Salmon River Reservoir November 15th

      Salmon River Reservoir paddle used to be a crowded one with cars double parked tightly throughout a large parking area. Last Sunday was different: the lot was occupied only by a lone black Subaru belonging to Bob and later by a silver Honda belonging to Aneta and Robert. Bob covered 6.8 miles before he pulled in for lunch and to meet the rest of the club members for a 12 o’clock paddle.
Noon came and there were only three of us. The weather was mild and sunny, but the water was icy cold. We set out to paddle a glass smooth surface surrounded by the unbelievably serene wintery landscape of grey bare trees and dark brown shoreline. Still, the sun shone brightly and danced off the water surface making us feel like it was still spring. We spotted an American Bald Eagle perched like a lone ranger in the middle of a desolate island. We attempted a sneak peak, but the bird spooked and soared away with contempt. We then switched from a recreational bird watching mode to a performance mode and paddled the full length of the reservoir with one stop at the end. It was a 12 mile round trip.
The wind picked up and allowed us to ride the surf for the duration of the return trip. Robert and Aneta averaged 4 miles per hour and completed 12 miles in 3 hours. Bob succumbed to his speed demon persona and made it back much faster, at well over 5 miles per hour. And that’s with his plastic boat. All Bob needs this season to accomplish his 1000 mile goal is about 50 more miles. Robert is 3/4 mile short of a 500 mile mark, and Aneta a 1/4 mile short of a 445 mile mark.
It was a wonderful paddle with incredibly good weather, especially for mid November. If only the weather keeps up, there might be many more good days to paddle.