A Jaunt With A Friend

Day 341: For the most part, active sports are something I do solo: backpacking, bicycling and now kayaking. Today was an exception. My geocaching partner Dan had yet to pick up the cache on the island in Lake Kapowsin and I was ready for another paddle. I suggested that we do a grand tour of the lake together, and he agreed. We met at the boat ramp at ten and immediately set off to explore the south end of the lake which I had yet to see. I was expecting it to be full of stumps and indeed there were plenty, although not nearly as many as I'd guessed. Water level was up about half a foot following the week's heavy rain which gave us some additional clearance. Even so, I managed to tag one but at least this time, I didn't get stuck.

Partway back, we cruised into a small cove to check out an odd structure which at first I thought was made of concrete. As we came closer, it was revealed as a bad camo paint job on a plywood box about eight feet tall, eight feet wide across the front and four feet deep. There was a strange figure of some sort perched on one upper corner which at first we took for a plastic owl, and we assumed that the "clubhouse" was a duck blind of some sort until discovering that it had no peepholes in it or slots for rifle barrels. Weirder yet, the "owl" turned out to be the head of a female mannequin staring out across the water, hair and complexion obviously much the worse for weather. There appeared to be a rough trail leading down the steep embankment to it, but no evidence of recent use. Nevertheless, the overall effect was creepy and unsettling even to me, and I'm normally unmoved by such things. The Lady of the Lake's eyes followed us as we paddled somewhat hastily away.

Next, we put in on the island so Dan could find the cache, explored a bit, and then sat on the "inside" shore to have our lunch. Primary goals accomplished, we finished up the day by navigating the stump minefield to the north end of the lake and then back to the boat ramp. We were out four hours and covered 5.25 miles.