Friday, May 24, 2013, Jenner, CA.
High winds close the River’s mouth
Today, I was going down to Jenner to kayak. The weather man said it was going to be windy and when I got there, it was. I wasn’t sure I wanted to put my boat in, but after shooting the bull with a couple people down there, I decided, what the hay? eh? I put the boat in the water and headed down to the river’s mouth as one of the guys there said it closed yesterday in the high winds.
Of course, in a wind like this, not too many people are on the water, just me today. The wind was fairly strong as I headed down toward the mouth, but I sat low and paddled hard and made it down there. A fair amount of wind spay was coming off he bow of the boat, but it was warm and I was comfortable in my boat.
Sure enough, I could see that the river’s mouth was closed with sand as I approached it. Below, is a picture of the river’s mouth. You can see the sand across it. On the other side of that sand is the Pacific Ocean and it is rough out there. Glad I’m in the river and not out there.
When it is real windy and there isn’t much flow in the river, like now, the wind causes the ocean waves to pick up sand and wash it into the mouth in amounts that can make a big damn.
Below, the sand damn blocks the river water flowing into the ocean. Lots of seals on the beach today too.
A couple Pelicans landed near where I was taking it easy. The other birds are cormorants.
I only stayed down at the mouth area for a half hour or so, before heading back up the river.
Below, the water is fairly choppy and wavy as I left the river’s mouth area.
I headed up the back channel of Penny Island where I have a spot out of the wind where I took a good break.
Below is the slot out of the wind where I often take a break, looking toward Jenner.
After awhile I paddled up the back channel and put ashore on Penny Island. I wanted to check the cherry tree for cherries and see if there where any berries to eat yet?
Below is where I put my boat in near the east end of Penny Island.
I hiked into the island a bit and checked the cherry tree by the old house. No cherries here, not a one.
After looking around a bit I found some black berries which are fairly tart, but real tasty. I ate what I could find. They are just starting, so I didn’t get too many of them, yet. :O)
The berries are pictured below that I found on Penny Island.
The wind never did die down. I left the island, but pulled into the little cross channel on the east end of the island as it’s almost always out of the wind. I sat around in this area for about another half hour before crossing the main river channel back to the boat launch area.
Below is the little cross channel on the east end of Penny island that is out of the wind most of the time, where I took it easy for awhile.
The main river channel was very windy, but by now, I was enjoying the wind and just took my time crossing it to the take out. I was off the water about three PM.
Nice day playing in the wind at Jenner.