Monday, June 13, 2011
Mornings on the water are a very special place to be. The birds singing out as if to welcome the new day. The sound of the babbling brook off the stern. The sun lightens the distance shoreline in a multitude of greens. The air is crisp and incredibly clear, the sky a stunning blue. A light steam rises from the water.
Above us, on a distant mountain peak, is a fire lookout station. What would it be like to witness the start of each new day from that vantage point?
Once again, we have the entire cove to ourselves. While there are not many spots to tie off, there are a few. Yet, not another boat in sight. With fuel prices being what they are, it appears that many people have made the decision not to be out on the water.
We lounge in the cockpit just enjoying the serenity. Finally, at 11:00 am, we decide it is time to find our next “home” for the evening. We head south on the McCloud River Arm. We check out a number of coves we spot as we motor along. All are lined with beautiful full green pine trees. They all are covered with the light shade of green that indicates the new growth of a new year. Finally, we end up back in Herz Bay. This time though, we select a nice little cove that has a point that is partially submerged. It makes for an interesting sight, pine trees growing out of the water. Once all is secure with a bow anchor and two stern lines, it is once again time to do a little maintenance on Karma. The Velcro on the stateroom hatch needs to be replaced. While I do this, it is back to her raft for Maureen.
Once I complete the task of replacing the Velcro, it is time to start waxing. Today I will do the hull along with the sides of the house. This I can accomplish from the dinghy.
Once I complete the waxing, I take the kayak out for a short paddle. Now it is time for a swim. With the constant flow of snow melt coming into the lake this year, the water is still only in the high sixty’s. While it is cold, it is invigorating. You cannot stay in long, but it does feel good.
Four o’clock, time to open a bottle of wine and break out the cherries. We sit in the cockpit enjoying each other company while marveling at the scenery that surrounds us. A mother duck leads her four ducklings across the bay. A half a dozen baby Quail forage for food along the bank. Occasionally a fisherman or two will go by. All in all though, it is as if we have the lake to ourselves. From our vantage point we watch the sun set over the stern, while a nearly full moon rises over the bow. As the sun sets, the air starts to take on a chill. It will soon be time to move inside.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Another beautiful day breaks! A clear blue sky. A light breeze ripples across the water, a family of ducks out looking for a meal.
Today we will head to Silverthorn Resort to top off the water tank along with emptying the head. We also need to pick up a few groceries while “in town”. From there we will head east up the Pit River Arm.
While Lake Shasta is made up of five main arms, each offers different scenery. McCloud, with its many mountains and pines. The Pit is comprised mainly of rolling grass hills and oak trees. The Squaw River arm that sits between the Sacramento and the Pit is comprised of a blend of the two. Pines, Oaks, Hills, and Mountains. The Big Backbone Creek Arm is the smallest of the arms lined with mainly granite and oaks. Traveling the various arms gives you the feeling a being on a different body of water each time.
We follow the Pit River Arm to the end with the promise of a large waterfall being located there. While we did find the creek that the waterfall was supposedly located on, we never found the waterfall. As there was not a suitable anchorage, we turned around and headed back down “river”. We kept our eyes open for a suitable location to spend the night as we made slow progress. When we came upon Flat Creek we decided to check it out. We headed in spotting a few locations that would due. However, you never want to settle for the first location as there could be a better location just around the bend. Finally, near the very end we did find our spot. We secured the bow to a dead tree standing in 35 feet of water and the stern to a hundred plus year old Oak on the bank. The walls in this inlet are very steep allowing only a few hours of direct sunlight each day. On the opposite bank is another dead tree standing in water. At its top is a very large Peregrine Falcons Nest. We watch in amazement as one of the parents fishes for its young. We take the dinghy out to see if we can have the same luck as the Falcon. I manage to catch one fish, one tree, a multitude of weeds, and miscellaneous other items from the bottom. On top of that, I manage to drive the dinghy up on top of a barely submerge tree top……. Wow, who else can say they got their dinghy stuck in the top of a tree? We managed to back off with no damage to the dinghy all the while giving us a laugh.
We turned back to Karma where another fabulous bottle of wine awaited. We enjoyed a beautiful dinner in the cockpit with great food, great wine, and each other’s great company!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
We awoke this morning to one of the coolest mornings yet. While it may be mid June, the outside temperature was only 51 degrees, with the interior coming in at a balmy 53!
While you could hear strong winds blowing through the treetops at the top of the ridge, there was barely a ripple on the water.
Sitting in the cockpit is out of the question this morning. Even with the heaters going, it is still too chilly. We move our coffee inside to the warmth of the cabin. We anticipate the arrival of the sun to warm the outside air. While it is gently lighting the trees on the opposite shore, it will be well over an hour or so before it reaches our location. Oh the sacrifices one must make to enjoy a place such as this.
Today we will seek a location that will give us a view of the rising full moon this evening. There is nothing that can beat sitting in the cockpit of your own boat, a glass of wine, good music, and a great view of a full moon rising.
We find our location for the day at the end of Dead Horse Creek (located on the Pit River Arm). While we will not be able to view the moon rising, we will be privileged to one of the most beautiful spots we have found yet. The creek is deep, 26’ yet only 40 feet across. Let’s see, overall length of Karma 33’, width of creek 40’, that leaves 3 ½’ of space at bow and stern to spin her around. Spin her around we do. We spin her at the end of the creek, go forward a 150 feet, drop the anchor, back-down until we have a hundred feet of chain out, Maureen holds her in place while I deploy a stern line on each side. We are set!
We spend the afternoon in our usual position. Maureen floating on her raft; I finish the wax job on Karma. After I complete the wax job (and stand back to admire my work of course…..) I head out in my kayak. I paddle to the small water fall at the back of Dead Horse Creek. It is amazing the number of these we have found this year. It just proves California has had a banner water year at last! While in the past, the lake would drop by six inches or so over night, not to be so this year. The lake actually has risen each night to drop back to close to its original level during the day. This week we have actually witnessed a total rise of a foot from where it was when we arrived. In years past, we would see it drop my three to four feet by the end of the week.
The remainder of the afternoon is spent fishing and paddling. What a great day! We finish off the day with a nice dinner in the cockpit complimented by another bottle of a nice California Cab. It is a tough life, but someone had to take one for the team!
