Interesting thing about paddling at Lake Columbia is that you can have a hundred boats on the water and feel totally isolated. At one point I had to turn back to shore for a few minutes leaving the group I had intended to paddle with. From there I almost never saw another boat on the water. When I finally got heading north again, I pushed my little Romany with the ugly yellow bungees through the chop and fairly strong winds. Suddenly I recognized the value in the extra foot of length in my Explorer. There’s always a cost to every benefit in kayak design. On the other hand as a wave lifted my bow I could easily accentuate it with my legs and get the nose quite high in the air before it came crashing down into the hot steamy water of the lake. Even with the little moments of fun I made it down the length of the 1.8 mile lake quite quickly and feeling a bit beat by the wind. I tucked in behind the power plant and let my boat dance around in the current and eddies created by the outflow pipes that feed the lake. I could spend hours there just dancing alone, quietly in the flow. In time the wind died down, and the sun came out. A few more kayakers found each other through the fog and we played with our rolls on the way back south. We gave it a good effort standing in our boats in the waves. I could manage it in the cockpit, but it was a bit too choppy for the back deck.

I’ve posted a gallery of pictures from the Fog Bowl Event Here. (Top Gallery)