15 August ‘09 Saturday
Boy last night turned out to be a long session, but I got most of it done. Now to bring “us all” up-to-date. Just after we got back to the coach from Saturday’s wedding we got an email from Laurie and Bob Lynch. The last time we saw Bob and Laurie just outside of San Francisco last year. They have been making a swing through the northwest and had just moved out of Montana and found a place to settle in Idaho. I tried to call back but soon found that our phone service wasn’t the best. The next morning Louise and I decided to head up north and join them for a couple of days just outside of Hope, Idaho. This was our first time to camp in Sam Owen State Park and found it to be a great camping site and right on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille.
Boy last night turned out to be a long session, but I got most of it done. Now to bring “us all” up-to-date. Just after we got back to the coach from Saturday’s wedding we got an email from Laurie and Bob Lynch. The last time we saw Bob and Laurie just outside of San Francisco last year. They have been making a swing through the northwest and had just moved out of Montana and found a place to settle in Idaho. I tried to call back but soon found that our phone service wasn’t the best. The next morning Louise and I decided to head up north and join them for a couple of days just outside of Hope, Idaho. This was our first time to camp in Sam Owen State Park and found it to be a great camping site and right on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille.
Bob and Laurie have been kayaking buddies for a number of paddles and this is giving us another opportunity to get on the water with them and that’s one reason we’re here. Louise and I have paddled 2 or 3 places on Lake Pend Oreille, but not up here on the north end. Laurie found a great book with some amazing locations to kayak and we were soon off to do a couple of them. Our first outing took us out of Johnson’s Landing. We followed the channels as they stayed close to the tall hills (small mountains…) and then out into the lake. Crossing one of the larger channels we soon found ourselves paddling into a water path that was set up on both sides by tall reeds and trees that guided us around one bend to the next…we did this for well over 4 hours (including time off for eating lunch in the kayaks).
We did have a couple of times when the wind worked against us and sent whitecaps splashing hard against the paddles but most of the trip was just amazing. We had been watching the Osprey pretty much all morning and as we rounded one of the corners we saw a very unusual site…a young Osprey sitting low to the water and hiding behind a stump (it thought it was hiding anyway). Louise and I turned our kayak and headed back to get a photo and a better look. We didn’t want to scare it, but I’m sure we did….sorry… The next morning we were off to kayak a river. For a river run, we needed a drop-off vehicle and a pick-up vehicle so we loaded the kayaks into the back of Bob’s truck and after leaving our car behind at the exit of our paddle, we drove up to the beginning to get into the water. The water level looked a little low but we decided that low or not, we were going to give it a try. We hadn’t paddled but a hundred yards and we were out and pulling the kayaks.
We pulled for about 25 yards and then with the water deep enough, we got back in. Now that wasn’t the last of the “shallow” water but we were able to get through most of the shallower areas by “raising our butts” and pushing with our paddles until free.
This was another great day of kayaking as we leisurely paddled the 9 miles of winding and twisting water of the Pack River.