Up to the Still River

A fine day for canoeing was in the prediction, light winds, "clear" skies and cool temperatures.  I set out for a somewhat long trip to take advantage of the conditions.  The clear skies weren't quite clear and the weatherman proved accurate.  There was a high haze of smoke particles from the west coast forest fires.  What should've been blue sky was a hazy grey.  It made for awkward photography and while I didn't see the color shift with my eyes, later I could see that the camera picked it up.

I put in on the big river just below the four span steel truss bridge.  From there I headed upriver against the lightest of winds, but, oh man did it feel cold, there was even a nip in my fingers.  A summer of 80-90 degree days leaves one unready for a sudden chill of 50 something.  I had joked with S before leaving that I was looking forward to wearing a real shirt.  I almost needed a jacket.

There was almost no boat traffic.  In fact, I only saw two other boats in 4-1/2 hours, both high speed bass boats.  The saving grace of that craft is that they are in earshot for only 10 seconds or so and they throw no wake.

I'd only paddled this route once before and I had come away less than enthused.  My memory created more houses than there actually are.  This is definitely the rich end of the reservoir, the houses are large and often silly garish, but their properties are also large, so they are spread thin.  What I really didn't remember is that about 90 percent of the shoreline is undeveloped forest and often for fairly long stretches.  The only public access above my put in is local town parks that are limited to residents...  kind of a stinky way to keep out what they consider undesirable.  But, those town parks make good pee stops.

Lover's Leap

The birds of the day were Mallards and Great Blue Herons, both of which were common sights at regular intervals.  I saw a few Kingfisher and just up the Still River a single Green Heron.  Two flocks of Canada Geese flew over.  Geese are always an encouraging sight.  No matter what is going on in the world, geese on the migration seem to me to be a sign that something is working correctly.

The Still River

I made good time and reached Lovers Leap in less than two hours.  From there I continued up and turned into the Still River, which is new water to me.  It turned out to be a lovely calm river running through a combination of woods and marsh although I could only paddle up about a mile.  At that point is a a long series of cascades that need to be portaged... but not today.

The Still River cascades

I headed back.  The wind had changed little but the temperature was downright perfect.  I stopped and chatted with the bass boat guys who were impressed by my speed (I'm not that fast, it's just that hardly anyone paddles this distance at a steady pace).  They expected good fishing but instead were getting skunked.

I took out, 14 miles for the day.