Spring Lake

In early August, I drove out to Spring Lake on a whim. Access can be a bit tricky and there are detailed instructions here. The water level was down about 8 or 10 inches (probably a combination of little snow and evaporation during a hot July).

I looked at the usual shore launch and it seemed pretty mucky so I decided to try my luck on the dock that is about 100 feet to the north.

I'm not sure this was better since it meant almost a three foot drop to the water. Docks are my least favourite way to launch but, by using my paddle to pin the boat against the pilings, I managed to get in without getting wet.

It was overcast and smokey so no real scenery shots. I did see a tonne of birds. This tern was very annoyed I chased it off this grebe nest.

There were also lots of loons with young. And grebes with young. There were also half a dozen osprey fishing overhead.

The lake was pretty calm so there were some Monet moments.

 

I surprise this heron fishing off the island.

For whatever reason, this cormorant was just sitting on this stick and would not move no matter how close I got. Maybe wet feathers? I also accidentally pushed a loon towards the shore so it dove and cut across in front of my boat to get out towards deeper water. Loons move crazy fast underwater.

Having braved the dock once, I decided to try the shore launch to get out. It was not a bad as I thought and I got out dry footed after some poling and bumscooting.

This was a pretty good paddle on Spring Lake. I hope the water level comes up a touch next year. There were lots of places I was scraping bottom near the shore. The water quality was pretty good, though.