For the first time since I got the Red Kayak, I decided to invite some others to join me.
Naturally this was the time I got (just a little) lost, took two hours longer than planned to get back, had to navigate seven portages and ended up paddling into a strong headwind.
But it was fun! It was much more of an adventure than the quiet wildlife watching I have done so far.
We put in at Port Louisa National Wildlife Refuge, just up the road from my first kayaking trip. But this time I had the bright idea of making a big loop instead of backtracking. Obviously, I've gotten much braver with my navigation skills though not necessarily better.
The six of us headed out in with three borrowed kayaks, a square stern canoe and, of course, the Red Kayak. A tip here for novice paddlers - square stern canoes are not made to paddle! They are used with either oars or a motor.
Several combinations of people tried the canoe with limited success so in the end I gave up the Red Kayak for the day and shared the canoe with a co-worker who just thought she was bad at paddling (she wasn't, it was the canoe).
Anyway, we wandered through the refuge and went up the main lake where we encountered the headwind. We crossed over on the "Lateral Ditch" then headed back up into the refuge, relieved to get out of the headwind and into the backwaters. We had our first portage at the Fox Pond structure. That was when I realized I should have done some scouting.
Taking out and putting in was a little challenging at all the portage sites. In fact the only guy in the group managed to land in the water as he tried to make that first exit. He wondered why we didn't give him a hard time about it. Speaking for myself, I figured there was a pretty good chance I'd end up in the same position before the day was over. As long as someone had to fall in though, we liked that it was the token male.
As we entered Fox Pond I felt like our trip had taken a turn for the better - we saw cormorants, pelicans, geese and coots plus the scenery is beautiful there. Granted, it was already past the time I'd expected to be taking out but I thought we'd be making good time at that point. Yeah, right.
The water was high and we realized too late that we had actually gotten out of Fox Pond and were paddling across a flooded field. Which didn't mean we were lost, it just meant taking out and putting in three extra times.
Three extra times up and down steep, rocky banks.
We crossed the road (where the Running Wild road race is held each August) and got into "Prairie Pocket" for the final stretch. Almost. It turns out there was a road that didn't show up on the map and so we still had three MORE portages.
After 4.5 hours paddling 9 miles we ended up in the parking lot right where we started. Which is really pretty cool. No shuttling needed and we didn't have to backtrack.
It was fun having friends along to share the adventure (and the adversity). Plus someone had thought to bake cupcakes to share with the group at the end of the trip. They were yummy and we had earned them.
