Today's Paddle 12/28/2012

Got out to the lake about 9am. It was quite a bit more windy than Windfinder said it was going to be and there was quite a bit of chop. Pretty cold also but I cruised the shoreline and swung by the marina waiting for Walt to show up. By the time he got there the wind had died off and it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon.

Walt posing with his boat, the "Boulder Buzzard"

Merry Christmas all! Just sitting around surfing the web and found a couple cool kayaking sites.
http://fatpaddler.com/
http://seakayakphoto.blogspot.com/
http://expeditionkayaks.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html

Came across an interesting roof rack today that is designed for hauling really long kayaks. Seems like a great idea to keep from stressing the hull when hauling the boat around.
http://www.goodboykayaks.com/

Morning Paddle In Black Canyon

Ran down to Willow Beach this morning to paddle up river a bit. Beautiful day and the weather was great. Stopped by the old gauging station and hiked up to the remains of the caretakers house.

Balance Stool

I worked on a little project today that I've been wanting to do. I built a Greenland Kayak Balance Stool. Less than $10 and about 1 hour of my time. It's a bit crude right now. Needs some more sanding and a paint job but it works great.!

Parade Of Lights

Saturday night we went out to Lake Mead for their annual Parade Of Lights. About 9 members of our meetup group got together, decorated our kayaks with lights and paddled out to watch the boats go by. Sorry the photos didn't come out better. I still haven't mastered this new camera yet.

BTW, if you're thinking of heading down to Willow Beach anytime soon, be advised that the water level is WAY down. The current going upstream was worse than usual the other day so you may want to allow yourself more time to get where you're going.

Larry on the ladder to the hot springs and enjoying one of his favorite bevys.

FINALLY! made it down to Willow Beach this weekend. We had a group paddle scheduled but unfortunately, only Larry and myself made it. Too bad because it was a beautiful day. We paddled up to the Arizona Campgrounds and had a relaxing, if somewhat crowded soak in the hot springs.

Went 3 1/2 miles down river from Willow Beach , AZ to check out these petroglyphs. Beautiful day to be out on the water.

Went out to Boulder Harbor for a while this morning. Windfinder.com said 2-3mph winds. Either they forgot a couple zeros or they need to recalibrate their weather equipment. The winds were a HELL of a lot higher than 2-3mph. Nevertheless, we fought our way over to the Boulder Islands and spent an enjoyable morning paddling around the area. I've never seen it that hazy though. Weird stuff.

Larry's always smiling when he's in his yak.

Very choppy going over to the islands. The lake god was angry this morning.

Ain't they beauties.

While cooling off, these little guys came up and were swimming around me. 

The good news is I now know that my new waterproof camera is indeed waterproof.

Just little 'ol me. Self portrait.

Fighting the waves heading back. Wasn't nearly as bad as it was going over.

Here are a few shots from my recent trip up river from Willow Beach, AZ. We saw 2 peregrine falcons, a bald eagle and probably 50+ big horn sheep. I also had the treat of getting a paddle an Eddyline Night Hawk 16. What an incredible kayak.

Water like glass. I've never seen it this smooth.

Big horn sheep on the hillside

Robert Finlay of Kayak Lake Mead

Just for the record, I currently paddle a 14' Perception Carolina 14 which is an excellent kayak. very stable, lots of room and fairly quick in the water. Hopefully, within the next year, I would like to upgrade to one of my dream kayaks which are shown below. The Eddyline Fathom or the Current Designs Solstice GTS.

P.S. - If anyone would like to donate funds to make my dream come true, I would greatly appreciate it. :)

Welcome to my kayaking blog! I live in Las Vegas, Nv and got into kayaking about 2 years ago. I spend a lot of my time kayaking on Lake Mead, just outside of Boulder City, NV or out of Willow Beach, AZ. From Willow Beach, you can paddle about 11 miles upstream to the base of Hoover Dam. I'm also a member of the local kayak group (http://www.lasvegaskayakers.com/). A lot of good eggs in this meetup group. If you're going to be in Vegas, check them out.