Telejon, AmyZ and I have been talking for weeks about heading to Flaming Gorge this weekend for a couple of days of kayak camping, but this week's change in the weather gave us pause. It snowed Friday morning at elevations above 8,000 feet, and while weekend high temperatures at the Gorge were forecast to be near 60 the overnight low Saturday night was to be in the mid 30s. Eventually Telejon convinced AmyZ and me to stick with the plan. I packed a warm sleeping bag and lots of clothes.
Flaming Gorge is a wonderful place to paddle, but in the summertime it's filled with powerboats. I've now learned that early October is the time to paddle Flaming Gorge. We saw a grand total of only six boats on the lake through the entire weekend. We practically had the place to ourselves, and it's a very different experience at this time of year.
AmyZ rented a Wilderness Systems Tsunami 145R from REI on Friday night, but Telejon scored a deal this week on a Perception Carolina 14, a special order that had been returned to REI by a customer. By 8 am Saturday morning Telejon and I had all three boats on his Honda Element.
We stopped at the supermarket and did a group shopping trip for food. It was therefore well after noon when we finally launched at the Sheep Creek Boat Ramp.
The weather was at first acceptable, with a just a gusty breeze.
The headwind, however, quickly picked up and gusts were well into the 30s, creating small swells, a steep chop and whitecaps on the water. Waves broke over the bow and puddled on the spray skirt. Paddling wasn't impossible by any means but it was clear that AmyZ, who's never toured in a kayak before, was fighting the conditions.
We were intending to return to a favorite campsite near the Horseshoe Cut. However, I remembered a boater's campground on Kingfisher Island, and I figured that no one else would be there as we had yet to see a single boat. We rounded the northeast corner of Kingfisher Island and discovered that they've already pulled the docks from the water at the campground. Sure enough, no one else was there. We each picked a site and pitched our tents amongst the juniper trees in the raging gale.
By camping on Kingfisher Island we gained things like a BBQ grill, a fire ring, a picnic table and even a pit toilet, which was tolerable as long as you used it with the door open.
A crapper with a view
We originally had planned to paddle Horseshoe Canyon on Saturday afternoon, but with those winds we decided to hike Kingfisher Island instead. The island gradually slopes upward as you head south, terminating at large cliffs above Kingfisher Canyon. Telejon and I have looked at it often from the water, so it was fun to see it from land for a change.
Sheep Creek Bay from Kingfisher Island
Kingfisher Canyon
Kingfisher Canyon
Kingfisher Canyon
We returned to camp at dusk. We figured that finding firewood would be tricky in the vicinity of an established campground, but we hit a motherlode of dead juniper about an eighth of a mile from camp. We made two trips to gather bundles and lit a roaring hot fire after charcoaling steaks with caesar salad and mashed potatoes for dinner.
We were in bed by 10. The cold temperatures never materialized, and I'd guess it never got below 40 overnight. I never fully zipped my sleeping bag and slept soundly and comfortably until 8:45 Sunday morning. when I awoke to warming sunshine, clear skies and perfectly still air.
These were darned near perfect conditions for paddling. We ate a quick breakfast of hot oatmeal and coffee before shoving off, figuring that it would be better to paddle when the lake was still like glass and breaking camp later in the day when the breeze might return. We didn't know it at the time, but those calm conditions would persist throughout the day.
We paddled east through the Horseshoe Cut to circumnavigate Horseshoe Canyon in a clockwise direction.
Paddling through the Horseshoe Cut
About to enter Horseshoe Canyon
The calm conditions and lack of boats meant that the water was the clearest I've ever seen. It was impossible to photograph what we saw. Light reflected off the sandstone cliff walls until they disappeared 30 or more feet below the surface. The cliff walls reflected on the water all the way to the blue skies above, looking for all the world like a hologram superimposed in front of the reflecting cliffs below the water. Fish swam past, and the water was so clear that you could see their colored markings. Ripples and drips reflected on overhanging cliffs above. Your own shadow paddled with you along the cliff walls below. Visibility below the surface made it feel more like flying than paddling, so I now have a sense of what a swallow or a raven sees as it flies along cliff walls. It was positively stunning.
Having completed Horseshoe, we paddled back to Kingfisher Island to eat lunch and break camp.
That was followed by a 40-minute paddle back to the boat ramp. We were back on the road bound for Salt Lake by 5 p.m.
This was pretty much our last chance for a paddle trip this year, and I'm thrilled that Telejon talked us into it. Another great weekend in the great outdoors!
Flaming Gorge is a wonderful place to paddle, but in the summertime it's filled with powerboats. I've now learned that early October is the time to paddle Flaming Gorge. We saw a grand total of only six boats on the lake through the entire weekend. We practically had the place to ourselves, and it's a very different experience at this time of year.
AmyZ rented a Wilderness Systems Tsunami 145R from REI on Friday night, but Telejon scored a deal this week on a Perception Carolina 14, a special order that had been returned to REI by a customer. By 8 am Saturday morning Telejon and I had all three boats on his Honda Element.
We stopped at the supermarket and did a group shopping trip for food. It was therefore well after noon when we finally launched at the Sheep Creek Boat Ramp.
The weather was at first acceptable, with a just a gusty breeze.
The headwind, however, quickly picked up and gusts were well into the 30s, creating small swells, a steep chop and whitecaps on the water. Waves broke over the bow and puddled on the spray skirt. Paddling wasn't impossible by any means but it was clear that AmyZ, who's never toured in a kayak before, was fighting the conditions.
We were intending to return to a favorite campsite near the Horseshoe Cut. However, I remembered a boater's campground on Kingfisher Island, and I figured that no one else would be there as we had yet to see a single boat. We rounded the northeast corner of Kingfisher Island and discovered that they've already pulled the docks from the water at the campground. Sure enough, no one else was there. We each picked a site and pitched our tents amongst the juniper trees in the raging gale.
By camping on Kingfisher Island we gained things like a BBQ grill, a fire ring, a picnic table and even a pit toilet, which was tolerable as long as you used it with the door open.
A crapper with a view
We originally had planned to paddle Horseshoe Canyon on Saturday afternoon, but with those winds we decided to hike Kingfisher Island instead. The island gradually slopes upward as you head south, terminating at large cliffs above Kingfisher Canyon. Telejon and I have looked at it often from the water, so it was fun to see it from land for a change.
Sheep Creek Bay from Kingfisher Island
Kingfisher Canyon
Kingfisher Canyon
Kingfisher Canyon
We returned to camp at dusk. We figured that finding firewood would be tricky in the vicinity of an established campground, but we hit a motherlode of dead juniper about an eighth of a mile from camp. We made two trips to gather bundles and lit a roaring hot fire after charcoaling steaks with caesar salad and mashed potatoes for dinner.
We were in bed by 10. The cold temperatures never materialized, and I'd guess it never got below 40 overnight. I never fully zipped my sleeping bag and slept soundly and comfortably until 8:45 Sunday morning. when I awoke to warming sunshine, clear skies and perfectly still air.
These were darned near perfect conditions for paddling. We ate a quick breakfast of hot oatmeal and coffee before shoving off, figuring that it would be better to paddle when the lake was still like glass and breaking camp later in the day when the breeze might return. We didn't know it at the time, but those calm conditions would persist throughout the day.
We paddled east through the Horseshoe Cut to circumnavigate Horseshoe Canyon in a clockwise direction.
Paddling through the Horseshoe Cut
About to enter Horseshoe Canyon
The calm conditions and lack of boats meant that the water was the clearest I've ever seen. It was impossible to photograph what we saw. Light reflected off the sandstone cliff walls until they disappeared 30 or more feet below the surface. The cliff walls reflected on the water all the way to the blue skies above, looking for all the world like a hologram superimposed in front of the reflecting cliffs below the water. Fish swam past, and the water was so clear that you could see their colored markings. Ripples and drips reflected on overhanging cliffs above. Your own shadow paddled with you along the cliff walls below. Visibility below the surface made it feel more like flying than paddling, so I now have a sense of what a swallow or a raven sees as it flies along cliff walls. It was positively stunning.
Having completed Horseshoe, we paddled back to Kingfisher Island to eat lunch and break camp.
That was followed by a 40-minute paddle back to the boat ramp. We were back on the road bound for Salt Lake by 5 p.m.
This was pretty much our last chance for a paddle trip this year, and I'm thrilled that Telejon talked us into it. Another great weekend in the great outdoors!