Jackson Lake

Jackson Lake

Circumnavigation

Thursday, July 1, 2010

It was ridiculous. In the midst of a long road trip I’d tried numerous times to get out on the water. In fact, while staying in a suburb of Chicago I was denied 4 different ways! One lake did not allow paddlers and another canal was said to be too sewage filled to be of any interest. It had rained too much to paddle the rivers and another lake was too small! I’d also tried the Platte River outside of Omaha, Nebraska but it was flowing too fast to paddle upriver, something I have to do as a soloist for safety. Other options hadn't materialized either but I was determined. I hadn’t strapped the boat to my car for nothing, and when I saw a sign for this lake on the highway I wasn’t going to pass it up. There was also a very nice rest area at the highway exit too, so what did I do? Something I probably shouldn’t have - I slept there in my car.

The problem with hotels now is that there’s too little competition. Wyndham owns 8 major chains as of this writing (Days Inn, Super 8, Amerihost, Baymont, Howard Johnson’s, Knights Inn, Ramada, and Travelodge) and Choice Hotels owns 9 more (Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, Cambria, Mainstay, and Suburban Extended Stay). It’s partly because of this that prices have doubled since the mid 1990’s and since I don’t want to pay any more than $50 a night I’m in an impossible situation in many areas of the country.

Luckily I didn’t end up having any overnight difficulties and I found the park by doing nothing more than following the road signs. When I arrived about 8:30 in the morning, however, there wasn’t anyone at the office and the indications were that I could put $6 in the drop box to enter. I checked how much cash I had... Exactly 6 bucks, believe it or not! I figured that the park would be well worth this expense, but I first wanted to make absolutely sure that there was enough water in the lake to make it worthwhile to spend a good day paddling. If I was going to be spending the last $6 I had I wanted to get my money's worth! :) I drove on in, looked around the ramp and decided that it was indeed worth it to stay.

After going back to pay, I returned to the ramp to have my boat inspected - something they indicate as being mandatory out here before they’ll let you out on the water. The gentleman at the inspection shack didn’t even make mention of my kayak though. He simply offered some advice as to where the best entry point might be - the sandy area to the north side of the ramp. It was at this point that a park ranger appeared. Nothing serious, he just introduced himself and told me he wanted to make sure I'd paid...

Mind you, I’m someone with a curse - I always try to do right by other people. If I’d been even 25 cents short of the 6 bucks I would have headed back to the highway. That's how I am! I explained that I had, indeed, paid and I gave the ranger as much detail as possible to assure him of my good intent. Having done so, however, it irked me a little to be questioned. I’d essentially given the park my last dollar! Sure the man is looking out for his park, but if it’s such a concern that he needs to question someone’s integrity then there should be someone at the gate collecting money at all times! I tried to put this behind me as I sought to determine a paddling strategy...

It seemed to me that the nearly heart-shaped Jackson Lake was fairly large in terms of acreage, yet much of this space appeared to be width. Neither did there seem to be many coves, so I decided to try paddling all the way around. Putting in, I went to the left and immediately found that the water would be pretty choppy today. Some of the waves did make their way into the cockpit of my boat. Things would calm down as the day went on, but in this first stretch of shoreline I was somewhat startled to find another paddler coming directly toward me through the trees. Saying “hello”, I got no response. It wasn’t until after I’d paddled on by that he mentioned something, but by that time it was awkward because I couldn’t hear him. Funny how such a peaceful pursuit as paddling can get noisy enough to impede effective communication. Just the sound of choppy waves can be enough - or maybe I’m going deaf!

I was quite enamored with all the pelicans I saw, by the way (and I’m sure this is evidenced by all the pictures I’ve taken!). The first ones I saw were on this northwest quadrant of the lake. I love these birds and I certainly don’t see them in Kentucky. I was likewise taken with the wide open scenery in general.

Also along the shoreline was something else I found interesting. The herd of cattle I saw all appeared to be longhorns. A longhorn farm/ranch? They call these farms in the north and ranches in the south. What about the west?

OK – here’s where you’ll think I’ve lost my mind because I next saw something that sent a cold shiver down my spine. I assure you that I was NOT smoking anything but what I saw here must surely have been some kind of hallucination. There were a couple buoys here you see, and upon spotting a dark mass close to them I squinted to get a better look… There had been quite a bit of seaweed on the shorelines just under the surface of the water but this was darker. What was it? Well kindly contain your laughter, but serpentine, it looked very much like a mutli-headed, toothy, eel! Perhaps this was just a conglomeration of eels, but nevertheless startled and I paddled on without attempting to take a picture lest I somehow be bitten by a probable figment of my imagination!

There was also a parking area over here, by the way, and according to a map it’s a part of the park as well although it isn’t directly connected (it’s off County Road 4).

Moving on, I had another pelican encounter. This time there were almost a dozen of them just hanging out “fishing”. :) Speaking of fish... I noticed a few large ones with trellis-like patterns on them (Wipers, I believe) lying dead along the shorelines. I wondered why so many? As for the pelicans, I decided to try and leave them in peace so I paddled way around them in order to do so. Sometimes it just feels good to do something nice even if it’s not noticed or even comprehended.

I’m surrounded by some particularly far-reaching farmland at this point, and it provided a great backdrop for the northern and western sections of the lake. They refer to this park as an “Oasis in the Plains” and you can certainly see why.

Once in the “right atrium” of this heart shaped lake, I encountered a broader diversity of flora and after first passing a little line of trees on the shoreline I found a reedy island-like area in the corner. These reeds had formed a sort of sheltering curtain for the birds here and behind it they were performing the most incredibly diverse avian symphony I think I’ve ever heard! According to the website, Jackson Lake is on the central flyway for migratory birds. I imagined and laughed at the thought of them “showering” behind the curtain.

A very long and straight concrete dike forms the entire southeast portion of this lake and it seemed to me like it took forever to paddle its length - probably due to the fact that there’s less to see and distract your attention. Eventually reaching the other side, I found a fishing area and swimming beach along with a little inlet. I saw a boat coming out of it, so I decided to take a look too...

Well, I hadn’t gone very far when I reached a bridge going over the water with a buoy indicating “No Boats”. Disappointed, I turned back but guess who was returning at the very same time? The same boat I’d just seen leaving! I decided to say something to the man, simply mentioning that I was disappointed that they wouldn’t allow you to paddle further back into the stream. To this he replied that I could, in fact, do so. In fact, he had! The sign was meant for the power boats.

Making it in about a mile to the 3^rd bridge, I found this little creek (it almost looked like a canal) to be a nice change of pace from the lake. I also encountered many different kinds of wildlife. This included some little wood ducks and a few aggregations of blue dragonflies. I also saw a fish “fishing” for morsels of algae on the top of the water and I was just able to get a picture as one “plopped” up to grab a bite.

Back on the lake I was now on the flat western shoreline, toward the end of which was my car. This part of the lake had the most activity. Not only were there quite a few dwellings here, but this was also where most of the camping was done. As such, the entire stretch was a no wake zone. I arrived back where I started after negotiating around some boats putting in at the ramp and was on my way, happy to have been able to experience this nice little lake.

DIRECTIONS:

As I did, you can pretty much just follow the road signs for the park - they didn’t steer me wrong - but from Interstate 76 I took the exit for Colorado Highway 39 and followed it all the way (about 7 miles) to County Road Y5. Here I took a left and went almost 3 miles to the main entrance. There will be a guard shack right on the road (you can also follow the directions on the website above).