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Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board
Tolmie State Park to Nisqually River Delta *Pic*
Posted By: Mike Hanks
Date: Wednesday, 26 April 2000, at 2:36 a.m.
2nd outing of the South Sound Wooden Sea Kayak Club Saturday, April 22 Tolmie State Park to Nisqually River Delta and back
The Paddlers and their kayaks that joined the group this time were as follows: Phil O'Connor in the Redfish Return that he built in Joe Greenley's kayak Building class in Port Townsend last year, Earl Bailey in the Guillemot Great Auk with the rounded deck and wood strip rudder, Steve Thompson in the borrowed Folding "Whaleboat", Jerry Keister in his Pygmy Arctic Tern, Paul Williams borrowing my Arctic Tern while His Tern is being Varnished, Bill and Alan the McClelland brothers paddling their CLC Chesapeake 17 & 18, and Myself paddling the plywood Walrus one last time before it goes to it’s new home.
It was a cool windy morning; my fingers hurt tying the kayak to the truck in the morning. I felt the wind blowing my truck around while driving down I-5 to the launch site.
I arrived at 9:07 (seven minutes late) at Tolmie State Park. A couple of the guys came up to help me take my gear and kayaks to the beach. We got it all over there the waited for Scott to finish assembling the Whaleboat. This gave us time to chat, check out each other’s kayaks and for Jerry to take a few pictures. It was good to see Phil O’Connor again; I hadn’t seen him since the Rendezvous last year. There wasn’t any wind now that I was at the beach, the water looked very calm.
We all launched and headed east; the water was nice and flat. There were cliffs towering above us with nice homes overlooking the water. We saw several places along the way that looked like excellent launch sites, but upon closer inspection we saw the all had no trespassing/private property signs. We also saw an old boat that looked like it got into too shallow of water. It had obviously been there a while, as there were several eight-foot tall trees growing on the deck, along with a fair amount of moss and a nice lawn.
As we arrived at Luhr Beach, I noticed my legs going numb. I pulled in while everyone else stayed in their kayaks. There were a couple of people launching two folding kayaks, they forgot their second paddle so they spit the paddle and took off up McAllister Creek canoe style. After stretching my legs and adjusting the footbraces, I got back in. Our group decided to head over to the mouth of the Nisqually River. If it was a bad decision, we were supposed to blame Paul; if everything turned out okay, Jerry would get the credit. Earl turned back early, before we got too far along.
We started seeing a lot of birds now that we were in the Wildlife refuge. We spotted (pun intended) a large owl on a snag. We couldn’t get close enough to see it very well as the water had gotten very shallow. It was getting so shallow we were having troubles paddling. The wind had picked up now, and I couldn’t tell whether my kayak was getting blow by the wind or if it was the current from the river making me face into the wind.
Instead of fighting the current to head upstream we hung a left and went back out towards the sound. There were lots of seals on the sandbar, but most of them rushed to the water as we passed by as quietly as possible. A few stayed on the beach and watched us pass while the others checked us out from the water. After we made it out of the channel we turned right (east) into the shallow water again. The water got so shallow at points that our kayaks were dragging in the mud. We spotted an eagle up ahead perched on a piling. He stayed there as we passed by at a reasonable distance. We headed towards the shore to put in for lunch, but we found it was all mudflats, so we decided to head north to a nice sand beach at the jetty where another kayak was sitting.
As we pulled up to the beach the couple their was getting into their double, they headed off slowly while we enjoyed our lunches in the cool wind. The clouds were getting darker to the southwest (where the building wind was coming from). We noticed whitecaps appearing on what was the glassy sound, just out past the jetty. The couple it the double hunkered down at the edge of the rough water. We quickly got back in our kayaks as the rain hit. We’d rather be on the water paddling hard into the squall than freezing on the shore. The waves were mostly about two-footers, some bigger some smaller, the water averaged about three feet deep. I enjoyed paddling the low volume Walrus in the rougher water, the waves crashing into my lap. The higher volume boats had dryer rides, but I enjoyed the wet ride I was taking. Steve in the high volume Whalecraft, said it was like paddling a bobber in the high wind and waves.
After a while the storm passed, the wind and rain stopped, and the sun came out. I removed my headband and then my hat, as I started getting very warm. We all enjoyed the sun as we headed back towards our launch site. We stopped at the old boat that was now almost completely dry. I sponged out the water in my cockpit and played with a baby crab before continuing on. As we started getting closer to Tolmie State Park the wind and rain returned. It picked up enough that my hat alternated between getting pushed down into my face and blown off my head. The foul weather kept us from trying out each other’s kayaks after the trip. The tide had gone out a long ways so we had a very long portage back to our vehicles.
It was a fun trip that left us with sore muscles, a little windburn, and a better feel for our rougher water skills.
I think Jerry may get some pictures from the trip posted sometime later. I don't know how many he got on this trip though.
South Sound Wooden Sea Kayak Club
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