Go With the Flow

It’s good we are adaptable. On Tuesday we headed to Shelburne, Vermont to go kayaking in the large harbor there on Lake Champlain, and later to hike the Allen Head trail loop. As we were heading north, the sky was getting darker and darker. By the time we got to the launch ramp, it was spitting rain. We had an early picnic lunch in the van, waiting for the weather to clear, but it just wasn’t happening. I changed into my hiking boots, thinking that we could do the trail instead, but that only ‘made’ it rain harder. I suggested we drive to the dive store in Burlington, where I had seen an SPF 50+ rash guard shirt that I liked, way back around the 4th of July. I really didn’t think it was still going to be there, but we went to check anyway. Surprisingly, it was hanging on the rack and fit me! Things were looking up…well, as long as WE didn’t look up, that is.

Even though it was still raining we went back to the ramp, which is right next to the trail head. The skies seemed brighter, so I changed back into my Crocs and we put the kayak in the water. We didn’t paddle very far before the wind started picking up, so we turned around and went up a side creek. This ended up being the LaPlatte River Marsh Natural Area. Another great find and quite pretty as it meandered through the woods. There wasn’t very much current until the creek narrowed, and at one point the current looked like it was flowing both ways. Eventually we came to the end of the line with a freshly built beaver dam in our way.

By the time we went downstream with the flow and made it back to the van, the wind was howling at 20-30 m.p.h. We were still up for the hike though, so off with the Crocs and on with the boots once again, and away we went (I had changed my shoes so often and so fast, I thought I might qualify as an act for “America’s Got Talent!”). I let Dave take this picture while standing out on a rock bluff at the apex of Allen Head.I sure didn’t want to get too close to the edge with all that wind blowing!

Since we saw how the white caps were picking up in the harbor, we wanted to see what the main lake looked like. On the way home, we stopped at a causeway that was still a bit protected from the wind and waves, but we could see how rough it was getting out towards the middle of the lake. What amazed me was how eerie the sky was too.We sure were glad we weren’t out there boating, and felt sorry for the ferry captains that day!