Onion River Exploration Project: Back on Waldo

Heron on a Stump

Day 6 (6/29/15)

Last year we never made it out to Waldo flowage so it was about time to check out one of our favorites kayaking spots. We had to babysit in the morning so as soon as his parents picked him up we had a quick lunch and hit the road. We had been out on the bike trail in the morning and the wind had been very still but when we got to the flowage we noticed that it had picked up quite a bit. It would be at our backs going out which means coming back in when you are already tired is going to be a bummer. We figured it was worth a try. Shortly after taking off we scared up a blue heron but weren’t able to get a picture of it. We saw it land however so we slowly made our way toward it. It turned out that it had landed on a stump in the middle of the flowage so sneaking up on it wasn’t an option. I did get a couple of picture with the telephoto but it’s not the same as getting up close and personal. Waldo would be an almost perfect kayaking lake if it wasn’t so shallow and mucky. This time of the year there tends to be a lot of slime on the top. That all changes once you get up into the river though. As the water gets deeper and cooler it gets almost totally clear and you can see the rocky bottom. At this point the trees move right up to the edge and form a primeval setting that makes you imagine a land before modern civilization took over. It was here that we came across the Heron once again. He manage to escape getting his photo taken again but gave us a thrill watching him make his way up the narrow tunnel between trees. About a half mile up river you come to a bridge that in the past marked the end of the road. This year however somebody had done some stream improvement and we were able to go maybe two hundred yards farther. It is always thrilling going back down river. Everything comes at you a little faster on the way back down. It is by no means white water but with large submerged rocks and tree branch arches you have to be ready to move quickly. Once we were back down to the flowage as expected the wind was in our face with a vengeance. I tried to stop a couple of times to take pictures and without forward momentum you were soon sideways and going backwards. It had been great trip up until this part but now it was just a forced march back to the car.