First adventures with the kayak

Took the new kayak out for its first journey yesterday. It loads right up into the car, with the seats down. Of course, since we haven't figured out where to keep it in the garage, it's been in my car since last Thursday when Steve gave it to me.

Headed for Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids where there (supposedly) is a cache that's been there since 2003. Unfortunately, the last time it's been found was last fall - no finds this year despite several attempts. So I wasn't too optimistic that I would be able to find it.

Got to the boat launch area and discovered there was no off-road parking. Street parking was very popular - it took me a few trips around before I was lucky enough to find a spot. Pulled the kayak out and went over to the boat launch. Off I went! A nice easy paddle, about 3/10 of a mile, over to the cache area. Saw some swans along the way and got a few nice pictures. Got to the area, pretty lily padded and reedy. Nothing bigger than a kayak or canoe could get over there, I'm sure. After a lot of looking, gave up the search. Took some time to take pictures of some of the water lilies and (tried) to take pictures of me in the kayak. Got me but not the kayak too much.

Paddled back to the boat launch. My arms were starting to feel it! Loaded the kayak back up and decided to head towards Jenison and the Grand River Park, where there was a cache on a small island in a lake (Beaver Island Challenge) and a cache a mile upstream on the Grand River (Sunny's Grand Isle.)

Got to the park, pulled the kayak out and decided to go for Beaver Island first. Getting ready to go, saw a car pass by in the parking lot, stop, then start backing up towards me. Thought maybe someone was going to tell me I couldn't kayak in the little lake. No, they were fellow geocachers who stopped because they recognized me. They didn't think I should go out there on my own so stayed on shore and waited for me. This was good because they kept my camera and got some good pictures of me in the kayak.

The trip across the little lake was about a tenth of a mile if that. Landed on the little island, got out of the kayak and found the cache after a short search. It was just above my reach, though, and fastened to a tree. I was able to stand on a lower branch, sorta climbing a bit, and reach the container base. I used the top as leverage and managed to unscrew the base and retrieve the log. After signing the log, I ran into trouble. Just couldn't get the height and leverage needed to screw the base back into the top. Even a bit more climbing (and I have the scratched up arm to prove it) didn't do the trick as I was trying to hold onto the branch with one arm and screw the base with the other. Plus my arms were already tired from the paddling. So ended up carefully tucking the base into a crook of the tree just below the top. Then went back to shore, retrieved my camera and thanked my friends. They shared some chocolate with me and helped me get my gear squared away. Decided not to do Sunny's Grand Isle as I was already tired and tired plus alone plus a mile upstream didn't sound like a good plan at this point.

So did do a walking cache in the park that I hadn't yet done, and one more on the way back home, but I was pretty tired by this point! I had planned to do a night cache last night with Golfdiva as well; but the rain didn't hold off long enough and spoiled our plans.

Today it's raining as well so no outdoor fun.