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Clear Lake Trip Report, April 25th

By Dennis Andrew

Dennis Andrew and Darrell Libby (members). The paddlers arrived before 6:00, but explored bays and points of interest around the launch area until 6:30 - the scheduled departure time.

The water and the air were very still and power boats were nonexistent. But there was lots and lots of wild-life. There was the normal gathering of ducks and geese, with several osprey, up to a dozen heron, muskrat, beaver and turtles. There were also lots of birds with red-wing & yellow-wing blackbirds and finches in abundance. As we worked our way to the southwest section of the lake, the osprey were fishing for dinner by one of the areas filled with lily pads.

There is a narrow passage to get to the far south section that had a small beaver dam near the middle. It was an easy chore to step out of the boats and hoist them the 10 inches over the dam and continue. This back area had several nesting geese that were quite hesitant to leave their nest. We tried to not harass them. I counted six heron in this one small area. The "sea monster" is still there and is not aggressive towards visitors.

On leaving the back section, we crossed paths with a beaver. She/he allowed our paths to come quite close before slapping the water and diving. We saw this beaver and another one a few more times in the next 20 minutes. We explored several of the many bays and hidden alcoves of the lake during the return to the launch site. Time on the water: 2 1/2 hours; could spend all day at this lake.
The "sea monster"? Well . . . O-K it's a lake not a sea, and it is not aggressive or scary like most monsters. I've only seen part of the neck and the head. This part sticks out of the water about 4-5 foot. (I could reach its snout when sitting in the kayak but not the top of its head - If I was foolish enough to stick my hand in its face!!) Darrell circled it in his boat and it didn't seem to mind, though. It is mostly reddish-brown in color with touches of blue and green. The head and neck is shaped like Dino the dinosaur except that it has the hard serrated mane down its neck. Darrell did take several pictures. Hopefully a couple of them will make good prints.