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| Kayak | 2.35 Miles |
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| | Kayak | 2.35 Miles | 2 Hrs 10 Mns | | 2.31 mph |
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| no partners | | A friend asked if I wanted to join them for another full moon paddle - this time meeting at Boulder Recreation area out on Canyon Lake. Arrived about 45 minutes before sunset to find all parking spaces occupied...not a great start. Managed to intercept a vehicle that was getting ready to depart on my 2nd pass through the lot, which was convenient - otherwise I would have headed back to the Acacia area to see if I might have better luck putting in there and paddling over to meet up with my friend by the marina.
As you might surmise, there were a lot of people in LaBarge cove behind the marina and the bridge. I had a feeling there might be a number of folk out for the full moon, but failed to anticipate just how many. Once I had my boat unloaded and set up, I portaged it down to the water and set off to find my friend - luckily she was easy to identify amongst the crowds. We decided to try for a bit of separation and see if the channel heading back towards LaBarge canyon was less populated - initially, things were looking good, but then we came across a steady stream of folk heading back out in a narrower section of the canyon. Navigation was easy enough, though made more challenging with some seemingly inexperienced folk out on the water who were having difficulty controlling their watercraft. Once we got past that group, we had the end of LaBarge to ourselves. As we lost the light (twilight having set in fully), we headed back out towards the main body of the lake, opting to hang near the marina to watch the moonrise.
After getting in our photos, we decided to call it a night. While I enjoy paddling under the full moon, I think in the future, I'll save it for when the event times out mid-week, and will likely opt for the Acacia Recreation Area. LaBarge cove felt very congested; with folk setting off random calls of Marco/Polo or howls, and others with loud music - not quite the tranquil setting I was hoping for. I found the launch and take-out from the Boulder Recreation area to be a bit more challenging, at least from the farther parking lot. There wasn't a great walk-in point -- instead, I launched and took out directly onto some decent sized boulders - this meant my feet stayed dry, but getting in and out of the boat was a bit more challenging.
Wildlife (none photographed): Some ducks, at least one heron, and a number of bats. |
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Happier when hiking....I may not move fast (and I'm often distracted by wildflowers), but I'll get there eventually  |
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