Ice on the gunwales

[Sdrew22]

When this happens my girlfriend starts to strongly suggest I retire for the season. Today is that day. I may try to sneak a few more sessions in before the freeze. Terrible time of year. Almost three months with no paddling.

 

[recped]

I knew things were coming to an end on October 1st

 

[ppine]

Once we got tired of not paddling in winter, and got together a group and went south to the low desert of Arizona on the California border. We paddled the lower Colorado River for a week. The lack of daylight is a challenge. We had colder weather than is typical in Feb with frost every night even at 250 feet. There was little fuel for a fire. One night the wind blew over 60 mph. There were a lot of really good moments also. People still talk about this trip. It made an impression on people.

 

[scoutergriz]

I've paddled more than once with a couple of inches of snow in my lap, gives a whole new meaning to "cool your jets"

 

[pblanc]

I remember winter and early Spring runs back when zip front PFDs were still in vogue when the zipper was frozen solid after paddling and it was not possible to get the thing off. While sitting in the truck with the engine running waiting for the heater to melt the frozen zipper I would occasionally silently ask myself if what I was doing was sensible.

 

[Guest]

I had a New Year’s Day trip where the partial spray covers on my canoe came off as two giant frozen pizza slices.

More worrying, I’ve had my throw bag, which I keep off the bilge clipped around a thwart, end up as a frozen block of rope after some winter trips. No way it would have played out, or been throw-able as anything more than a brick in a bag.

I made a winter throw bag using a small dry bag with a grommet on the bottom. It doesn’t throw as well as a manufactured bag, but it is better than a frozen brick.

Is there such a thing as a winter throw bag?

 

[ppine]

I used to fish Pyramid Lake, NV in winter. Mostly we waded from shore with neoprene chest waders. I have never liked taking boats out on the big lake in winter.
I had one rule, when the guides on my fishing rod started to ice up I would quit and get out of the water.
The lake has Lahontan cutthroat trout, LCTs that can get huge. Ten pounds is common, 20 pounds is no big deal. Next we are expecting a 30 pounder. The lake record in the old days was 43 pounds.

 

[lowangle al]

I put my boats away last Wednesday, right before the big snow storm that hit the East coast last week. I was OK with that as I had a good fall paddling season and hadn't put a boat in the water for the previous ten days because of wind and ice. Last winter my lake froze and thawed three times and I got out every month sometimes needing my ice hook and pole to navigate over and through the ice, fun stuff. I don't expect my lake to thaw this winter as it is already thicker than it was at any time last year, but you never know. If things warm up, which they will, I will be able to paddle and pole on the Susquehanna or the Delaware. In the mean time there is skiing while it lasts and hiking.

 

[DaveO]

I think I am done for a couple of months, but I still have one canoe (covered) out on the trailer, complete with snow and ice. I too had a good fall paddling season. No, I would say it was great! First fall in several years that my over-use, joint-ligament bothers did not crop up and slow down my roll. May it continue next year.

 

[ppine]

In the West the good runoff and flows for running rivers occurs in the spring. Usually canoes can do okay with 300-400 cfs. But for a raft or drift boat you need closer to 800-1,000 cfs. We used to start in late March or early April. It is daunting to plan to go rafting on Saturday, and then wake up to blowing snow. We were young and gung ho about it. Everyone had full wet suits, so we just went anyway. People took swims in 40-45 degree water fairly often. With good wet suits and rescue practice, we always got everyone out of the water without getting too cold.

I remember moving to the Reno area back in the 1980s. It snowed on Memorial Day which seemed unusual, moving there from Wyoming. I realized it was no fluke when it snowed again on Memorial Day the very next year.