Kanopolis Lake – Day 3 5-15-12

Well, Its my birthday and the last full day at the lake. After laying around and playing on Facebook, I finally got dressed and headed out to the trail.  My plan was to hit the main trail that headed over to the other trails.  Once I got on the trail, I realized that I had forgot my cell phone.  I somehow knew that this was going to be the day that I would need it.  I came across the first “water crossing”.  This wasn’t just an easy wade thru a little water, it was probably waist deep at the deepest and it was not moving water, so it was kinda yucky.  There were fish sitting in it big enough that they were probably waiting for me to get in so they could eat me.  I checked the map and found another route.  I had to go down to the water crossing from yesterday that consisted of a log, then back track the other side of the little stream.  Then, the map said there was another water crossing to get to where I wanted to go.  I got to it and again I needed my waders to get thru it.  So, I found an alternate trail which also had a water crossing, but I figured if it was too much, I’d just turn around and do something else. I walked a ways and came to that water crossing.  It was manageable. Most of the terrain was thick powdery dirt.  There were very few trees.  Lots of interestingly colored rocks to climb over, up and down.  If you are interested in birds and lizards this is the place to hike.  I saw a lot of beautiful birds that I have never seen before.  I saw at least 2 different lizard looking creatures.  One was really pretty with a turquoise color to it.  The other was brown and blended in with the terrain.  Kinda horny or spiky head.  He stayed still long enough for me to get real close and take a picture.  The others dashed off to fast for my camera.  There were others that were so fast I didn’t get a good look.  I also encountered a large green snake on the trail.  I scared him with my screaming and dancing around and he scared me by moving and seeming to go where ever I was putting my foot down.  It was a tense few seconds before he figured out how to slither off around me.  Another thing that I have noticed about the area, it seems to be the playground for the Stealth bomber.  I swear today it was stalking me.  It would sneak up over the hills going real slow.  I got 3 fly overs at a low altitude.  It looked real creepy, like a UFO.  I don’t think I had ever seen it other than on TV.  I turned around where my GPS said I had gone 2.7 miles (I am pretty sure it was full of shit).  I passed another school group on my trek back.

I got to my truck and stopped by the park office to check on the water situation. They said I should be fine and it won’t affect me.  So I went back to the cabin.  I saw a tick climbing around on my bag so I decided to take a shower, clean up, and take myself into Lindsborg for a birthday lunch.  I was getting ready to jump in the shower, when I noticed I had a tick on my back.  I freaked, cuz I hate ticks and I wasn’t sure how to get it off me.  So, I grabbed a cotton ball and soaked it with nail polish remover and put it over him.  After a minute, I was able to lift him right off.  He got flushed. 

I had located a Mexican restaurant on my phone.  It is on Main St.  It was actually very good.  The place is called Jalisco.  I think now I’ll wonder the main street and see if I can buy myself something pretty or chocolate for my birthday present.  I didn’t have any luck in Lindsborg so I decided to head out of town and see what the small town of Marquette had to offer.  They were about 8 miles down the road toward the lake.  I found their 2 block main street.  I located a little ice cream shop along Main st.  I walked in and it was very interesting.  It had an ice cream and deli on one side and the rest of the store was a hodge podge of other stuff.  I ordered a hot fudge and caramel sundae.  While I was waiting some of the construction guys painting new lines came in to cool off.  They recognized that I wasn’t a local and started up a conversation with me.  One of the guys was a reserve deputy, so we chatted about local crime.  Guess they have 2 taverns that keep them pretty busy.  I finished my ice cream and headed back to the cabin.  I’m kind of exhausted so I am having trouble getting motivated to do anything.

So, after being lazy for a while, I decided to load up the kayak and hit the lake.  I had found a better put in spot down by the trailhead on the north side of the lake.  It was a good boat ramp cuz I was able to back the truck right down to the water and unload the kayak on the sandy beach next to the ramp.  I was gonna head toward the northwest, but that looked pretty plain.  So I looked to the south and saw some cliff walls.  I decided to cruise by them.  It was very quiet and I was able to get right up to shore.  I cruised quite a ways.  Mostly trying to figure out how to get the thing at a good pace and stop zig zagging.  I finally turned around and headed back to the ramp with a tail wind.  I was much farther out in the lake at this point.  I looked to my left and could see what looked like 3 little whirlpools.  I thought, I wonder what that is.  As I watched it, something came to the surface in all 3 locations.  It looked like a ginormous snake.  I thought, I’m not going to stick around to figure out what that is and I started paddling like my life depended on it.  It probably did, because I pictured this thing leaping out of the water and wrapping itself around my little green boat and dragging us down.  I am pretty sure my boat make a wake.  I decided to head back to shore and maybe it will be too big to come in that far.  There were fishes jumping all around me.  I was freakin.  On a positive note, if I continue to do this kayaking thing, my shoulders are gonna look like a weight lifter.  It is good muscle building for an awesome overhand right.  Got back to shore and loaded the kayak back into the back of my truck.  I have really put my truck thru its paces this weekend…getting up boat ramps along with some pretty crazy off-roading in the primitive camping area when I was looking for a put in for the kayak the other day.  She’s a good little truck.  Now its back to the cabin to hose off the boat.  Gotta get all the muck and zebra muscles off of it.  Now its about 7pm and I’m trying to figure out what to do for dinner.  I’m thinking hot dogs, but not sure if I want to deal with messing up the charcoal grill situation.  It hates me.

So, I leave tomorrow.  I’ll probably clean in the morning since I can’t seem to sleep past 6:30am.  Can’t wait to get home to Alowishus and civilization.

Kanopolis Lake – Day 2 5-14-12

I got up pretty early this morning.  I went out on my front porch and there were 3 deer in the yard of the cabin next door.  I tried to sneak in my cabin to grab my camera, but my door squeaks and it scared them off. Note to self, always have camera on ya.  The way the lake is positioned and where my cabin in, I don’t get a good view of the sun rises and sun sets. I did get to see a little of the sun rise while I was cooking breakfast.  I made bacon and eggs.  After I hand washed the dishes, ugh, I got ready and headed over to Horse Thief Canyon trails.

I decided my first trail would be an easy 2 mile hike.  It was a trail that is for hiking only.  At 7:30am on a Monday morning, I was the only person moving around this entire park.  I made it to trailhead and loaded up my backpack.  It weighted a ton.  Other than my gun and a water pack, I am not sure what makes the thing so heavy.  I started my GPS so I could find my way back to my truck if I got lost.  And if I got injured on the trail it would give me coordinates to give the search crew. The ground on this trail is a very fine orange sand.  So, my brand new Keens got dirty right off the bat.  There are some really neat rock formations with some interesting colors to them.  All the rock is very soft and there are areas where people have carved their names into the rocks.  I made it up to the first little cave after only having to get my feet in 2 water crossings.  One little stream had a very skinny log over it.  I got over it pretty gracefully, but still got wet.  My Keens held up very nice because my feet never felt wet.  All hail Gortex!  I got to the top of the cave cliff and pulled out my Gorilla tripod and took a few fun pics of me.  That’s what sux about taking vacations alone, you usually only get that arm held out pic.  The Gorilla set up very nicely on a rock. I sat there for a while and enjoyed the quiet.  There were a lot of birds out.  I saw that bright yellow and black bird.  This time I was able to see it thru my binocs, cuz they were around my neck like a good tourist.  I saw this other bird that was white and black that was real pretty.  Then I saw what looked like an animal running up a hill across the way from me.  I figured out it was a dog accompanied by his owner.  Guess there are other people out hiking alone at that time on a Monday morning.  I hiked a little more along that trail and found quite a few more really cool rock formations.  Then I met up with the Rockin K trail, which is the main multi-purpose trail around the area.  This was mostly flat prairie land.  I came across a herd of cattle that I was able to get pretty close too.  I tried not to be too disruptive but they all noticed me.  They stood there and stared at me like I had 3 heads.  I felt a little uncomfortable.  They were the only animal wildlife I saw on the trail.  On the way to the trail, I saw a deer and a turkey.  I found my way back to my truck and the GPS said I had hiked 2.26 miles.  As I rounded the corner to my truck I saw a herd of young kids starting their hike.  I was very glad I was done for the morning.

I decided that my truck was going to need gas to get around the lake for a few more days.  I decided to drive to Ellsworth. I thought it would be a bigger place, but there wasn’t much there. I got some gas and asked if there was any place in town that had free wi-fi.  I was pointed to the Ellsworth Steakhouse.  I had noticed at the gas station, that there was a lot of men in this town.  When I got to the steakhouse I was the only female other than a waitress.  This place was like Alaska or something.  I had me a hamburger and I was able to upload my blog and photos.  I probably won’t drive to Ellsworth tomorrow to upload this one.  I’ll probably just upload it as soon as I can when I get back to civilization.

After I got back from Ellsworth, and after I got done updating my blog, I decided to try a beginner trail that they had on the map.  So, I got my bike gear on, my backpack geared up, loaded the bike up and headed back over to the north side of the lake, which at lake speed is about 15 min.  Once I got almost to the trailhead I realized I had left my helmet back at the cabin.  So, I turned around and made the trek back to my cabin on the south side of the dam.  Debated scraping the biking idea and just getting the kayak in the water since it was so hot, but decided I’ll do this bike ride then hit the lake.  Then I headed back over to the trailhead.  After I got on the bike I realized I was sore from riding yesterday and I was having some trouble putting my ass on the seat.  The sign for the trail was in the middle of a prairie and had an arrow pointing right into it.  I saw no trail except a little road just to the left so I took it.  It eventually ended in a manure pile (the trailhead was over at the horse people camp ground).  I finally found a trail sign, but again it pointed to somewhere where there was no trail.  So, I took it for about 1/2 a mile before I ended back at my truck.  I decided to scrap that idea, especially after I flicked a tiny little tick off my leg.  I went back to my cabin and loaded up the kayak.

So, I made another outfit change. One of the swimsuits I brought no longer fit so I’m down to 1 swim suit for the weekend.  I loaded the kayak up and went to the marina to make sure there weren’t any regulations regarding kayaks.  While I was trying to read some boating regulations, I heard the lady say something to some people trying to get a camping spot about them shutting down the water on the whole south end of the lake. After I found out that there wasn’t anything I needed to put my kayak on the water, I asked about the water situation.  She said they are shutting down the water to all the south side, but she didn’t know if it included my cabin.  So, I went and introduced myself to my camp host.  They had just gotten done taking showers because they knew that the water was getting shut off.  She said that she checked and they told her it wouldn’t affect me. I am the only person staying in any of the cabins this week.  She called the office and they told her that it won’t get turned off until tomorrow morning.  I was like, well, I’m staying till Wednesday morning.  She said she was told it wouldn't affect me. So, if I don’t have any water in the morning, I guess I’ll be coming home early.

Then I drove around the south side of the lake looking for a good place to put my kayak in.  This lake has lots of bluffs and it can be a climb to the shore, and the boat ramp was busy and pretty rocky.  So, I went to the swimming area and put in there. You don’t get very far very fast on a kayak.  I am still trying to get the hang of it and figure out how not to zig zag across the lake.  I stayed pretty close to shore just in case something went crazy.  There was no wind and the water was like glass.  I made a short little trip then headed back. Glad I have that waterproof camera so I can take it with me.

I came back to the cabin and sprayed down they kayak.  Don’t want to drag zebra muscles around and I had to clean all the mud off.  I hadn’t picked the best put in spot.  Then I fired up the grill and grilled me some chicken.  That free range, hormone free chicken is BS.  It did not grill very well, but it was all the po dunk IGA had.  I’m glad I had downloaded a bunch of songs to the almighty Cloud, otherwise it would be very quiet around here.  I don’t take it outside, but it is nice to have while I’m making dinner and blogging and stuff inside.  So, I guess now I’ll do the dishes while I still have water, go out and watch the sunset, then start thinking about trying to sleep.  I will probably do a longer hike tomorrow.  I think I gave up on thinking I’m gonna mountain bike this place.  Miller’s is a pretty technical place to ride, but it doesn’t prepare me for steep hills and very sandy terrain.  I think there is a place down by the trailhead I went to this morning where there is a boat ramp and I think I’ll put the kayak in there tomorrow.

Kanopolis Lake – Day 1 5-13-12

Today is Mother’s Day, so I started the day off with breakfast with mom and dad.  We were originally going to do Cracker Barrel, but it was packed.  So we went down the street to Country Kitchen.  I talked them into helping me figure out how to load up my kayak and mountain bike in the back of my little truck.  They came over around 11:15 and we started loading up.  It took about an hour to bungee the heck out of them, but we figured it out.

I hit the road around 12:30 for Hutchinson to drop Alowishus off with his Granny.  We chatted for a bit before I hit the road from there.  Once I got thru all the construction on hwy 61, I rolled into Lindsborg around 2:30.  Luckily, I found a little grocery store. Once I left the grocery store, I was going to check my map on my phone to see where to go from there (I really did this trip without a whole lot of preplanning) but I didn’t have any service and I can’t get internet when I’m roaming.  So, I shot from the hip and kind of remembered that I was suppose to take Hwy 4 out of town.  It ended up being the right way.  Since I went thru Hutch, I took mostly back highway roads and it was a lot more scenic than just rolling up the I.  Luckily there were signs pointing the way to Kanopolis Lake.  I remembered I was in the campground just south of the dam.  Once I turned in there, I remembered enough to find my little cabin.  It is the Bat Masterson.  It has a key pad entry, which is handy cuz I don’t have to tote a key or card around.  It was much bigger than I expected.  Has a big kitchen/dining/living room.  Very large bathroom and my bed seems to have a dead creature over it.  Not sure how I feel waking up to that every morning. I got all unpacked.  I sat on my porch for a while and used my new binoculars to scope out the lake and some birds.  I keep hearing a woodpecker, but I can’t seem to find him.  There is another bird running around here that is black and very bright yellow.  I have been trying to see him with the binocs but I never seem to have them when he is around.   Once I got settled in, I took my bike out for a spin around the campground.  Its a pretty small campground but it has some good hills.  I came back to the cabin and decided to have dinner.  I had to go purchase charcoal and lighter fluid cuz I didn’t know what kind of grill they would have here.  So, I fired up a small pile of charcoal in my ginormous grill for 2 hot dogs.  The first batch didn’t get hot enough so I had to pull the wieners off and put some more charcoal on.  I still never got it hot enough to cook them like I like them.  About 45 minutes later, I was able to eat.

After dinner, I decided to check out another section of the campground on my bike.  I did run across 1 little deer.  After I came to a sliding stop in front of him, I took some photos while he looked at me like I had 3 heads.  He finally trotted off and I went on my way.  I rode a total of 5 miles today.  When I came home from this ride I decided to eat some cheese cake that I bought at the store.  Then I came out to the porch to write up this blog while I watched the sun set.  Now its getting a little chilly and the bugs are pissing me off.  It is so absolutely calm out here.  The air is fresh and clean.  There is lots of birds and little critters roaming around.  There isn’t even a breeze.  The water is like glass.

I haven’t really planned this vacation out like most of my other ones.  Mainly because I didn’t have much information up front to plan from.  I looked at some maps today and I will probably start tomorrow off with a hike.  Then there is a short mountain bike trail I’ll hit in the afternoon.  Then, if the weather is as perfect tomorrow as it was today, I’ll bust out the kayak.  I am hoping to find some place where there is some Wi-Fi so I can upload this thing on a daily basis.