Colorado Elk Hunt 2009

Well the Elk proved to be smarter than me but it was not for lack of trying. Greg and I scoured the mountains from one end of the county to the other but to no avail. My cuz Mike was successful with his High Country Mule tag. He had horses which took him to close to the tree line and he climbed the rest to get the Mulie shown. Mike applied 7 years to get his tag and worked hard at getting his Deer.

Other Highlight/Details:
> Two weeks with no one commanding my time other than me with an extensive menu of fabulous things to do.
> Meeting Mikes G-Friend Meg and her boy Adam.
> Car camping in the mountains; 3:00 AM wakeup call; mountain biking in 5.3 miles in the moon light, … twice.
> Listening to a bull in the deep draw bellering all day long (but when I came back in the afternoon to put a stalk on, he was down at the bottom of the draw)
> Playing Cat and Mouse with a bull for part of a morning
> Lunch on a precipice at 11,600 ft over a couple of valleys and great mountain peaks
> Getting two fluorescent lights installed in Mike’s kitchen.
> The scenic route home through Silverton (just in time to see the train) and the mountains leading into Gunnison

QOD: Wanting to be someone you are not is a waste of the person you are. Kurt Cobain (1967-1994).

Let's Start The Wave

Post Rossport Addendum: So there was this wave,... about 150 yards off shore... it would show up about every 5 minutes and get our attention by rising up about 5 ft and crashing its white cap on the surrounding water.

Jan was fishing from shore and needed her lure unstuck so I hopped into the boat and rescued the lure. I paddled over to the next island and up and down our island but being somewhat of an Adrenalin junkie, on the way back the attraction of the wave was too much.

The wave was a reaction to the swells that were coming off of the big part of the lake. When an extra-big set of 3 or 4 swells would show up, so would this wave. It was about 150 yrds off of the point at the end of our bay. I paddled up close to it and watched. I tried to get as close as possible but not too close. The exact spot of the wave was somewhat nebulous but after a while I could see the some turbulence from the rock that was creating it.

Playing with the wave was quite a rush because it would not come at me the same way every time. Sometimes the main part of the wave would rise up but a side wave would attack at a slight angle. If I get this opportunity some time in the future, I think that I'll practice my reaction and bracing by backing up the wave and see if I can stay up right or see if the bad boy can knock me over. I definitely found about this "sneaking up from behind" subject on last years May Day trip.

QOD: Those who dream by day are cognizant of the many things which escape those who dream only by night. Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)

And Splash: Rosssport 2009

Major scramble before the scheduled trip to Rossport. Although the location was one of a few possibilities, timing was not! Pre-Flight Check: Secure seat and straps for back, Check; Silicone in Bulkheads, Check; Gasket Hatches, Check; Solder and assemble Hatch Turnbuckles, Check; Install Front Tow Loop, Check; Fabricate Foot Peg Slides, Check; Make and install Foot Pegs (scratch that, steal Lloyd's), Check; Attach Rudder Cables, Check; Make Rudder Lift Tee Handle and Install, (Scratch that, we'll lift and secure manually); Pre-Trip paddle and a tweak to the rudder cables, Check; Form one more blade, Form paddle shaft, Epoxy and carbon fiber bond both blades to shaft; Check; Pack for Trip, Check;... Blast Off

---Monday: Late start getting out of town so camp at Judge "Whatever" park NE of Grand Maris. Car camping so crab legs and hash browns for supper. Nice hiking trails. ---Tuesday: Camping Permits and Fishing Licenses for Jan (too damn expensive for me to join on in), Check with Superior Outfitters at Rossport on details of the Islands and pick up his place mat map, His suggestion: Camp at Sand Bay on Wilson Island (great suggestion), and Launch. Winds out of the South so the trip was mostly sheltered from the winds by the islands and ... YES! the bay was unoccupied!. Great sandy beach, bay and camp site. --- Wednesday: Slept in late, Hung around the bay and Jan threw all the lures we had at the fish from shore but not takers. ---Thursday: Head for the Light House on Battle Island. Winds from the west and the storm clouds diverted us to the Harry Island Hilton. Fabulous place. Started raining so we headed inside. Played 25 hands of Kings Corners and lit a fire in the stove to warm up and dry off. Wonderful! After about 3 hrs it was time to leave and just like that, the rain subsided. Trolled for fish on the way back but again no takers. ---Friday: Jan's back was bothering her from before the trip so we headed home 1/2 day early. Winds were to be out of the North but they were coming at us from the NW. By the time we got going late morning there were white caps and had some 2 to 2.5 footer in them. Jan was a real trooper and pushed on to our landing without hesitation. Would have liked to hike the lookout at Quarry Island but that and the light house will give us something to go after next time. Friday Evening was spend at Grand Marias at the Shoreline Hotel. And the Blue Waters Cafe gave me the Blue Cheese Burger and fries that I had a serious hankering for.

Great trip! I'm glad that the new boat and Jan's command of it, went very well. I had a wonderful birthday sipping coffee in the lawn chair on the sandy beach. My first wife Jan and I are coming up on our 30th, and we are still having fun together.

Pictures: Pre-Trip picture, Having a Happy Birthday, Cards at the Hilton.

QOD: You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. Zig Ziglar

Have a Seat Besides Your Own

The seat and back form was covered with two to three layers of fiberglass and then varnished. Shown is the nylon fabric covering the seat and back. Next up is the foot pegs, cables and rudder detials.

QOD: They can do all because they think they can. Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC)

Back-Up Now.

. I did make a plug for a mold and I intended on making a mold and molding a carbon fiber back rest but I figured that shaping a wood form would be faster. The mold would have been an investment for the next kayak that I will be building but, oh well, Tempus Fugit!

. The before and after pictures of the back rest looks like I'm wasting a lot of wood but it really wasn't that much wood and it was left over wood from the six-quarter rough sawn cedar trim boards that I used as decoration in the stucco on the house. The last picture is of the back rest and the seat form. I will reinforce with fiberglass and cover with ballistic nylon (left over hockey boot fabric).

QOD: After all, it is those who have a deep and real inner life who are best able to deal with the irritating details of outer life. Evelyn Underhill.

Side Job / Labor of Love

One of the many diversions to the yak is the Keleny cabin roof. She be needing some attention for quite some time. The multiple layers covering the multiple layers that get damaged each year as people chop the ice that forms as ice dams, badly needed to be replaced. A new steel roof should do just the trick.

Nobody knows how old the old log cabin is but it was a loggers cabin many moons ago. We did find a set of instructions on how to flash a chimney that might have had a 1932 date code. We pulled off 4 layers of tar paper and rolled roofing and one layer of shingles.

Picture of the roof, down to the boards. Click on the picture to see an enlarged view and more details!

QOD: Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration. Thomas A. Edison (1847-1921)

8 x 10 Glossy (Actually 1.66 x 16 Ft that is)

I finally hit a major Milestone last weekend, the first coat of varnish. I was having quite a bit of anguish and was fretting over spraying the varnish (not having done this before), using a new HVLP spray gun (I know what it stands for but what does it mean for my spraying task), working with the 2 part Interlux Perfection, getting the right mix for spraying and working with the weather to avoid spraying during humid condtions (would cause the finish to be foggy). All is well that ends well and it did worked well.

I set the kayak up on a rotissiorie type set up with a crank at one end and a stick with holes in it to hold the crank and kayak at various angles of rotation. This allowed me to coat the entier boat at one time. My first coat was light as I did not want any runs. I increased the volume that I mixed by 12% on the 2nd and another 12% on the 3rd coat. One more coat and that should be it. I wet sanded between coats with a spray bottle and 320 grit sand paper.

Working for a filtration company, it was a natural to set up my own clean room. Much easier than to try to get all of the dust out of my shop and much more successful at keeping dust, Cotton Wood cotton and bugs off of the wet varnish. Keeping dust off of the finish is near inpossible but with a tent and HEPA filters no dust was around to spoil my fun.

QOD: To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)