Yellow Peril


This wasn't our longest day, but it was certainly a busy one.

Today Teddy and I switched positions. The steering with the rudder takes a little practice since the double kayaks, ours especially, are slow to respond to the rudder. So your instinct is to push down hard. By the time the kayak responds, it's usually time to hit the other pedal. And so we did.

There were many unkind comments.

"Don't follow the Yellow Peril" was heard. Others laughed at our zig-zag stich across the waters, saying we didn't have to tack since we had no sails. They were just mean. So we covered a little extra distance. Big deal. We got home first! Okay, so we missed the waterfall. But once we drew a bead on the lodge there was no stopping us and we homed right in.

Brenda, bless her, accompanied us to the lodge but still, Teddy and I were a little afraid we'd get into trouble. Cal was very gracious about it but felt it his duty to remind us not to do it again, especially if the seas were rough.

The rest of you covered 9 nautical miles that day. Cal thought we doubled that.

Our paddle today was on mirror calm waters and we headed to an island to visit our first Phoenix, an outhouse constructed at great expense ($30,000 to be exact) by the government. It looks quite specatacular from the outside but inside, it was the usual. The uniqueness lies in aromatic cedar chips available to sprinkle down the hole. Alas, they aren't quite aromatic enough.

Jen, another guide who works for Cal, was on the island with a group of wet and sodden camping ladies. Despite this, they seemed cheerful and invited us to share their tarp so we could stay dry while we ate lunch. Back at the beach we met a family camping with their two young daughters, about 10 and 12. In conversation with them, one of our group mentioned the lodge.

"There's a lodge?" echoed the two girls in unison.

"No. It's really just a large tent" replied their dad, rolling his eyes in our direction.

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