Paddlin’ for Paws Day 7

We made it! This message is from Lynda two days after returning. I am now trying to catch up on rest and various home/work matters. I haven’t yet had time to read Myra’s blogs, but I want to express my great appreciation to her for writing them during the first six days of our travels. I heard from quite a few people across the country that they were following our progress through Myra’s blogs. I enjoyed calling Myra nightly to report our day’s events.

We knew all along that the last day would be our greatest challenge. It was our longest paddle (about 13 miles) and the most dangerous part of the lake. That section is rocky and typically windy with limited places to stop along the shore. There is no place to pull out entirely by getting kayaks to the road should we find it too unsafe to continue. People warned us repeatedly about the dangers of that east shore, and our Lake Tahoe Water Trail map issued a similar warning. The South Lake Tahoe KOWL radio program host David Alan, who was following our progress, called that day to warn us of the wind advisory on the lake and wish us safe travels. We knew the day before about the weather forecast that would make this day risky and challenging, and some other paddlers strongly advised us to get spray skirts, which we didn’t have and wouldn’t have a chance to buy.

All of this information made us rather nervous and led us to launch early. We got up at 4:45 and launched at 5:45. The water was already choppy at that point. Because we feared increasing wind and waves as the day went on, we paddled like crazy, battling the choppy waters that tossed us about like a lottery ball, as Mo put it. We didn’t talk or even take our hands off our paddles to drink water. We cut across the mouths of some of the early coves to shorten the trip a bit, but that put us at risk of being too far from shore, which we had been warned to avoid.

After two hours, I couldn’t stand to be in the kayak anymore, due to my cramping lower half. So, we stopped for a brief break to stretch and have water and a snack. Because of the waves hitting the shore, we took on some water that we had to sponge out, but our wet clothes now made us that much more cold. After about 15 minutes, we had to push against the incoming waves to get back out to “sea” and continue our journey.

In what seemed like a relatively short time—about half an hour or so—I saw chimney beach in the distance. I couldn’t believe we had paddled that far in that short of a time. An experienced paddler had told me our timeline of getting in by 1:30 p.m. when launching at 6:30 a.m. would be “ambitious.” Seeing that familiar turf ahead that was only about 2.5 miles from the end completely changed our demeanor. We paddled madly until we hit Thunderbird Lodge, about 2 miles from our finish at Sand Harbor, and stopped at a beach around the corner after passing the lodge. After another 15-minute stretch/snack break, we confidently and now playfully returned to the water. Although it was still choppy, we took out our cameras and started snapping photos, putting us at risk of dumping ourselves. We rode the waves joyfully as if we were on a theme park ride. Although the risk remained the same, knowing how close we were to the end and to help, if needed, changed everything.

We enjoyed the rest of the paddle and finished at 10:15 a.m.! The band we though might meet us wasn’t there (☺), but we happily raised our paddles in the air and then high-fived as we hit shore. As we tied up our kayaks, our Monday-Tuesday paddle pal Celia called and was nearby. So, we returned to the water and simulated our finish for her to catch on film. We then had drinks and ate more food than needed at the nearby Harbor House at Sand Harbor. Jessica joined us later, and the four of us enjoyed sitting on the outdoor patio as Mo and I looked with pride at the vast lake we had come to know intimately across the past week. We knew we had garnered over $3000 for our animal-welfare charities, which we deemed a good accomplishment, and we hoped the amount might rise even further over the next few weeks.

At home in Reno, our idea of going to an evening movie faded into ordering pizza delivered to my house and kicking back on my recliners to a DVD of old Frazier episodes. We kept dozing off and each headed off to bed early.

Today we head off to Amador County for wine tasting and then two days of white water rafting on the American River in the Sacramento area. Mo flies back to the Philadelphia area on Sunday. We will both return to work, but we will never forget this amazing adventure we have shared. (We will write a final trip report sometime in the next week—check back at that section of this web site.)