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Tag: kayaking

A Taste of Baker Lake

Posted on October 11, 2017February 8, 2020 By Tom 1 Comment on A Taste of Baker Lake
Paddling, Photography, Washington Sabbatical

Baker Lake Paddling-67

NOTE: I’m about a week behind in my blogging. I’ll try to catch up on several posts over the next couple of days.

It’s been a week of tragedy. The Las Vegas shooting and the disasters in Puerto Rico weighed heavily on my mind, as well as the ineptitude of the current administration’s dealings with these. Then there were the closer, more personal tragedies. Two friends lost their spouses suddenly – one younger and one older, but age has no bearing on grief. There was the passing of a Facebook acquaintance and classmate and another friend lost her close sister. I learned that a respected colleague and mentor was quite ill and had entered hospice care. To top all of that off, we were still dealing with Laura’s mom’s estate. It seemed that death was all around us. If ever I was in need of some quiet respite in a kayak, this was that time. This was one of those days where the weather was perfect, but the tides were not cooperating. I decided to head into the mountains and explore Baker Lake.

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Foggy Samish Island Paddle

Posted on September 27, 2017October 4, 2017 By Tom No Comments on Foggy Samish Island Paddle
Paddling, Photography, Washington Sabbatical

Samish Island Paddling in Fog-43

I mentioned this in a previous post. Kayaking at Samish island can be tricky. Tide and weather have to be in agreement. Tuesday morning the tides were perfect, with high tide at 11:30 am. However, the weather wasn’t so great. A heavy fog had rolled in. I was seeing patches of blue overhead and knew that it would burn off eventually, so I loaded up the boat and headed over to Duff’s beach cabin for a foggy paddling trip.

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Kayaking on Bellingham Bay

Posted on September 18, 2017 By Tom 3 Comments on Kayaking on Bellingham Bay
Paddling, Photography

Kayaking Bellingham Bay-81

It’s been over a month since I’ve had a boat in the water and things just didn’t seem…right. On the trek across country I had two kayaks on top of the car and we crossed many bodies of water that looked ripe for paddling. However, the rest of my paddling gear was in a shipping box making its own way across country. Plus, we had two cats with us and were on a time crunch, so stopping to paddle wasn’t an option. Finally everything aligned – the paddling gear had arrived, the weather was good, tides were favorable, and we weren’t having major appliances or septic systems installed. It was time to paddle.

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Paddling the Lynches River with Lowcountry Unfiltered

Posted on August 13, 2017 By Tom 1 Comment on Paddling the Lynches River with Lowcountry Unfiltered
Paddling, Photography

Lynches River with Lowcountry Unfiltered-50

This was my last Second Saturday with Lowcountry Unfiltered before we move out west. I was hoping for an epic trip for this outing, and Matt came up with a perfect venue. This particular Saturday we would be exploring the wilds of the Lynches River through Florence County. It would be one of our longer treks, and take us through areas we had not yet explored. It did turn out to be an epic, and most excellent trip.

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Mid-Week Solo Jocassee Paddle

Posted on July 15, 2017 By Tom No Comments on Mid-Week Solo Jocassee Paddle
Local, Paddling, Photography

Tuesday at Lake Jocassee-28

As much as I like paddling with my friends, sometimes I like just getting out on my own. This week I was in the mood for just such a trip. Temperatures were supposed to be hot, and Lake Jocassee seemed like the perfect place to cool off. Tuesday I decided that’s where I would head.

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Ninth Annual Edisto River Rope Swing and Beer Commercial Float

Posted on July 14, 2017July 14, 2017 By Tom No Comments on Ninth Annual Edisto River Rope Swing and Beer Commercial Float
Paddling, Photography

Edisto River Rope Swing and Beer Commercial Float-41

It was time. The Second Saturday in July marked our Ninth Annual Edisto River Rope Swing and Beer Commercial Float. This trip is by far the most relaxed of all of our trips and, as the name implies, features rope swings and beer. Throw in a few sand bars, bratwurst and sauerkraut, and good friends, and it becomes the epitome of why we do this.

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Swift Current on Estatoe Creek

Posted on June 2, 2017June 2, 2017 By Tom 1 Comment on Swift Current on Estatoe Creek
Paddling, Photography

Lake Keowee and Estatoe Creek-25

I was determined to celebrate Water Wednesday this week. Even if I had to go by myself, I was going somewhere. I really needed the solace and relaxation of being on the water. Fortunately, Jeff Holland was able to join me for an exploration of Lake Keowee and Estatoe Creek.

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Lilyfest at Landsford Canal State Park

Posted on May 21, 2017May 22, 2017 By Tom No Comments on Lilyfest at Landsford Canal State Park
Paddling, Photography

Landsford Canal Spider Lilies-077

Once again it’s time for the Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies (hymenocallis coronaria) to make their appearance along the rivers of the Southeast. This past weekend marked the peak bloom for the lilies and all week I was seeing photos taken at Landsford Canal State Park posted to social media. A paddling friend also posted a link to a tour run by the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation. Laura was away on a Furman trip, so I decided it would be a great opportunity to head back to the Catawba River for this event.

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Return to Old Santee Canal

Posted on May 18, 2017 By Tom No Comments on Return to Old Santee Canal
Paddling, Photography

Old Santee Canal-50

I’m always looking for new paddling companions. Not that there’s anything wrong with the close friends I’ve developed in my other paddling groups, but different people bring different perspectives and and expertise on new paddling venues. The more the merrier (most of the time.). So lately I’ve been keeping track of the Tri-County Blueway Paddlers Meetup group. Ed Deal and Deb Mims have been organizing some insteresting trips over waterways I’ve wanted to explore and at times that I can attend. This week they scheduled a trip to the Old Santee Canal which I’d visited back in February with Lowcountry Unfiltered. I enjoyed that trip so much and the scenery was spectacular, so I decided to head back for this trip.

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A Long Wet Hike on Long Cane Creek

Posted on May 15, 2017May 15, 2017 By Tom 10 Comments on A Long Wet Hike on Long Cane Creek
History and Genealogy, Paddling, Photography

Long Cane Creek with Lowcountry Unfiltered-100

It was time to plan another Second Saturday trip with Lowcountry Unfiltered. We’ve been trying to expand our trips, visiting places that we haven’t done multiple times. There are lots of waterways in this state, so I don’t think we’ll exhaust our opportunities, but it’s fun to see new stretches of water. This time we decided to paddle part of the Little River Blueway, specifically, a section of Long Cane Creek. Our route would take us through a very remote, historical section of South Carolina, but there would be many, many obstacles before we reached the end of our paddle.

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