I'm Back on the Water!

This past Thursday evening (5/30) I put my kayak in the water for the first time in over two years. I decided to go to my favorite body of water, Loyalhanna Lake. I knew my paddling skills would be rusty so I didn't want to battle currents or motorboats. I also have to admit that I wasn't 100% confident in my skill as a plastic welder, so I wanted to be able to get back easily if I started taking on water. 



Loyalhanna's inflow creek is a beautiful area. The water is nearly current free and there are a lot of small coves to explore. With out a knowledge of the area it's easy to paddle for a quarter mile in what you think is Loyalhanna Creek only to be met with a dead end.

 One of the coves in the inflow is an Osprey nesting area. I took along the new camera hoping to get a photo of the Ospreys in flight. I was disappointed that I didn't see any and actually thought the nest was abandoned until I enlarged this photo. I'm not sure if it's an adult or a young bird, but there is definitely an Osprey in the nest. 

One bird that was visible in the Osprey cove was this Double-crested Cormorant. I saw a few of these impressive birds around the inflow area.

One of my favorite features at Loyalhanna are these beautiful rock walls.

 

Years of water erosion has created some interesting patterns in the rock.

This squirrel was very cooperative, sitting there enjoying his acorns while I tried to figure out which setting to use on my camera. There is no shortage of interesting things to photograph at Loyalhanna.

 

 

 

By the time I made it back to the boat launch area it was getting dark. As I sat watching the sun set behind the trees, I was thinking how much I missed paddling my kayak. It won't be long before I'm back on the water again.