Canoeing

[catsittingstill]

Hadn't been in ages.  Woke up to a beautiful day.  Remembered Fern Lake near Cumberland Gap National Historic Park.  Dithered over whether to drive the canoe up there when I didn't know if I could actually get access to the lake.  Decided to go anyway, rationalizing that if there was no canoeing available I would just go hiking in the park instead.  Tried out new canoe brackets I got for Christmas; they attach to the bars of my Yakima rack and cradle the canoe so it can't shift from side to side.  It took me an extra 20 minutes or so to put them on, but they worked very well indeed.  Speed approached 70 mph in some of the good stretches of highway, and the canoe showed no sign of shifting around (I still strapped it down properly, of course; it wasn't *all* the brackets.)

Lovely day, trees changing colors, beautiful blue sky.  Couldn't access Fern Lake; apparently it's privately owned.  Though the park may buy it soon they don't expect to allow people to put their own boats on it, as they're worried about invasive non-native species.  Though, frankly, Patience is clean as a whistle, but never mind.

Five miles north was Cannon Creek Lake, reachable off a small back road (thank Garmin the not-Lost for guiding me in and out.)  Only one other boat on the lake, quietly fishing.  One group of campers with a single tent.  What kind of weirdos would go out to the wilderness and then run a generator the whole time--I ask you.  But it was possible to explore the inlets and byways of the lake and get nicely away from the noise.  I filled up my ears with birdsong and treewhispers and the gurgle of water around the paddle and under Patience's hull.  It was one of those days when both the shade of the hills and the golden wash of sunlight were pleasant in their own way.  The water was very green, but reasonably clear for this area.  I took some pictures; nothing special, I don't think; just hills and trees and lake and such.  If they turn out well, I may put some up.

Then I went back to the car and filled up a whole garbage bag with trash people had left lying around the boat ramp.  Sigh.  But I do think the place looked much nicer when I finished.

Now my back is sore.  But I'm glad I went.  It's only about 60 miles away; I expect I'll be back.

Comments

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

What kind of weirdos would go out to the wilderness and then run a generator the whole time--I ask you.

People with disabilities which require powered equipment. I know two who refused to give up "hiking" when in an electric wheelchair (with mountain-bike tires) or on a ventilator.

I agree with you, of course, in suspecting strongly that the folks you saw with the generator probably had no such reasonable excuse for one, but such excuses do exist. :)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Good point. I hadn't thought of this as a possiblity; I stand corrected.

At the time I thought it was because they wanted to play the radio (they were playing some kind of recorded music for a while) or watch TV. Kip says there was some kind of major sports event on yesterday.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

It may well have been. Callie and I went camping a few weeks ago and were unfortunately situated next to people who wanted to play their stereo half the night and fight loudly for the other half. Odds are that the crew you passed were equally silly; I just try to stay aware that there may be good reasons I hadn't counted on.

[pondside.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think that people would enjoy getting away from it all but bringing it all with them seems quite popular. We've got a big motorhome that brings some of it with us but as at home, we skip the tv and radio and try to be at one with nature. Keeping the little bitie things away from me makes me even happier about being one with nature lol.

I don't understand the toss it on the ground theory of waste management. When I see people throwing their cigarette butts away I want to pick them up for them and return them as I'm sure it's only a reflex, they didn't really want to do that did they???

I'm glad you're finding some time to canoe. Not getting lost is indeed a goodness. My personal fav of gps isn't getting me there, it's getting me back after I've wandered around knowing it will get me back when I'm ready.

Give Patience a pat for me and know that I'm entirely in awe of her construction and like to hear of her travels.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I will give her a pat for you :-)

You're quite right; the "find my way home" feature of the GPS is one of the very most useful.

"Find my way out" is harder, as I have to know what the GPS thinks the *name* of the feature is; and apparently the maker of the GPS maps isn't all that interested in lakes.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great day--I'm glad you took some time away!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I had fun :-)

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a really wonderful day. I would love to get out on a lake with a canoe, but as both a non-swimmer and as a photographer who'd be frustrated by not taking an expensive camera with me, I'm really paranoid about the possibility of tipping.

I share your frustration about trash. Good for you on picking some of it up. I try to pick up a little, but I'm bad at remembering to bring an appropriate trash bag with me. Around here, it seems like most of the trash is left by fishermen. I will see a can or a wrapper now and then along hiking trails, especially the more heavily used ones, but the big piles of beer cans, chip bags, and empty bait cartons are always at fishing spots.