Isn't that a movie?? (-;
I wasn't going to post this trip as i thought i've posted it before,,, sort of. Last Wednesday was supposed to be a nice day with a front coming in the next day which has been happening allot lately in other wards not allot of continuous sunny days. I loaded up the boat and headed up the valley to Slocan Lake and by the time i saw the lake i knew i was going across today. It was like glass and i headed out accross the lake to Sandy Point beach.
Valhalla park is a Provincial Park which covers almost all of the west side of Slocan Lake making it somewhat unique in that you only have a couple of small towns, 700 people, on the east side and wilderness on the west side.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/exp...kpgs/valhalla/
On the beach looking north
looking south
.
I decided to have lunch here and relaxed at one of the 2 picnic tables.
It was a beautiful calm day and i have the kayak parked in between a couple of little piers,,keeps the waves down while you get in the boat,,a work in progress.
Took another pic cause i loved the color of the water ,clouds etc. My favorite pic.
I was just finishing my lunch and the weather started changing and seemed like the front was coming in early. I got my stuff together, launched and started heading south down the lake with the idea that if the better weather held i would go to Nemo and then across to Bannock Point. I did this last yr. As i was making my way south waves started picking up. Just then an eagle flew out of the trees in front of me and around a point. I fallowed it into a small bay and took a pic.
I paddled in close to shore and took another pic.
At this point the waves are picking up and i'm starting to think about heading back across the lake early so i don't get stuck in some unhappiness. I'm about twenty feet from shore paddling slowly kind of preoccupied about a crossing and kind of looking out to the open lake. All of a sudden i notice something standing on the shoreline directly beside me. I stopped paddling . Got the boat pointed to shore and slowly reached for the camera on the deck. At this point its slowly moving away and i get a big butt shot. I steady myself in the waves and make a low slow soft whistle sound. It stops and turns its head my way and i got a decent shot at which point i said "thanks buddy",,, at which point it now knows i'm human and trots away into the bush. My two visiting friends of the day.
That was the last pic of the day because everything got a whole lot more serious. I decided i needed to make a run for it before i got to Nemo and started across. By the time i'm in the middle of the lake i'm in two foot waves coming across my bow so i start heading south east into the waves and its about that time i start singing holy songs. I laughed and had a little talk to myself that everything is OK and just relax. Something about solo in the middle of a crossing in rough water still unnerves me a bit. I got over to Bannock Point and got out at the beach planning of having some tea and something to eat but before i could get the stove lit the wind REALLY picked up and i decided to just eat some cliff bar , drink some water and get going back to launch which is about an hour away. It was here that the worst part happened . Somehow i lost track of my custom neck knife which came off when i took my dri top off and in all the rushing misplaced it. Didn't notice i didn't have it till i got home. The paddle north back to launch was fine. I was heading with the waves and was doing a little bit of surfing on the swells. I had to tack my way into the bay at launch as the waves were coming across my beam and swappable size but all went well and i swung the boat around into the waves at launch and just sat there for a while rising and falling in the swells,,,felt like i was in my hammock.
Two days later i decide to drive back to the lake and hike into Bannock point and see if the knife is on the beach.
Garage size rock in the camping area.
Unfortunately i never found the knife but i've got an order in for a couple of blades and will make a couple more,,,,,Its was a good trip anyway and got me back to Bannock Point which is a beautiful spot.
Life happens.
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