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.