Merry Christmas, Everyone!

If you get a chance, check out my charity drive:

http://mycharitywater.org/yaksplash

Thanks for considering your donation!

http://vimeo.com/51315679

December 23rd, 2012 - Trinity River, McInnish Park, Carrollton, TX

Christmas Break Paddle

I set up a meetup to paddle on the Trinity River tomorrow afternoon just to take a break from the Christmas rush. Two other people are joining me so far.

The weather will be in the low sixties and overcast. There are still a few leaves falling from the trees and it should be a beautiful paddle.

I'll try to have some pics.

We're not sure if these guys met the navigation lights requirement or not!

Christmas Paddle on Lake Grapevine Today!

A bunch of us are going to meet at Lake Grapevine at dusk today and paddle around the edge of the lake to see the Christmas lights on the homes and shops around the lake.

As we are required to have some form of lighting for navigational safety after sundown, I opted to use Christmas lights. A quick trip to the hobby shop and I found everything I need at marked down prices. This close to Christmas, decorations are half off! I will post pics of my yak and how I decorated it for this little evening excursion.

It rained most of the weekend but it let up at noon today and I went paddling! I drove to Grapevine lake and caught the tail end of the rains with all its clouds and wind. The waves were fantastic! 

It took a while to get across the lake as I was going against the wind and waves but after a quick snack of granola bars, carrot sticks and water, I was back in the water and it took only a fraction of the time to return to my launch point since the wind was at my back. It was also calmer on the way back. The stormy weather continued to subside and it was not nearly the roller coaster ride on the way back.

It felt good to get out on the water. I wish I had taken pictures of the waves but my phone was not charging properly this morning so I hadn't taken it with me on the kayak. I hadn't been in waves large enough to crest like that in a while. So...much...fun!!

I was a bit concerned when I first set out because I pass a boat ramp a few hundred feet beyond where I set in at my launch point and the boat ramp actually had barricades set up to keep people from unloading their boats. I was half-way thinking a park ranger was going to show up on a jet ski and make me go back to shore. After a few more minutes of not seeing any other boat traffic, I noticed a couple sail boats and a motor boat on the other side of the lake. This made me feel a little better...at least it gave me some assurance the lake had not been completely closed.

Anyway, it turned out to be a fantastic little excursion and some good exercise. The cooler air is heading in for the fall season. I need to get some farmer johns or something so I can paddle in the colder months as well.

We got a bit of rain this weekend and I'm still thinking of going out paddling today. Its not much of a rain, really...more of a mist, ya know? I just really want to get on the water.

I was talking to a guy at work about kayaking and he expressed an interest in getting his family out to do some camping and perhaps do some paddling. I suggested a large canoe for him and his family and we talked about various area to camp. I loaned him a magazine with lots of good starter info and a few websites where he can go and reserve camp sites in the local area.

I hope he and his family eventually plan a trip and have a great time. Who knows...if he really gets into it, I may even have a kayaking buddy I can go with to scout out new launches and maybe even put in a tandem entry for next year's Trinity River Challenge! Its always a good thing to get new people interested in paddling. Its good for the sport and a great way to make friends.

Yesterday was the Trinity River Challenge, an 11.8 mile kayak/canoe race. I took third place in the recreational kayak division. Next year, I plan on being in a different division with a bigger better boat! It was a lot of fun with gorgeous weather, a high of about 97 degrees but the river was mostly covered with shade from the huge trees lining the banks.

Everyone registered and put in at one time. We all set off in one group and the lopng boats quickly pulled ahead for their longer trip while us shorter craft stayed the course as best we could. The starting/finish line (the race is an out-and-back loop) was marked by two gigantic beach balls moored to either bank.

Upon returning, everyone was treated to burgers off the grill, baked beans, potato salad and all the iced tea you can drink. We also got goodie bags from sponsors including a cool metal water bottle with the threaded cap, a Trinity River Challenge t-shirt, cups, pens, and a 40% discount on some really cool paddles.

They had a raffle for all kinds of gear and supplies with a grand prize raffle of an inflatable kayak. I bought a few tickets and didn't win anything but its nice to know all the proceeds go towards fixing up the Trinity River. Aside from the scheduled festivities, another highlight for me was checking out the cool kayaks and canoes used by all the other contestants. Eyeing all those beautiful boats was just further inspiration for me to pursue upgrading my craft to the 17' kayak I really want.

So, the Challenge was a success and I now know what to expect for next year. I will do better next time and  I look forward, as I mentioned, to competing in a different class next time.

The Kayak Companion

This past weekend I read The Kayak Companion by Joe Glickman. Joe is quite a character. He wrote this easy-to-follow introduction to kayaking and immersed it in his hilarious, sometimes self-depreciating sense of humor. Joe can laugh at his own follies if it provides and insight to others and helps them learn from his efforts and endeavors.

Its about a hundred pages and is witty, informative, entertaining and has something to offer for virtually every level of kayaker out there.

Its not a new book but it was published in recent years and should be easy enough to find on the usual venues...amazon...ebay...public libraries.

Pick up a copy and remind yourself of basics you forgot or learn something new, all while having a laugh with Joe, the definitive kayaker.

Five Hollywood Films That Can ... (outdoorhub.com)

Five Hollywood Films That Can Actually Help You Survive in the Wild
http://www.outdoorhub.com/stories/five-hollywood-films-that-can-actually-help-you-survive-in-the-wild/

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We're supposed to have rain this weekend but I'm still going to try to get some paddling in at Lake Grapevine. Now that I know where to park for free over there, I'm going to take advantage of it! Its a beautiful lake.

Of course, Plan B would be to go to Barnes & Noble and read kayaking books and magazines. One way or another, I'll get my kayak fix.

I just finished the book Rowing the Atlantic by Roz Savage about her 3000-mile voyage in a 24-foot long ocean-going rowboat. I bought this book yesterday afternoon and finished its two-hundred forty-two pages just about twenty minutes ago. This is an exciting, humorous and insightful memoir of her adventure from the Canary Islands all the way to Antigua.

The author had some harrowing moments. Everything from gear loss, equipment failures, communications loss, rogue waves and the physical pains of the enduring effort to paddle her boat twelve to sixteen hours per day to stay on course and make her goal.

If you are an adventure seeker, you will enjoy the read. Spoiler alert: She closes out the book by telling you she is writing the final portion of the book while she is about one-third of the way through an 8000-mile trans-Pacific paddle and, if what I read online is correct, I think she has successfully crossed three oceans at the time of publication. I fully expect Paddling the Pacific to be coming out soon.

Roz is an amazing motivation and her book is quite enjoyable to read. Happy travels to you, Roz. I look forward to reading about them all.

I did a little more shopping! Always in pursuit of a bargain, I often peruse the clearance section at REI.com and come up with something I need or want. It just so happens this purchase is one of the items on my list of items for my trip!
They had a kayak bilge pump for eleven bucks and change. These are normally twenty bucks in the store and, with delivery to the closest REI (right in my neighborhood) I have zero shipping costs for my order. It came out to twelve bucks and change with the tax and one more item is marked off of my checklist.
Its a fairly ubiquitous model of sump pump and, as such, I imagine it is reliable and reasonably designed. The blue foam collar in the center keeps it afloat should it go overboard. They send an e-mail when it arrives at my local REI and I can swing by and pick it up at my convenience. I feel safer already and I saved about eight bucks!

I went to participate with the Second Saturday Shoreline Spruce-up at White Rock Lake in Dallas this morning. The designated parking area (as per the the information page on the website) was packed when I arrived and the next closest parking was almost a half-mile away. Not a problem. I parked, climbed in my kayak, and paddled out towards the bridges over the end of the lake.
I had seen these bridges during my previous visit to the lake and wanted to explore the area beneath them. As I paddled towards them, I could see the closer, smaller bridge was for foot traffic. It accommodated all of the walkers, joggers and bicycles that circled the lake for exercise. The larger bridge beyond carried all of the vehicular traffic a safe distance away from the pedestrians.

Beneath these two bridges, it turns out, is the greatest collection of used beverage containers imaginable. Its like a museum of beer and energy drink cans. There were foreign and domestic labels, high energy, low carb, high alcohol content, low sugar, some never-before-seen brands and even a few that had been submerged so long under the constant, gentle, lapping waves of the lake that there was no trace of the original label.

Amidst all of this was Ann and Becky from Bank of America. They are regular volunteers of the Second Saturday Shoreline Spruce-up and were quite familiar with the area in addition to being equipped with plastic glove, an abundance of company-provided garbage bags and a couple of those little extended gripper thingies that I imagine were once designed to reach the top of grocery store shelves.

Recognizing that, even if they weren't part of the specific group I was seeking, we were all part of the same group in the sense that we had the same kindred spirit of wanting to help the "friends of the lake" and were there to get as much trash removed as possible.

I paddled up and greeted them and they were kind enough to toss me a small roll of garbage bags. I spent the next couple hours paddling around the area and trying to remove as much of the man-made detriment in the zone beyond the few feet that Ann and Becky might conceivably reach with their grocery store grabbers. I filled a couple large garbage bags and even managed to finess a used tire out of a tree, balance it on the front of my kayak, and row it over to the ladies who helped me wrestle it onto the shore to be picked up later.

I am particularly proud of this one event for a couple reasons. First, I am amazed my boat didn't wind up capsized and, secondly, the success of each group's collection efforts is usually measured by how many pounds they collected. Needless to say, a single automobile tire can be "quite the catch"when added to the bags filled with lightweight plastic coated with mud, snail tracks and the exoskeletons of assorted insects, all of which weigh virtually nothing.

Anyhow, the lake is somewhat cleaner, I got plenty of fresh air, sunshine and exercise, and the friends of the lake continue their ongoing streak of uninterrupted "Second Saturdays" since some time in 1995. After paddling back to the dock, finding my truck, and deciding it would be safest if I sought lunch from the safety of a drive-thru lane instead of risking entering a public building while still smelling like a lake, I was re-energized and reasonably content I had accomplished something worthwhile before noon on a Saturday.

Not knowing this group existed prior to last week, I could not imagine what the lake and the surrounding park would look like if this clean-up crew did not perform this monthly function. The sheer mass of trash I saw piled along the edges of the lake as I drove out, bagged and piled neatly by the other groups of volunteers spread throughout the park, was astounding.

Kudos to the friends of the lake program at White Rock Lake. You will see me again some time soon, I am sure.

So, I've gone the route of using a crowd courcing site to try to finance my big kayak excursion. I'm going to promote it and hope for the best. Any assistance in spreading the word would be greatly appreciated.

http://gofundme.com/biggerbetterboat

The funds will be used to purchase a touring kayak such as the Wilderness Systems Tempest 170 or one very similar to it. There are all kinds of goodies available for those who donate depending on how much is donated. Check out the various levels and their rewards!

Help me reach my kayak excursion funding goal!

Crowdfunding

Lake Grapevine, 09/01/2012 - around ten in the morning.

Lake Grapevine, 09/01/2012 - taking a break to stretch my legs on the beach.

I spent four and a half hours paddling around Lake Grapevine today. I found some free parking in the park in the Southwest corner of the lake. A hundred feet or so of a haul to the water and the kayak was under way.
There are some gargantuan fish in that lake and they were making themselves known to everyone. I was worried one of them was going to land in my boat and swamp it. If I had my fishing gear and had planned on camping, I could have eaten for days from one fish.
Speaking of being swamped, many of the ski-boats were still in use despite school having started. This allowed me ample opportunity to ride some of their wakes and I missed maneuvering to face a large one. It got me pretty well. As a result, I have added a bilge pump to the top of my list of things-to-get for my upcoming trip.
My new Sea-to-Summit dry bag seemed to work pretty well. I opened the bag twice while on the water and everything was nice and dry. When I got home, I opened it again and there was a little moisture on a towel I had in the bag but I don't know if it happened as a result of that kayak being swamped by that big, rogue wake (in which case I expect the bag to keep it dry as it was sealed at the time) or if it happened during one of the occasions I had the bag opened to get a snack and just didn't notice. I'll have to do a little more testing on future excursions.
I stopped a few times on sand bars and beaches to stretch my legs, get water from the rear storage compartment and re-apply sunscreen. I managed to get a few pics of the beach on my phone and will try to post them later.
It really felt good to be on the water and get some fresh air, sunshine and exercise. I was actually feeling a bit fatigued and stopped at a convenience store on the way home to pick up a chocolate Muscle Milk drink. That helped quite a bit. A couple turkey burgers and a bowl of my seasoned black beans and I am feeling much better.
All in all, a very good day.

I've walked the dogs this morning and had a little coffee and breakfast. Now I'm heading out to Lake Grapevine for a little paddling. It looks like a beautiful day and I meant to get out earlier before it got too warm but I just had to get the dogs around the block once or twice and let them get a little fresh air.

Anyway, I'm off to explore Lake Grapevine!

Have a great day.

Two more of my items showed up today. The little aluminum mess kit and the water purification tablets came packed in bubble wrap (because it is so important to keep that little aluminum mess kit from getting scratched) and now I am just waiting for my little water-tight Otterbox to show up.
The water purification tablets are miniscule and fifty of them come in a bottle. Two of the tablets will purify one quart of water. The bottle of tablets will purify about six gallons.
The camp cook kit is one of those collapsible sets and includes a frying pan, a pot and cover, a plate and a mug. The entire ensemble is made of lovely, durable matching aluminum components and complements any dinner prepared under the skies quite wonderfully. Ok, its one of those little clamshell deals that boy scouts use, but it works.
Now I'm that much closer to being ready for my kayak trip.

I added a "support my blog"button to the site. A few donated dollars along the way would help me get all the gear I need for the trip. So...tell your friends! : )

Thanks for your support!

I received the first of the packages I ordered last week. The paracord showed up in the mailbox this afternoon. According to the e-mails, it seems the Otterbox is going to show up tomorrow. I love when they are spaced out evenly over the following week. Its like opening a little Christmas present every day! Let's see...the paracord and the Otterbox are here and on their way, respectively, so that leaves the water purification tablets and the inexpensive little aluminum camping mess kit. Hopefully they will arrive shortly after labor day. Soon after that, it will be another payday and I'll have another little budget for some more supplies! I'll have to start picking out what I'm going to get.

I was watching How It's Made on Netflix and they had a program on making molded plastic kayaks. So very cool. Its interesting to see how it goes from a powdered plastic into an oven and ends up being a 16-foot boat.

Watching more YouTube videos on the Brazos river and waiting for my packages from Amazon.com to show up in the mail. I'll be shopping for good deals for camping supplies and kayak gear but I only have so much of a budget each payday for the stuff, so, I keep searching for deals and hacking away at my list of things to get for the trip.
I really think the Brazos is going to be a great choice for this trip. It can be beautiful and allows for ample opportunity to pull over and stretch my legs or camp when needed.
One thing that amazes me is that it seems as though I can not find any charts for the inland waterways I want to paddle. There are a few crude, hand-drawn sketches that can be printed but they are hardly suitable for navigation. I have searched for navigation charts for both the Trinity and the Brazos and came up with nothing. I think I may end up making my own charts and even print and sell them if I can do a decent job of it.
Wouldn't that be something? It may even cover some of the cost of my trip eventually.

It was a beautiful day and I spent the day with my wife strolling around the shops and drinking green tea at one of the neighborhood cafes. After some quality time with the spouse, I brought her home to let her rest, read and catch up on some writing she had planned. While she did this, I ran out to do a little grocery shopping and, of course, run around to a couple sporting good stores and see what I could check out for paddling and camping supplies.

I ended up getting one of the Sea-to-Summit brand dry bags I had been wanting to get. It works great! I got the 20-liter size which seems the perfect compromise between being large enough to hold a considerable amount of gear and small enough to fit comfortably below decks on my kayak. I imagine two or three more this size would serve very well in stocking a multi-day journey while keeping my gear safe and dry.

I could easily imagine filling one with carefully measured portions of food, ready to be made into meals on demand, and clothing and various other supplies rolled and stuffed into the other bags, all lined up and keeping it all safe, A length of paracord looped through each of the bags' safety loops, a feature of Sea-to-Summit dry bags, would keep them all leashed into the boat in case of a spill.

In addition to checking the dry bag off of my list of things to get for my excursion, I also eliminated a few things by process of elimination. The storm-proof matches, for instance, seem completely unnecessary and will be substituted with regular matches on a dry plastic case. They will be backed up by my trusty wind-proof lighter and one or more of the ubiquitous magnesium fire-starter tools we all know and love.

I also investigated water filtration devices. The items I like run between $75 and $125 and will require more research before I toss down money for one of them. Another item which I reviewed today was sleeping bag pads. Specifically, the foam-filled pads with a screw cap on one corner for the purpose of keeping them inflated or deflated as desired. These creature-comfort devices are simple, easy to use, extremely light and very comfortable. I shall be investing in one of these, too, soon.

Onward! Each day, I hope to learn something, gain something, practice something, obtain some new gear or do something beneficial to bringing me closer to my goal of kayaking and camping for a two-week excursion somewhere around the state of Texas. I hope anyone reading this will be able to benefit from the experiences I have put down in words on this site.

Take care, everyone! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

I picked up a few items on Amazon.com for the trip. I found a medium-sized Otterbox dry box for storing the sensitive electronic stuff. I also bought a bottle of water purification tablets. A hundred feet of paracord and an inexpensive aluminum mess kit round out today's online shopping excursion. I'll add a few select pieces of cooking gear I picked up from Wal-mart and my local Goodwill store.

Tomorrow I want to go REI to check out the Sea to Summit dry bags and some various brands of water filtration. I would like one of those hand-pump filters with the really fine micron filters that keep  viruses out, let alone any particles or algae.

The Brazos river is best answer so far for this excursion and I think I will start planning based on it. From Possum Kingdom Lake down to the town of Granbury is roughly 125 miles and I think its going to be an amazing trip. I should ultimately like to get a 15- to 17-foot touring kayak but I may opt for a 13.5 foot one instead. Why 13.5 feet? Because boats 14 feet and longer are required to be registered with the state. I could save about $60 a year if I don't have to register it. LOL

Seriously, it would be well worth the registration cost to have the additional length, storage space and sleekness of contoured body to glide through the water like a hot knife through butter. I think it costs $52 a year to register a 17-foot kayak (such as the Wilderness Systems Tempest 170 I have been dreaming about) and having to pay an additional tax on this item each year I use it will just push me to make sure I get every dime's worth out of it I can.

I can just feel myself propelling the boat down the Brazos, the Trinity, around Lake Grapevine, Lake Ray Hubbard, and various locales in Oklahoma, Arkansas and wherever. Yeah, I'm getting addicted to kayaking.

I did a bit of research today. The more experienced folks with which I spoke advised me the edges of the Trinity are not too hospitable towards campers. High walls, thick trees, private property and apparently as much variation in scenery as the mars rover would see in its eight-month transit.

So...perhaps the Brazos River to the West would be better. It has more water flow, sand banks to camp on, better scenery and smoother water. Well...hell, I made up the part about "smoother water" but I have to say something to justify the extra expense of traveling further out West to go paddling.

That's a lie, too. I will be thrilled to head out a bit further for this excursion and the exit point just happens to be Granbury, home of a wonderful Mom'n'Pop-style Italian restaurant and a fantastic gourmet cooking utensil shop as well.

Someone advised me the Trinity was supposed to be designated as a shipping lane as early as the sixties. That makes me feel confident it will be plenty wide enough for me to traverse from point A to point B. Also, had originally intended to start in Dallas and he'd out towards the coast. Now I'm thinking it would be better to start on the beach, or perhaps one of the nature parks the beach, and head inland towards home. That will give me a definitive goal.

I need to find a way to make this a fund raiser for a good cause or something. Try to make it something about more than just myself.

I contacted one of the local kayaking clubs to get their initial impression and any good advice they had to offer. I am also working on the supplies list. The actual amount of stuff one might feel compelled to bring just to meet a minimal comfort level can actually be quite daunting. It is amazing how much stuff we take for granted and feel we can't do without for a few weeks at a time.
I'll have to keep working on the list.

hmmm...

checking out the prospects for good, long rivers throughout the state and I'm thinking the Trinity river might be perfect for the task. I could start off right in Dallas and take it all the way to the ocean.

That would be a nice first expedition, wouldn't it?

I've been sick with some kind of head cold this weekend and have more or less resigned myself to watching YouTube videos of kayaking trips and expeditions. In the course of watching all of this great educational material, I have been making a list of items I will need for the trip.

I have quite a bit of it and there is quite a bit more I will need to secure somehow but the list of items seems to grow the more I think about it. I believe the task of making a list is going to rapidly turn into the task of editing the list just to keep the amount of gear to a manageable level.

It is Sunday, August 19th, and I am inspired to organize a kayak trip. I want to call it an expedition, really. I want to pack enough gear and supplies for at least a week or two into a touring kayak and traverse some great distance, stopping only to rest, stretch and camp.
I want to make it a benefit. I want to raise funds for a good cause and make it a beneficial journey for more than just myself.

OK. Great. I got the big idea down.

Now for the planning stage.