A Sober Day on Whiskeytown Lake

Last weekend Alice and I made an expedited road trip up towards Redding to dip our paddles in freshwater for a change. She'll be writing a post about our first day of paddling on Lewiston Lake, so stay tuned (Alice is a teacher and tomorrow is her last day of school!). Around 6:45am on Memorial Day we departed our lovely hill-side campsite at Lewiston Lake and headed back towards Whiskeytown Lake, stopping only for coffee/CheezIts/Ritz crackers at a gas station (surprisingly open at 7am on a holiday). Alice humored me as I cranked up the Whiskeytown (a country band that I discovered during my Friday Night Lights phase, and the real reason I wanted to go on this paddle). We launched from a little scarp adjacent to Oak Bottom Marina around 8:30am and began a relaxing morning paddle.

Launching at Oak Bottom Marina

We tried to find Oak Bottom Ditch Trail (the long narrow channel extending from the NW corner of the lake -- see map below), but we must have overshot and ended up in one of the gullies just south of it. It's hard to find your way on these lakes, where everything looks similar and depth is hard to perceive. We continued along the west shore until we arrived at Brandy Creek, a picnic area/trailhead/recreational area where you can rent kayaks or hang out on a sandy beach. Alice landed on shore to enjoy some time on the beach. I carried on for another 45 minutes, determined to get a glimpse of the Clair A. Hill Whiskeytown Dam at the south end of the lake. I also identified an intriguing (but poorly named) feature on the map called the "Glory Hole," which was adjacent to the dam. I told Alice that I planned to investigate. Unfortunately I only had time to turn a corner and view the dam from afar, no glory hole in sight.

Gorgeous spring morning

Alice rounding the bend.

Upon returning to Brandy Creek, Alice informed me that she was very relieved to see me after having read some pamphlets about the lake and finding out what the glory hole was. Read on...

Tree on a rock!

A little history & hydrology... Clear Creek was dammed in 1963 by the Bureau of Reclamation to create Whiskeytown Lake for flood management, water supply for irrigation, and electricity generation. The dam is earthen, which means that it should never be overtopped by water (or it can fail catastrophically). To prevent overtopping of the dam during big storms, the engineers had to include a way for water to drain from the reservoir at a high rate. In a previous post I talked about an emergency spillway adjacent to an earthen dam on Virgil Creek in NY. In the case of Whiskeytown Lake, the spillway is a "Glory Hole" spillway (poorly named), which is essentially a tall drain that water can flow into once the reservoir gets too high. According to this website, the spillway could drain an olympic sized pool in 4 seconds. 

Normal conditions

Overflow conditions

I'm happy to tell you that Big Purple and I did not get sucked into the glory hole, and I will never attempt to approach one again. Luckily the lake was not at flood stage, so the spillway looked more like the top picture!

Date: Monday, May 26th (Memorial Day)

Distance: 8.5 miles

Time: 3 hours

Out-the-Gate, Finally!

An Out-the-Gate paddle is a right of passage for sea kayakers in the Bay Area. Not just anyone can paddle out under the Golden Gate Bridge and see the unique view of San Francisco from the other side. Intense currents flow through the gate four times a day: twice into the bay (flood) and twice out of the bay (ebb). These tidally-driven currents can be incredibly fast (over 5 mph - 1 or 2 mph faster than a typical sea kayaker), but luckily they can be planned-for well in advance by looking at local tide tables (http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/curr_pred.html). Here's a screenshot from the Bay Area Sea Kayakers' wonderful trip planner website (http://www.bask.org/trip_planner/).

Negative currents correspond to water flowing out the Gate. Alice, Johnny, and I met at Horseshoe Cove (just NE of the GG Bridge) at 2pm to catch the maximum ebb (2.8 kts, 3.3 mph) out the gate. This was my first Out-the-Gate paddle, and I was excited/nervous! Alice and Johnny have done this paddle many times, so I was in good company.

Wind and waves are harder to plan for, as these can only be predicted a few days in advance, and with less accuracy. The forecast called for high winds, and the previous day had been incredibly windy (gusts of 30 mph). William, who was planning to drive down from Redding (4 hours), cancelled because of the forecast. Alice and Johnny, who were both coming from San Francisco, noticed white caps as they drove across the GG Bridge. We made a plan: paddle out to the Gate, regroup, take a look around, and make a decision.

The view from Horseshoe Cove, the launch site.

We paddled by some rock spires (labeled on Google Maps as "Needles Rocks") on our way to the bridge. At Lime Point (does Google make these names up?) we looked left, right, at each other, and said GO! The conditions didn't look too intimidating. We turned a hard right and paddled directly out the Gate. The wind was howling, and the "max ebb" was barely noticeable, but we were able to maintain some momentum.

Approaching the decision point at Lime Point.

Some time later we found ourselves fully out-the-Gate and paddling past Kirby Cove - a common destination for sea kayakers and campers alike. We paused to take some cliche-yet-necessary photos while trying not to lose too much ground, as the waves and wind pushed us back under the bridge. The rare view of San Francisco below the GG Bridge was crisp and dramatic, thanks to incredibly clear conditions. It was fun to imagine the Gate without the Bridge in place -- what the European explorers must have seen when they stumbled upon San Francisco Bay in the 1700s.

This photo makes the wind and waves look small!

We checked in and agreed to continue past Point Diablo. The winds howled around the point, and although we paddled as hard as we could, we often found ourselves in a kayaking-treadmill. Ducking our heads, we pushed on and veered into the first land-able beach. Many years ago, Johnny and his friends dubbed this beach "Poison Oak Beach." It doesn't seem that Google has assigned a name yet, so Johnny's name persists in this post. We sprawled out on the sand like stranded sailors, exhausted from the sprint. Alice befriended a small diapered child who was interested in her boat. We identified 3 nude sunbathers dotting the beach and noticed that the beach was accessible by a rugged trail coming down the hill. Alice, inspired by the nude sunbathers and overwhelming heat/sweat in her wetsuit, stripped down to her bathing suit and basked in the sun.

After 45 minutes of chit-chatting and recovery we launched into the growing surf zone. I launched first with some help from Alice and Johnny. Alice launched next, receiving a smack in the face from a big breaking wave and losing her favorite water bottle in the tizzy. Johnny rescued the water bottle and launched without too much trouble.

Leaving Poison Oak Beach and heading back into San Francisco Bay. Alice on the left, Johnny on the right.

The paddle back was happily uneventful. With the wind and waves at our backs and slack tide approaching, we cruised back under the Gate.

Alice victoriously coasting under the GG Bridge. That's San Francisco underneath the water droplet.

We quickly loaded up our boats and went about our Sunday evening plans. Soreness ensued.

Date: May 11th, 2014
Time: ~3 hours (including long break on the beach)
Distance: 5.5 miles

Midwest Reunion Road Trip to Morro Bay

In September 2008, Nena and Terry met and moved into a little apartment in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Terry taught Nena how to dance like Justin Timberlake and Nena taught Terry how to recycle (ok, so both of those lessons failed). However, some of the cross-cultural exchanges stuck. For example, Terry developed an affinity for hiking and country music that grew long after the end of the Procter & Gamble internships. In May 2014, Terry visited Nena in California with one request: go on a California adventure.

Commence road trip to Morro Bay, in the first person.

At 6am on Friday morning we departed Berkeley after a much-needed but too-short night of sleep. We beelined down HWYs 880/101/1 until we arrived in exotic Carmel, just in time for a hearty breakfast burrito. We were chatted up by surf-instructor Ed, who nearly convinced us to stick around for surf lessons. After some beach frolicking we continued down scenic HWY 1 along the coast - a stretch of coast that I'm less familiar with. The views were staggering!

We stumbled across some beaches drenched in sea lions, where we gleefully watched them grunt, grown, and throw sand on each other for a half hour.

After some mishaps (1. Nearly running out of gas, then paying $6/gallon, 2. Stopping by Hearst Castle and being severely disappointed - you have to pay $25 just to get near it!) we arrived in Morro Bay, set up camp, went for a short hike to look at the bay, ate a delicious lunch at a vegan/vegetarian restaurant (much to Terry's surprise), and went for a hike in Montana de Oro State Park, just south of Morro Bay.

Views from our hike in Montana de Oro State Park

After surviving the hike without a mountain lion attack, we returned to Morro Bay (the town) and went to the windy beach. We observed a ship practicing turns at the mouth of the harbor for a little while before heading into town for some fish & chips and white wine: classy!

Morro Bay is famous for Morro Rock, which defines the skyline of the Bay (Morro = spanish/portuguese/italian for prominent rock formation). The rock used to be surrounded by water, but was connected to land by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct Morro Bay Harbor. The rock was quarried for 80 years before being preserved for peregrine falcon habitat. A large power plant, characterized by three tall cooling towers, sits adjacent to the harbor.

Dynegy power plant (a.k.a. "Three Fingers")

We camped out at Morro Bay State Park (only moving campsites once to avoid sleeping next to a Rihanna party and nearly being ticketed the next morning for moving into the wrong campsite). On Saturday morning we arrived at Kayak Horizons just in time for the 10% off deal (arrive before 10 am). I had to launch my boat at Anchor Street Park, a few blocks south. 

5 minute kayak training for Terry

Once Terry was settled into her rental boat, we followed a tip to cross the Bay and look for narrow points in the sand spit, where we could extract ourselves from our boats and hike over the dunes to the ocean-side beach. Apparently we don't know how to follow directions, because we found ourselves in shallower-and-shallower water, eventually bottoming out and having to backtrack. We never did find the trails, but we did get to look at the sand dunes up close.

We meandered down the Bay and then back up towards the harbor to look for seals and otters. Some paddle boarders broke the sad news that otters seemed to be lacking in all their usual hang-out spots, so we begrudgingly accepted that sea lions would be the most exciting discovery:

5 miles later we were tired out and headed back to the rental shop. We departed Morro Bay, refilled on sunshine and salt water, and headed back to San Francisco with a quick stop for delicious Thai food in Paso Robles.

Thanks for visiting, Terry!! :)

Date: Saturday, May 10th, 2014
Time: ~2 hours
Distance: ~5 miles