Friday, June 28, 2013, Jenner, CA.
They said it was going to be a warm one
So a wise choice today was to go down to Jenner, at the ocean, where it should a bit cooler than inland.
When I arrived around ten thirty AM the wind was low, the sun was out and it was a bit warm. I decided to paddle down to see what the mouth of the river was doing, as the gauge at the visitor’s center said it as just over seven feet and I thought they would open the mouth, which they normally do at seven feet.
I paddled over to Penny Island and headed down the north side of it and headed towards the mouth. On the way I spied John over at his house, so I headed over that way to shoot the bull with him for awhile. Since he lives down there, he usually knows what is going on, but he didn’t know what was going on with the mouth. He thought, maybe since it only had about a foot or two to go before the water was over the sand bar, that they might have left it to nature this time.
After talking with him, I headed over to the mouth, which is just across from his house.
The river’s mouth was closed with sand and some seals where sunning on the beach.
Just to the left of the seals is where the river’s mouth is usually open to the ocean, not now. It only has a foot or so to go over the sand bar to open, just in back of the seals.
Here is a closer shot of the seals sunning on the beach. The ocean is behind them and there is a fog bank out there.
I hung around the river’s mouth area for about an hour, then headed back up to Penny Island.
This is what the river looked like as I headed back up to Penny Island.
Since the estuary water is so high, it floods the west end of Penny Island so you can kayak onto the island a bit. This is what it looked like as I paddled into the island on the west end.
There were some Mallard ducks hanging out in the grasses. This one is a female Mallard duck, just sitting in the sun, enjoying the day, I guess. :O)
From the west end of Penny Island, I headed to the east end where I went ashore to see if there were still any berries to be eaten. Because of the water being so high, there wasn’t much of a shore to land my boat, but I made it.
I took a walk on the island and ate some of these berries. They are mostly past their prime for this year, but I had enough of them.
As usual, there are also a lot of salmon berries on the island. They always look so good, but aren’t really.
While nosing around looking for berries I came across an old plum tree that contributed a couple of ripe plums. One never knows what one might find if one keeps his eyes open. Yum.
I was on the island about a half hour and I was fairly warm, so the in landers must have eaten it today. I was glad I was down at Jenner kayaking.
After I left the island I headed up river for about a half mile taking it easy and then turned around and headed for the take out just before five PM.
I headed home where it was warm, so I took it easy and stayed in the shade, until it started to cool down around seven PM. It doesn’t really get that hot here, so I have nothing to complain about. :O)
A nice day.
