Those are the names of the lakes I paddled the canoe on today. It was a good day. It is fun just to type the names of the lakes.
I added some new entries to my acclaimed series: Things I have seen from my canoe (the details of how the eagle came to dine on a goose for lunch are a little graphic-it was noisy too. And it takes a pretty big eagle to do that!). The paddle around Nahwatzel was a pleasant one hour tour of the shoreline – it is a stocked lake but has the biggest fish I have seen in a freshwater lake (shhhh). All pics are from Wynoochee.
After Nahwatzel (still fun to type) I intended to go back through Shelton (the most depressing town in Washington) to Spencer Lake but when I looked at the topo map it appeared I could get to Wynoochee on logging roads. It was too tempting, I could and I did. Glad I had the truck.
Some may remember that I owe my family a hike in a PFD. I made up for it today. Not only did I remember my PFD, I chose the one with the whistle… and I WORE it! This was not significant to me but it impressed the Grays Harbor County authorities when they came up to me. They initially thought I was trying to outrun them to the shore because I was paddling hard across the lake in wind and saw a motorboat coming straight at me in 150′ feet of cold water. When I recognized them I waved and they backed off. They 
did a safety check and I had to blow my whistle. Wonder what it would have cost me if I had forgotten like other times? Actually, I would not have forgotten because this was a new and big lake to me, deep and cold, and I paddled all the way to the delta to see if there was quicksand [like the other time :(] – no quicksand – only strange sedimentary formations and Mergansers. Paddled just over 16 miles, way more than intended.
Many highlights. The lows were
– I recorded 2 hours of video on the egoCam of both lakes but then somehow deleted it. Note to self: let batteries run out. It will take care of itself.
– I remembered everything, tea, muffins, whistle, maps, batteries, cameras – except my cell phone and since I was late coming back I heard about it. I will take S up on her link to a float plan from now on.