We didn't get the quiet lake we'd hoped for, but we did manage to find our own private island on the edge of it.
Aly & Bryan are always up to something...
Showing posts with label Paddling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paddling. Show all posts
Sunday, May 27, 2012
On Lake Ouachita, and Naps
By the middle of May, I was pretty much worn out. For the past couple of weeks, I've been kind of ragged. It was a tough end to the semester, and we've been shorthanded at work, and I've overcommitted myself on bike projects, and I just needed a break. Bryan and I decided that, after Mandy left for Tulsa on Friday evening, we'd just disappear for a couple of days. We chose Lake Ouachita for our getaway, since we thought it would be the quietest of the nearby lakes on a busy holiday weekend, and we put in at Buckville since it's a faraway boat launch.
We didn't get the quiet lake we'd hoped for, but we did manage to find our own private island on the edge of it.
We didn't get the quiet lake we'd hoped for, but we did manage to find our own private island on the edge of it.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
The Maiden Voyage
Our new boats had been sitting in the garage, teasing us all week. Bryan and Mandy have new crossover kayaks and I have a hybrid (a kayak that looks a lot like a canoe). Jarion has a greenish fishing-ready sit-on-top, and Kathy chose an orange sit-on-top that's now outfitted with a yoga mat trimmed to fit Ivy's special sitting spot.
Monday, April 30, 2012
We Has Boats
Well, we did it. After a couple of weeks of semi-intensive research both online and in the water, we settled on what we wanted, confirmed our choices on the lake during the Ouachita Outdoor Outfitters spring "Demo Day", wrote the check, and picked up the boats.
We figure that this year, we'll skip our usual out-of-state week-long vacation in favor of buying the boats and then taking a couple of super-long weekend trips to boat around in our home state.
Bryan has a brand-new LiquidLogic Remix XP10. It's billed as a "crossover" boat which means it's an ok whitewater boat with a drop-down skeg to help it track straighter on flat water. It's got a hatch for dry storage for camping gear when needed.
Mandy has the smaller version of the same boat, but in a prettier color. Good kayaks have seats that can be customized to fit the paddler by inserting "shims", and she's had to use all of her shims and half of Bryan's in order to get the seat to fit snugly around her skinny self. She's completely thrilled with her boat.
Hayduke and I settled on a Native Watercraft Ultimate 12 kayak. It looks a lot like a canoe. It's got lots of room for camping gear, and is super stable so Hayduke won't cause me too many problems when he's moving around. I can stand up in it, and can easily get him back into the boat after a swim. It'll be fine on flat water, and okay for class 1 and 2 rivers, which is all I want to do right now anyway. I'd thought this was my choice based on reading reviews and descriptions online, and when we tried the Native boat on the lake the choice was easily confirmed. When I found out that I could buy a slightly used Ultimate for about 60% off retail, the deal was done.
Eventually I'll want a more appropriate boat for whitewater, too, but this is great for dogboating.
Our friends Kathy and Jarion bought boats, too, so we're all set for summertime paddling. We'll have actual photos once we get the boats on the water.
We figure that this year, we'll skip our usual out-of-state week-long vacation in favor of buying the boats and then taking a couple of super-long weekend trips to boat around in our home state.
Bryan has a brand-new LiquidLogic Remix XP10. It's billed as a "crossover" boat which means it's an ok whitewater boat with a drop-down skeg to help it track straighter on flat water. It's got a hatch for dry storage for camping gear when needed.
Hayduke and I settled on a Native Watercraft Ultimate 12 kayak. It looks a lot like a canoe. It's got lots of room for camping gear, and is super stable so Hayduke won't cause me too many problems when he's moving around. I can stand up in it, and can easily get him back into the boat after a swim. It'll be fine on flat water, and okay for class 1 and 2 rivers, which is all I want to do right now anyway. I'd thought this was my choice based on reading reviews and descriptions online, and when we tried the Native boat on the lake the choice was easily confirmed. When I found out that I could buy a slightly used Ultimate for about 60% off retail, the deal was done.
Eventually I'll want a more appropriate boat for whitewater, too, but this is great for dogboating.
Our friends Kathy and Jarion bought boats, too, so we're all set for summertime paddling. We'll have actual photos once we get the boats on the water.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Little Maumelle River
Ivydog was nearly perfect. Hayduke was terrible. He and I ended up in a single kayak, hanging back out of sight of the rest of the group. When he can't see anyone else, he's a lot calmer about being in the boat.
I wish I'd had a camera, because he was extremely excited today about lily pads. We floated through big stretches of water that's so still and shallow that lilies grow in big 'fields.' Hayduke thought it was great fun to hang his big head out of the boat and try to snatch the flat leaves in his mouth. Once he grabbed a lily bud and pulled it up, four foot stalk and all. He looked at me as if to say "well, I caught it, but now I don't know what to do with it." We left a trail of leaves with bites taken out of them.
Hayduke is a nightmare on the water but he has so much fun it'd be sad to leave him at home.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Adventures in Dog Boating
In preparation of a future Buffalo River trip, we decided to spend the morning on Lake Ouachita. We could try different kinds of kayaks and canoes, we figured, and we could check out how well the dogs would do on the water.
Ivy likes water but not too much, and she's a little afraid of riding in cars, and she generally likes to sit up straight and be admired. I predicted that Ivy would sit still in the middle of a boat and allow herself to be paddled around the lake like the princess that she is. I was right.
Ivy likes water but not too much, and she's a little afraid of riding in cars, and she generally likes to sit up straight and be admired. I predicted that Ivy would sit still in the middle of a boat and allow herself to be paddled around the lake like the princess that she is. I was right.
Friday, June 25, 2010
The Ocoee Trip, and The Accidental Spacecamp Visit
It's our anniversary! There's no need for wine and roses and chocolates and romantic cards. I got a new hammock, and we went on a road trip with Mandy and our great friends Britt and Debbie. And some pipe cleaners.
I picked Mandy up from her ecology camp around lunchtime on Friday, somewhere between Hot Springs and Mount Ida. We stopped in Benton only long enough to pick up Bryan, and in Little Rock only long enough to switch cars at the Thompson's. We didn't arrive at the outfitters' in Ocoee, Tennessee until the very small hours of Saturday morning.
And on Saturday, we were up bright and early. I did a load of laundry for Mandy (who arrived home from camp with super-stinky stuff) and we hopped on a bus to the put-in point to float the upper and middle Ocoee. Britt and Bryan have floated it before but this was a first for Debbie and Mandy and I, and holy crap it was fun! I don't think any of us stopped grinning the entire trip.
I picked Mandy up from her ecology camp around lunchtime on Friday, somewhere between Hot Springs and Mount Ida. We stopped in Benton only long enough to pick up Bryan, and in Little Rock only long enough to switch cars at the Thompson's. We didn't arrive at the outfitters' in Ocoee, Tennessee until the very small hours of Saturday morning.
And on Saturday, we were up bright and early. I did a load of laundry for Mandy (who arrived home from camp with super-stinky stuff) and we hopped on a bus to the put-in point to float the upper and middle Ocoee. Britt and Bryan have floated it before but this was a first for Debbie and Mandy and I, and holy crap it was fun! I don't think any of us stopped grinning the entire trip.
When we got off the river, tired and giggly, we put some effort into searching out a Outback Steakhouse, consumed amazing quantities of food, and then went back to collapse into our camp. We headed home first thing Sunday morning, but didn't get very far.
Britt grew up in the area around Birmingham, and cut his caving teeth in the pits in the neighborhood. Souda Cave is closed now but we parked at the gated road and walked to the entrance.
Like so many other caves in the eastern and central US, it's been closed to visitors because of the spread of white nose syndrome in bats.
There's a tourist cave in the area still open, though, and Britt wanted to show us. He explored Cathedral Caverns with his father when he was a kid, years before the cave was commercialized. It's a beautiful cave, and they've done a pretty good job of setting up the tourist trails and lighting.
The car trip through this whole area was fun. Britt and Debbie have spent so much time here caving that they're both full of stories about 'what's in that hill over there' and 'the time we went to the cave that's down this road.' And those stories moved into 'when I went to Mexico' and 'the first TAG Cave-In we did together.'
It's funny how much better you can get to know people on a road trip. We've spent lots of time with Britt and Debbie, but one thing we didn't know is that the reason Britt grew up in Alabama: his dad worked for an engineering firm involved in the space program. So a quick side trip past the Space Center in Huntsville was a sort of requirement. We had no intention of doing more than peering in the windows, since we were pressed for time. But Debbie somehow wheedled the Front Desk Person into saying that we could go inside free since it was the end of the day. It's five o'clock, and we're in Alabama, and everybody has to go to work tomorrow. Should we stay? Of course!
Britt and Mandy and I rode the Super Scary Giant Torpedo Thing. (This is probably not its real name.) Bryan rode the 4G with her, the bin that spins around and around until it makes you stick to the wall and wish you were dead. We did some other rides too, and got to see lots of interesting exhibits.
And we got to see Spacecamp! Not only did we look at the building where the Spacecamp kids stay, we were under the shuttle when some Spacecamp student groups were spread out on the grass having class sessions. So we eavesdropped on them. Mandy and Britt say that they want to come back next summer and go to Spacecamp together. They've been funny all weekend, linking arms in parking lots and skipping and singing songs. They're such sweet friends. If only the center would allow sixty year old men and twelve year old girls to go to Spacecamp together, I think they'd have a wonderful time.
It was such a fun trip. We didn't stop talking the whole time we were in the car, telling stories and laughing. I won't admit what time we got back to Little Rock, but we all managed somehow to get a little sleep and show up almost on time for work on Monday. Was it the best road trip ever? I'm thinking it may have been.
Britt grew up in the area around Birmingham, and cut his caving teeth in the pits in the neighborhood. Souda Cave is closed now but we parked at the gated road and walked to the entrance.
Like so many other caves in the eastern and central US, it's been closed to visitors because of the spread of white nose syndrome in bats.
There's a tourist cave in the area still open, though, and Britt wanted to show us. He explored Cathedral Caverns with his father when he was a kid, years before the cave was commercialized. It's a beautiful cave, and they've done a pretty good job of setting up the tourist trails and lighting.
The car trip through this whole area was fun. Britt and Debbie have spent so much time here caving that they're both full of stories about 'what's in that hill over there' and 'the time we went to the cave that's down this road.' And those stories moved into 'when I went to Mexico' and 'the first TAG Cave-In we did together.'
It's funny how much better you can get to know people on a road trip. We've spent lots of time with Britt and Debbie, but one thing we didn't know is that the reason Britt grew up in Alabama: his dad worked for an engineering firm involved in the space program. So a quick side trip past the Space Center in Huntsville was a sort of requirement. We had no intention of doing more than peering in the windows, since we were pressed for time. But Debbie somehow wheedled the Front Desk Person into saying that we could go inside free since it was the end of the day. It's five o'clock, and we're in Alabama, and everybody has to go to work tomorrow. Should we stay? Of course!
Britt and Mandy and I rode the Super Scary Giant Torpedo Thing. (This is probably not its real name.) Bryan rode the 4G with her, the bin that spins around and around until it makes you stick to the wall and wish you were dead. We did some other rides too, and got to see lots of interesting exhibits.
And we got to see Spacecamp! Not only did we look at the building where the Spacecamp kids stay, we were under the shuttle when some Spacecamp student groups were spread out on the grass having class sessions. So we eavesdropped on them. Mandy and Britt say that they want to come back next summer and go to Spacecamp together. They've been funny all weekend, linking arms in parking lots and skipping and singing songs. They're such sweet friends. If only the center would allow sixty year old men and twelve year old girls to go to Spacecamp together, I think they'd have a wonderful time.
It was such a fun trip. We didn't stop talking the whole time we were in the car, telling stories and laughing. I won't admit what time we got back to Little Rock, but we all managed somehow to get a little sleep and show up almost on time for work on Monday. Was it the best road trip ever? I'm thinking it may have been.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Inlaw Inspection 2010
Bryan's mom is off work for Spring Break, and his dad took a week's vacation to match. They came up to visit for part of the week, and asked for a good long weekend of camping near the Buffalo River.
On Saturday, on the way to Jasper, we showed them some of our favorite near-the-road waterfalls. At Falling Water Falls we got an extra treat -- kayakers dropping off the falls into the water below.
Due to recent local rain, the water was up in Falling Water Creek. Six Finger Falls was flowing hard. We've spent lots of time in the creek here, playing in the clear water and sitting in the little hot-tub pockets that form at the edges of the six fingers, and downstream from here. Not today, though; the water's rushing so hard I'm not sure we could even have waded across, much less relaxed in a quiet pool.
We tried to camp at Kyle's Landing but the sign said it was full so we headed down the road to Steel Creek and set up camp for the night.
On Sunday we rented canoes from Buffalo Outdoor Center in Ponca, AR and floated the Buffalo, from Steel Creek to Kyle's Landing. Bryan and I are in a canoe together exactly often enough to be bad at it, so we always take a few minutes to remember how to pilot the thing. This time, though, we didn't get that chance. Within ten feet of starting our trip, we went off some sort of stupid ledge and tipped our canoe RIGHT IN FRONT OF about ten other people who hadn't pushed into the water yet. It was completely ridiculous. We were soaked all day, and I never warmed up.
Apart from that, the day was great. As a surprise for Mandy, Bryan rented her a kayak, and she adores having her own kayak. She happily paddled along with us most of the time, and traded spots with me only when her arms tired out. Bryan's parents declined the trip up Big Bluff but did take the short hike to see Hemmed-In-Hollow waterfall (his dad is staring up at the 200+ foot waterfall in the photo below). We ate supper at the Ozark Cafe for the second night in a row, and Mandy and I headed back to Little Rock.
Bryan stayed another night at Steel Creek with his parents, and on Monday they went to see the Pedestal Rocks. His dad can't hike a lot because of issues with his feet, so this trail was my pick for them -- short and easy, with a great payoff.
I love the Pedestal Rocks. They don't look like something that should be in Arkansas; they belong out west, or in Mexico, or as part of some alien landscape. And underneath, they're like caves that aren't.
On Saturday, on the way to Jasper, we showed them some of our favorite near-the-road waterfalls. At Falling Water Falls we got an extra treat -- kayakers dropping off the falls into the water below.
Due to recent local rain, the water was up in Falling Water Creek. Six Finger Falls was flowing hard. We've spent lots of time in the creek here, playing in the clear water and sitting in the little hot-tub pockets that form at the edges of the six fingers, and downstream from here. Not today, though; the water's rushing so hard I'm not sure we could even have waded across, much less relaxed in a quiet pool.
We tried to camp at Kyle's Landing but the sign said it was full so we headed down the road to Steel Creek and set up camp for the night.
On Sunday we rented canoes from Buffalo Outdoor Center in Ponca, AR and floated the Buffalo, from Steel Creek to Kyle's Landing. Bryan and I are in a canoe together exactly often enough to be bad at it, so we always take a few minutes to remember how to pilot the thing. This time, though, we didn't get that chance. Within ten feet of starting our trip, we went off some sort of stupid ledge and tipped our canoe RIGHT IN FRONT OF about ten other people who hadn't pushed into the water yet. It was completely ridiculous. We were soaked all day, and I never warmed up.
Apart from that, the day was great. As a surprise for Mandy, Bryan rented her a kayak, and she adores having her own kayak. She happily paddled along with us most of the time, and traded spots with me only when her arms tired out. Bryan's parents declined the trip up Big Bluff but did take the short hike to see Hemmed-In-Hollow waterfall (his dad is staring up at the 200+ foot waterfall in the photo below). We ate supper at the Ozark Cafe for the second night in a row, and Mandy and I headed back to Little Rock.
Bryan stayed another night at Steel Creek with his parents, and on Monday they went to see the Pedestal Rocks. His dad can't hike a lot because of issues with his feet, so this trail was my pick for them -- short and easy, with a great payoff.
I love the Pedestal Rocks. They don't look like something that should be in Arkansas; they belong out west, or in Mexico, or as part of some alien landscape. And underneath, they're like caves that aren't.
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