Ok, not the entire west coast... and actually only bits of it. But I drove most of the West Coast of the USA in about a week and while I didn't get to paddle in all the places I really wanted to, I did manage to accomplish a few of my goals. Goal 1: Get to the CKF get-together in So. Cal. from Moses Lake, WA. Everything conspired against me to delay my departure. Between business, family and a terrible case of stomach flu I didn't get packed up and on the road until Friday night at 7:30pm. Since the CKF get-together was some 1100 miles away on Sunday morning I had my work cut out for me. The closure of the main bridge across the Columbia River at Biggs, OR also presented a problem. Nevertheless, I rolled into Mark Sanders' driveway in Costa Mesa, CA at exactly 8:15pm the next evening for a total time of 24 hours 45 minutes on the road. Including about 5 hours sleep in a Bend, OR motel. Mark and his wife Christie very kindly loaned me their spare room for the next two nights. Sunday morning we drove to Long Beach and the Naples beach for the CKF get-together and Mark took my Mariner Coaster out for a trial paddle. Just getting into the Coaster is a trick for fellows our size but once in there is plenty of room. Mark seemed happy with the boat and even put in a couple of rolls. The California Kayak Friends is an association of active paddlers of all experience levels who paddle everything from recreational boats to the highest high-tech carbon-fiber boats and the most beautiful hand-crafted wooden boats. I was very pleased to finally meet Duane Strosaker who has been one of my favorite contributors to kayaking on the west coast with his articles on Paddlewise and his remarkable web page (www.rollordrown.com). Mark's collection of paddling pals were friendly and outgoing to this refugee from the snow and ice of a nasty spring in central Washington. Goal #2: Paddle to the Big Ass.... er, Arch Rock. On Monday morning Mark took the day off to act as my guide to the Big Arch Rock. A feature of the So. Cal. coast just outside Newport Harbor, the BAR has been a mainstay of Mark Sanders' photos and articles. Those photos and postings sustained me throughout the long winter here at the lake house so I wanted very badly to see the BAR and, if possible, play around it. Unfortunately, the tide was low and the swell was high and the BAR was closed. Mark spent some time wondering if he couldn't get through it after all while I poked around outside looking for whales. We joined up and paddled back to the secret beach in almost no wind. A solitary sea lion begging for scraps at the bait barge gave us short shrift as we paddled past. Goal #3: Paddle Big Sur. I left Monday evening for Santa Barbara and points north along US1 hugging the west coast of California. Arguably one of the most beautiful stretches of highway in the entire country (if not the world) the trip is worth the effort just for the views. I wanted to paddle and stopped for the night at Morro Bay to stay in a small motel that turned out to overlook the famous "Rock". The morning dawned foggy with a low tide and even though I drove around a bit to see if it was worth launching, I was almost upon the "Rock" in the car before I saw it. So I headed north for San Simeon. By the time I reached San Simeon the wind that had been predicted to reach 15 to 20 was 25 to 30 and building even higher. The wind became the dominating force for the rest of my trip up the CA coast and ultimately caused me to bail out and head to Puget Sound. Nevertheless I managed to visit Monterrey where it was even windier, and found that sheltered Elkhorn Slough had nasty seas both at the Moss Landing end and the Kirby Beach end. The folks at Monterrey Bay Kayaks were surprised at that. Another evening and another motel and I was up early to launch at Moss Landing to paddle the lower reaches of Elkhorn Slough in search of the elusive sea otter. Elkhorn Slough is a marvelous waterway that winds for about 5 miles eastwards from Moss Landing which lies about halfway between Monterrey and Santa Cruz. You can launch at either the pay-to-park ramp at Moss Landing or at Kirby Park at the eastern end of the slough. Since my mission was to at last see the sea otters and the sea otters hang out at the western end of the slough, it only made sense to launch at Moss Landing and fight my way through the harbor seals and sea lion packs to get under the highway bridge and into sea otter territory. It didn't take long to find them after getting under the bridge though. And I had a nice time photographing and watching several otters as they munched their way through breakfast. On my way back to the car I managed to catch a few of the large swells that were making their way into the harbor entrance against the ebb tide. The Coaster was happy to show me how she loved to surf. In a few minutes I was on my way to Berkeley and friends for a short visit. Goal 4: Tomales Bay. That same evening I arrived at Tomales Bay to find the wind blowing even more fiercely than it had been further south. By now I was thorougly sick of wind and just turned tail and ran north to Redding where a friend had a sofa waiting for me. Goal 5: Deception Pass. A one-day drive north from Redding (including a pause to paddle the houseboat strewn waterways of Portland, OR) brought me to Pam's house and her spare bedroom for the night. The next morning I headed to the ferry at Mukilteo, WA which crosses to the southern end of Whidbey Island. We have a small lot at Freeland on Holmes Harbor and I stopped to set up a tent and campsite before the rain hit, and then headed up the highway some 30 miles to Deception Pass. Launching at Bowman Bay on the flood tide, I played around at the Pass until it was time to head home. By this time the swells had built in Bowman Bay and a dumping surf was hitting the beach. Dumping surf is common here and my normally graceless exit was made even worse by the steep beach and the 2-foot waves hitting the stern of the Coaster. A local paddler lent me a hand and I was soon on the road back to camp with the back of the Coaster covered in bits of seaweed. The next day Pam came up to Deception Pass and we launched at Cornet Bay to paddle against the flood almost up to the bridges. A combination of boat wakes and currents got me nervous; not the least of which was caused by the fact that I had left my dry top at the camp and had lost my favorite Mariner paddles. All I had was a poly top and wing paddles. Neither of which was the best choice for Deception Pass. So we paddled up almost to the bridge before I turned tail and rain back with the current and eddied out. We paddled around a few of the islands and then packed up and headed to the campsite where we found my dry top and launched for a 5-mile round trip paddle north in Holmes harbor to round an island and head home almost at sunset. I broke camp, loaded the kayaks, and Pam and I barely made the 9:30pm ferry to the mainland where we parted ways; her to go home to Graham and me to head across the mountains to Moses Lake. I got home at 1am Monday morning and fell into bed. I still haven't unloaded the car completely. LOL. Some goals met, some goals unmet. But quite a trip for an old guy. I'll try to get some pics up. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Thanks for the report Craig: I'd truly love to head States-side sometime too - meet up with you and Pam, hit my old haunts further south in So Cal, meet up with the gang down there, maybe yak around Northern Cal where the Tsunami boys hang, and then hit the Columbia River Bar on an ebb this time and do the inner Columbia with Dave who owns that fricking river. I just watched Into the Wild this past weekend; haunting...I couldn't sleep for hours after. Christopher McCandless's story got me thinking about Alaska again. I loved some of the quotes associated with the movie and/or read by Christopher: "There is pleasure in the pathless woods, There is rapture on the lonely shore, There is society where none intrudes, By the deep sea and the music in its roar; I love not man the less, but Nature more." -Byron "...the sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing blind, deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your own hands and your own head..." -Bear Meat by Primo Levi Thanks too Craig for your contributions to Sea Kayaker - enjoyed your last one - truly freightening - and frustrating. Run over by a power boat, indeed!!! Kid was real luky. I like the part where the mom says their kayak instructor taught them to lean away from dangerous boaters. So, when did that become an essential skill to teach state-side? Okay, it was a Canadian power-boater, I know. Up late working on my missing paddler off Brooks article between migrains and multiple daily tasks - can't find time during the day - got a hot edict. Take care Craig. You are a very special paddler in our community. Glad the boys n' gals down south got a gander at ya. Doug Lloyd Craig siad (snip): > Ok, not the entire west coast... and actually only bits of it. But I drove > most of the West Coast of the USA in about a week and while I didn't get > to > paddle in all the places I really wanted to, I did manage to accomplish a > few of my goals. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Hi Doug! Thanks for the kind words. On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 1:17 AM, Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca> wrote: > > I just watched Into the Wild this past weekend; haunting...I couldn't > sleep for hours after. Christopher McCandless's story got me thinking about > Alaska again. I loved some of the quotes associated with the movie and/or > read by Christopher: That movie troubled me greatly. For one thing, it's not entirely accurate; especially when it comes to the reasons for McCandless' death. But the story has become some sort of legend and there are a lot of young people who want to visit the bus and have a similar experience. Most of them ignore the simple fact that he was completely unprepared for his "adventure", ignored the warnings of many people who tried to stop him (but who felt he had a right to kill himself if he wanted), and could have simply walked out (after all, someone drove that bus there) along the road or by using a tramway across the river just a short distance away from the place he tried to cross. If you want to see some interesting comments, go to youtube and search for the clips on the bus and then read the remarks posted there. It gives a great insight into the thinking of some of the same people who go kayaking unprepared. > Thanks too Craig for your contributions to Sea Kayaker - enjoyed your last > one - truly freightening - and frustrating. Run over by a power boat, > indeed!!! Kid was real luky. I like the part where the mom says their kayak > instructor taught them to lean away from dangerous boaters. So, when did > that become an essential skill to teach state-side? Okay, it was a Canadian > power-boater, I know. That's a good point about teaching people to roll away from a powerboat. It makes sense and it probably saved that kid's life but who would have thought of it? There has been another incident near Tacoma that Pam and I are talking about back-channel and which I think we may bring up for Paddlewise. It involves some canoists and the currents near the Narrows with some thoughts on when, exactly, do you call for help from the CG... as soon as you see someone in the water? Some interesting thoughts. Up late working on my missing paddler off Brooks article between migrains > and multiple daily tasks - can't find time during the day - got a hot edict. I'm looking forward to that story a great deal. Especially since I paddle solo so much of the time. Take care Craig. You are a very special paddler in our community. Glad the > boys n' gals down south got a gander at ya. Thanks, Doug. I feel the same about you. It was kinda fun being a minor celebrity and having people say things like, "It's nice to put a face to your name". I really enjoyed the CKF get-together and I'm grateful to Mark and his wife for putting up with me. I want to encourage them - or any of the CKF paddlers - to come up and visit. It's the only way Ken will get his helmet back, anyway. <grin> Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA > > > Doug Lloyd > > Craig siad (snip): > > > > Ok, not the entire west coast... and actually only bits of it. But I > > drove > > most of the West Coast of the USA in about a week and while I didn't get > > to > > paddle in all the places I really wanted to, I did manage to accomplish > > a > > few of my goals. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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