Kayak Yakking and More

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Kayaking - Yellow Creek 1/12/13

January 12, 2013 Miles Traveled 3 miles, Total 4
Yellow Creek
70 degrees, Cloudy, Calm, 2 hours and 5 minutes

Once again, the day warmed up and we excitedly got our kayaks down from the garage. We've had them almost two months and only used them once in a very small lake. We decided to try a river today. After a bit of driving we found an access point into the Cumberland River off of Lylewood Road. There was an eerie fog on the Cumberland. The river here is very wide. We heard a motor boat coming and had to paddle quickly to get across. We went up Yellow Creek. Apparently the warm weather lured many others out, as we saw a lot of fishermen. We paddled upstream against the current for an hour and 15 minutes. It took us only 50 minutes to get back. We saw lots of evidence of river otters along the bank. This was a nice paddle and very convenient to home. This can be an easy paddle after church if we have the afternoon free. At the end of our paddle, it started to rain as we were loading the kayaks. We also realized that we need to get sponges for the yaks!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Kayaking - Kyle Lake 12/23/12

December 23, 2012 Miles Traveled - 1 mile
1st Trip at Kyle Lake
50%, Sunny, Calm

We bought our kayaks the day after Thanksgiving. They've been hanging in the garage taunting us every time we drive in. So the weather warmed up, the sun came out and the kayaks came down and went out into Kyle Lake.
Of course, we do not have winter gear so we had to improvise. We layered some clothing. But, the most innovative clothing we wore were our boots. We wrapped trash bags around our feet and taped them on with duct tape. Scotty wore his crocs over his duct tape boots and I wore Rachel's boots.
Success! Our feet stayed dry until we stepped out of our yaks at the end and promptly tore our boots.
The kayaks were very easy to paddle and it was an enjoyable trek around the small lake.