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.

 

 



 

 



 







Roaring Run Trail & Rock Furnace Trail - 2013

My latest adventures have been "photo rambles". My wonderful wife bought me my first Digital SLR camera and I've been wandering on a couple of our area's beautiful trails practicing my photography skills. Fortunately she also got me the very aptly titled book " Canon EOS Rebel T3i for Dummies". Hopefully this will speed my learning curve (lots of information to take in!!). If you click on the waterfall it will take you to my Picasa Photo Album for Roaring Run Trail and Rock Furnace Trail.

Things I've Learned (The Hard Way)

1. When using a drill to mount anything on your kayak, pay attention and be very careful. It's obvious
from this photo that I did neither.

 

2. If you are going to be careless with your kayak there are some things that you should definitely invest in.

 

A plastic welding iron.


A heat gun.


HDPE welding filler material.

With some good advice from Wind & Water Boatworks, and an hour watching YouTube videos on kayak repair (there's a video for every situation), I managed to plastic weld my hole closed.



She ain't pretty....but she'll float!

We're Baaaaaack!

It's been almost two years since we've been on any adventures. The kayaks have been collecting dust leaning against a wall in the basement ( mine has a hole in it.... long story but one Robbin loves to tell because it involves carelessness and a power drill). Robbin has had a serious back issue for the past two years. It finally got to the point that she couldn't walk across the room without pain, and as a result she had major back surgery last summer. After a long recovery she's ready to "ramble on" again. I'm changing "Rambling On" from a kayaking only blog to one that also covers hiking and biking as well. Our little piece of the world has a lot to offer.....hiking trails, biking trails, water trails, geo caching.....and we plan to take advantage of all of it. We went on our first outdoor adventure today to Rock Furnace Trail.
Rock Furnace is a scenic,hilly trail that is owned and maintained by the Roaring Run Watershed Association . http://www.roaringrun.org/

This trail is beautiful. It follows Roaring Run through a valley to a confluence with Rattling Run, then continues through the valley where it empties into the Kiskiminetas River. There are huge rocks and numerous waterfalls, including the gorgeous Jackson Falls. We decided to "take baby steps" and go for a short hike since Robbin hasn't really been able to do more than walk around our town for a long time. I don't think I prepared her for the hills on Rock Furnace though. We did about half the trail this time. There was just a little whining and couple of out loud wonderings if the trail was wide enough for an ambulance, but she was a trooper and pushed through and is looking forward to going farther the next time. Woodpecker damage. Jackson Falls. The last hill, Honey!

It's An Official Guiness World's Record

I recieved this from Venture Outdoors today.

1,619 Boats! We did it!!
It’s official! We set a World Record! The Pittsburgh World Environment Day Partnership is pleased to announce that on last year’s WED on June 5, 2010, this region broke the world record for largest raft of canoes and kayaks! Guinness World Records recently notified Venture Outdoors of the accomplishment, staged as a key Pittsburgh World Environment Day Partnership event.

Read the Official Press Release