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My First Paddle of the Season

Joined
Mar 17, 2016
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Hoosier State
I made it to the public access site of our local chain of lakes right at dawn. Not a soul in the parking lot. I put my MR Indy, the first canoe I ever bought, in the water and paddled into the red sky. "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning" - a chance of rain was in the forecast for about 11AM. The first lake was as close to mirror-flat as it gets.

The beavers had built a new lodge since the last time I had been there. While one of them slapped its tail and disappeared right away, the other one let me slide to within about 30' before he/she dove for safety. The cattails were full of red winged blackbirds. They all seemed to have staked out their little territories and were singing a song, if you want to call it that. The geese were honking very loud and I passed several nests under construction. The many wood ducks I saw will have to find themselves a hollow tree pretty soon.

A little wood smoke in the air made me think of a camp fire, even though it was probably from a wood burner in one of the cabins.

The second lake had some ripples on it from the light breeze. There was a fly-over by an osprey and our eyes met.

The wildlife is expecting spring to come just as we are. The vegetation is still pretty much dormant; the crocuses are in bloom at home.

My paddling muscles were pretty sore. It's amazing how out of shape you can get over the winter. I'm very grateful that I was able to take this little trip.

Sorry, no photos; I should have taken the camera.
 
Sounds like a great first paddle. The ice is out on the rivers now in Montana and soon will be out on the smaller lakes. I'm looking forward to my first paddle this week.

Mark
 
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