Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, Jenner, CA.
A relaxing day on the Russian River
My plan for the day was to take it off and relax and the weather looked like it was going to cooperate. Today was a real high tide day, which also meant it was going to be a real low tide day too. These super tide days don’t happen all the time. I wanted to get down to Jenner close enough to high tide to check the tide height on the measuring devices at the visitors center to see how the measuring devices matched up to the actual tide heights as I knew they were off by about two point five feet. It was just high tide when I got there. When I got there a guy a know was trying to get some logs off the launch ramp, so I supervised that. :O) He was able to get one off but not the other log, because it was too big.
I was already in the water with my yak when he was doing that. I checked the measuring device and it was about two feet off from the high tide, but dropped real fast in the fifteen minutes I was there, so It wasn’t accurate enough, likely because the roughness of the ocean was pushing the tide even higher in the river, than what I expected, so that was not helpful.
Tide didn’t’ really matter, so I crossed over the river to the island and proceeded to sit around and enjoy the river in a thoughtful way. I spent about forty five minutes around the island channel at the east end, then moved all the way across the river and started up the south side headed up river. I pulled in here and there taking my time, past eagles landing and headed up toward the highway one bridge.
I spied this white thing on the island, pictured below, although, it looks like it is on the road, it’s the island. That needed closer inspection.
All kinds of things come down the river, you never know what. Turned out to be some kind of big pumpkin or squash, as you can see in the picture below. A couple feet across.
Below you can see what my view was from one of my sitting spots up river.
And below, you can see what it looked like looking down the river, nice day, no wind yet.
Up river, where I was sitting was mostly in the shade, because the sun is so low in the sky this time of year, so I stayed awhile but then wanted to head down river to get in the sun.
As I passed Eagles Landing one of the bold eagles flew out of the tree there, but too fast for a picture.
There was this old table sitting on Penny Island as I went by. See below. This most of floated down the river in the high water.
I was sitting in the channel on the south side of the island, just being thoughtful and this is the view of Jenner from this spot. Note the bovineasourous in the grasses above the town of Jenner. I always wonder if the people from Jenner really know they have these dino’s up above them. Picture below is looking north across Penny Island toward the town of Jenner.
Close up of these bovines in the hills above Jenner. In the evening, just before dark, these animals bellowed a lot, likely just as the dino’s would have sounded long ago.
I sat there for awhile and then headed down to the mouth of the river. The wind had come up a bit and I hit some waves, which was great. I like the windy waves, they make you feel like you are alive, paddling though them as they challenge you to not let any water in the boat. Picture below is looking down toward the mouth, while I’m maneuvering though the windy waves. That wave in the picture almost got me as I was taking the pic and not paying attention to things, as I should.
There were about fifty seals beached on the sand at the mouth. And even more of them in the water around the mouth area today. There must have been fish in the water to have them scattered in the water as they were.
I stayed down at the mouth for about an hour or so. The water wasn’t moving out to the ocean much when I got there. I was sitting near a big rock just inside the mouth, when I noticed something had happened while I was sitting there.
The current of the river had picked up big time. I better be careful or I’d be out in the ocean. I had to work my way back along the shore to avoid all this fast water, it was really moving, it sure snuck up on me while I was day dreaming down there.
I headed back to the visitors center at a leisurely pace, occasionally hitting some more of those delightful windy waves.
A Kingfisher landed not too far from me, just as I was approaching the visitors center to take out, as you can see below.
I didn’t really want to take my boat out yet and leave, but, there was going to be a really low tide, minus, one point four feet, and that would put the water below the boat ramp, which meant I wasn’t going to get out of my boat, except in the mud, if I didn’t pull out early.
Below, you can see the visitor’s center and the low water on the boat ramp, which was still high enough for me to get out without getting muddy.
I had an errand to run on the way home. I had gotten a call from a friend who said his older mother was blowing all the plugs in her living room when she plugged in her Christmas tree and would I stop by to see what the problem was. so, I worked my way to up to their house in Monte Rio and fixed that all up for them, Merry Christmas.
From there, I left for home about dark.
I spent a lot of time today, just taking it easy and enjoying the river today, just sitting around and appreciating the fact that I had it so good.
Another great day on the river.