Sunday, July 04, 2021

Paddling, slowly

Our first canoe trip of the year started slowly, with a trip to the hardware store to buy new straps to tie down the canoe on the new roof rack. (What happened to the old straps? They were either badly misplaced when we moved or else they got left behind at the old parsonage.) For the first trip on the new vehicle, we selected Hammertown Lake, only 6 miles away as the crow flies but a 20-minute drive over twisty country roads. It's the deepest lake in southern Ohio and well stocked with fish, but we saw only three or four small fishing boats and a couple of kayaks. A remote artificial lake surrounded by rolling hills and trees, Hammertown Lake serves as Jackson's municipal reservoir. Paddling on a reservoir doesn't sound particularly adventurous, and it wasn't, but took us two hours to paddle the full length and back with just a few gentle cross-breezes to make it interesting. Weather and work had thwarted all our previous plans to get the canoe out this year, but we've still got a lot of summer left. This was a good, easy outing to inaugurate our paddling adventures for the year.

 

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