Bass Lake Paddle 7/6/25
Kathleen Imre | Published on 7/6/2025
We started with seven paddlers, but it dwindled down to four as the chance of rain increased throughout the morning. Is there an inverse relationship here?! There were no thunderstorms in the forecast, so Trish, Howie, Jacqui, and I decided to go for it, and we set out from the Bass Lake Access Site in a fairly respectable downpour. This ensured that hulls, decks, and paddlers were all properly hydrated for our circuit... There was no wind at first, and other than the raindrops on our eyeglasses obscuring our vision, we had no issues. We also had the entire lake to ourselves, but perhaps the weather played a part in this??! It was so pleasant to paddle and visit with one another in what felt like our own private lake, and the rains ended not too long after we launched. It was good to see that after the past two very dry years, the lake level had risen a bit. At the southernmost end, we could actually paddle around the tiny island, instead of "scootching & poling" it like last year! On our way back along the east shore, a north wind picked up, but we had no problems, and it's so much easier paddling into a headwind instead of a beam wind! There were several Kingfishers swooping along the shore and scolding us, including one that sat on the Statue of Liberty's torch. Unfortunately, it flew away before we could snap a pic. There was a new addition at one cottage's shoreline this year: a very fierce- and scary-looking canine statue. Was it a wolf? Perhaps it was placed there to deter waterfowl (and four kayakers) from coming too near? On our last stretch, we saw a solitary loon, and then near the Access Site, there were two loons with two very young chicks. It made a great afternoon with paddling friends even more special!
Pics by Trish, Jacqui, & Kathleen
Trish
Kathleen
Jacqui
Kathleen
Howie
Lady Liberty sans Kingfisher and Jacqui
Howie
Howie & Trish
Scary canine
Loon Family
