2012 Adventure XII

Date of Adventure: Tues., 12 June 2012

Type of Adventure: Kayaking

Place of Adventure: Sugar Hill Reservoir/Goshen Dam

Length of Adventure, miles: approx. 2

Length of Adventure, hours: 2

Weather: Rainy. It rained the whole time we were out, but it was mostly just sprinkling. Temps were in the 70s.

Other Companions: Mom and Colyn

Other Adventurers Encountered: A lone fisherman in a rowboat. We tried to give him plenty of space.

Notes of Interest: 1. We saw tons of wildlife. It started on the drive up when we encountered a Partridge on the side of the road. She didn't move away from the car, even when we stopped to look at her. She fanned her tail and ruffled her neck feathers. There was another adult and several young flitting around in the bushes at the side of the road. At the reservoir we saw two loons, separately. Each followed us for quite awhile and came within 30 or 40 feet. We were trying to give them plenty of room, but they kept coming up to us. It was amazing. We also saw a kingfisher, and two families of geese with a total of 6 goslings. On the way home we saw a snapping turtle, about 10" in diameter in the road. He was quite the fierce beast. 2. Colyn had a great time swimming. I strapped him into his life vest and sent him off. At first he didn't realize he could just swim to shore when he needed a break. We stayed pretty close to shore, but a few times I had to almost beach my kayak to make him get out of the water. After he understood the game, he did great. He swam at least 2/3 of the way around the lake, plus a lot of swimming around while we were just floating peacefully. The last 1/3 or so, he decided to walk along shore. In fact, I couldn't get him back in the water after that. He refused to admit he was tired, though, and when we got home he still had a bounce in his step. Tomorrow he'll be sorry.