Massachusetts inshore kayaking: Chubb and Misery Islands
Above: King Island, Alaska native lands and prepares to dress his catch of a seal in the ice floes. Seasonal icepack renders kayaking in the area inshore during some seasons, offshore during others. Alaska State Archives photo.Manchester, Massachusetts’ Chubb Island, Misery Island and West BeachChubb Island's shallows and perimeter are a scenic spot you'llManchester, Ma. kayaking: Chubb and Misery Islands
Manchester, Massachusetts: sea kayaking Chubb and Misery IslandsAbove: Alaskan subsistence hunters set up camp with sledges, snowshoes and overnight camping equipment during the 1920's.Chubb Island's shallows and perimeter are off Manchester and Beverly Farms, Ma. are a scenic spot you'll pass on the way to West Beach from inner Manchester harbor.Heavily vegetated, Chubb is imprinted with theGreenland Paddling Storm and Racing Strokes
A modern-day video showing Arne Nielsen peeling off Greenland sliding storm paddle and vertical racing strokes. What a low volume skin-on-frame kayak!Note how aggressively Arne pushes with his top hand to execute the sliding storm paddle stroke, and how much core strength he exerts for the vertical racing stroke.AGreenland Paddling Storm and Racing Strokes
A modern-day video showing Arne Nielsen peeling off Greenland sliding storm paddle and vertical racing strokes. What a low volume skin-on-frame kayak!Note how aggressively Arne pushes with his top hand to execute the sliding storm paddle stroke, and how much core strength he exerts for the vertical racing stroke.A strong core sure helps with sea kayaking.Our Upper Mountain Fork River Trip
Dianne booked us a stay in southeastern Oklahoma's mountains for the Father's Day weekend; it was SO secluded and relaxing! I recommend it highly for couples and small families looking for a great deal on an Oklahoma cabin in the country. The owners have only one cabin they treated us like royalty the entire time we were there.
River Ranch Cabin is nestled in the Oklahoma 'mountains'. Southeastern Oklahoma is more mountainous and forested than any other part of the state. The roads that lead to Smithville, Oklahoma reminded me on the switchback-laden three lane highways of Colorado. You have to watch out for logging trucks, but it is well worth it to see the amazing vistas of the Ouachita National Forest and the Kiamichi mountains.
The single one-bedroom cabin at River Ranch Cabin sits on over a hundred acres of solitude fronted by a half mile section of the Upper Mountain Fork River. This river resort offers the most exclusive luxuries on market: solitude and comfort amongst breathtaking natural beauty. I'm sure it was the spacious indoor Jacuzzi that attracted Dianne's attention to this cabin. That gal is drawn to hot tubs, like a moth to the flame! However, we both knew she would end up spending very little time in the Jacuzzi as soon as we saw the 'swimming hole' at River Ranch Cabin.
The Upper Mt. Fork River is quite different from the Lower Mt. Fork River we are accustomed to kayaking in. The water in the Upper Mt. Fork River is much warmer than in the lower river. In my opinion, the Lower Mountain Fork River is almost too cold for swimming. The rocky, pool and drop descents of the two rivers are similar, but we didn't see the Cypress trees and Spanish Moss that we normally see on the lower river.
Swimming at the private gravel bar 'swimming hole' at River Ranch Cabin means you see no one else. We swam about five hours a day all weekend and we never saw a hiker, boater, fisherman...anyone! The crystal clear waters are teaming with fish, deer are plentiful and the grounds are well mowed. The spacious 'swimming hole' is actually quite long, but since it is a narrow bit of river you can always find some shady water to take a break from the sun. A gas grill stands nearby so you don't even have to return to the cabin for lunch. The gravel bar also makes an excellent place to launch kayaks from.
Once it gets dark, Dianne and I were willing to return to what was easily the nicest cabin we have ever stayed in. The first thing I noticed when we entered the cabin was a lovely homemade cake resting under glass. The lady made cake for us! Dianne was impressed by how new everything was in the cabin and rushed in straight to see the tub. It is a beauty and elegantly placed in the large bathroom. My attention was captured by the truly world-class cooling system. Heat pump, digital thermostat and more ceiling fans than I have ever seen a single home, much less a one bedroom cabin! I counted two in the living room, two in the kitchen, one in the bedroom and two on the back porch for goodness sakes!
Everything about the cabin was perfect from the location right down to the smallest details. Although American Whitewater will tell you that the river is only runnable after local rains, we enjoyed paddling for quite a ways around the cabin even late in June. However, I must confess that the heat of the summer had us much more focused on swimming than we were on kayaking during our visit to River Ranch Cabin in Smithville, OK.
Looking for a kayaking shirt to beat the summer heat? This weekend I tried Under Armour Heatgear and it really works! I wore this black shirt in the blazing heat and sun and found it to be wodefully cool. try one yourself sometime: Under Armour Men Heatgear UA Tech Sleeveless T-Shirt.
Communication Going Forward
We’ve reached Sointula and are getting ourselves back on track after figuratively losing ourselves in the wild upper reaches of Vancouver Island for a week. Lost track of days and camps are blurring together in our minds. Port Hardy seems like an apparation that will never draw nearer, but we are finally narrowing the gap.
We’re moving slower than we had hoped. My shoulder, the weather, our own issues all have contributed. We’ve both realized that we may have bitten off a bit more than we can chew on this trip and are just doing the best we can. Paddling towards Alaska, day by day.
We are about to launch into the really wild part. From here to Prince Rupert we’ll be paddling through some remote stretches with little or no communication with the outside world. We’ll continue hitting the “OK” button on our SPOT unit, so you will be able to see our location using the “Track Our Location” link on the left.
Other than SPOT updates, we won’t be doing much blog posting from here on out. We’ve uploaded a bunch of photos from the last section of the trip. We haven’t the time to write day by day recaps, so we’ll look forward to sharing a cup of tea with you all down the road and retelling our stories in person.
We have been learning a lot about our capabilities and limitations. I don’t know if we’ll paddle our last strokes to Glacier Bay in August or if it will be all we can do to fight the wind and tides to Bella Bella. In many ways we are letting go of old expectations and accepting where we are and where we can go from here. Lots of time for introspection and discussion these last few weeks.
Thank you all for the love and support you have shown. From casual advice along the day’s paddle to grilled salmon offered at a campsite to opening up your homes to us, the people we have met along the way have helped to make this trip possible. To all our friends and family reading from home, thank you for the comments, emails, and kind thoughts! We both wish we could share more with you all every day, so please accept our apologies.
I am looking forward to the next section being a grand adventure, the “real” wilderness experience we have both set out for. I feel like we are more prepared physically, mentally, in terms of equipment, and as expedition partners to handle what lies ahead. We are doing well and are eager to catch up when we can, a few weeks hence in Bella Bella.
Recap of Last Few Weeks (Photos!)
Day #26, May 27 Southey Island to Rathtrevor
Day #27, May 28 Doctor Visit in Parksville
Day #28, May 29 Rathtrevor to Qualicum
Day #29, May 30 Qualicum to Sandy Island
Day #30, May 31 Sandy Island to Kin Beach
Day #31, June 1 Kin Beach to Miracle Beach
Day #31, June 2 Miracle Beach to Cape Mudge (S. tip of Quadra Island)
Day #32, June 3 Cape Mudge to Read Island
Day #33, June 4 …journaling escapes me.
From Fansciscan Island, we paddled through Surge Narrows managing to appreciate the scenery amidst our mounting personal problems. A close encounter with some Dahl porpoises, glassy water for our paddle through Surge, and a beautiful orange jellyfish were welcome distractions. We spent almost every hour of every day between then and now talking and talking and talking. Up all night talking, up the next night talking. Never spent so much time talking. As we rounded Chatham Point and came into the Johnstone Strait, the wind and water tried to demand our attention. Our mileage went from reasonable to just a crawl, making about 6 miles each day. The Johnstone Strait is in your face. Each morning we woke to paddle in chop and each day at noon the westerly wind came up and we were paddling against a freight train. Campsites were anything-goes, which was a welcome change from the designated campgrounds of the Puget Sound and San Juan Islands. We’ve had no communication up until now, internet or cell phone. No support other than each other. Food has been great, weather has been dry and windy. Phil’s shoulder has been getting better for the most part, and we are looking forward to reaching Alaska despite the challenges we’re facing.
Thanks for everyone’s support. Love and miss you, Apryle.
Quiet Kayaking on Dripping Springs Lake
Saturday afternoon's sunset was a bit of a disappointment, but the clouds made the lake cool off earlier. The wind laid and the lake water became increasingly glassy as Scott and I paddled our kayaks up Salt Creek on Dripping Springs Lake. I took Dianne's new 13 foot kayak out, but still had to work pretty hard to keep up with Scott's 17 foot Pygmy Coho plywood kayak.The day had been blisteringly hot when we launched our boats from the fishing dock at Clovis Point. Once we reached the point where the lake began to slim-down into Salt Creek (and I began to wonder if one bottle of water was going to be sufficient) blessed shade happened. When Scott offered to bring his fancy new kit kayak to Okmulgee, I got pretty excited. Since I started reading about building kayaks lately, I was familiar with stitch and glue boat building. However, I had never seen one up close. It was just the boat the slide across the lake and sneak up on some wildlife.
Although the Clovis Point campground had been crowded with RV's, we saw only two fishing boats on our trip up to Salt Creek. The seclusion was conducive to wildlife watching, as was Scott's super-sleek Coho kayak, it cuts through flat water like a scalpel, leaving barely a ripple in its wake. We slipped up on this lovely whitetail doe foraging on the lake shore. Before returning, to the fishing dock we saw several more deer and a few beavers.
Because I had allowed the hour to get a bit late, paddling back to Clovis Point provided a bit of a workout (much eased by in the cool of the evening). On the way back Scott and I met up with Ron, another local kayaker. Ron paddles an Old Town Loon. It is a Sit-Inside fishing kayak, much like Dianne's new Vapor 12. Ron is a swell guy (with a used whitewater kayak for sale, ping me if you want) and he lives not too far from my house. Mark has paddled this part of Oklahoma for decades; I hope to learn from him some more trips to share on this kayaking blog.
I hear some of the Oklahoma Flatwater Paddlers visited Lawton for some scenic paddling. Anybody else make the most out of this somewhat wet weekend in Oklahoma? Drop me a comment or fine me on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, etc.
Happy Paddling!
Day 25 – Newcastle Island to Southey Island
Back on the water after a relatively long “rest”/resupply in Nanaimo. Today was a great day. We paddled about 11.5 miles along the coast of Vancouver Island in some pretty big conditions. The character of the paddling seems to have changed. Whereas before we were island hopping and in quite protected waters, now we have the Strait of Georgia to our right, looking for all the world like the open ocean. The wind was from the east and not too bad, but had kicked up 4ft wind waves. Let me tell you, the 4 footers seem like real monsters, looming over your head as they approach, picking the boat up like so much driftwood, and for a second giving you an entirely new perspective as you perch on the crest.
We did fine with the paddling though, and continued along the coast and crossed to Southey Island in the afternoon. Pretty wild spot, it took a while to locate a campsite. Beautiful though, and we cooked dinner and went to bed early after a relaxing evening.
Day 24 – Resupply in Nanaimo
We finally made it to a bank and got some Canadian funds. We’ve been waiting for a weekday, non-holiday to get our business here done. So today, Monday, we headed into Nanaimo to pick up our packages, and resupply food and fuel. Tied up the boats on D dock for about $10 mooring fees, then did a bunch of running around including laundry and the chandelry. Happened upon a cannon firing ceremony and they let me fire the cannon. Pretty cool.
Highlight was dinner at the Thirsty Camel, a very cool falafel joint near downtown. Go there if ever in Nanaimo. We can’t seem to upload photos from the Vancouver Island libraries, so that is a bummer. We’ll get them up when we can, though, possibly after the Discovery Islands.
