renaissance poisson

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i did it. i took my camera with me in the kayak. i have a generic dry bag, but it's a hassle; i'll have to think up something better. i don't feel comfortable enough yet to just leave the camera hanging around my neck. but there are so many opportunities for fresh photos, i couldn't resist taking it with me.

quennell lake is probably the most interesting lake near us, and even though it's relatively close, it's a lake we have never been at, because there are no trails, and only private property all around it. i never realized how large and beautiful it is until i saw it on google earth, since one can only see a small piece of it from the road. the new cartop boat launch helps; by all accounts the old make-shift one was rutted, steep, and muddy, and i probably wouldn't have braved it. the lake is quite large for the area at 122 hectares, and what's even better is that it is shaped kinda like a "yH" with the two letter connected around an island, so it has a lot of shoreline, and if you run into some noisy people, you can paddle away into another arm. it is mostly forested though google earth shows that there might be some farmland along the western shore, and because of the placement of the arms, it even has mountain views. judging from the ripples when the fish started feeding, it probably has some large bass in it. there are houses on it, but not many, and they don't intrude. human-propelled and electric motors only, and a speed limit -- the right way to handle public use of a lake. kinda amazing, considering how much things have been getting built-up out here. what an extraordinary place to live.

now that i have the kayak, i am sorta tempted to kayak every possible lake around here and take pictures.