River Styx 1.5

Yep, that's a salamander

So I'm on the side of the road, getting ready to attack River Styx again when I realize I no longer have the Kayak KonsoleTM that snaps into the front of my cockpit.  It was either stolen out of my car (unlikely) or I left it next to the shore after yesterday's paddle (very likely).  At any rate, it's precisely the kind of specialized accoutrement that stores love to nail you to replace.  It also gives you a false, but vital, sense of protection and makes you feel like you are genuinely inside a kayak.

So my time on the water today was tainted by a sense of physical exposure and by my obsessing over the ideal driving route back to Windsor to retrieve my Konsole. My paddle time is one of the only times (no, make that the only time) that I am "in the moment," as they say.  Not so today. For one, this was an after-work excursion and the deer flies were on me from word go. The water was all churned up from the day's activity and the swampiness of the place just seeped into me.

Nevertheless, I was determined to make a go of it and quickly enough I found the trail that allegedly leads to Orange Lake.  The river looks as if it has literally been cut through the swamp, although to what purpose I do not know, since the river was scarcely wider than my boat.  At times, I was barge-poling more than paddling. Also, the grass and lilies look a tad too planned and formal for this to be a naturally occurring river, but then I know next to nothing of its history.  Whatever the case, it wasn't deep enough because soon my hull was scraping bottom and the prospects only looked worse up ahead. I decided this would be an excursion for later, when I could bring a paddling partner.  You know, someone to identify the where my body was last seen.

I had no turnaround room whatsoever, so I had to make a three-point turn into the lilies, wondering if I was going to have to just get out and turn the boat around.  From unload to reload was a matter of less than 30 minutes.  I was disappointed, sweaty, and still fending off deer flies.

The good news is that I found the quickest way back to Windsor.  The bad news is my Konsole was nowhere to be found.  Whoever took it has a piece of equipment that is only good on a Wilderness Systems Pungo 140.  Congrats.

Tomorrow: I need a serenity paddle.  Cross Creek is always good for that.