:::YAKLOG:::
:::the paddling adventures of richard edward doucette:::
[ HOMEPAGE ]
in memory of my best friend, Charles Edward Stewart. i'll be thinking of you every time i'm out there.
during the last few months of 2008 i took dozens of long walks, usually while smoking a cigar for you.
older yaklogs: 2006 | 2007
| 12.30.08 | Walked around Discovery Park. Same basic trip i took with Chip 2 years ago to the day... went around the trail backwards tho'... with a long stop at the north beach... | to smoke a Macanudo Gold cigar, then around to the other side of the beach, then back. |
| 12.28.08 | West Seattle - Alki around the beach to Seacrest Park. | another home-ish trip |
| [snow break] | the roads were too snowy & icey to drive around, so i... | just took it easy for a while. |
| 12.07.08 | West Seattle - Alki around the beach to Duwamish Head | ...a pretty quick trip. |
| 11.30.08 | Golden Gardens - around the breakwater on a foggy day. | saw lots of heron. |
| 11.23.08 | Dash Point State Park around Browns Point to Tyee Marina in Tacoma. | was stalked by a friendly (& playful) sea lion. |
| 11.22.08 | Went for a long walk along the Green River trail. Walked past your old apt., and all the way down to Fort Dent. It was the three month mark of your... departure. | Smoked one of those cheap-ass Thompson cigars you used to buy in bulk >:O) |
| 11.9.08 | Nisqually Delta - saw an eagle, a couple dozen heron, and lots of cormorants, seagulls, geese & ducks... even came | across an owl while paddling thru the maze of marshyness... |
| 11.8.08 | West Seattle - Seacrest Park around Alki Point | sea lions are cool. and stuff. |
| 11.2.08 | Wildcat Cove (the boat launch at Larabee State Park) down to Dogfish Point. got out & walked around for a | bit.. nice paddle in some crummy, rainy weather. |
| 10.25.08 | took my friend Gerry from Lake Union to the Arboretum - the trip that Chip wanted to do back in the day. >:O( | i used my sit-on-top kayak & i'm actually sore today. |
| 10.19.08 | Don Armeni (West Seattle) up the Duwamish to Kellogg | Island. |
| 10.18.08 | Richey Viewpoint (West Seattle) to Blake Island | ditto. |
| 10.12.08 | Duwamish Waterway - the South River Street ramp up the river a couple of hours | miss you Charlie. sure wish i could hang with you again. |
| 9.28.08 | Golden Gardens - over to Discovery Park - visited the "world's dinkiest lighthouse" on a windy Sunday | saw some sea lions & flock of odd seagulls (kinda cool too) |
| 9.21.08 | Magnolia/Elliot Bay - 32nd St. beach to Pier 70 | saw lots of harbor seals |
| 9.14.08 | Bellingham Bay - the Grand Tour! (durr...) paddled from Marine Park to Portage Island to Lummi Island... then around the south-east ends of Eliza Island... crossed the | wavey water to Chuckanut Island, then back to Marine Park (6+ hours total). [yawn] |
| 9.13.08 | took my niece and nephew to Whatcom Falls Park, where the 3 of us smoked (awful) souveneir "Paul Bunyan" cigars that i bought at the "Trees of Mystery" joint in no. Cali., as a part of the "Cigar Pact" - told them a little about Chip... | ... & our friendship, & made them promise to call me if they were ever thinking about... well, you know. |
| 9.10.08 | walked down to Hamilton Viewpoint Park & watched the city lights across the water for a while. got very angry... | was really upset... smoked a romeo y julieta cigar. |
| 9.10.08 | kayaked along West Seattle after work--just Don Armeni to the first sandy bit of Alki beach | just a quick night paddle to hopefully make me sleepy. |
| 9.9.08 | walked down Admiral hill & walked around the flipside of Alki around to catch a bus back up home. | was pretty distraught. smoked a punch cigar. |
| 9.8.08 | walked along the Green River trail while smoking the second half of a cigar from your memorial service... | didn't get too sad, but thought of you & the fam an awful lot. |
| 9.7.08 | rented a kayak at Mission Bay in San Diego - paddled out to the ocean & saw 3 whales, then made a full loop of the interior of the bay (including a fun little portage)... this was one of the first places we talked about kayaking... | saw tons of pelicans, some friendly sea lions, and about a dozen sandpipers... hope you were with me in spirit >:O) |
| 9.1.08 | kayaked around the interior of Stone Lagoon in Humboldt Lagoons State Park. still thinking about you... | saw a bunch of otter pups, some heron & ducks. |
| 8.31.08 | hiked at my favorite spot so far - the Prairie Creek Redwoods in northern Cali. pretty much repeated the same trail loop i had taken in the summer of 2004. | took the Miner's Ridge trail to Gold Beach (lost it there) to Fern Canyon to James Irvine. |
| 8.30.08 | walked up Beacon Rock & took lots of short breaks to sigh & fight back tears--er, um... take pictures. yeah... | also stopped by Multnomah Falls. |
| 8.29.08 | walked around the watershed trail in Olympia... tried to find the same bit with the waterfalls that Chip had taken Dillon & i to a couple years back. smoked my first cigar ever - an acid blondie. | i'm at least 95% sure i was doing it wrong >:O) (wish you were there to show me how it's done.) |
| 8.27.08 | paddled from the Sunnyside ramp on Lake Union thru the Montlake Cut and around the Arboretum (this was the trip in the Seattle area that Chip wanted to take with me). i bought him a gift certificate to cover a kayak rental here for his birthday in '07, but things just didn't work out. | i so wish we could've taken this trip together, while you were still here. thought about you & your fam the whole time. miss you so much. |
| 8.26.08 | Discovery Park - took a walk tonight, remembering a lost friend, and our walk together a couple of years back. I'm dedicating this page and all future yaklogs to his memory. | i'll never forget you, Chip. sorry we never got to go kayaking together. still love you pal. |
| 8.24.08 | without looking out towards the west, i hopped a ferry over to Southworth. after i had bought the ticket, i saw a huge, ominous slab of gray in the sky. once i launched at Port Orchard, it immediately started to rain. | the rain kept on getting worse & worse, but i paddled all the way into Sinclair Inlet, and saw a bunch of puffin(s). |
| 8.23.08 | Alki Point to Blake Island... stopped for a rest & a walk... then paddled around the island... then stopped again... then paddled back to Alki Point at West Seattle. | very nice day, which made up for the following day... |
| 8.15.08 | Shelter Island to Cedar Point--I actually took a ferry & paddled back to the lighthouse I was camping by... it turned out to be the most efficient way back to the kayak rental joint. this was my last 'yak trip in New York. | saw more of the dark-winged seagulls that thrive all around Long Island. took the north ferry up to the north fork... |
| 8.14.08 | Montauk, Long Island, NY--hit the east point of the south fork today (Orient is the east point of the north fork of Long Island). Launched from Montuak Lake & paddled out to the point & lighthouse. | most of the tourist-y peeps seemed shocked to see a kayaker out there, but the water was very calm. |
| 8.13.08 | Orient Beach, Long Island, NY--rented a Perception Carolina 13.5 from Eagle's Neck kayaks in Southold. great tracking on this 'yak! even tho' the paddle they rented me was heavy, this 'yak felt faster than my Wilderness Systems Tsunami 140. didn't use the rudder at all, 'cuz even at their furthest point, the footpeddles were too close. | launched at the Orient Beach state park & went around the inlet-ish area, past the lighthouse, and about 2/3 of the way up to the beach. had to make it back to the campsite, so i headed back. |
| 8.11.08 | Blue Mountain Lake - rented a mediocre Necky kayak with horrible tracking. | don't recall much, except the nasty bugs that harrased me. |
| 8.11.08 | Blue Mountain - hiked the trail with supposedly the best view in the Adirondacks... got to the radio tower near the summit only to find it was a total white out. i was about 60 feet up, and could barely see the ground at the bottom of the tower. | so much for the incredible views of all the smaller hills and lakes of the area... |
| 8.10.08 | Niagara Falls - didn't do any kayaking here, but went on two fun tours (Maid of the Mist boat ride & Cave of the Winds walking tour)... | ...but in between these, had to endure a lame bus ride with mediocre narration, etc. |
| 8.9.08 | Washington DC - rented a 'yak from Jack's Boathouse & paddled up the Potomac for 2+ miles, then went back down along Roosevelt Island & the Virginia side, then crossed over at the Arlington Memorial Bridge... paddled down along the East Potomac Park for a while, but was bummed i couldn't cut thru into the tidal basin by the Jefferson Memorial, and i didn't have time to paddle all the way around the south point of the park......so i gave up and instead paddled up the channel between the LBJMP* & the Arlington Cemetary... | ...until it got too shallow to pass thru--then i turned around & made it back to the kayak rental joint in the nick of time.
saw a white heron & a gray heron just past the marina at *Lady Bird Johnson Memorial Park. |
| 7.27.08 | Lincoln Park down to Seahurst Park in Burien | saw an eagle + 2 hawks. |
| 7.20.08--PM | West Seattle - Richey Viewpoint around Alki Beach for a while... playing in the choppy-ness & letting beach bums take bets on when i'd flip. | nope. nothing too out of the ordinary here... just another sunny evening paddle. |
| 7.20.08--AM | Bellingham - Marine Park to... well... not very far. It was way too windy & wavy for how I felt at the time. I was actually planning on hitting Chuckanut Bay... | ...I'll have to visit there after my trip to NC/DC/NY. |
| 7.13.08 | Everett - a quick trip around Jetty Island. it was nice & windy, and at least 2 dozen kiteboarders were out. | got to ride at least 2 waves that night... woot! |
| 7.12.08 | Olympia - launched from Boston Harbor & followed the inlet all the way down to Swan + Percival Landing - tried to make my way to the lake, but alas... the fish ladder! | made for a very nice (long) day on the water. saw some heron, an eagle, and a seal. |
| 7.9.08 | West Seattle - Seacrest park up around Alki Point - took a walk on the other side of the beach... | it was crazy choppy that night--got pretty wet >:O) |
| 7.7.08 | West Seattle - Don Armeni park down to Kellogg Island and the lagoons by K.I. a nice post-work paddle... | drove down to the water taxi w/kayak in the AM--ready to hop in the water in the PM |
| 7.6.08 | Lake Samish - covered more of the south 2/3 of it, but had to go pick up ma + niece from church | was in town to celebrate my niece + nephew's birthday |
| 7.4.08 | Southworth to Blake Island, around the island (with a long snack/low tide break in the middle) and back, then down to Olalla for a 4th of July party.... | with my pal Jerry. the wind was against us the bulk of the way to Olalla, which sucked. |
| 6.30.08--PM | West Seattle - Seacrest Park to Alki Point | had to get in 1 more paddle! |
| 6.30.08 (early!) | Mountain Lake - i just had to do a sunrise paddle while i was on my favorite lake... was on the water by 5:33AM! | covered the entire interior of the lake (while W. snoozed) |
| 6.29.08 (night) | Mountain Lake - a brief night paddle after setting up camp | Walt's last paddle of the trip. |
| 6.29.08 (afternoon) | West Sound (still Orcas) - we wanted to rent a double kayak at Deer Harbor & head out to Jones Island, but the lady at Shearwater veto'd it. guess they only do tours... | we covered the bulk of the west half of w.sound. pretty fun, but WAY too hot today. |
| 6.28.08--PM | East Sound (also Orcas) - Walt wanted to try his hand at saltwater paddling. he did great, but the wind picked up so we turned back. when we got back to the north end of east sound, the wind had died down, so we kept... | ...exploring around the north end. we visited the NW corner & saw where we ate lunch (Vern's Wayside Rest.) |
| 6.28.08--AM | Cascade Lake on Orcas Island - my pal Walt joined me on a wknd of camping + kayaking. poor guy had to use my old sit-on-top kayak (it's really short & really slow). | this was Walt's first time kayaking ever. good times... |
| 6.21.08 | American Lake - down past Tacoma (was down there working on computery video stuff over the weekend) | saw several eagles, and way too many peeps fishing. |
| 6.17.08 | West Seattle - Alki Point to Seacrest Park | post-work paddle action, yo. |
| 6.15.08 | Lake Whatcom in Bellingham | . |
| 6.14.08 | Bellingham Bay - Marine Park up around Squalicum | . |
| 6.8.08 | Blake Island circumnavigation - start/end at Alki point | saw an eagle & a raccoon. |
| 5.31.08 | Maury Island circumnavigation - rode the ferry from Fauntleroy to Vashon Island... stopped for a quick lunch at Bishops, then launched from the north-ish side of the portage. it rained for the first 1.5-2 hours, but after that the weather was purty... | ...saw a hawk. and a bunch of peeps climbing the bluffy rock wall before rounding Pt. Robinson & the lighthouse. back was really ache-y tho' |
| 5.25.08 | Semiahmoo Park - inside the spit up to the marina, then across the border along White Rock, BC. went out to the point you can see easily from Semiahmoo... came back along the outside of Semi. Spit, and had a long carry along the tide flats. made for a fun trip tho'... | saw about a dozen bald eagles around the point... one of the "teen" eagles actually caught a cormorant, but it couldn't hold on to it. |
| 5.18.08 | Odlin Park to Upright Head on Lopez... over to Shaw, then up along the north side of Shaw... then up to Bell Island, thru Pole Pass & up to Deer Harbor. bought some water & snacks at the Deer Harbor resort shop--even grabbed myself a tasty 3-piece fish & chips >:O)
left Deer Harbor via the other side of Crane Island & got a nice look at all the other Wasp Islands... & continued my circumnavigation of Shaw Island... crossed back to Lopez at Canoe Island (to the nearest point), then back to Odlin Park |
so far i'd say this was my best, longest, not-well-planned 'yak trip EVER!
it was a whole lotta fun, and the weather was beautiful... but if the wind had gotten nasty, i would've been hosed. as it was, the tidal rippage around some points was making me antsy. |
| 5.17.08 | Mackaye Harbor along the southwest shore of Lopez to Davis Point... played in the tidal rippage for a few minutes, then returned via Charles Island (was going to paddle out a little further to Long Island, but was too tired) | saw lots of harbor seals on one of the "Mummy Rocks" - one escorted me all the way back to Mackaye Harbor |
| 5.17.08 | random note: spent lots of time this morning driving around Lopez Island, checking out boat launch options, etc. also visited the Shark Reef recreation area--walked along the trails & wandered around a bit on the rocks | got myself a cup of chowder & a HUGE halibut taco at The Galley restaraunt at Fisherman Bay |
| 5.16.08 | Spencer Spit (on Lopez Island) to James Island via the north side of Decatur... stopped for a snack & a brief walk, then made my way back to Lopez via the south end of Decatur & Center Island. | made the mistake of using my old paddle for this trip, and gave myself a nice blister on my right hand (D'OH!) |
| 5.11.08 | Lake Whatcom - Bloedel Donovan to Rabbit Island | . |
| 5.3.08 | Poulsbo - Liberty Bay (with Nevin & Jenni) | . |
| 5.2.08 | Hood Head - from Salisbury Point County Park along the Hood Canal Bridge, up in the lagoon behind HH, portaged over the spit & around HH*, back across the water to the old sawmill at Port Gamble, then back to... | ...the county park. *admired the crazy Trogdor-esque trees on the north end of Hood Head while i was there... |
| 4.27.08 | Chuckanut Bay--from Marine Park in Bellingham | water taxi starts up today! |
| 4.26.08 | Wildcat Cove (Larabee State Park) south in Samish Bay | i [heart] eagles. |
| 4.20.08 | Harbor Island circumnavigation--started from Seacrest | hit the east waterway of the Duwamish first this time. |
| 4.13.08 | Don Armeni down around the Harbor Island marina | sun didn't stick around long... |
| 4.12.08 | West Seattle--Richey Viewpoint to Lincoln Park | crazy sunny today... |
| 3.22.08 | Don Armeni up around Alki Point | saw some eagles |
| 3.16.08 | Semiahmoo Park--from the interior around to the outside of the spit & halfway down--then back into Drayton Harbor--up to Dakota Creek & up it about a half-mile, then back across Drayton Harbor to Semiahmoo Park. | i had never gone outside of Drayton Harbor here. it hooks you up with a nice view of White Rock, BC, eh? |
| 3.9.08 | Golden Gardens to West Point (Discovery Park) | saw some heron, etc. |
| 3.2.08 | Don Armeni to Kellogg Island (West Seattle into the ... | Duwamish waterway) |
| 2.24.08 | Alki Point to Blake Island - was pretty windy, so i got pretty tired - more peeps were on the island this time tho' | saw 2 eagles flying around the northeast corner of the island |
| 2.18.08 | Bellingham Bay - Cornwall beach up - took a couple of detours towards Whatcom Creek & GP - around the breakwater - then along the interior of Squalicum Harbor | saw an eagle sitting on a post just outside of the breakwater, and a coupla heron by GP |
| 2.17.08 | Samish Bay - Wildcat cove at Larabee State Park south to Pigeon Point - played "fun with quicksand" by walking in the mud for a while by P.Point (actually had a blast!) | saw 2 eagles, an otter, plenty of birds... even some nude sunbathers (in February?!?) |
| 2.10.08 | Ballard ship canal - 14th St. ramp to Lake Union south on the lake until i ran out of shelter from the wind... | only saw one other kayaker out today (gnarly weather) |
| 2.3.08 | Bainbridge Island - Fay Bainbridge State Park down around Port Madison - saw a sea otter and... | ...at least 5 eagles, a heron, lots of ducks & birdies. |
| 1.27.08 | West Seattle - Don Armeni to Alki Point | saw 2 bald eagles - woot! |
| 1.20.08 | Lake Samish - below some snow-covered hills [purty!] | saw 2 bald eagles, some blue birds, and lots of ducks. |
| 1.13.08 | West Seattle to Blake Island - too outta shape for this... | this time o' year [yawn]. |
| 1.12.08 | north Lake Union to the Ballard locks & back | . |
| 1.1.08 | walked around Discovery Park for a while. | . |
i [heart] Chippy >:O)