Kayak Trip, 4th of july

A paddle from Scenic Beach State Park to newly acquired DNR land and back, about 12 miles round trip. This is the longest paddle I have ever done for sure and it has been years from last time I sat my butt in that thing. I love being on the water like that. Sitting right on top of the water with the beauty around me. Life under and all round me. Weather changes quick on the water and has a big impact on travel.

1. I just hit the water and met up with the rest of the group.
I joined the Peninsula Wilderness Club's inaugural Beginners paddle. My Dad told me about the Club. I am sure you will see more outings posted, that I share with this group. As I have come to understand it is mostly comprised of older people who's kids have grown and some younger folk (more my age) that don't yet have kids.
 A link to their site : http://www.pwckitsap.org

 2. Water was just barely high enough for us to trek into the heart of Stavis Bay. The lady looking back is Gunda. She has a great German accent. Her daughter gave her that Kayak. She is newish to Kayaking also. She went the whole 12m like I did. She even went farther than me due to her putting in at the boat launch just north of where I put in. She is a really cool lady.

3. One of the ladies saw what she described as some sort of hairy beach ball or something in the water. So she circled back around to investigate as I came up behind her and we found this Jellyfish. Very big and very colorful. I would hate to run into that swimming. I bet it is poisonous. One of the guys knew more specifically what it was but I forgot the name.

4. Heading back out, to continue to our destination.

 5. This is now my desktop photo. I love Washington. A beautiful day on the water. I could not ask for better weather. Maybe next time though, the wind, when it decides to blow, will blow in from behind us, instead of at us. That would be nice.

6. The wind picked up a bit and the sun tried to poke though here and there. My Dad donated to a group raising money for breast cancer and they gave him the drink bottle you see there in the pic. It kept me well hydrated, thanks for sharing the wealth Dad.

7. In the pic to the left are the two guys I first met in the Park's parking lot. The guy on left is Charlie. He is one of the group leaders (we had two) and the guy who used to own the land, that was our destination, that DNR bought from him in 2008. On the right is Tom. Tom is quite the outdoors man and an experienced Kayaker along with his wife Cathy. If you look in the dead tree above them you will see an Eagle looking for Brunch in the waters before us. In the pic to the right is a not so good close up.

8. We all arrived at our destination hungry. So we sat on some logs and ate together and filled out a form that was going around that the DNR wanted filled out and Charlie told us about the history of the property. The man in yellow is Paul, our other group leader. A really nice guy. He brought yummy brownies for everyone. On the way back it was Him, me and Gunda bringing up the rear. He was giving me and Gunda some technique pointers on paddling and turning. He has written a book on rolling your kayak and he rolled for me right there in the Hood Canal, right next to me. That was very cool.
Here is a link to his book: http://www.amazon.com/Bombproof-Roll-Beyond-Paul-Dutky/dp/0897320859

 9. On the left is the property today. They completely removed all traces of all 10 of the buildings on the property. In the center is a huge 100+ year old apple tree that they left.The property still has lots and lots of fruit and nut trees all big and old. They used to farm Clams also not native to the area on this farm and you can still find them in the waters in front of the property. Though you are not aloud to harvest any. In the pic to the right is a pic I took of a pic he was passing around of what the place looked like just a couple of years ago from the water.

After the property tour we hopped back in our boats and went north just a tad to Guillemont Cove and over half of the people called it a day. The organizers had preplanned cars on a friend's property to take people and there rental boats back. So we carried all them kayaks up the hill side to the cars and then what was left of us, we headed back the way we came. By this time people started gathering on the beaches and was playing with fireworks. People seam to be amused to see Kayakers on the water. People take pictures of you..... it's kind of cool.

Remember Guillemont Cove. Because the next day I went there,.......on foot this time. I found  day hike #23 in my book entitled Guillemont Cove and went to check it out on my day off work, that I got because the 4th was on a Sunday.

1o. A water plane coming in as we were leaving DNR land.