August
2004
Good
To Be Home
John Hinners went north to Lake Superior for some cooler
August paddling. While he has returned to our warmer
Pamlico waters, this month John reports on the Lake Superior
experience...
Swathed
in three layers of longies sealed by dry-suits, we launch on
a cobbled beach and push out through into water so clear we
can see the bottom up to fifty feet below. Though mid-August,
the air has a fall chill reinforced by a breeze skimming over
water that seldom warms above fifty. We paddle on rollers that
gently rock our kayaks, lulling us into complacency.
As we get
to the cliffs, moving farther out to avoid reflected waves,
the water surface roughens and what was a blue sky is filled
with lowering clouds. The wind begins to whistle. We turn tail
and head for the beach.
With a jarring whack, the now foot-high surf tosses us on the
stones. After a graceless exit, we sit on the dune to watch.
In ten minutes, the wind is howling, an icy rain is pelting
us, and the breakers are three to four feet high.
This is
the north shore of Lake Superior where the water is crystal
and the scenery rivals any paddling venue. But, paddler, beware!
You can launch when the giant is sleeping and ride her gentle
pulse, but she wakes in a foul mood, hungry for unwary kayakers.
Superior
is famously fickle, her frigid water unforgiving. Paddlers,
sailors, and even crews of thousand-foot ore-carriers have been
victims of her seas. The weather changes with frightening rapidity,
catching even seasoned seamen off-guard.
By the time you read this, we will be kayaking once again in
Pamlico County. We will dodge jumping mullet, scare up a heron,
watch diving pelicans, hope to see a dolphin, land on warm sand,
and doze to the rattle of marsh grass and laughing gulls.
While Lady Neuse demands respect, preparation, and skill of
her paddlers, compared to cantankerous Superior, she is a gentle,
welcoming soul.
Previous
"Song Of The Paddle" Columns
•July 2004 - Paddling At
The Solstice
•May 2004 - The Pirate
Queen
•April 2004 - Past Pamlico
Paddles
•March 2004 - Pushing
The Frontier
•February 2004 - The Manatee
