Paddling Down From Monte Rio to Duncan’s Mills Fire House and Back

Sunday October 26, 2014 Monte Rio CA.

But first a bit of mechanicing

First thing this morning, I decided to find out why my van backup lights don’t work. After taking some things apart and crawling under the van, I found that my very slow oil leak in my transmission had coated my backup switch in oil and dirt, which made it hard for the switch to move. It just took a bit of moving the switch back and forth to get it going again and that was fixed up.

Next, I looked at why my heater fan stopped working in my car. I checked the fuses, but they were ok. Doing anything else to it seemed like a  lot of work, so I didn’t get that one fixed.

Headed out to kayak

That was enough work for one day, so I headed on down to Monte Rio to kayak the river on this fine autumn day. Not many people on the river right now, so no ramp rage today.

I put my boat in the water and headed on down the river at my usual slow pace.

This was the view just below Monte Rio.

I passed this turtle getting some sun.

Here, I’m just above the Villa Grande hole, where I stopped to talk with Andrew, a fisherman and some nice ladies joined in too.

I talked with them for quite a while, then continued on down the river. Here, I’m just above Marcum hole at Rein’s beach.

I passed several great blue herons on the way, here’s one of them.

I took my time and eventually, I made it to Casini’s Ranch, where I stopped for a bit under some trees, then continued on.

I’m just entering Brown’s hole at Casini’s in this picture still headed down the river.

This was my view as I approached the Duncan’s Mills Bridge, which is just out of sight. I stopped and turned around about in the middle of this picture near the fire house.

The biologists have a device across the river at the fire house that counts fish that have been tagged as they cross. There’s some wires in the big pipes seen under the water.

The big pipes used to be continuous all the way across the river, but they must have upgraded the system to some newer one, as now there were only pipes at spots across the river, not continuous anymore.

I sat around in the area for a while then started my trip back up the river.

I’ve just passed Casini’s and am headed to Rein’s beach in this picture.

And here I’m just coming into the Sheridan beach area.

As the sun has gone low in the sky, the reflections are starting to get better as I approach the Villa Grande hole headed up the river.

I like to sit just above the Villa Grande hole and watch, which I’m doing here, looking up the river.

I thought I saw a little bird over in the weeds as I was passing, so I went over to check it out.

Looks like a little grebe, a diving bird. I’m not really sure on this bird. I call it a puddle duck as it leaves a puddle when it sinks into the water.

There’s always a nice reflection in this spot, just below Monte Rio, heading up river.

I think it was about five thirty by this time as I approached the Monte Rio area.

I’m just approaching the boat launch ramp at Monte Rio, where the person is standing and you can see part of the bridge as I headed on in for the day.

I took my boat out of the water and went on home for the day.

When I got home, I was all tired out, so I hit the couch and that was about it for the day.