ISLAND CAMPING/KAYAKING EXPEDITION!

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Lake Ouachita State Park offers an overnight kayaking and camping experience several times a year.  This photo shows the staff of the park giving us a safety briefing before we started.

 The participant who had recently moved from the Houston area, where he did kayaking in the Gulf of Mexico, had a much longer kayak, and used a "Greenland-style" paddle.  Another feature of his ocean-style kayak was that it was equipped with an "apron" that attached to the cockpit of the kayak, and then around the occupants waist, with the goal being to stay dry when waves are washing over the kayak sides. 

Another one of the participants was using the yellow, inflatable kayak shown in photo below.  It suited her "nomadic" lifestyle, as she is currently a full-time RV-er.  You can follow her travels around the country on her website, www.jillsessa.com .

The tip of the kayak I had rented from the park is shown in this photo.  I was trying to get a photo to put on a favorite Facebook page I follow, called "Look at the Front of My Kayak".  The site lets people post photos of what the view is from the tip of their kayak and beyond---no "selfies" allowed on this page!  It is fascinating to see the scenery kayakers enjoy, on their paddling excursions around the world!

Before we started, our leaders had told us that we would stop occasionally, and "raft up", to hear the leader share some interesting comments about what we were observing.  To "raft up", each kayaker just holds on to the boat beside them. 

Along our paddling route, we passed some "GEO FLOATS", like the one in this photo.  They are numbered, and there is a directory at the Visitor Center that gives an explanation of the significant geological formation that each float designates.

The little orange box attached to this kayak is a "GO PRO" , waterproof video camera that can be used to record action sports, without interfering with the user's hands.  The video camera had a remote control device that the kayaker attached to his belt, so it could easily be turned on and off, without touching the camera. 

Since  Lake Ouachita is the largest man made lake within Arkansas borders, it is not surprising to see sail boats out in the main channels.  The lake covers 40,000 acres and has 975 miles of shoreline.  It has been named one of the cleanest lakes in America!

Our group stopped on an island to have lunch, after a couple of hours of paddling.  The blue line shown on the right of this photo is connected to the pontoon boat that accompanied us, carrying our camping gear, cookware, and food supplies.

As we "broke bread together", I was DELIGHTED that the sandwich bar choices included my personal favorite----Nature's Own bread, with just 40 calories per slice!  YEA!  Other items available included a variety of deli sandwich meats, condiments, lettuce, tomatoes, chips, cookies, and beverages.  Plus, a great advantage of this particular event the park sponsors, is that the big boat that accompanies us is equipped with a "Port-A-Potty"!

The young girl in the photo below went wading when we stopped, and found a beautiful, large specimen of a pure quartz crystal.  This area is known for its numerous quartz mines. 

Once we arrived at the island, we chose any location on the island we wanted, to set up our tent. The size and type of tents that participants set up varied widely: I used a "Junior Style", shown in photo below:

All the equipment shown in the photo below, this couple is able to fit in the backpack each of them brought.  The inside of their tent included (almost!) all the comforts of home!

This campsite was "color-coordinated", with matching chairs and tent!

This tent had the tallest center section, because the park staff member who was using it, told us she was the tallest one in the group!

Since the weather we had was absolutely fantastic, no rain covering was needed, so this person's tent was taking advantage of the pleasant breeze, while at the same time keeping out insects. 

One lady in the group did not want to sleep directly on the ground, so she chose a tent style that would fit on top of her very wide cot.  She said she had a very comfortable night, and never rolled off the edge of the cot!

I liked the twinkly lights inside this tent.  There was no electricity on the island, so all our lights were battery operated. (  For those people who do not have a tent, you can rent them from the state park. )

Our leader, Kayla---accompanied by Jill in her yellow inflatable kayak---took an exploratory paddle trip after supper, to an adjoining island. 

The rest of us relaxed around our camp circle, satisfied by the delicious catered BBQ meal that Kayla's husband had delivered to us, via power boat.  The food was from Stubby's, a well-known and popular Hot Springs restaurant. 

Before it got totally dark, a campfire was started---without matches---just to demonstrate that it WAS possible!  Several of us offered up matches we had brought with us, but the staff was determined to do it "cave-man" style!

And the "Icing on the Cake", was the campfire standby of  the class " S-'mores ", as in "I want some more!"  Who can turn down the opportunity to toast marshmallows!

This photo shows Kayla's husband, who brought his guitar, so we could sing a few campfire tunes.  He had a large repertoire of songs, and allowed us to make requests of whatever we wanted to hear.  Even though I sound like a crow when I sing, it was fun belting out the lyrics to some old familiar choruses from the past!

 I took a photo of the glistening dew on the kayak as the sun rose over the Eastern horizon.  My tent was on the east side of the island, so I had a prime location for watching the sun come up!

The lake level was a bit higher than normal, which accounts for the grasses along the shoreline being partially covered.   This life-saver ring with the park name on it, is a reminder for me to mention that their website is www.arkansasstateparks.com and their phone number is 501-767-9366.

This photo shows one of our kayak participants, who is a seasoned camper, and likes to help others also enjoy time in the outdoors.  He  has tutorials on outdoor equipment, as well as records of his explorations, on his website at www.camperjohn.com .

It was fun seeing people on this trip, that I had met on previous trips a few years ago.  Deanna and some of her family/friends from the Dallas area, have been coming up to Lake Ouachita State Park for several years, to participate in the kayak camp out. 

The very first overnight kayaking/campout event the park sponsored over a decade ago, was led by a staff member who was not a coffee drinker, and was unaware how important morning coffee is to those who are used to it.  He told the story of how that first trip, when his campers woke up and discovered there was no coffee,  got in their kayaks and paddled immediately to the closest marina, abandoning him on the island to contemplate his "oversight"!  The situation has been fully remedied since then, with a WONDERFUL setup for fresh brewed coffee, as well as steaming hot water for tea or instant oatmeal.  KUDOS TO THE "KOFFEE KREW"!

Other items on the breakfast table included orange juice, assorted fresh fruit, packaged granola bars, instant cereals, and peanut butter.

In addition, in what might be called a "Dutch-oven Cooking Demonstration", Kayla cooked sausage, and Tim cooked scrambled eggs.  We then put these on flour tortillas, to make breakfast burritos.  They were delicious!

We once again enjoyed relaxing around the campfire, as we swapped stories about our outdoor life experiences.  Later, we all packed up our tents, loaded the pontoon boat, and got back in our kayaks, to start the six-mile paddle back to our starting point.  If a reader thinks they could not paddle six miles, do not be concerned.  Anyone who wants to, can load their kayak into the pontoon boat, and ride it back to the marina, instead of paddling the entire distance.   Likewise, in the past when the weather or wind was threatening, the staff loaded all the kayaks into the pontoon boat to return them safely to shore.  If you have ever been paddling on "unfriendly" water during a weather event, you can appreciate this "power boat" option!

This photo of the back of Jill's boat, shows the wheels of the cart she uses to haul it in and out of the water wherever she goes.  She travels alone (except for the little doggie, Logan, you can see), so she said she needs the wheels to assist in those maneuvers.

The

mother-daughter shown in this photo, had rented a tandem kayak, which is another option available, besides the single person kayak like I rented. 

A nice feature of this event is that the staff has "walkie-talkie" devices that allow them to communicate with the driver of the pontoon boat, as well as the staff member at the front of the kayak paddling caravan communicating with the staff member at the back of the kayak paddling caravan.

The

park staff said that the pontoon boat we were using had originally been a ferry boat that could hold a car.  Although it no longer hauls cars, it is a very spacious and useful vessel for events such as this. 

The island where we stopped on the way back was famous because it is literally covered in quartz crystal rocks!  It was fun to roam the narrow island, looking for a pure crystal specimen!

I want to say a big THANK YOU to the park staff that made our event so enjoyable!  I can highly recommend this outing to both beginners and advanced kayakers/campers, as all skill levels can be accommodated.

As I was preparing my gear for this event, I was also doing a First Place 4 Health Bible study ( www.FirstPlace4Health.com ) that had a lesson on Moses leading the Israelites on their famous "camping trip" in the wilderness.  I was reminded that the word "tabernacle" actually means "tent".  Exodus 33:7 says, "Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting."  (By the way, one of the ladies in or group actually had one of those tents, that literally, all you had to do was "pitch" or throw it into the air, and it snapped together automatically!)   And for any of you that are apprehensive about spending the night in a tent outside, here is a Bible verse for you:  "The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and rescues them."  Psalm 34:7       Knowing that the presence of the LORD is encamped around me gives me "MILES OF SMILES"!   Tricia

ANACAPA ISLAND EXPEDITION!!

In 2010, I wrote down a goal I had of visiting Channel Islands National Park.  A new issue of postage stamps by the USPS was what prompted my actions, because they had issued a page of stamps honoring the various national parks throughout the United States.  I had visited many of them, but NOT the Channel Islands National Park.  As a matter of fact, I had not even heard of it until 2010!  So when I read that Road Scholar ( www.roadscholar.org ) offered a program about the Channel Islands, I signed up for it.  The first thing I learned is that I could not drive to the Channel Islands, and that I would need to take a boat.  The official boat service used by the National Park Service was called Island Packers ( www.islandpackers.com ), and one of their boats is pictured above. 

Visitors to the island will depart from the marina adjacent to the Island Packers ticket sales building.  And of course, there is a gift shop there where visitors can buy those last-minute items they may need for their excursion, as well as clean restrooms. 

Once you have boarded the boat, you will get to cruise through the Ventura harbor, on your way out to sea.  This will give you an opportunity to admire the numerous sailboats and motorboats that had moored there.

You will also cruise by the Visitor Center for the Channel Islands National Park, which is located at the end of the point, leading into open water. 

After about an hour on board the boat, you will approach the rocky cliffs of Anacapa Island.  At out landing spot, there were no beaches, so the boat captain relied on a man-made concrete dock that had been constructed at one of the more accessible inlets of the island.  After stepping out of the boat, and onto the dock, there was an arduous climb up several flights of metal stairs to the top.  Even though the stairs were tiring, I was thankful they were there, because just imagine how difficult it would be to get from the ocean to the top of the cliffs, if there were no stairs!

To give you an idea of how precarious it is to moor a big boat at the island, I took this photo of our boat from the top of the stairs.  Notice how tiny the inlet is, and imagine how difficult it would be to keep the boat steady if there were rough seas!  I was very thankful that the waters were relatively calm when we were there.

Our Road Scholar pre-trip information had warned us about the stair climb---157 stairs to island plateau---so most everyone was prepared for the "huffing and puffing" that would be necessary before we could start our actual hiking at the top of the island.

Even though this is a National Park, and there was a residence for the Park Ranger, the island is completely uninhabited.  There are probably many reasons for a ranger not being present---budget constraints, difficulty of getting supplies to the island,

and the lack of water . 

One of the first things I noticed when I got to the picnic area of the park , was the "windmill"-type devices installed on every picnic table, that extended out over the bench seats.  The swirling breezes on top of the islands kept the "windmills" in constant motion.  A quick survey of surrounding flat surfaces that did NOT have the windmills , made it obvious that the windmills had been put there to keep the hundreds of birds from roosting on the picnic tables.  Pretty clever, huh??!!

On the plateau atop the island, our group set out to make the hike that would take us down to the far end of the island.  Anacapa Island is a five-mile-long spine of rock that emerges from the ocean, about twelve miles from the mainland. 

This photo of me with hands uplifted , was taken at Inspiration Point, which is at the north end of East Anacapa.  The middle section is called Middle Anacapa, and the far end is called West Anacapa.  This is a favorite location  for taking gorgeous sunset photos.  The nickname for Channel Islands National Park, is "The Galapagos Islands of North America", and references the lack of commercial development . 

From Cathedral Cove, we could look down on a commercial boat that had brought kayakers over to the island, to explore its numerous sea caves and interesting rock formations, as well as get close-up views of the marine mammals that can be found lounging on the rocks.  You can be sure this is not a fishing boat, because the Anacapa Island State Marine Reserve extends about one mile out from the island, and no commercial or recreational fishing is allowed. 

Opposite Inspiration Point, on the other end of the island is this picturesque light house.  As a result of the wreck of the sidewheel steamer Winfield Scott, running at full speed, and crashing into the rocks off Middle Anacapa (which resulted in it sinking), the Coast Guard eventually built a light beacon, in 1912, and then a light station in 1932. 

There is a very small NPS Visitor Center on Anacapa Island.  Inside, you will be able to see the original light beacon used on the island in the last century, as well as exhibits explaining about the geography, history, and wildlife of the island. 

The Visitor Center also contains the Visitor Log Book, and the official NPS Date Stamps, for people who like to keep a record of when they visited various National Parks. 

I was very glad to learn that there were bathrooms (albeit primitive ones!) on the island!  For more detailed information about other services offered on the island, including camping, visit www.nps.gov/chis   .

The photo below shows a building that has the appearance of a church, located at the summit of East Anacapa.  Although it is very picturesque, one may wonder why there would be a big church building on an uninhabited island?  Good question!!  The building actually houses two massive redwood water storage tanks!  After the giant cylindrical water tanks were erected on top of the island, they apparently were too enticing to passing boaters, who wanted to use them as targets to try out their rifles!  When the Park Service had tired of repairing bullet holes to the tanks, they made the decision to enclose them in something that looks like a church, with their reasoning that boaters would be less likely to shoot at a church.  When our hike leader, retired Channel Islands NPS archaeologist, Don Morris, told this story to our group, I realized how it went along with one of my First Place 4 Health ( www.FirstPlace4Health.com ) memory verse where Jesus says, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." (John 4:10).  How ironic, that I was now looking at a "church" whose only purpose was to protect the water inside it!

Water is so scarce, and so precious, on Anacapa Island, that the National Park Service has implemented some creative solutions to water the native seedlings that have been planted, to restore the island to the way it was before ranching operations were implemented there, decades ago.  This picture shows rectangles, configured in such a way , that the fog will collect on the rectangle, and drip down, to water the seedling below it.   By the way, all the white spots you see on the hillside are sea gulls.  The island is a major rookery for gulls, as well as the largest brown pelican rookery on the Pacific Coast. 

There is a greenhouse on Anacapa Island that we were able to visit, that shows the efforts that are being made to restore the native vegetation to the island.  At one time, the beautiful--but non-native---Ice Plant was introduced to Anacapa.  The Ice Plant is now known to choke out native vegetation, so there are on-going efforts to eradicate it from the island.  Based on my observations, however, it is still very prevalent! 

The photo below shows the "check in" procedure, as members of our group returned to the Landing Cove, to reboard the Island Packers catamaran.  The boat does not stay at the island with the visitors who spend the day there, so it is important that a visitor does not "miss the boat" when they return to pick you up!  Also, it should be noted, that although the Island Packers will transport a kayak to the island (for a fee), they do not rent kayaks from their facility.  Persons who want to kayak must either bring their own, or arrange for a rental from a list supplied by the park service. 

As our boat started its return journey to the mainland, we motored down by the famous "Arch Rock" , that is the symbol for Channel Islands National Park.  Getting to see this landmark in person was like seeing a mirage come to life, since I had been dreaming of coming here for so long.  In fact, the island gets its name from the word "mirage".  The native Americans on the island, The Chumash, called it Anyapakh or "mirage".  I am SO THANKFUL that I now know this place really DOES exist, and it is not just a mirage on the horizon!  The images I carry with me will always give me "MILES OF SMILES"!!  Tricia