jmcotton

I plan on being there and look forward to it Janice

I'd be interested in joining the paddle. Janice

I'll bring an asparagus goat cheese salad...and maybe some quinoa something if I get ambitious. Janice

I'd like to join the L3 group also. Janice

Wonderful trip report Pru. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Being outside with the beauty of nature and good friends helps. Janice

What a great day it was! Thanks Katherine for organizing another fantastic Ladies Paddle. We had sunny skies, calm seas and chatted and sang our way along the coast. Sherry did indeed execute a perfect point the entire trip. We ended the paddle with a caravan of eight to a wonderful homemade ice cream place. Great company, great paddle...we need another one on the calendar! Janice

Great report and incredible pictures. Thanks Janice

Sounds wonderful! I'm in Janice

It was a really wonderful day with lots of learning with a fun supportive group of people. We did lots of tows and rescues with both of our pod leaders (Paul and Bob) being the wet or ill paddling companion and then the rest of the group followed. I lamented briefly that's it's always hard to dump myself in the water initially and Bob wisely stated "it's only water" to which I thought, "oh that's right and I love water!" so I happily got wet. It was a great way to start the season with lots of take-aways. Thanks to all who were involved - there and not there. Thanks for your great pics Pru, along with the narration! Janice

Great trip report Pru! It made me want to go kayak camping and be out there with all that beautiful nature. I'm glad the exped synmat worked out. I can't wait to try mine out and wake up well rested in time to see the sunrise! Your trip reports also always make me smile!

Thanks everyone. I was at REI tonight with my 20% off coupon and dividend and tried out the mats. I ended up getting the ultra light synpad for it's size and comfort. I'm not ready for winter camping yet so the ultralight made sense. The sales person demonstrated the schnozzle pump and it was amazing in pumping the mat up easily. It also packs down to almost nothing so I got that as well and now I won't be breathing warm moist air with critters into my sleeping pad. I usually carry a cheap yoga mat that is cut in half in my kayak which is perfect for sitting on wet or bumpy surfaces. I'm going to see if that will cut down the noise, if not I'll look for the nonskid mats for rugs as Rob suggested. It actually didn't seem too noisey. Thanks Suz for your generous offer to loan me mats to try out.

Thanks for the experienced opinions. I have a small pad that I just can't sleep on so I'm glad to hear that the Expad works! I'll look to see if there is one with the option to take the pump along or inflate it manually (and hope whatever critters grow in mine are friendly too!). Humm, I didn't think of the noise...that could be annoying. Choices, choices.

I need a new sleeping pad in order to get some sleep while kayak camping. I'm going to buy a Exped Synmat as they seem to be highly rated and sleep is highly rated for me also. My question is: do I need one with a pump or not? The one without the pump is nicely small so it would fit into my Avocet LV better. How much of a pain is it to blow up? There are so many choices - lined, not lined, etc. Any opinions? Thanks, Janice

Thank you Scott, Peter, Suz and Rick for such valuable information presented in a way that made the day fly by. Thanks also for all who presented planned trips and made me want to jump in the kayak and join them (while eating yummy banana bread and chocolate!). My take away is to have great respect for our amazing ocean, that everyone needs to be really prepared and to pay attention! Great event report, as always Pru.

I can come any date but the 15TH.

I definitely would like to attend! Count me in Janice

I will bring an entree Janice How are your knees Pru?

We are having a trivia contest as part of our entertainment at our holiday party. We are looking for trivia questions (and answers!) for the contest. Please PM me with any you think would be good for our contest. We'll use the honor system for not answering any question you've submitted. In the unlikely event you can't attend the party, please submit questions anyway as it'll be a way for you to participate. We'll post the questions and answers after the party. Thanks! Janice

I'll help wherever you need me - I can get there early to help set up and to clean up. Anything else? Janice

PS Shari was also at that last morning picnic table gathering. I remember distinctly as we were enjoying her oatmeal raisin cookies for breakfast. They did have oatmeal in them Janice

Thanks Gary for organizing the trip. I really enjoyed paddling with everyone. Thanks for the great photos. Janice

Thanks for the wonderful trip(s) report! Great pictures of all your adventures. I enjoyed our early morning sunrise together and we all made it through those following seas! At one point during that last crossing Kyle was in front of me surfing and zooming around singing reminding me that it was ultimately going to be okay (and was fun) while I had a death grip on my paddle! The boiling eddies look incredible- I'm glad I wasn't paddling in that! Thanks, Janice

Upper Richardson Lake trip Report After our wonderful Warren Island trip in July, Katherine and I started looking around for another island to camp on for our next trip. We decided we'd like to camp on a lake this time as it's so beautiful in the fall with the loons gathering in preparation for their migration. We chose Upper Richardson Lake in north western Maine for our September 6-9th camping trip. Upper and Lower Richardson Lakes were joined by a narrows with the Lower lake more populated with a large campground (South Arm Campground) and primitive camp sites. Upper Richardson Lake is also joined by a dam with Mooselookmeguntic Lake. Upper Richardson is a glacier made lake with clear water, landlocked Salmon, and lake and brook trout. It has mountains all around, long stretches of sandy beaches and beautiful rock formations and was listed as quiet with an occasional fisherman and canoe/kayak camper. The water was warm and clear and all primitive sites can only be reached by boat. It's known for "dangerous winds and large 3 foot waves" at times and we thought, "Hey, we're ocean kayakers, we can handle waves, piece of cake!" Our plan was to leave early Friday morning to make the 3 1/2 hour drive up and launch on the northern tip of the Lake at Mill Brook Road. A friend asked if she could join us for part of the trip a few days before the trip. She then added at the last minute a friend of hers who had only been kayaking once (oops). As Theresa was a Maine guide and kayak instructor we said okay and that we'd meet them at the launch site by 2:00 or at the Island we planned to camp on, keeping in contact with radios. The launch site was great with a boat ramp, large parking lot and outhouse. Friday came with clear skies and a good weather forecast. We set off right on time fueled with homemade maple scones, coffee and hand -packed snack packs. It took us a little longer for the drive up but we made the launch site within our window. Our plan was to paddle the 6 1/2 miles down the eastern side of the lake to Metallak Island and camp there for the three nights (lower risk of black bears on an island!). Plan B was to camp the first night on Big Beaver Island (close to the launch site) if lake conditions were really windy with our loaded kayaks. Katherine and I launched in windy conditions and soon discovered that my skeg was stuck with little pieces of gravel and Katherine's dry bags needed to be repositioned. We pulled over and fixed both and then made the 6 1/2 mile slog in windy conditions on the eastern side of the lake, looking forward to a glass of wine and dinner when we got there. Metallak Island was not identifiable at first as it's no longer an island, rather connected to the land with a thick sandbar but a nice gentleman was walking along the island and identified it as Metallak. We went around it to a beautiful calm sandy cove and pulled in, glad to be there. The gentleman, his partner along with their three little dogs and their red canoe shared the island the first night with us. It's a moderate sized island with a (closed for the season) cabin and 4 tent sites. While setting up camp Katherine's tent poles broke so we shared my 2+ REI tent just fine. We enjoyed a hot meal of butternut squash, leek and potato soup with goat cheese and french bread and attempted to contact Theresa. We got a message that they arrived at the launch site at 5:00 PM. We watched a beautiful sunset and fell asleep to the sound of the loons. Saturday morning started with a passing shower and we set up Katherine's new light weight tarp and it promptly stopped raining. We had a wonderful breakfast of homemade raspberry pancakes (handpicked by Katherine!) with real maple syrup, fresh raspberries and Irish butter and coffee from Ethiopia. We checked our radio and phones for messages from Theresa and planned our day paddle. We set out across the lake to the western shore and paddled up to Halfmoon Cove where we saw a magnificent adult bald eagle soaring. From there we continued to Cranberry Cove and explored the cove and saw two small dark heads popping up and down in the cove. We think they were otters. About halfway through the trip Katherine had stopped looking for seals (!) and then the otters appeared. We saw another adult bald eagle on a tall tree who lazily flew off when we paddled back through the cove. Ducks and loons were paddling around in the water too. We then paddled across to the eastern shore again and headed back down to Metallak Island. The wind was definitely much stronger on the eastern side and it was a slog again back to the island. We both noticed that when the white caps and waves splashed up on us and our eyes it didn't sting like the salt water! The round trip was about 9 miles. When we pulled into the calm cove we saw Theresa and her friend Catherine come out of the woods to greet us. They had left their campsite around 10 AM also and finished the paddle to the island, arriving around 2:00, shortly before our return to camp. They had camped the night before on the beach partway to the Island and Catherine stated she did not sleep at all as some animal scratched and snorted at their tent! She did not sleep the entire trip either but said she had fun anyway! We had a great fire going that night and enjoyed a cauliflower, chickpea, tomato and pea peanut curry over brown rice, along with crackers and brie with our wine. We topped it off with homemade brownies and then set out for our nightly moose hunt around the back of the island onto the mainland where there was a marsh. Each night we saw a great blue heron who fished there along with lots of tracks. It was so beautiful. The only negative was Saturday late afternoon there were some hunters shooting at the pretty ducks in our cove. They stopped and went away when Katherine went out on the beach and glared at them. We didn't see any moose that night but think it was because of the hunters. Theresa pointed out the tracks, noting there were huge moose tracks, medium moose tracks and baby moose tracks, along with fisher cat tracks, small animal tracks and bear poop (with lots of blueberries I happily noted as that meant it was at least a week or two old!), and mountain lion (oh my!) tracks! We went back to camp to enjoy hot chocolate laced with Baileys and slept again (except for Catherine) to the sound of the loons on the lake. We did wake each morning to the sound of logging trucks across on the mainland, even on Sunday. Fortunately there is no hunting on Sunday. Sunday we woke to a windy day with a prediction of small craft advisory and wind gusts up to 30 mile an hour. We ate hot oatmeal and Theresa and Catherine broke camp and wanted to return home that day but the wind prevailed (as did we in advising them to wait until the predicted calm and warm Monday) and after seeing white caps and feeling the strong wind which would be in their faces the whole way they unloaded their boats and set up camp again. We rearranged camp to get comfy for the predicted frost warnings that night along with the strong wind and then enjoyed exploring the calm beautiful cove and brook behind the island. We hiked up to the logging road (and got out of the way quickly from a logging truck) and enjoyed the wildlife in the area. That night we had hot open faced tuna salad on multigrain deli thins with diced apples, celery and dried currants and sliced brie on top toasted over the open fire. We set out for our nightly dusk moose hunt and saw a beautiful moose come to eat in the marsh. She walked towards us staring at us to get a better view and then returned to eating her dinner. We gathered drift wood and enjoyed the sandy coastline walking back to our campsite to get warm by the fire. Our other tenting neighbor, Dave, roused us from our camp fire to watch the setting of the crescent moon with Venus right next to the moon. We enjoyed a lively conversation with our neighbor Dave, who had been doing public health work in Nepal and Alaska for years and was now trying to get unburned out by wandering and hiking for awhile. After more brownies and Baileys and cocoa we layered up for the frosty night and woke to a calm sunny day for our paddle home. After blueberry scones with almond flour (really yummy) and hot coffee we broke camp and again crossed over to the calm western shore to paddle the 7+ miles back to the launch site. It was a beautiful day with many adult eagle sightings and a fleet of 16 loons paddled next to us when we stopped for lunch on Big Beaver Island. We had one last bald eagle sitting on the tree near the launch to watch us as we got out and then drove off to another soaring eagle to complete our very enjoyable camping trip!

I'll be there too.