Evening Paddle

A Decade in the Making, Waiting on this Vibrant Sky:

I often see locations and keep a mental note to return at an ideal time.  I wanted this one for over a decade!  This is a spot just down a hill and right off the road.  The problem for me was finding someone that could carry a kayak down the hill.  I had to carry a telescoping ladder and camera equipment.  We launched the boat and started to communicate with walkie talkies.  The water was very still, and clouds held promise, but it wasn’t clear we would get a sunset yet.  The mosquitos were relentless as we waited.  Eventually the sky began to change.  As we communicated with the walkies, there was a brief exchange where I needed the kayak beyond the dark cloud reflection, but on the water, he couldn’t see what I was asking for.  Once that was overcome the final maneuver was getting the boat pointed away with the paddle exactly right.

Knowing that I had finally been able to put all these pieces together made this an exciting moment.  The day before we had done all of this and no part of it worked out.  There was wind making the water choppy, so the kayaker was all but lost and no sunset developed.  The mosquitos were the only constant.  The fact that we went back, and it worked out made it that much sweeter!