Friday, October 19, 2012

Our First Kayak Trip 8/3/2012

We heard about this last year while we were at Whaler’s Rest in South Beach (a few miles south of Newport, OR). The tour is led by volunteers from South Beach State Park. It is very popular and we were advised to make our reservations a few months in advance. We met at South Beach State Park and car pooled to Beaver Creek across Hwy 101 from Ona Beach State Park.

We helped unload the kayaks from the trailer.

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We got instructions on how to get in and out of the kayak and how to use the paddle.

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We are now ready to launch the boats and paddle away.

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OK my life jacket is on and I am ready to go.

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We are on the water and we didn’t get our feet wet.

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Along the way our leaders made a few stops to tell us about the area. There is a family of Beavers that live along this creek. There was evidence of this along the way where the beavers had been enjoying a meal. Because this is more of an estuary the beavers make their home near the bank with access to water through the reeds instead of building a dam. 

 

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The beavers home (dam) was right behind our leader. You can see the branches and twigs right in the middle of the picture. 

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Well, ok so it is hard to make it out but it is there. Seems we have a few drops of water on the lens.

We paddled up to the bridge and turned around for our trip back to the boat ramp (about 4 miles total).

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The wind came up on the way back so if you stayed to lee side of the turns it was easier paddling.

We had a great trip and would do it again.

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