Moonlight Canoe Cruise

Nancy and I went out for a moonlight canoe cruise last night, Saturday, to the Wood River Wetlands. Nancy’s brother and sister-in-law went us.

We arrived at the launch site approximately 9:30 PM and were paddling down the channel by 9:45. The full moon did not rise until about 9:50 and was not above the Tules until about 10:00. The moon was dimmed a bit and really orange due to the smoke in our area from the Northern California forest fires.

We traversed through the Wetlands to the entrance into Upper Klamath Lake (AKA Agency Lake) then did a one eighty and paddled back. The reason for the abrupt turn around is that last year, on this same trip; we ventured out into the lake a couple of hundred yards and were barely able to find our way back to the channel entrance. The wall of Tules at the head of the lake is so featureless that one cannot determine where the channel entrance is; I think it a function of depth perception, not visibility, I’ve had the same problem in the daylight. We also had a lot of difficulty finding our launch site on our return. I have no pictures to share; it was too dark to have any recognizable features. We were able to keep track of one another by the use of flashlights and Nancy’s “Glow Sticks”, we looped them around our wrists and necks; they can be seen from several hundred yards away.

We arrived back at our launch site at 11:30and were back home by 12:30. With the ATV ride Friday evening and this canoe trip Saturday evening we are pooped! It doesn’t seem too fatiguing while we are active; it just hits us when we relax. Today will be a day of total relaxation!

Our next adventures, which we know of, are: sailing on Lake of the Woods Tuesday and 4 wheeling, Wednesday evening, on Stukel Mountain, on a newly discovered access trail. After that who knows what will come our way.

Tune in again and be well and be happy.

Nancy”s
Return
To
Stukel
Mt.

Early Friday evening Nancy, John, and I returned to Stukel Mountain for a quick 4 wheeling adventure. It was supposed to be a late afternoon run but we got a late start and didn’t get onto the mountain until almost 6:00 PM.

We returned to the scene of Nancy’s accident, by accident, no pun intended, as we were not sure where we were at the time. It was just a couple of hundred yards behind the location from which these pictures were taken.

These pictures are of were taken from the South flank of Stukel Mt., with the town of Merril and Tule Lake in the background and Nancy in the foreground.

With our late start we did not get back to the truck until after dark, 9:30 PM, or so I thought: we actually got back right at sunset; I was still wearing my dark goggles and thought it was after dark! Nancy said she was wondering why I was dragging so far behind on the way back to the truck.

Tune in tomorrow for a report on our planned “moonlight canoe cruise” tonight in the Wood River Wetlands, at the North end of Klamath Lake. We’ll be casting off the dock approximately 9:30, with a full moon expected at 9:40.

PELICAN
BUTTE
4
WHEELING
ADVENTURE

July 12, 2008

Nancy and I 4 wheeled to the top of Pelican Butte with a group of seven other 4 wheelers.

Pelican Butte is an extinct volcano, some 8,083 feet in altitude, and stands at the western flank of Upper Klamath Lake. From its summit one can scan most of the Klamath Basin; from Crater Lake to the California border, a little over fifty miles. The entire expanse of Klamath Lake can be seen.

The round trip from our staging point, at the junction of Hwy. 140 and the Cold Creek access road; was approximately 60 miles distance and six hours duration.

We took an indirect rout to the summit, in order to visit some other interesting points of interest in the immediate area.

Not to disappoint us: John flipped his ATV just a hundred feet short of the summit, trying to do a loop around on a steep embankment. Neither he nor his ATV was damaged.

We all were extremely dirty and tired upon our arrival back home; we were so tired we did not even eat dinner and spent most of Sunday lazing around the house recuperating. Today we feel OK and are ready for next week’s adventure.

4 WHEELING
WITH
JOHN

July 6th, John and I took off for the Chiloquin Ridge for a 4 wheeling adventure.

Chiloquin Ridge runs along parallel to Hwy. (97 N to S) just 5 miles north of K’ Falls for about 20 miles; it terminates at the town of Chiloquin, of all places! The open countryside runs for a hundred miles off to the east, uninterrupted.

With all of our side trips, loops around, and so forth, we covered approximately 60 miles for the day.

The excitement for the day was: I rolled over two times, standing still, while trying to re-square myself to a steep hill after stalling out; no harm to me or the machine.

Amazing enough was that John didn’t do anything goofy!