Posts Tagged ‘devils lake’

It won’t be long yeah, yeah, yeah
It won’t be long yeah, yeah, yeah
It won’t be long yeah
– the beatles

I woke up this morning to a distinct chill in the air and the Beatles singing in my head.  Winter’s on the way and it won’t be long now.  Today I’m going to meet JB for a bit of play time on, and in the water.  Better do it now, while we still have time.

Gardens and trash cans
Hoodie and Chuck-T’s
Arm,Fingers, and Hands
Don’t slow down
– Matt & Kim

Each of the last two days I’ve spent time out on the trails around the local park.  As much as I might want to deny it the coming death of summer is as clear as the sound of screeching brakes on a highway.  The more stressed of the forest trees are beginning to turn, the heat of the sun can’t quite chase the chill out of the mid-day air, the days of rain are beginning to outnumber the days of sun. My Ipod is filling with indie rock once again.  It’s that time of year.  Oh yeah, and P&H has some new kayaks on the way… I think I have another post about that.. Now let’s see here… what drawer did I put that post in!??

I read the news today oh, boy
Four thousand holes in blackburn, lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
– beatles

Beatles Trivia will tell you that the line from, “A Day in the life” quoted above was based on a 1967 article in the Daily Mail about potholes in the roads.  Geologically potholes are holes worn into the rocks when pebbles or cobbles become drill bits in hard swirling currents often found at the bottom of eddies and in plunge pools at the bottom of water falls.  The potholes pictured above are at the top of a 400 foot, stone, stair climb at Devil’s Lake State Park and were created over 10,000 years ago when the glaciers of the last great ice age stopped and melted right on this spot.  These formations are a beautiful sight to see for those up to the climb.   Oh man, now I got off track… I think I was going to say something about Facebook…

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She says, Im getting that lonely sinking feeling,
You know what I mean?
With his hand on her back hes thinking,
where does that leave me?
– cowboy junkies

The 2007 Colman Fun 94 kayak is 9’4” feet long, has a capacity of 250lbs.  If it flips, the poor bastard paddling it may be in real trouble. It would be hard to design a recreational kayak that could hold more water while at the same time be almost impossible to drain as the “fun 94”.  In fact, in my opinion the Fun 94 represents just about everything bad in recreational kayaks.  The only thing you could do to make them worse is rent them out to holiday makers who are taking enough risk simply by being in on the water at all.

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Many miles away there’s a shadow on a door
Of a cottage by the shore
Of a dark Scottish lake
– the police

A new day, a new bowl of Haggis! Well, something like that anyway.  Thanks to everyone for their emails and encouragements. It’s hard sometimes to translate emotions to print but I’m certainly not down or out. Speaking with Kelly last evening I’m sure he’s more disappointed than I am, at least in the fact that I can still get my stuff together continue my Nessie hunt. The only real change comes in that I have to pick up on some logistics and at this point, maybe even those original plans will still go through. Plus there are lots of good folks around that I’m sure I can pester someone to give me a ride to the water’s edge.

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Today in Wisconsin challenged a 100 year low temperature record sitting in the low 60s in our area.  I figured that meant the day paddle I’d been looking forward to for the last couple days would be a bit gray and gloomy.  Well, it was gray, not so gloomy, but very wet.  I’m told I should start getting used to it!  Here’s a few more pictures from the day.    Read the rest of this entry »

Marshall, Will, and Holly
On a routine expedition
Met the greatest earthquake ever known.
High on the rapids
It struck their tiny raft.
And plunged them down a thousand feet below.

To the Land of the Lost.
To the Land of the Lost.
To the Land of the Lost.

It started simply enough. It started because many years ago I, and a friend from Carbondale, Illinois, tracked down these cool waterfalls when we were LTE’s for the DNR, the location of which I had forgotten. It started because I came across a name on a topo map and mistakenly thought these were the falls. It started because I found the falls cross referenced on a Whitewater website as a class III-IV run. But mostly it started because I couldn’t make the WMCKA symposium and really needed to just be outside and distracted by a little adventure.

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