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The canoe finally hits the water
Turns out that the OKC City Council passed the revisions to the canoe law!!! This means that my canoe hit the water this past weekend. Saturday I went and got a license ($25) that is good for one full year.
Sunday I 'topped' my canoe (put it on top of my son's van) and headed out to Lake Overholser. It was very windy Sunday (even windier out on the water) so expected some problems. Once I got to the lake, I thought I would put in on the river, but the city had drained the river to work on a nearby bridge. The river was about 4-5 feet lower than normal.
I was undaunted. This would not deter me. But, dragging my canoe down the bank to the river, I found out that the bank of the river wasn't that dry and I sunk into mud well over my shoes. I struggled back to solid ground and found a place to put in where the bank wasn't so soft.
Once in the water I learned that even though the wind was heading north, the current was heading south. The current was winning, but since I was sitting in the back of the canoe, the front acted like a huge weather vane and the wind kept pointing me north. So I am facing north but moving south. I'm starting to get concerned that the cop that busted me back in Sept is going to show up and start ridiculing me. I decide to sit on the middle seat of the canoe and place the weight in the middle. This removes the weather-vane effect and I can now navigate.
Heading south down the river, I had to keep off the sandbars and stay in the channel, so there was a lot of weaving back and forth. This stretch of the river isn't exactly scenic, I have Bethany on my left and the bank of the lake on my right. But, I keep telling myself, I'm on the water and I'm paddling. But of course, I'm paddling more like I have a kayak than a canoe. Some folks on shore talk to me as I paddle past and I have to avoid a few fishing lines. I get almost all the way down to the spillway and now I'm faced with a decision.
Do I portage around the spillway and go on down the river, or try to head back? Heading back is going to be terrible against this current. Maybe I should beach the canoe and walk back and get the van and then come get the canoe? Then I got a brainstorm. The lkae is right over that bank. There is no current on the lake. The wind is blowing in the direction I want to go (back to my van). All I have to do is get my canoe onto the lake. To start with, I need to drag my canoe up a 30 ft bank that is covered with rocks, across a dirt road, and then down a 5 ft pile of rocks into the lake.
Once into the lake, I try sitting in the middle and doing the 'kayak' thing again. The lake is totally different. Since the wind is so high, there are some whitecaps on the lake and the waves are between 1/2 ft and 2 ft. With the weight in the middle, the canoe turns parallel to the waves, so they are hitting me broadsides. I'm facing west, so I start paddling to head a little farther out.
Once I get several yards out, I move back to back seat and the wind turns my canoe facing north. Now I'm facing the direction that the wind and waves head me. The paddling is enjoyable and fairly easy and I'm making great time. I'd love to get out here when the lake is calmer.
As I get closer to the north shore, I am now looking at the decision as where to beach. I'm parked on the north-east corner of the lake, but that menas that I'll have to drag my canoe up over the shore and back down into the river. I'm not sure how far south of my van I'll end up so since I'm going to have to walk, I might as well beach on the north west side of the lake and walk around the north end. The whole north-east end of the lake is a huge mass of water-grass (I use that term because I don't know what it really was). I end up having to go through some of it that was above the water about 3-4 inches. This was slow going, but I was surprised that I was able to navigate through it. I then latched onto one of my dumber ideas. How high is the really high grass over there?
I found out that it is about 4-5 ft above the water and it is almost impossible to navigate through. It took me about 30 minutes to get about 100 yards and then I had to fight my way back out. I finally beached and walked around a mile back to the van, brought it back, topped the canoe and headed home.
Observations: If going on the river, take a friend
If going on a windy day, go on the lake
Be ready to walk back
Maybe I should buy a kayak?
