For one reason or another it's been a loooong time since I've added any new content to the web site. Here's an attempt to catch up on the past year's doings.
The biggest thing (for me) is I turned 65 on June 7th. Medicare, drug plan, etc. kicked in so I'm offically an old geezer now. June 15th also was my 10th anniversary of being on the road/
I had left off August, 2008 after wandering around Wyoming trying to get where the snow wasn't, spending some time in Montana and then North Dakota.
From there I move over to Idaho. Several large lakes in the northern part of the state seemed interesting so I investigated. Dworshak Reservoir was nice. Near Orofino and just outside Clearwater National Forest, the reservoir is about 40-50 miles long. Big forested hills make the reservoir interesting but strong winds ensured I didn't stray to far from the boat ramps. Some wildlife around too. I bumped into (not literally) a black bear on one of my walks and several deer.
Coer D'Alene, Kootenai and Priest Lakes all proved to be major disappointments to me. No attractive features and development most of the way around the lakes.
Back in Montana I headed for Glacier National Park, specifically to paddle St. Mary Lake. I was at the park for about a week I guess. Did some hiking on some of the easier trails and did, in fact, paddle St. Mary Lake. Lots of fog and low lieing clouds the whole time and strong winds on the lake. A ranger said the winds always came up around 10am from the same direction. So, I paddled into the wind for about an hour and got about 1/2 mile. It was worth it though. Tall, jagged peaks completely surround 3 sides of the lake. A small island with a few pines add to the allure.
To go from one side of the park to the other you follow Sunrise Highway way up to Logan Pass. There's a Visitor Ceneter at the top and a popular trail that goes even higher. I took the trail and saw several mountain goats way off in the distance right away. Near the top of the trail I came across a mountain goat mom and her kid. I watched them for several minutes and got a few good pictutes.
Mountain goats have long, thin and extremely pointed horns. Mom and the kid were grazing not far apart when a harmless little chipmunk crossed between them. Old mom lowered her horns and went after the poor little bugger. Saw serveral other mountain goats near the top of Logan Pass. No other good photos because ot the heavy fog.
Coming back down the other side of Logan Pass I found a good size big horn sheep along the side of the road without a care in the world. He just happened to be by a turnout so I stopped, introduced myself and took serveral pretty good photos.
To be honest, I don't remember any more about the summer and fall. I musta done sumthin but I dunno what.
I spent a quiet winter in Arizona with nothing exciting happening.
In the spring I went back east, intending to make it a permanent move. I had visions of me in a 25 foot sailboat fishing off the Jersey shore, crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay in the summer, fishing New Hamoshire for haddock, Quincy, Mass for flouder in the spring, enjoying the fall colors in New England in the fall and taking the sailboat down to Florida for the winter and doing some snorkling in the coral reefs in the Keys. That vision lasted less than a month and I was back at Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming.
Bought a Wyoming fishing liscense ($104 for non-residents) so I guess I'll be spending the summer here mostly. Been just hanging out for the most part waiting for the snows to clear farther north and only got the sea kayak out a couple of times because of high winds. After a month I moved up to Fontenelle Reservoir had more of the same winds and came back to Flaming Gorge again.
What's next?
Waiting for the snowline to recede far enough to make the trails I like passable. I'll be spending much of my time in the Wind River Range near Pinedale, Grand Teton National Park, Jedidiah Smith Wilderness Area and Yellowstone National Park. Then back east to Niagra Falls, Adirondack and Catskill Mountains in New York and the Green Mountain in Vermont fot the fall foliage.
I'll then follow the foliage south to Florida expanding the fall season from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. Florida still holds a lot of paddling areas I haven't been to yet. I'll get a fishing license down there too and am looking forward to some large mouth bass fishing.