CANOEING WITH A FRIEND

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Above is the road that runs through the Department of Energy (DOE) property at Oakridge, Tennessee.  The property and associated road system is expansive and well kept.  Neither get used or abused by the public - hence the pristine condition of the land.  The place is a refuge for all nature of beasts and birds.  Its wonderful here.

This osprey nest sits on top a pole that has power lines beside it.  There is nowhere I can position myself that will yield a picture without those wires in the shot.  It is most unfortunate as I was able to collect some great osprey photos today that I could have worked with.  The wires ruined everything.

The pictures came out nice but, not great.  Sometimes ya just have to work with what ya got.  Without those power lines I could have made some of these shots winners.

This bird was providing me with some spectacular opportunities and I couldn't cut the wires out of the shots.  They were right beside the nest.

Its amazing to watch these raptors as they make an approach to land themselves.  Their wings change not only in speed of movement but, they alter the surface area of the under-wing that slows them down by tilting the wing forward or back in order to catch more or less wind under and against the wing as needed to alter speed - the descent.   When their body aligns itself perfectly with whatever the bird wishes to land on - he beats his wings forward and back to reduce the speed of ascent until his body is inches above the selected perch.  He touches down and immediately extends his wings out horizontally for that last moment of needed balance and keeps them extended sometimes for seconds until he feels secure on his perch.  Then the wings fold up against his body and the whole thing is over.  It happens very quickly.  That's why photography is so neat.  It catches it all.

 The osprey above is carrying materials to the nest to reinforce deficiencies.

Ospreys are my third favorite bird.  The bald eagle is number one with the wood duck in the number two slot.  The osprey is number three.


I guess I got ahead of myself with this entry.  The title to the entry is Canoeing With a Friend.  Its indeed unusual for me to be out here with anyone.  My old friend and former work partner from Smoky Mountain Harley Davidson in Maryville, Kevin, expressed a desire to go canoeing.  Actually I bullied him into it.  Anyhow - we met up at a restaurant in Oakridge and proceeded to Melton Hill lake.  We would go to Jackass Cove to put the boats in and paddle to the pretty inlets that border the DOE property that I enjoy so much.  I brought two canoes to Melton Hill on my canoe trailer.  One is the Esquif Champlain and the other is an Esquif Attikamec.  both canoes are made of kevlar and ultra lightweight.

Kevin had only very limited paddling experience so I attached the canoe stabilizers onto the Champlain for added safety.  We unloaded all the gear and made ready for the water at which time I explained some pointers to Kevin whether he wanted to hear them or not.  It made me feel better knowing that I explained the basics to him.  I just went over the fundamentals like how to enter and exit the boat, not to lean over and outside the gunnels and if he drops his paddle into the lake to let it go and don't try to save it.  That would require leaning over the gunnels to grab the paddle and we know what that causes, don't we?  That's why the second paddle on board is a requirement. It allows one to paddle back and retrieve the one that fell overboard.  Its a spare tire, so to speak.

He was doing fine.  Actually he was showing perfect form.  He was blazing down the water within ten minutes of launching.  He listens good and pays attention to what he's listening to.  I was delighted that the skills came to him so easily.

Above:  He's either going to poke a hole in the bottom of the boat with the paddle out of frustration or he's changing hands and going to paddle on the opposite side of the boat.

We are approaching the desired cove that will allow us to land just below the old cabin on the DOE land.
These boats are made of kevlar and they sit right on top of the water much like a dry leaf would.   This presents the issue of stability, the ability of the canoe to be stable when entering it and also when under way.  The bottom of the boat is a shallow arch bottom which allows the canoe to roll left and right with the slightest provocation.  In reality the canoe is solid but feels "tippy" to the human sitting in it. The key to success is to simply keep the upper body inside the boat between the gunnels and don't lean over.  The other important aspect is to know the boat's limitations as well as your own.   As weight is loaded into the canoe it attains a more solid feel because it is pushed deeper into, and, is displacing more water with the additional weight.  This leads to better secondary stability.  Oh well - whatever.

We headed toward my favorite little spot to land.  The grass is only a couple inches above the water and is an easy dismount from the canoes.  Now - if I can only get that boy to stop paddling for a second so we can beach these boats.

"Kevin - get over here!"

Those kevlar boats are beautiful parked on the grass.  The beauty of the canoe is a great part of the canoe experience.
We hiked on up the grassy hill to the cabin and sat down awhile.  I wanted to photograph the tree swallows again.  I got some shots last week when I was here but, I had a different lens with me this trip, 400 mm,  and wanted to compare results with my other lens which is a 500 mm.
I photographed the ospreys you saw earlier in this entry from the yard in front of the cabin.

  

The little swallows have young inside.  They would swoop and dive toward me if I walked too close to their box.

A little face peers out through the hole.

And, he departs.

We stayed awhile longer and mounted up and paddled away into the afternoon sun.  We drove to Kevin's house and checked out his neat old 1954 Cherokee aluminum fishing boat.  She's a beaut!  Well, she's interesting.

The previous owner of this fine example of craftsmanship stated that Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) used this boat for state operations on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes back when it was new.  That's a long time ago.

The engine was just tuned up and runs fine.  The whole package is about as simple as a boat can get.  I bet this old girl could be made to look like new again with, oh say, about $30,000 worth of effort.  Na - just kidding.

This whole package needs sand blasted and every nut and bolt replaced with stainless steel hardware.  A good marine paint job would make her look new again.

 Look how simplistic the controls are.  It even has a wooden dash and its in great shape too.

Put it this way:  this boat is 58 years old and runs great.  It doesn't cost much of anything to tune it up.  It's all basic old world stuff.  How many $40,000 bass boats do you think will be around  58 years from now?  


Today was a super day with Kevin.  I enjoyed his company and look forward to being on the water again with him.  Hope you enjoyed it too.

CANOEING ON MELTON HILL LAKE

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A splendid scene.

Its been a long, long time since I felt like writing anything while on the water.  The mud banks of Douglas and the rocks of Cherokee Lakes are far to the east and Happy and I are on pretty water for a change today.

We put the canoe in he water about a mile from where I helped build the fish attractors last week.  I looked forward to paddling into the coves that lead up to the Department of Energy lands that we worked on.  I couldn't bring Shade as she would cause a dangerous situation with the canoe due to her weight moving around inside.  I could have put the stabilizers on but I wanted to feel the freedom and simplicity of paddling the canoe.  She'll get her turn next time.  Happy needed some exercise and she's been patient for many winter months. 

It was only about a mile to the cove where the old cabin sits on the shoreline.  We beached the boat right below the cabin.  This is great!

The shoreline was covered with lush, green, soft grass - not rocks, and I pulled the boat up onto the safety of the bank.  There were a few bass boats on the lake this morning but they weren't back in here.  This was going to be fantastic!  I just wanted to be lazy today.  I haven't felt peace like this since the last time I paddled on Calderwood Lake.

I could just barely see the old cabin through the trees.

The early morning light was soft and exemplified the rich green colors of the forest and grasses.  Even the air tasted sweet.  We headed on up to the cabin.  Maybe I could get some pictures of birds if we were quiet.

This is quite a property.  There is a pond and many acres of meadows lined with trees.  The reason this land here is so pristine is because it isn't open to the public.  It is Department of Energy land (DOE).  I can visit because it falls under TWRA region responsibilities.  At least I think I can come here legally.  Its a perk, I think its called.

Occasionally I can hear a boat blasting by out in the main channel.  Its early enough that boat traffic is sparse on the lake.

I kept my eyes on a blue bird box just in front of the porch of this old cabin.  I noticed swallows flying over it and sweeping by the opening.  Then one alighted at the hole in the front of the box.  He had an insect in his mouth.  He quickly stuck his head through the opening and re-emerged without the insect.  There were babies in there.  He no sooner left when mom appeared carrying an insect and she, like dad, stuck her head inside and gave her insect to her young.  Curb service.

These are tree swallows.  They are known to use blue bird boxes frequently.  Here's proof of that statement.

These guys are amazing.  They fly at top speed and appear as if they will crash into the box but always put the brakes on at the last split second and make a precise landing exactly on target.  I'm not so sure now if there are babies in there yet.  It appears that the male is bringing food for the female.  Look at the hole in the box.  You can see her head in there.  I think she is laying eggs and Mr. Swallow is bringing home the food for her.  I think that's what's happening anyway.


I watched them for an hour.  I never get bored watching wildlife.  Now, where's Happy?  I heard a crash inside the building and called for her.  A whimper could be heard from inside.  I ran to the door at the end of the porch and immediately saw what happened.  The door was shut and latched with a primitive wooden catch on the inside but, the door had a space between it and the jamb just big enough for Happy to push through.  I guess the door gave inward enough to let her pass through.  It then closed again.  When she tried to come back out, there was no space left for her to push open.  Then panic set in and she ran through the room trying every nook and cranny for an escape.  No problem as old dad was on hand.  She's a little baby.   

I sat down on a nice grassy spot and wrote this entire blog entry.  Just like the old days.

It was a bit chilly early on and the warm sun felt good right now.  We would soon have to leave as there were more and more bass boats moving on the water.  Bass boats and canoes do not mix well.

We'll work our way back to the water and the canoe.  No hurry.  It's just time to go.

 Look at the rich green colors of the grass.  Maybe I'm just sensitive to it due to the fact I've been surrounded by the mud brown color on Douglas Lake all winter.  I'm not messing with the color on the computer.  That's real green.


I bet this is chigger city and every tick in the country is visiting his chigger relations.  I put Sawyers Repellent on my clothes before leaving home.  I hope it works!

Our chariot awaits and we're off.

 The water is perfect.  We are moving out of the cove and nearing the main channel.

 I'll cut over to the left and hug the shoreline fairly close just in case a bass boat gets too near.

This is a really pretty shoreline.  The water level in relationship to the shoreline is perfect.  

 The Navigator

 Not one boat has bothered us yet.  Amazing!  The coves along this shoreline are many and offer numerous opportunities for exploration.  Canoe's are great to explore in.

 Looks like the navigator is asleep on the job.

The gentle rocking of the canoe and the sounds of water lapping against the hull causes a tiny little angel to fall sound asleep.

We arrived at the put-in and a group of folks with model boats were preparing to launch them.  This was going to be interesting.  

These boats were powered by the equivalent of a chain saw engine and radio controlled.  Wait till you see the little movie at the end. 

These were all old timers out here playing with these little boats.  It was nice to see.  They were using a small corner of the cove and having a fantastic time and not bothering anyone.  I sat down and watched.

Look at these little engines.  Neat as heck!

I loaded the canoe and all the stuff and came back to watch the guys launch the fastest boat.  Check out the video below.  I laughed out loud.

LINK TO SCONA LODGE STORY

http://garysoutdoorwanderings2.blogspot.com/2012/02/story-of-scona-lodge.html


LINK TO OLD MOUNTAIN MAN CABIN AT SCONA LODGE

http://garysoutdoorwanderings2.blogspot.com/2012/02/old-mountain-man-cabin-at-scona-lodge.html