One Last Time

 Off I went to Waldo Lake yesterday. 

The weather made it a cardinal sin to waste the day.

I threw the inflatible into the back and I was gone, just like that.

First I had to unload a couple traps.   I knew by then trapping the rest that the Lebanon lady fed was off.   She didn't want to do it and kept feeding, so I knew it wouldn't happen.

Maybe after her hip replacement.   Sometimes things I want to happen, wish would happen, aren't going to happen.  Especially since I can't help, really, because today I have to start trapping that big LEbanon situation.  Even that may get scaled down since about half the outside cats are kittens under four months.  This is a training clinic Saturday and they don't want anyone under four months there.   Like I said, sometimes things change and I can't fight it, just have to go with the flow.  My spot number may be reduced as a result of the number of kittens.

Off I went to Waldo and Waldo did not disappoint.

First off, there were butterflies everywhere, thousands of them.  They are, if species matters, California Tortoiseshells.   They irupt in large numbers, migrate to higher elevations then to mate.   Their populations are boom and bust often.   I'd seen a lot of them also at Foster REservoir this summer.

The numbers at Waldo were astounding.   As thick as mosquitos in June.

I put together a video but it does not reflect what I saw and experienced.  My phone battery was near dead by the time I paddled over to Rhododendron Island, where I got out to take a nap on the beach and was surrounded by thousands of flitting butterflies, that came in waves and rested on the beach rocks, soaking in that sun, same as me.  The video has a sound track.

When I finally left Rhododendron Island, to paddle back south, towards Shadow Bay campground and the day use area boat ramp, they came flying by me in great numbers.  I felt like I was part of a  migration, something bigger and magical.

While I was on the beach at the island, a man appeared, paddling a canoe alone.   He was an easy guy, enthralled with Waldo and full of its joy.  He said he'd called in sick to work, but I think he was joking.  He had camping gear and would be camping along the shores in spots the next few days.  We talked awhile and he asked if there was another access to the island and I told him to go to the north end.  I figured he'd come back down the trail and he did, pushing through the rhododendrons and huckleberry bushes.   I was asleep by then.  His voice woke me and we chatted some more.  

Off he went in his canoe.  I went swimming.

I waded out from the beach through the sucky muck zone.   One foot became stuck deep in the mud on the bottom.   I had to reach down underewater and unbuckle my sandal to get free of it.  Then I went down underwater to dig out my sandal.  I swam for 15 or 20 minutes then finally headed back.  Once nearly across the lake I saw what appeared to be a jet ski.  I thought that because it was travelling so fast it left a wake.  These are not allowed on Waldo.  I could hear its motor from a great distance, but then saw it was more of a pontoon boat with fancy sun cover.

I sped up my paddling.  Maybe, I thought, there was enough battery left on my phone to get a photo and report it as a motorized craft on Waldo.  We don't take such violations lightly.

I saw the boats paddles come out, after it rounded the shallow Shadow Point and disappeared towards the campground day use beach.   I finally reached Shadow Point and headed in to the beach to take a look.   By now he was tossing out an anchor.  Is that an electric engine, I asked, because I couldn't see the boats' rear, just a short glance at the motor, which had a heavy black shiny top and looked very much like a small outboard gas motor.   A line ran forward from it and there was a bulb like you'd squeeze to prime a gas motor to start.  He said it was a 5 hp electric.  I didn't believe him but said nothing.

This was a cute ritzy pontoon boat, with a sun roof and hard shell floor.  I'd seen him get it out of his fancy large rigged camper van at the boat ramp to blow up.  I couldn't really get a look at the motor and I thought, I'm not going to make a scene of it, with him here.  The days' too nice.  Maybe it was electric, maybe it wasn't.   

Instead I took another swim.  The beach and bottom there are sandy and so pleasant.   A paddle boarder came off the beach and we talked about our respective water boards.  She liked the seat on mine.  She had a clip on seat on hers and said it was so easy.  I told her my inflatible weighed just 15 lbs and that's why I got it, to make life easier.

She was thrilled with the weather, from Eugene and camping four days.   She had taken many butterfly videos too, she said.

By now I knew I had to get back.  It was 5:00 p.m., so I headed off again, towards the large day use area and boat ramp.  There I reluctantly deflated my inflatible, dried it off, changed my clothes at the restroom, into dry, and headed home.  I got home about 7:30 p.m.

This morning I need to unload the inflatible and load up traps and head off to Lebanon.

Duck Rest Rocks, a shallow area near the middle of the lake where rocks protrude and commonly host ducks.

Campsite Point, on the west side of the lake, one point past Green Point.  The pair of older kayakers were just enjoying the view and day, not camping.

I better quit thinking about Waldo.

Time to go catch some cats.