Wednesday March 26, 2014 Jenner CA.
River Otters making weird noises
The rain woke me up last night and it was still raining this morning. But when I finally got it going for the day, it was tapering off, so I headed on down to Jenner to kayak for the day, after putting my rain pants on.
I thought I’d drive down to the highway one overlook to see if the river’s mouth was open or closed?
The river’s mouth is still open
It was open, but see all that sand the harbor seals are on? That’s sand that got washed into the channel during the night. Not enough sand to close it, but enough to cause the water level in the estuary to rise a bit.
A couple guys from Jenner pulled in next to me, so I shot the bull with them for a bit, before going to the boat launch to put my boat in the water.
There was a bit of fog in the air as I crossed over the river to Penny Island and into the little channel on the east end.
This is my view looking back towards the visitor center from the little channel on the east end of the island.
I continued on up the river passing one of the resident harbor seals on a log. Something got it’s attention and it was looking hard, but I couldn’t see anything.
Paddled up to Eagle’s Landing
I went on up to eagles landing and was thinking of going to shore there, but got lazy at the last minute and went over to Paddy’s rock for a bit before turning back down the river.
Weird noises
I was resting just above Otter’s log when I heard some kind of commotion by Otter’s Log. It was a noise I hadn’t heard before, I thought, maybe bobcats?
I paddled closer to see what it was and eventually recognized some other noises I knew. River otters. At least two of them and they were having some kind of squabble, I think.
They were making all kinds of noises in the brush. They knew I was there and were hiding, but still having that squabble. It went on for over a half hour while I waited for them to show, but they hide well.
Eventually, they started to move on up stream and I tried to follow them, but they lost me and were gone.
I’m not sure what was going on with them. Like I said they were making some noises I hadn’t heard them make before. Maybe they were mating?
This is the best I could do for a photo. Hard to see, but there is an otter in there.
After they left, I continued to paddle down the river taking the back channel of Penny Island and on down to the river’s mouth at a leisurely pace, of course.
Paddled to the river’s mouth area
I eventually made it to the river’s mouth area. Lots of harbor seals and birds at the mouth area and the ocean was real rough too.
River’s mouth area, looking out to the Pacific ocean.
I paddled on past the mouth area and on down to the little cove at the end of the river and this big goose almost ran over me.
There were several ospreys flying around the area, mostly high up in the air, but occasionally one would dive down to try for a fish. This one just did, but missed.
I hung around the mouth area for over an hour, before heading back for the day.
The redwood slab
I passed Ray’s redwood slab that John has taken over.
Here it is. John has it tied up with a rope and is waiting for the water level to get high enough to float it back to his house so he can deal with it. It may not look like much now, but if the outside is sanded down real well it would have some real nice real old redwood wood to look at. I think John is only going to put it in his garden as it is?
Did you notice my horns?
Continuing on, I passed some more of the Pride of Madera flowers blooming. They are just getting started and seem to bloom for a long time.
Yes, I found some bovine horns
I went ashore here on Penny Island to get rid of the horns I found earlier that I forgot to tell you about. You never know what you might find on the river? I’ve learned to mostly leave most of the stuff on the river where I find it as bringing stuff home really adds up and I have enough stuff at my place already.
I’m not sure they did much for my boat anyway.
I was headed on in, but it was such a nice day, I continued back up to the little channel on the east end of Penny Island and sat around for awhile.
Around 5:30 PM, I headed on in for the day and went on home, too tired to do much else with the rest of the day.