EVER-CHANGING WEATHER & KAYAKING.
Day 31 – It rained most of the night, at times really hard. We slept in, although the girls tried for hours to get us up. It was absolutely gorgeous out at 7:50 a.m., sunny & breezy, 58 degrees. There are bugs here, but not too bad yet – the mosquitoes are just waking up; it’s always worse after a rain. A few campers came in yesterday after us. The campground is maybe half full. According to the reservation signs at the posts at each site, several more are coming in today. Most leave Monday. We have some ATV’rs now, plenty of fishermen, and some canoers/kayakers. A good mix. So far, so good.
After hanging around a bit with our coffee/tea, we drove about 4 miles south of the campground until we saw that we had a viable signal. We checked e-mail & Rob replied to one that was waiting for him. I checked the 10-day weather forecast for this area. One source claims severe thunderstorms for this afternoon & evening, the other source says a beautiful day without any rain at all. Hmmm, who do you trust? I guess we’ll just have to be prepared for anything.
We drove back to the lake, Little Diamond Pond, just above the campground, checking out the conditions. Perfect! The water was like glass. Back to the RV, we did a couple of chores, then went out kayaking. Thunderstorms or not, it’s too beautiful out not to take our chances.
By the time we got to the lake the wind had picked up a little. Still sunny out but some increasing clouds. Several fishermen lined the banks. Beautiful out. We paddled easily to one end of the lake. Going around that side and we turned to come up the other side, clouds were increasing and we found ourselves paddling against a fairly strong wind. It was difficult to push through the water in that direction during the wind gusts. A Bald Eagle flew over, swooping down in front of us to catch a fish. It didn’t get the fish, and we did not get a picture at that time. It was hard enough to keep the kayaks going in the right direction with the wind. Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We continued pushing to the other side of the lake, and just as quick as it came, the weather calmed down again. The Eagle flew over us again, and Rob was able to shoot some pictures. Two beautiful loons appeared. They were fishing, too. We were able to get fairly close because they were more interested in catching lunch than in worrying about us. They didn’t stay surfaced very long but kept diving, but Rob had plenty of time to get pictures. So nice! We paddled back to the boat launch with the wind at our back, much easier this time.
We went back to the RV and had lunch. Dark clouds had come in again & it rained a little. We’d timed the kayaking just perfectly. Then the weather cleared up & we went out to the screened tent, unzipping all the flaps we’d lowered due to the rains of last night. We got settled with our books. It was a little after 1 p.m. and campers began to arrive. An older couple with a dog pulled up across from us with what appeared to be a truck and a utility trailer. We figured they had an ATV in the trailer. They proceeded to set up. They opened the back of the trailer and pulled out a nice rubber dingy. Going fishing? Then they pulled out a tent & attached it to the rear door of the trailer. Another camper stopped by and asked them about the tent and the man said they’d been coming up here for 10 to 15 years, and that they’d built the inside of the trailer from scratch – all cedar – so going inside the tent, you walk through into the inside of the trailer and it’s like an RV. Nice set up!
Just as they put the last pole up for the tent, thunder started & very dark clouds rolled in. It got windy again, and colder. First, Rob and I looked at each other & said, uh oh, now the cats are hiding; and then as it began to rain we quickly closed up the tent & Rob rushed off to cover the bikes with a tarp. He was soaking wet when he came back inside the RV. I was wiping the rain off the bathroom floor. The weather conditions here change rapidly & at the drop of a pin.
We heated water for our showers & hunkered down. By the time we finished our showers, it was sunny again, clouds gone. We relaxed the rest of the evening. Considering it’s a Saturday night, it’s really quiet out.