My Ship got a hole in it but I didn't drown! Friday, September 11, 2020

This morning we hit the highway early to pick up a kayak for me to use for a half day.  We brought it back to our campsite at Georgetown Lake and Russ dropped me off at the boat launch and I headed out.


Saw some wildlife today


I got up pretty close but when he sensed I was too near, he shrieked and managed to lift that huge body into the air and fly away from me.  

I also witnessed an interesting interplay between 3 mergansers while I was out there.  At first there was one and I noticed that he/she had a little dead fish in its beak.  He was swimming around like he didn't know what to do with his prize when all of a sudden from behind me (but in front of him) came another bird and just plucked that fish right out of the original guy's mouth.  Then low and behold, a third guy came around and decided to get into the contest.  In the end, they lost the fish to the depths.  No one won.  Kinda reminded me of humans.   

About an hour into my trip I noticed that the left side of my kayak seemed to be heavier than the right side.  I couldn't figure it out.  I was definitely listing to left.  I was quite a way from the launch point so I hurried as fast as I could to get back, thinking there might be something wrong.  The little craft was getting more and more difficult to maneuver and I was making less and less progress forward.  Made it back and called the owner of the kayak rental place.  She said that she had told my husband that that particular kayak may have a hole in it.  Well, how about that Russ was hoping to get rid of me.  

Here is a picture of the sinking ship being drained.  Good thing Russ was here, that kayak was so full of water I never could have lifted it to drain.


Once the kayak was drained we loaded it onto the truck and returned it to the shop.  She was very apologetic and give me another kayak saying that I could have it until tomorrow morning.  That way I can kayak on this lake tonight and again tomorrow morning.

On the way back to camp I saw a sign noting a day use area at a lake called Echo.  So we climbed a few hundred feet and found this sweet little lake.  Well, I had a kayak so . . . .  I took a little ride!!


Here's a couple of thoughts that I don't have pictures for.  

First a bit of a complaint.  One of the things I have noticed along this trip is that when there are handicapped parking spots in the middle of the forest, a lot of people who aren't handicapped risk getting caught and take advantage of them.  The other day Russ and I parked in the regular parking lot and climbed the 1/4 mile to the ghost town.  Upon arrival I noted there were several cars in the handicapped lot which was much closer for obvious reasons.  Well it was late in the day and so the folks who had parked there were all leaving.  I noted that none of them were handicapped.  All of them were young and overweight.  What's with that?  Come on kids man and woman up!  

The other thing that I thought was noteworthy is to acknowledge our camping neighbors.  There is an older man and woman there (probably our age).  This afternoon the guy whips out his chainsaw, fires it up and starts cutting wood out of the trees in the forest.  Rather odd behavior, don't you think? I noticed that he has a rather large stack of wood for a fire tonight.  I'm kind of surprised that the camp host didn't say something to him.  She is only 4 sites away.  Oh well, this is Montana!

The folks along the way seem to love to have campfires every night.  Being from Reno-Tahoe, I can't imagine why they want to put their forests at risk by doing this.  Oh well.  It's a free country -- right?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Been a quiet two days -- August 29, 2020

Image
Back in this civilized camp I have spent 2 days reading, swimming and hiking.  We went to town (Eureka, MT) yesterday for lunch and had a really good and huge cobb salad for $11.  The town kind of reminded me of Virginia City.  I can't exactly explain why but it was set up to take advantage of the tourist trade in the old downtown.  I asked one of the merchants there how business was and she said "not so good."   Before we hit Eureka, we drove down to Rexford which is merely a post office, a bar/restaurant and few trailer parks.  There was, however, a big field where Russ could through the frisbee to Ceilidh.  As we turned around to leave, these critters greeted us: After lunch in Eureka we explored the history a bit.  This place has a pretty good set up.  All of their old buildings are set in the same place.  Fortunately there was a lot of history to see outside for, alas, the museum itself was closed.  COVID.  Here's som...
Read more

Windy, Windy Night!! Glad we are still standing.

Image
Wednesday, February 24, 2012.  We broke camp at Walker Lake and continued our journey south towards Death Valley.  A totally different route, we passed through Beatty, Nevada and over the summit into the Valley.  We were totally surprised at the accommodations that have been made for the masses that want to visit and stay in Death Valley.  Of course there are the old standby campgrounds but they need to be reserved 6 months in advance and therefore are impossible to secure.  Now, however, the park has opened up a huge “parking lot” sort of facility that allows campers – RV’s, Trailers and Tents – to camp in the gravel.  This sounds unattractive but it really isn’t.  The spots are really wide and the fact that lots of us can stay in the valley now more than makes up for the non-campground feel.  You still get the incredible vistas and dark sky that Death Valley is known for.  We (because we are old and have a senior pass) only had to pay $7 a...
Read more

Missed a day -- sorry. Gone from Clear to Smoky September 13, 2020

Image
Yes, well yesterday I was able to kayak twice.  Once in the morning and once at night.  And look at how clear it was. Today, the smoke settled into Montana like this I fear it is going to be like this for the rest of our journey which, of course, makes me less sad to have it end. The last two days have been full.  Saturday we visited Philipsburg, MT which is the site of another ghost town called Granite.  This one has not been tended to as carefully as Garnet as you can see from the pictures but it has a lot more stuff in it including the stamping mill.  Most of the photos show what is left of each building and most of that is masonry and granite.  The boards that formed the homes or offices on top of the rock foundations have either just collapsed and  been left to lay where they fell or are gone altogether. Here is a picture of the only bank in Granite.  I assume that this is just the vault because it was only big enough for money -- not people....
Read more