Friday, December 13, 2019

2019 IN REVIEW: PICTURES OF THE YEAR

Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more. ---Vincent Van Gogh 

 

I'm a sucker for that golden light. You know, that time of the evening when the low hanging sun burns in a smokey orange and reddish amber over the water. When the sky's palette turns into dimming purplish luster offset by the soft warm glow of the clouds. When kayaks and their paddlers are silhouetted in shadows or backlit with fuzzy bright halos. When the water's reflection is in that a radiant splendor of a hallucinogenic melting ember of tranquility.

Lake Jenkinson
For those reasons alone it makes that time on the lake or river a bit more magical and mysterious than any other part of the day.
Most others have already left the water, So away from the crowd, my images are clean and crisp, but mostly serene and tranquil.

Trust me, when I see golden light like that, it's easy to see the pictures. Like Ansel Adams said, “Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.”

In my paddling days and outside endeavors in 2019, I got to those natural places often and sometimes just in time and sometimes with all the time in the world to see all its glory about me. Every destination whether new or even after I have visited many times before came with a new adventure that I'll carry with me for a lifetime. And because I saw it from the perspective of my canoe or kayak, well that was just an added bonus.

The Lower American River
As the old saying goes, "You cannot step into the same river twice." After this past year, I can only agree after I often ending up in many of the same places I had visited before. But as noted, those adventures were never the same, for it was the journey that mattered most.

"It's the thing about river running that I've always loved the most," wrote adventure author and paddler Peter Heller, "You go into the country on a natural magic carpet, moving at a speed that is normal to all its denizens, and if you quiet, you can be absolutely silent in a way you can never be walking, and if you are on wilderness river, you slip past scenes you would never, ever witness any other way."

In every outing this year I encountered a new and dynamic experience, whether being a quiet Sunday morning on Sly Park's Lake Jenkinson or a brilliant sunset on Lake Natoma. I have paddled along the pristine shoreline of Loon Lake and hiked a scenic waterfall trail high in the Sierra.

Bayside Adventure Sports on Lake Natoma

While alone in my solitude, I enjoyed the quick water and the slog of the portage back upriver on reinvigorating in perspective trek on the Lower American River. I mostly came to appreciate all the companionships with others as they shared my same passion for the water. From the fun-time glow and sunset paddles with Bayside Adventure Sports to all my interaction with the folks and clients from Current Adventures and Sly Park Rentals Paddle to every paddler, I have met along the way. They have inspired and motivated me and I only hoped that I have inspirited them to get outside and explore and cherish their neighborhood waterway.

As American photojournalist, Steve McCurry said, My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.” So as 2019 draws to a close, I look back at some of my favorite images from this past year.

Loon Lake with Bayside Adventure Sports

Hot Springs Creek Falls
The Lower American River
Lake Jenkinson
Lake Jenkinson at Sly Park
The American River
The Mokelumne River
Glow Paddle on Lake Natoma
Lake Jenkinson
Lake Jenkinson

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Friday, December 6, 2019

OVER THE BOW: RED RIVER


And so for a time it looked as if all the adventures were coming to and end; but that was not to be. --- C. S. Lewis


I was hoping to get one more day in. Just one more day on the water. An early winter weather gloom hung over the river valley. The first snow had come early in October, followed by another dusting a week later typical and Fargo-like. The temperatures were plunging each night to that mystical point where water becomes ice. My season of days paddling was quickly running out on the Red River.

“There is one thing I should warn you about before you decide to get serious about canoeing, " said paddling guru Bill Mason in one of my favorite all-time quotes "You must consider the possibility of becoming totally and incurably hooked on it. You must also face the fact that every fall about freeze-up time you go through a withdrawal period as you watch the lakes and rivers icing over one by one. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing can help a little to ease the pain, but they won’t guarantee a complete cure.”

When fall comes to the Red River Valley only the hardiest have yet to put away their canoes or kayaks for the season. The Red River was once again comfortable in its banks as its dark waters of flowed past the snow-white covered shoreline creating a Christmas card like setting, insulated from the whir of the traffic of the river's two cities.

A thin layer of ice from freezing rain coated my bow and water bottle as it froze on contact. While an even thinner film of ice had formed over the water along the edges of the meandering waterway. The sound of reverberation of radio static and breaking glass echoed over the peaceful river as the kayak's bow broke through the ice, a reminder of my coming to end to that year's paddling season as the riverway slumbered into its winter hibernation.

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 in Outside Adventure to the Max on November 24 , 2017. 

 

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Friday, November 29, 2019

UNALIENABLE RIGHTS: THE PURSUIT OF PERSONHOOD FOR RIVERS AND LAKES



The river as plaintiff speaks for the ecological unit of life that is part of it. Those people who have a meaningful relation to that body of water—whether it be a fisherman, a canoeist, a zoologist, or a logger—must be able to speak for the values which the river represents, and which are threatened with destruction. --William Douglas
 
Sliding my kayak gently into the water, it's not hard to grasp why in a few short years how this river has become so significant to me. I've come to know this river's fickle moods. Its high water winters and early spring rush, Its summertime playfulness, and its autumn bounty when the native Chinook salmon swim back upstream to spawn. I've paddled its slumberous wide curves and through its fast water rapids. I've watched its water roaring like thunder pouring its last dam and followed its a clear and bright ribbon of water all the way to its end to dip my bow at its milky confluence.
Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure.” I heartily agree. For me and many others, Northern California's American River is a rare jewel to behold. Fed by the melting snowpack of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the river is an essential source for the area's drinking water, a productive provider of irrigation and hydroelectric power, and recreational highway for paddlers and fishermen. In its final twenty-some miles before pouring into the Sacramento River, it dispenses a peaceful serenity and magic to every creature along its wild banks despite being so near urban complexities of the city. And yes, to a certain extent it seems to be a living being in itself.

The Whanganui River
The idea of environmental personhood, a legal concept that designates certain environmental entities such as rivers and lakes with the same rights and protections as a person in hopes of establishing new statutory frameworks that go beyond normal environmental protection. The theory has been gaining ground in recent years. In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to enshrine the legal rights of nature in its constitution and in 2011, Bolivia passed a similar law. New Zealand became the first country to grant a specific river legal rights to the Whanganui River in 2017 and was followed by India’s northern state of Uttarakhand granting the right to be legally protected and not be harmed to the Ganges and its longest tributary, the Yamuna River held sacred by millions of Hindus.

This past July Bangladesh became the first country to grant legal status to all of its rivers. In its landmark ruling, the Bangladeshi Supreme Court move is meant to protect the world's largest delta from further degradation from pollution, illegal dredging, and human encroachment. In its ruling, the court said, “Water is likely to be the most pressing environmental concern of the next century,” calling for their countries' rivers to be protected “at all costs”.
Blue-green algae bloom on the shore of Catawaba Island on Lake Erie in 2009.

Meanwhile, in Toledo, Ohio, toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie contaminated drinking water shutting off the city's water supply for three days in 2014. Many blamed nearby farms fertilizer runoff as the culprit. Whereupon, this past February, Toledo voters passed what is known as the Lake Erie Bill of Rights aimed at protecting the great lake and giving empowers Toledo citizens the right to file lawsuits on behalf of the lake. The ordinance's constitutionality was immediately challenged court by an area farmer sighting "it can never guarantee that all runoff will be prevented from entering the Lake Erie watershed." The state of Ohio also joined in on the lawsuit, arguing the state, not the citizens of Toledo has the "legal responsibility" for environmental regulatory programs. The case still remains in litigation. However, this past month, Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled the voluntary “H2Ohio” initiative to address phosphorus runoff.

"It gives the right to the river to exist, to flourish and to naturally evolve and a right to a stable climate free from human-caused climate change impacts," Yurok Tribe General Counsel's Amy Cordalis told National Public Radio after the native American tribe has granted personhood to northern California's Klamath River, making it the first known river in North America given that status at least under tribal law this past spring.

Cordalis says the Klamath's water management and climate change have led to lower water flows and even fewer salmon, the Yurok's main source for food.
"The salmon runs are the lowest they've ever been," Cordalis told NPR, "Even this year, it was anticipated that the returning salmon runs were going to be strong, but they never showed up. We don't know where they are. We have been doing all we can to protect the river and, you know, working within existing legal frameworks. And it's not enough."
The Klamath River

As the movement to give in legal rights to rivers and lakes grows with support even coming from the United Nations, it has also been met with resistance from industry, farmers and river communities, who argue that giving the laws will infringe on their rights and livelihoods without a clear path forward.
“The biggest danger is that if you establish that a river has a right, then who is going to determine what that right is?” Don Shawcroft, president of the Colorado Farm Bureau told the Boulder Weekly in 2017, as proponents were pushing the state to grant the Colorado River legal rights.
For the rivers and lakes which lack a voice of their own, those decisions will be left to future policymakers to determine, as advocates warn of climate change, pollution, urban sprawl, mining, poor infrastructure management as well as drought and floods that currently endanger our bodies of water

"I think this is, is a reflection of a change of societal values," Cordalis concluded with NPR, "So we're in a climate crisis. And we need new tools to respond to that crisis. And in this country right now, corporations have rights as a person. And that's because historically our country valued commerce. And so I think it's a logical next step in this era of climate change to give the same kind of legal recognition to the natural environment and to nature."

Photographer Laura Gilpin declared, “A river seems a magic thing. A magic, moving, living part of the very earth itself.” Sitting alongside the Lower American River earlier this week, the river does seem alive as it moved steadily to the sea. Flashes of Chinook salmon among the river's ripples, scores of gulls, ducks and turkey vultures soar and flutter above, while I catch sight of black-tailed deer bounding through the stream. It's nature's age-old symbiotic relationships between the river and its creatures. As long as the water keeps flowing, the river and its wildlife will continue to exist. As humans, facing climate change, we need to recognize this natural world around us and make our duty to care for it, protect it and pass it on to generations to come.
By granting a river a right to be a river, we can all take the giant steps in understanding the other living beings around us and bare the responsibilities we owe to them.


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Friday, November 22, 2019

THIS HOLIDAY SEASON SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL PADDLING SHOP


For the fourth straight year, Seattle-based REI outdoor retailer will close its stores on Black Friday considered one of the biggest shopping days of the year to encourage their patrons and employees to take advantage of the day off to enjoy the outdoors.
Since its inception in 2015, more than 150 other companies have joined REI to closing their doors on the day after Thanksgiving, while hundreds of state parks across the nation have opened up for free as part of the #OptOutside initiative. And now REI is asking folks to even take in one step further, by taking part in the "opt to act" and join a nationwide clean-up effort on November 29.
"We’re still going to go outside and play – but this time we’re bringing our work gloves. And we’re inviting you to join us," wrote REI CEO Eric Artz, in a letter to members. "It’s time to fight for life outdoors – and life on this planet."
Locations of environmental cleanups are posted at www.rei.com.

We commend REI and all the groups taking part in the #OptOutside initiative. We can't think of a better way to enjoy the day by getting your hands dirty in a neighborhood clean up and just getting outside.

Another way to bolster your local outdoor community this holiday season is by patronizing your area paddle shops, instead of getting your kayaking and paddling gear either online or at a big-box superstore. By doing so, you support independent businesses owned by people who live in your community. Your dollars will stay local rather than padding the profits of a large corporate chain.
National statics say that $68 dollars of every $100 stay in the community when spent at a local business. That adds up to more local tax dollars funding state and county parks to provide river and lake access points, boat launch ramps, vehicle parking, and picnic areas. These are important components vital in providing recreational paddling opportunities along your favorite waterway. When spending the same at a non-local business like a national chain, only $43 stays in your community.

Yes, there is a perception that everything is cheaper on the Internet, which isn't necessarily the case when you tack on the cost of shipping. However, when you visit your local retailer, you will get to see and touch the items before you buy them. Enjoy some personalized service from a salesperson who will answer your all questions making sure the product is a good fit for you.

 But, dollars aside you must remember that you are now part of the paddling community. The same folks who work in your local shop are part of your river and lake community. They paddle the same places you do. You might even paddle with them. By getting your gear from your local paddle shop you are keeping your friends employed as well as keeping informed on festivals, competitions, community gatherings and river cleanups on your waterways.
Your paddle shop owners and employees pride themselves on providing knowledgeable expertise on a wide range of kayaking and paddling equipment for paddlers of all skill levels. Here are a few bullet points of the services our friends at The River Store along the South Fork of the American River in Northern California provide to area paddlers.

  • Got questions? We work hard to know or find the best answers for you and earn the honor of being “Your local Kayak Shop of choice."
  • Need kayaking and rafting equipment? We test out and stock the best and we make sure that you know what the options are so you can make the best-informed selection for your purchase.
  • Lessons and Education for all kinds of kayaking. ONLY the Best: this is why We started Current Adventures Kayaking School & Trips in 1994 and why we took over the River Store in 2004. We believe that we offer the best education with the best instructors and employees of any kayak shop in the west!
  • Demos and rentals, from rafts and kayaks to skirts and drysuits and much more beyond. We offer the most complete rental and demo service in the region. We want you to know what you are getting and that it works before you spend your hard-earned money on it.
  • Repairs. We have both in house and local sources for repairing gaskets, boats and more, and normally with a quick turnaround so you can get back on the water, usually within the week!
  • Community events. From simple ice cream socials to large events, interaction and appreciation of community are huge for us, and there is no better community than the Coloma- Lotus Valley and the greater paddling community that cycles through our region.
  • Information. Whatever you need when you need it- and if we can’t help you, we’ll tell you who can! You can reach us at The River Store by calling 530-626-3435 or emailing us at Info@TheRiverStore.com.

So as the holiday shopping days are upon us again, let's all remember to patronize our local paddling when thinking about getting that gift for our favorite paddler. And along the way, you might just pick up something for yourself too.

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Friday, November 8, 2019

OVER THE BOW: LAKE JENKINSON


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Friday, November 1, 2019

LIGHT SWITCH


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That one-hour daylight switch from evening to the morning as we fall back to standard time begins this weekend. We don't go back to daylight saving until spring begins.

This article was originally published in Outside Adventure to the Max on November 3, 2017. 

 

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Friday, October 25, 2019

HAUNTED WATERS: 13 SPOOKY PLACES TO PADDLE

Photo Illustration by Deborah Ann Klenzman

Nothing in nature is that even; man is the inventor of straight edges. --- Stephen King


It's only in the daylight when we see our waterway playgrounds with wonder and magic. Our favorite lakes offer us that nostalgic serenity we recall from our summers as youths. We look to the bends in wild rivers, leading us on to either the rumble of rapids or floating lazily in the sun. And who doesn't love a day by the sea while watching those mighty waves crash against the shore?

Yes, yes, we will take ease near the water in light of day, where are our imaginations and our innermost fears are not exploited by the sun.
Yet it's in the night when those comforting waters and whimsical shorelines can turn foreboding. With each whisper of sound or shadow in the moonlight, our perceptions of uncertainty, dread, and fear can bewitch us.

In Algernon Blackwood's The Willows, a novella about an adventurous canoe trip down the River Danube it's the night that turns frightful when mysterious forces emerge from within the forest creating disturbing sounds and bizarre shadows.
"I felt of dread was no ordinary ghostly fear," the narrator tells us, "It was infinitely greater, stranger, and seemed to arise from some dim ancestral sense of terror more profoundly disturbing than anything I had known or dreamed of. We had “strayed,” as the Swede put it, into some region or some set of conditions where the risks were great, yet unintelligible to us; where the frontiers of some unknown world lay close about us."

So what's out there enshrouded in or along the watery brink? Is it a ghostly presence from the past? A spirit wandering lost or a phantom bent on destruction.
Or is it just a concoction of some old scary tales meant to make us cringe and look over shoulders in apprehension on a cool October night. What do you believe?

So whether you're daring or doubtful here are few of our nation's haunted waters you might want to paddle (if got the nerve), this Halloween or anytime, for your opportunity to see a ghost.


Seguin Island Lighthouse, Maine
Coastal and Great Lakes lighthouses are filled with rich histories of triumph and tragedy. Stories from these desolated posts have shown both amazing courage as well as madness and murder. Due to the latter, it's no wonder so many lighthouses are considered haunted.
The Seguin Island Lighthouse located off the southern coast of Georgetown, Maine is no exception.
Seguin Island Lighthouse
Commissioned by George Washington in 1795, the lighthouse was rebuilt in 1819, replacing its original wooden tower with stone and then again in 1857 this time installing a bright powerful Fresnel lens into its tower on top of a rocky speck of land about two miles out to sea.
Considered one of the most haunted places in New England, scary tales abound about this lonely beacon.
Witnesses have reported having seen the ghost of a young girl who is said to be buried not far from the lighthouse grounds. They say, she has been seen running up and down the stairs of the tower, laughing and waving.
There are other accounts that the ghost of lighthouse's first keeper John Polereczky, nicknamed the Old Captain is still seen about the outpost at sea.
The story says Polereczky died penniless on the island in 1804 and ever since has haunted the tower and the keepers who came after him.
In 1985, while in process of decommissioning the lighthouse and packing up the place, the apparition of the Old Captain appeared at the bed of the warrant officer warning him not to take the furniture and to leave his home alone.
The very next day, the boat that was to carry that cargo back to the mainland, was sunk in a freak accident while being loaded with that very same furniture.
But perhaps the most frightening story is that of the lighthouse keeper and his wife.
To stave off the loneliness and monotony for his wife, the keeper ordered a piano to their island outpost. She was delighted, but unfortunately, she couldn't play without sheet music which she had only one.
Only able to play one song, she played it again and again and again, until eventually, it drove the lighthouse keeper insane. In a fit of madness, he took an axe and chopped the piano to bits. Then in his rage, he turned on his poor wife and killed her.
Realizing the ghoulish deed that he had just committed, he then took his own life too.
Ever since it's been said, that on foggy nights you can still hear that ghostly piano playing across the waves while both mariners and former keepers have claimed to have seen the ghost of the lightkeeper walking toward the sound carrying an axe.

Hessian Lake, New York
The Knickerbocker state is a bastion for ghostly tales and haunted places. Following the Hudson River upstream from New York City, you will come across the town of Sleepy Hollow where Washington Irving penned his classic tale of Icabod Crane and the Headless Horseman.
Keeping following the river even further and you will reach Bear Mountain State Park and Hessian Lake, perhaps the inspiration for the Hessian soldier looking for his head.
Hessian Lake is a peaceful crystalline body of water that sits at the base of the mountain. While no swimming is allowed, the lake is a perfect spot for kayaks and canoes. And because of the story of how the lake got its name, many folks wouldn't care to take a dip in it anyway.

Hessian Lake
During the Revolutionary War, British Redcoats and German Hessian auxiliaries soldiers engaged American Patriots in a fierce battle along the lake and river. The Americans held the ground behind a stockade wall and detachment of Hessian chasseurs led the charge to capture the fort. Repulsed, again and again, the Hessians and Redcoats eventually overwhelmed the Patriots, but at a great cost.
According to local legend, some 250 Hessians fell during the battle and their bodies and body parts were then cast into the lake. It was said, it turned the water red with blood, prompting it soon to be called "Bloody Lake."
Timothy Dwight who went on to become President of Yale College revealed the horrors of the lake after visiting its battlefield, “We found, at a small distance from Fort Montgomery, a pond of moderate size in which we saw the bodies of several men who had been killed in the assault upon the fort. They were thrown into this pond, the preceding autumn, by the British when probably the water was sufficiently deep enough to cover them. Some were covered at this time but at a depth so small as to leave them distinctly visible. Others had an arm, a leg, a part of the body above the surface...Their faces were bloated and monstrous and their postures were uncouth and distorted."
Years later, the name of the lake was eventually be changed to Hessian Lake, but the creepiness it seems has to have never left.
Ghost hunter Alexandria Holzer, told the local paper in 2016, "There are a lot of lost souls in that area."
Many folks have claimed to see uniformed Hessian spirits roaming the lake's shoreline at night. One even reported specter with missing limbs and glowing eyes.
Of course, that would rule out our Headless Horseman.

Beaver Lake & The French Broad River, North Carolina 
While enjoying a leisurely paddle along the edge of Beaver Lake, don't be surprised if you catch sight of beavers, turtles, osprey and maybe a ghost or two.
Man-made Beaver Lake near Asheville NC is said to have a reputation for ghostly activity after a number of drownings and apparent suicides that have occurred there.
According to local folklore, the lakeshore is haunted by two spirits. One is believed to be that of a young man who drowned in the 1970s, while the other is that of a young woman who is thought to have committed suicide. She is said to be seen on the dam looking down over the water.
While the ghosts of Beaver Lake seem to be lost in sadness, the Siren of the French Broad River is bent on fiendishness.
The French Broad River
Formed some 300 million years ago, the French Broad River is one of the oldest rivers in the world as it flows through Asheville, featuring great hiking and biking unlimited paddling opportunities, that is as long as you can avoid the siren.
Based on a Cherokee legend, the Siren of the French Broad River seems as old as the river itself. The story first appeared in 1845 and was later retold in Charles Montgomery Skinner's 1896 Myths and Legends of Our Own Land.
The tale involves a beautiful dark-skinned and dark-haired woman who enchants her young lovers to the upper reaches of the river that are filled with rapids and whirlpools. Luring them ever closer and closer to the water, she appears to them in the nude at the water edge. When reaching for her, her warm skin suddenly becomes scaly and cold and her face turns into a grinning skull of death. A loud, devilish laugh rings through the forest as her victim is yanked under the water,  never to be seen again.

Blackwater River, Florida
The Blackwater River is considered a favorite spot for canoeing, kayaking, and camping in Florida's panhandle. Streaming through undeveloped lands, paddling the river is said to be like going through beautiful tropical rainforest. But beware, for the Blackwater has two mysterious and sinister residents in its mist.
Locals will warn you to be careful when taking a dip. They say that there's a deathly pale looking woman with long jet-black hair smelling of rotting flesh who will drag you under the water attempting to drown you in the river. So far only a lucky few have escaped her vile clutches.
While in Blackwater River State Park, a woman wearing a long white gown covered with blood is said to appear near the oldest white Atlantic cedar tree in the park. Legend says she was sacrificed there in a bloody ritual.
Rumors now say, that people who visit the spot experience chills and have the feeling of being suffocated as results of all sacrificial rituals that took place there.
And one final warning. If you do see this ghostly woman is white, don't look in her eyes and runway. Otherwise, you could be next.

Tombigbee River, Alabama
Tales of ghost ships and phantom vessels are common folklore along both coast and the Great Lakes. Fleeting images of ships disappearing into the fog have been reported by sailors and beachcombers alike.

Tombigbee River
Over the years, witnesses have reported seeing “The Phantom Steamboat of the Tombigbee” fully engulfed in flames along the shore of  Alabama's Tombigbee River near Pennington, Alabama.
Side-wheeled paddle steamer Eliza Battle, was the most luxurious riverboat on the river until disaster claimed her on a cold winter night.
On March 1, 1858, she was fully loaded with more than 1,200 bales of cotton and carrying 101 passengers and crew when a fire broke out on the main deck. Panic ensued as the blaze spread over the boat. Passengers mostly in their nightclothes could only escape the flames by leaping into the icy river waters.
In the end, what was left of the ship sank leaving somewhere between 26 to 33 people dead due to mostly exposure in the freezing water.
Soon after the disaster, ghost stories began to circulate of witnesses seeing the ill-fated “Eliza Battle" ablaze again near the place where she sank accompanied by screams of people begging to be rescued. The sightings of the burning steamers are to happen mostly on cold and windy nights.

Mississippi River, Missouri & Illinois
From its source up in Minnesota all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico the Mississippi River is brimming with bigger-than-life stories and legends and of course, ghostly yarns.
And nowhere is the river most haunted than from Grand Tower, Illinois to just past Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
According to the local folklore, the paranormal activity likely stems from the two massive boat accidents and one spooky reunion at Tower Rock.
On an October night in 1869, the steamship Stonewall was traveling on the river when in caught fire in what became one of the worst disasters on the river.
It's estimated that the death toll was somewhere between 200 to 300. But, nobody knows for sure because the passenger list was burned up with the steamboat.
Witnesses reported watching The Stonewall burn for nearly two hours before sinking into the river on that eerily dark and quiet.
Seventeen-years later on another October night, the steamboat Mascotte's boiler exploded in engulfing that ship in a fire. Eyewitnesses said, as the fire raged, the ship's smokestack fell over the gangplank, trapping passengers attempting to escape. All in all, the river disaster claimed 35 lives.
Psychics say the spirits of the dead in these disasters still remain to this day. They have told of seeing the ghosts of these tragic ship fires making lonely pilgrimages back to the water from the local cemetery and of seeing unearthly hands and fingers reaching out of the dark river water.
And it's also not uncommon for barge captains and crews to observe unexplainable lights bouncing across the water and hearing ghostly screams and cries for help while passing through the spooky stretch of river.
Tower Rock
The nearby Tower Rock offers even more supernatural lore for the Big Muddy. The 60-foot rock formation has been a silent sentinel along the river throughout its history. Boatmen would celebrate passing by it with a drink of good cheer. River pirates used it as an ambush spot, and Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis & Clark would write about its peril: “strong currents thus meeting each other form an immense and dangerous whirlpool which no boat dare approach in that state of the water…”
But the spookiest story of the rock happened in 1839 when an entire wedding party's boat got caught in a giant whirlpool and sucked under the muddy waters. Only one slave survived.
On that very day, a baby niece to the groom was born and given the same name as the bride. And twenty years later to celebrate her birthday, she holds a party upon Tower Rock.
And as the story goes, the gathering was suddenly astonished when members of the wedding party arise out of the Mississippi River and present her with a mysterious parchment scroll forewarning her of the Civil War. After delivering the prophetic message the entire ghostly group once again disappeared into the murky waters of the river.

Yampa River, Colorado 
Stories of boaters encounter with La Llorona or The Weeping Woman have been told along river banks all the way from Montana to New Mexico. And, nowhere does legend live more than on the shores of Colorado's Yampa River, where the folktale warns, that if you hear La Llorona crying, you must run away as fast as you can.
Yampa River
The legend of The Weeping Woman has been a part of Hispanic culture in the Southwest dating back to the conquistadores. It is said, that La Llorona was the most beautiful girl in the village with long flowing black hair. She was very poor until she married a rich man. She loved him very much and blesses him with many children. But she is heartbroken when she finds out he was unfaithful. In her despair or jealous rage, she takes her children to the river cast each one of them into the river.
It's only then, when she sees her young children sinking into the current of the river, that she regrets her madness and rushes toward the water to save them. But, as the story goes, she either falls, striking her head or drowns suffering the same fate as her children.
And in death, her remorseful soul must now wander the shores of the river alone weeping for her children.
River boaters to this day, say they have heard her wailing along the river canyons. Wearing gown white, she is said to roam the rivers and creeks perpetually crying for her children.
It's also been told, that she is to be feared because some believe she will drag an unsuspecting victim and drown them in a watery grave like she did to her children.

Yellowstone Lake & The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, Wyoming
It's not surprising that the oldest and most famous national park abounds with legends, myths, and tall tales, but did you ever think that Yellowstone National Park was haunted too? And by the number of ghost stories reported in the park, bears aren't the only to look out for.
Two of the park's folklore favorites come from Yellowstone Lake and the Lower Falls.
Paddle out on to Yellowstone Lake, the park's largest body of water and you may come across the small and uninhabited Stevenson Island which some folks say is haunted.
E.C. Waters
The skeletal remains of the wrecked E.C. Waters steamboat lay beached along the island's shore, but if that not creepy enough there is a story about the body of a drowned frontiersman who appears lying facedown nearby.
As told in S.E. Schlosser's Creepy Yellowstone, in 1929 a park worker checking out the island stumbled upon a body clan in buckskin looking like a fur trapper from the prior century.
"I turned the body over and stared into a pair of bulging brown eyes on a blue-white face," said the worker in his account, "And then, in between one breath and the next, the body vanished. Suddenly my hand was gripping empty air instead of an old-fashioned jacket.
Spooked by the episode, The park worker quickly left the island on his boat saying, "No more ghosts for me!"
And even older ghostly tale dates back to 1870s when a group of Native Americans being pursued militiamen for stealing horses was swept over the 70-foot falls of the Lower Yellowstone.
As S.E. Schlosser told it in Creepy Yellowstone, the small band of Native Americans was no match for the well-armed militia. They hastily constructed a raft to cross the river above the falls in an attempt to get away.

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River
In a hail of bullets, men and women of the tribes' raft along with stolen horses swimming alongside were swept downstream in spite of their best paddling efforts.
The doomed craft moved closer and closer to the falls, "carrying the wailing women and the unmoving braves, who began chanting a soft death-song."
In silence, the members of the militia watched as the raft and slipped over the edge of the falls disappearing into the roaring white foam with its human cargo.
And to this day, it's said, that when you stand on the platform at the brink of the Lower Falls of Yellowstone, you can still hear the voices of the chanting warriors singing their death song over the roar of the falls. And sometimes, the river water flows with a red tinge, as if stained with blood.

The Great Salt Lake, Utah
The creepy tale of Jean Baptiste is a ghoulish one indeed. A gravedigger in Salt Lake City, Baptiste was discovered to have been stealing clothes and jewelry from the bodies he had buried.
Over three years, Baptiste was said to have robbed the graves of more than 300 people, stripping them of clothing and possessions, before dumping their naked bodies back in the caskets.
The Great Salt Lake
The public was outraged for such a loathsome crime, but the case didn't call for his hanging. But even so, the local authorities devised an especially cruel punishment. First, his forehead was marked with the sentence, “Branded For Robbing The Dead.” Next, his ears were cut off, and then so no one would ever have to look at him again, he was banished to a remote island in the Great Salt Lake.
Baptiste was paddled out to Fremont Island, the lake's third-largest island on its eastern side and pretty much left there to die.
Weeks past before authorities came to check up on Baptiste but found no sign of him anywhere.
There was speculation that he built a makeshift raft and drown in the lake while trying to escape, while another story says, vengeful citizens came island to exact their own justice. Years later, it was said, hunters found a skeleton believed to be Baptiste's with leg irons.
All that matters is, he was never seen alive again. His ghost, however, still haunts the isle and the great lake.
It's been reported that the ghastly apparition of Jean Baptiste has been spotted along the lakeshore carrying an armful of wet and rotting deadmen's clothes before walking towards the water and then disappearing into thin air.

Cannon Beach, Oregon
At the northwest corner of Oregon, you'll find the idyllic coastal town of Cannon Beach offering windswept beaches, stunning coastline views and of course its share of spine-tingling tales
The Argonauta Inn Beach House is said to be haunted by the spectral presence of Genghis Hansel.
Cannon Beach
No one seems to know anything about him except he was a guest of the hotel before he disappeared without a trace during a storm in 1952. Today's hotel patrons have reported feeling his foreboding presence while staying there. Our guess is, he must have really liked the room service.
About the same time that Genghis Hansel's ghost started spooking the beach house, The Bandage Man, began scaring the bejebus out of the area's teenagers at the secluded makeout spot along the beach.
Apparently, the "The Bandage Man" completely kills the mood when he shows up in the rearview mirror completely wrapped in bandages and smelling of rotting flesh.
Said to be a victim of some terrible sawmill accident, the phantom shakes and pounds on the car or truck doors and windows causing the young couples to scream in terror.
In some stories, he quickly disappears, while in others, after the couples escape by driving back to town, it's only then they discover the bloody fingerprints on their vehicle's door and windows.

So what do you believe? Are these just creepy stories passed down over the years? Or are there really ghostly spirits out there. Whatever you believe, these tales have become intertwined with the history and lore of these waterways. They have captured our imaginations and provide us with an opportunity for a spooky paddling adventure to go see it for ourselves. But, only if you dare. 

Happy Halloween

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