that the bottom can easily be discerned at the depth of twenty-five to thirty feet.  Paddling over it, you may see, many feet beneath the surface, the schools of perch and shiners, perhaps only an inch long, yet the former easily distinguished by their transverse bars...

So it's surprising to hear that Walden Pond, the famed pristine jewel of that inspired Thoreau's environmentalism is being polluted.

At first glance, I wish it were some evil corporation dumping tainted sludge into the water or the weak efforts of EPA letting off the perpetrators, but it not. According to a new study, Walden Pond heavily used recreational venue has been befouled by years of swimmers, anglers, and visitors urinating in the water.

“These findings suggest that, although mitigation efforts have curtailed anthropogenic nutrient inputs to Walden Pond, the lake has not returned to the pre-impact condition described by Henry David Thoreau and may become increasingly vulnerable to further changes in water quality in a warmer and possibly wetter future,” Dr. Jay Curt Stager, a researcher at Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks, and his co-authors warned.

The study concluded the pond’s levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, which are found in human waste, has yielded an endless food supply for algae, creating a wrecking-ball to the ecosystem since the 1920s. The growing algae has spread out across the water blocking the rays of the sun, which of course the fish need to survive and threatening to turn one of America's most iconic lakes into a slimy, scummy mess.

"During the early 20th century, water clarity [in Walden Pond] declined significantly due to a combination of factors, including shoreline development and inputs of human wastes," the report stated, "More than half of the summer phosphorus budget of the lake may now be attributable to urine released by swimmers."

Lake Natoma

In the meantime, environmental advocates are warning the public about tests showing high levels of E. coli in the Sacramento area's Folsom Lake and Lake Natoma, two of the region’s most popular areas for swimming and boating. E. coli is an indicator of fecal contamination that can sicken people who come in contact or drink contaminated water. Officials believe it's the result of animal and human waste.

The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board also reported elevated E. coli levels in the lower American River in 2015 and 2016, with the highest concentrations near downtown Sacramento.

“It should give people some discomfort about using the water – it’s not good,” said Ron Stork of Friends of the River told the Sacramento Bee.

The bottom line is, despite some of our best efforts to clean our nation's waterways,  they are nowhere near as pure as were when Thoreau dipped his toes into Walden Pond. It's easy to blame others, but it's all of us. Our country's most popular destinations that see a heavy volume of visitors, can have a devastating effect on our rivers and lakes' ecosystems. While garbage and trash are an easy to spot eyesore, the hidden pollution, AKA peeing in the pool, can over time, as we can see, be just as detrimental to the environment

American River

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics a national organization that provides guidance on ways to enjoy nature without leaving a human impact offers these tips as part of their seven Leave No Trace principles.

Dispose of Waste Properly

• Pack it in, pack it out. Inspect your campsite and rest areas for trash or spilled foods. Pack out all trash, leftover food and litter.
• Deposit solid human waste in catholes dug 6 to 8 inches deep, at least 200 feet from water, camp and trails. Cover and disguise the cathole when finished.
• Pack out toilet paper and hygiene products.
• To wash yourself or your dishes, carry water 200 feet away from streams or lakes and use small amounts of biodegradable soap. Scatter strained dishwater. 

So this Earth Day 2018 weekend let's take action to protect our waterways like Walden Pond. As Thoreau states in“Walden; or, Life in the Woods,” our lakes, ponds and rivers are our treasure for the future generations to enjoy

White Pond and Walden are great crystals on the surface of the earth, Lakes of Light. If they were permanently congealed, and small enough to be clutched, they would, perchance, be carried off by slaves, like precious stones, to adorn the heads of emperors, but being liquid, and ample, and secured to us and our successors forever...