Fog, cold, wind...Sun!

50 degrees memorial day morn as I loaded the yak to head out for the annual memorial day paddle and picnic.

It hit 60 by the time I was in the water, but the wind did not let up all day.

The afternoon warmed up and we had a great turnout, about 30 yaks on the water and over 50 at the picnic.
Great food, great paddling company.

We Remember...

Short girl, Tall car, Long Boat

With the weather warming up and calendar filling with trips I thought I would investigate easier loading of the yak. When I bought this car over a year ago I was thrilled to be able to find an SUV with a flip window in the back...great for short trips. But I splurged on 4 wheel drive and the new suv has a spoiler. Both of these things made my car taller and more of a challenge for car top loading boats.

So I need to plan for longer trips and loading multiple boats.

I saw a friends Yakima Showboat roller rack and thought that was the ticket to helping me load boats, especially on my own.

What was I thinking?

The roller rack adds about 5 inches to my lift requirement and creates a horrible wind noise effect!

So the rack is coming off and I am going back to using a thick pad to protect the roof and help glide the boat onto the car.

Adding some pics from recent American River trip, last trip for the Showboat rack.

SakKayaking with Good Day Sacramento

Morning TV show Good Day Sacramento did a story on Sakyakkers paddling club Friday morning. We had a fair turnout for a weekday morning and had some fun with host Tina. We even did some kayak dancing for their Friday dance party. Videos are available on the Good Day web site

Check out this beautiful wood boat below. Ocean Yakker John was out on the lake to practice his rolls. He shared it took him 8 months to build this beauty.

And after hanging out at the beach way too long, finally got to go paddle.

We did a short portage to go check out the sloughs at Mississippi Bar. Murky, yet very peaceful and beautiful.

The Hot is On

90 degrees today and lots of traffic at the launch, including big four hooves kind (see pics). Good paddle to the cable, back down the lake for a couple of miles rocking to my iPod. It is amazing how much paddling to music helps get you going. Hung out with some feathered friends in the marshes and back home in time for an afternoon siesta before dinner. All in all, my kind of day!

Meteors and Star Gazing

The club met up at Sugar Pine Reservoir for a full day of paddling, hiking, more paddling, picnic/BBQ on the beach and finally sky watching.

This pristine little lake is beautiful and clear. We watched Ospreys and jumping fish, explored little creeks and enjoyed the hot day.

The sky was crazy full of stars...but somewhat lite on meteors. Still well worth the cuddling up in blankets with our eyes on the sky.

I lost most of my pictures when I was attempting to use new picture sorting software...just a bonehead move.

Oh well, here are the few I saved and some from a previous trip.

Sweet Heat at Rattlesnake Bar

Five of us decided on a last minute paddle up on the north fork of the river. Surprising how much prettier the north fork is over the south fork. We had beautiful rolling green hills and the start of wild flowers. We also had a few too many boaters, a reminder that we will need to stick with early morning paddles here as the season heats up.

Spring has Sprung

When I left my house the temp was 50 degrees...5 hours later it had hit 72 degrees. I love Spring! The lake was fairly empty.

So nice to see the hills so green...another month they will be brown. So I splurged on a new camera, a Nikon 5100. Love the flip around screen. First test on the water today.

Off to prepare for Easter brunch ..Happy Easter and happy paddling to all.