Francis Lake 2014, Part One

Hello everyone!

I know it's been a few months since I last blogged.  "Life" has a way of interfering every now and then...  And we did not have a chance to paddle until this weekend.  The spring was brutal-- cold and either snowy or rainy, depending on the day. It is finally starting to feel like kayaking season to us, but just barely.  All of our rivers are high also as we've had lots of hard rain recently.  Luckily, Sunday and today were dry.  We got out on the water for the first time and were really happy to be there!

Here is Brody in his usual spot, anxious to see where we're going.  We got a late start and were on the water around noon.  The wind had picked up by then and made some ripples on the surface as we started out.  The benefit was less bugs.

The clouds were pretty cool looking.  I love cloud formations and capturing them is sometimes a challenge from the kayak.

This is an area southwest of the put-in.  It has some prominent rocks, and is usually quite shallow, but not on this trip!

If you've been following my blog, you know that Brody doesn't like looking at the camera and most of my photos of him in the kayak are of his back and his butt!  He grudgingly turned around for this shot.  I believe he's saying "Hey, I don't have time for photos, I'm NAVIGATING!!"

This dead tree is sort of iconic to Francis Lake.  I have lots of photos (better ones than this one) of this tree, sticking out on a piece of land that cuts into the lake.

The wind picked up steadily as we paddle down the lake.  Here is a far away shot of the esker which I have mentioned in past blogs.  The esker starts about 1/3 of the way from the left of the photo and continues on out of the picture.  If you didn't know, an esker is left by a retreating glacier-- sand and gravel deposits.  It leaves a ridge like the one shown here.

Here is a closer photo of the esker.  In part 2 I will have photos from the esker, looking out at different parts of the lake, and the esker itself, where there is a trail, an outhouse, and a spot to camp.

I hope everyone has been able to get out and paddle!  We're looking forward to some nice weather so that we are able to get out on the water again next weekend.

Happy Kayaking!