Kayaking Big Bear Lake

I have been to Big Bear a handful of times now, but this is first time I have every spent any time on the lake itself. This was also a good chance to see just how low the lakes water level was.

I got on the lake in town and decided to head east over to the dam. The wind was in my face so I hugged the shoreline and checked out a few of the harbors along the way. I was curious to see the effects of the low water on Big Bear Lake Cable Wake Park, because every time I go to Big Bear this is one of the things I want to do that never seems to work out.

The next place I went to was China Islands, where I did some cliff jumping last summer. I debated jumping again but decided against it, based on the lower water levels and because there was nobody else there. At China Islands I was pretty much at the dam, so I went the rest of the way. From the dam I headed back through the straitest route, strait through the middle of the lake. This was pretty easy with the wind at my back.

-James

Lele Kawa

Kayaking Luxembourg/German border

I'm gearing up to paddle in the Great Valley regatta for the second time next month and I realized I never wrote anything on either of my two kayaking trips down the Sure river in Luxembourg.

This was one of the more fun things I did while in Luxembourg. It was my first trip out of the Capital, and I repeated it again in May just before I left. In Dillingen we rented kayaks from "Outdoor freizeit"  and paddled down the Sure River to the town of Echternach, Luxembourg's oldest city.

There aren't any rapids so it is just a leisurely paddle down the river.

August trip

Launching point

Everyone else getting into the water

May trip

Kayaking Mittry Lake, AZ

Finally rented a kayak and spent some time on the water. I tried to get one to join Zak and Will on the Yuma portion of their trip, but the rental place was closed.

I decided that rather than do the Colorado river, I would have more fun on a lake. I knew of Mittry Lake because it is near where I go mountain biking. Only a part of the lake was open because of the time of year. Other than just a few fishermen in power boats I had the whole lake to myself. I paddled the whole perimeter of the open portion of the lake. I had the GPS tracking, but the app on my phone stopped uploading. If it ever works I will add the track on here.

Here are the pictures.

Update: gps app finally working map below.

-James

Lele Kawa

Will and Zak's Colorado source to sea

Over the weekend, I was provided the opportunity to play a small part in Will and Zak's journey down the Colorado river that they started in October. They contacted me via Couchsurfing.org. They were scheduled to pass through Yuma on MLK Jr. day, which I had off. I let them know I was happy to help out which what I could.

 Floating into Yuma

 Wondering who this guy taking pictures is

I saw from their spot that they would reach Yuma around around 10. I headed down to the river at East Wetland park to say hello as they came by. They were pretty easy to spot. I have never seen anyone else paddling the river, especially not in pack rafts. After spotting them, I meet up with them on the beach under the Ocean to Ocean Highway in Gateway park. They hadn't found a good camping spot the night before and so had skipped breakfast. I told them there was a good diner across the street. We stowed some of the gear in my truck and went over for breakfast. We discussed their plan for the day. They wanted to reach Morelos Dam, which was right at the boarder of Mexico 11 miles down stream, before the end of the day. They invited me to join them if I could get a boat. Unfortunately due to the holiday the kayak rental place was closed. I told them I could hold on to their packs and meet them at the dam later in the day.

Picking up two guys on the Colorado river where it boarders Mexico is a little sketchy. I timed their journey well, and arrived at about the same time they did. There were Boarder Patrol in the area, and they became pretty interested when I meet up with two guys coming out of the river. Luckily I had their packs so the BP didn't have much gear of theirs to search, and after checking our shoe tread, we were free to hang out around the dam.

Morelos Dam where the Colorado ends

Little blue boat next to the Dam

This was the end of the easy part of the trip. The logistics of getting into Mexico and down to the Sea of Cortez would be hard, because there is no water in the river bed after Morelos Dam. The Colorado is a dry river bed from the dam for about 75 miles down to the Sea of Cortez. That means it is either hike or try and navigate the maze of dangerous irrigation canals. The canals can't be counted on to have water flowing in them, so at any time you can run out of water. When I wasn't at work I tried to help them figure out some of their logistics, before sending them on their way.

Here is the first video of their trip.

Los Cobanos, El Salvador

Just before my schedule got too crazy, I managed to spend the weekend out at Los Cobanos Village lodge, the only white sand beach in the El Salvador. As soon as we checked into our hotel, we decided to take out the complimentary kayaks. The kayaks were not great, but they did allow us to get out in the bath warm water and play in the surf. The tide was just starting to come back in. This made the perfect waves for riding in the kayaks. It reminded me of the many times I went kayak surfing back in Hawaii.

Picture of the fishing village

Carrying the days lunch

By the time we were done, the sun was going down, so we enjoyed some beer and good food at the hotel in-between games of UNO.

Hardcore Uno Match

In the morning, two of us decided to take a little hike. We started by scrambling over some rocks in order to get to the next beach. This beach was much nicer than the little beach near the hotel. Crossing the next set of rocks we got to an even nicer beach, it was smaller but completely empty. On the way back to the hotel, we found the first rock scramble to be completely unneeded, as the road was right there.

Rocks we had to scramble over

Private beach just over the rocks