Spent a beautiful Saturday at Lake Hennessey with the Marin Canoe and Kayak club. This is a great winter paddle because this area is too hot in the summer. About an hour drive to the lake and a pleasant eight mile paddle from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a pleasant stop for lunch.

Lyz took this photo with her cell phone as we waited for the others.

Lyz has a folding “origami” Oru boat.

This is the path we paddled, about eight miles. The lunch spot, with a porta-potty, is marked in red.

I drove along Silerado Trail to witness the Glass fire burn, and on the way back I took Chiles Pope Valley Rd. I realized that there is still “nowhere” available in this state. The pastures, which are supposed to be emerald green in January, were not because the year has been very dry so far. Not a good omen for this wildfire area.

Deb turner organized a Wednesday outing to Walker Creek which started at the Keys Creek Put-in. Justin joined us to further scout after an outing with Miguel from Marin Canoe and Paddle a few weeks earlier. A cool, 65° day was predicted but it was warm in the parking lot.

There was a 5′ high tide at 12:20 pm, so we put in at 10:30 am and paddled upriver with Justin who would stop and use his lopping shears to remove overhangs. At noon we hiked to the top of a hill with a magnificent overlook of the valley shadowed by the coastal mountains. The sun went behind the clouds and a breeze came up — I regretted leaving my compression shirt in the car. We took a short hike on the valley floor and saw some beautiful owls fly away. My knee-high rubber boots were adequate for the short hike.

The creek is beautiful and lined with a variety of riparian trees: birch, alder, bay, and sycamore. There are many submerged logs, so a 5′ or higher tide is necessary to clear the logs and it was like paddling a slalom in many places. I think my short Kiwi boat would have been a better choice than the 14′ boat. We saw a river otter early in the trip, and as we went farther up, the water becomes very clear. When the sunlight hits the surface you can see the bright green grass growing on the bottom.

On the return trip, we saw some ENORMOUS brown cattle with big horns at the crest of a hill where a subsidiary creek enters. We were all wondering what cattle breed we were seeing. The paddle back took one hour and the outgoing tide was clearly moving, so a shorter boat would have been fine except when transporting tree loppers as both Deb and Justin were. It takes about 45 minutes to drive from Santa Rosa to get to the put-in. This was a sensational day trip when the tides are advantageous! Very beautiful and satisfying, with a real sense of visiting a place rarely seen. I almost didn’t see it — I missed the turnoff to the Petaluma-Tomales Road twice!

Deb Turner led four of us on an all-day, socially-distanced paddle to Drake’s Estero in Marin. Liam briefly enjoyed sailing, but the day was calm. We even had a sprinkle of rain as we had lunch on the sandbar separating the estero from the Pacific.

As we paddled back from our lunch stop at the beach, we got a little too close to the seals sunning themselves on a sandbar. A naturalist saw this, put down his sandwich and paddled furiously to intercept us before we got too close. I was surprised because I had been concentrating on following the group and avoiding the shallow water and did not notice that I was on track to overrun them.

Bob Gray brought his wooden boat and enjoyed the beautiful day.

On the way back, we tarried at Home Bay, one of the fingers of the Estero, because it is home to some leopard sharks, bat rays, and jellyfish. The heavy silt makes it shallow, so the water is warm. Bill and I enjoyed chatting as we hung out.

Beginning Boater Brian Carroll did well, even though we all got in a bit of trouble for getting too near the seals that were lounging near the beach sandbar.

Brian was accompanied by his friend Bill Crowe who invited us all to Rancho Nicasio afterwards where we enjoyed a socially-distanced beer and food with a view of a beautiful garden.

I think this is going to be my “vacation” for socially-distanced 2020. A cut on my left hand prevented me from camping earlier in the summer, and the fires started on August 19. I wish I had taken a dip in the ocean while we were stopped for lunch, but it was cool and rainy and I didn’t think of it.