Moving Islands

I'm a curmudgeon today and I put in on the big lake and just want to go. I've just finished a new paddle for the Skagit River, but I dip another new paddle on this trip, one that I've made for the Elwha River. It looks like a ransom note, the legacy of a former senator from this state that held restoration of the Elwha hostage while making political deals.

The big lodge goose nest

The barge next to the big lodge is dredging lake bottom today. I think that it might be building a large boat slip for the landowner. I don't have anything polite to say about that. The goose nest on the south side of the lodge is doing well. (check the April 7th post for more details on this nest - the eggs should hatch about one week from now - about 26-28 days for Canada goose eggs)

I find a dead beaver floating in the water just north of the east marsh. It might be a 20 pounder, and I get a good look at the paws and tail.

As I turn the point towards the east channel of the burial island, I find my view partially blocked. Part of the marsh island has moved a good 30 or 40 feet out into the normal canoe channel. I circle the island and GPS the corners, but it is hard to see exactly what and how it has moved. Most of the shore edges seem to be about where they should be. It might be that the southern tip has split off and rotated out. The water is very high right now, apparently high enough to float the bog free of the lake bottom. It should be a fairly permanent change and it will be interested to see if where it all ends up.

I hear voices in the brushy shoreline of the burial island, and investigating find two guys on a geocache hunt. We chat a bit, but they aren't interested in anything except finding the little box. They have completely reinforced my opinion that it is a pointlessly weird activity. It doesn't teach navigation skills and the competition of finding the little boxes... aw, I told you, I am a curmudgeon today. I head through the Crossing Under Place and take out in Portage Bay. This weekend is opening boating day here, and the plastic toy ship mai-tai drinking fancy pants cigar smoking where's-the-brake-on-this-god-damned-thing "yachtsmen" are crudding up the place.
... told you, I am a curmudgeon today.