Elk/Beaver Lake Paddle with Doug
Our good friend Doug visited from Maryland and I
thought a nice Northwestern experience of lake kayaking was
definitely in order.
We loaded up the kayaks and headed out to one of the best paddle/recreation spots on the island, Elk
and Beaver Lake. We launched from under the pines in the north
east corner of the lake, just east of the beach area. |

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If you want to view the interactive map on
the mapquest.com site, just click this one.
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We both did a great job of launching, getting away from
shore with no trouble at all and Doug took to his kayak paddle in a matter
of minutes.
With some snacks and drinks stowed away in the bows of our kayaks, we
took off down the eastern shore of Elk Lake towards the transition to
Beaver Lake. Waters were calm, in sharp contrast to the extremely
windy and choppy conditions a few minute's drive south of our location in
Victoria's other alternative paddle spot that I'd picked out for the day -
Portage Inlet.
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Elk/Beaver Lakes proved, once again, why they're such a
"can't lose" choice for a beautiful day's paddling.
We had the lakes nearly to ourselves. Two rowing teams (4's) out
of Victoria City Rowing Club were out later in the paddle, and we did spot
a couple other boats from too great of a distance to even identify. |

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We both had no troubles landing back at our launch site
without so much as wet toes getting back onto the beach.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day and we got slightly pink on our
faces. With it being the first day of Fall, and just shy of 70° I
didn't really think we would get burned, but I guess 3 hours on the water
can still do that, even in late September. |
Great paddle on a beautiful day! |

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Here's a few more pictures that I
took with Doug's digital camera.
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