A day paddling around the Russian River Estuary

 

More room work:

The last couple of days we have been working on the spare room. I vacuumed the room three times and shampooed it twice.

Paddling the Russian River Estuary:

Yesterday I went for a paddle around the Russian River estuary  at Jenner with Bob.
I got to his place around 11:00, we sat around for a bit then headed for Jenner for a paddle. We got on the water by noon and headed across the river to the north shore of Penny Island.

We sat along the shore watching the area for a little while then paddled along the north shore of Penny Island heading for the rivers open mouth.

Big bob cat:

As we paddled along Bob noticed a large bob cat walking along the shore. I tried to get some pictures of the cat but every time I pointed the camera at it all I could see was the reflection of my face in the view screen. I just started taking pictures in the cat’s direction. As it turned out I did get some shots of the bob cat but he was hard to find so I had to blow the pictures up and enhance them a lot  so you can see the cat. The cat walked along for a ways then just lay down in the grass.

Here is an unenhanced long shot. The bob cat is the brown spot in the tall grass about 6ft to the left of the big log.

This is an enhanced close up view of the bob cat. Isn’t he beautiful!

And another shot just because he is so beautiful.

I was amazed that I got any pictures of the cat at all.

Heading to the rivers mouth:

After the bob cat wandered out of view we headed for the mouth of the river.
We passed a blue Herron

and a cormorant waiting for fish.

 

As we crossed in front of the open mouth we passed what looked like hundreds of seals sleeping on the shore waiting for fish.

No wonder the salmon fishery is collapsing. With all the seals, otters and other predators it is a wonder any fish make it far enough up stream to spawn. After they spawn the young ones have to run the same gauntlet back to the ocean. Then when they mature in the ocean we catch millions of them in nets.
Good luck Salmon!

Paddling along the south shore of Penny Island:

We sat around near the mouth for a while watching the seals, etc. then paddled across the river to the south side of Penny Island and followed that shoreline.

We passed these Turns posing along the shore.

We saw a couple of Egrets in some cedar trees across the channel as we drifted along.

A little hike to Swamp Rock:

We slowly continued up stream stopping occasionally to enjoy the scenery and eventually arrived at the trail to Swamp Rock.

We beached the yaks.

You can see the rock against the hill side in the center of the picture

The trail to Swamp Rock is a narrow game trail that after a short walk through tall grass enters some taller brush.

At one spot on the trail where it goes through a thicket of small trees, we passed under this Twin Berry bush. It’s pretty but is likely poison.

 

After getting through the brush the trail crosses a swampy area (hence the name “Swamp Rock”)

 

Eventually we made it across the swamp (dry at this time) to the base of Swamp Rock.

The climb up to the seat on the rock was short but steep. By the time we got to the top of the rock I was done in.

Here is Bob waiting for me to get to the seat.

The climb is a little tough for an old fart but the view is well worth it.

We sat on the rock for about an hour enjoying the view and contemplating those who had sat here in the past.

Eventually we headed back to the boats. Bob wondered if I could find my way back to where we landed as the trail is a bit tricky to find. I have been wandering around in the woods for most of my life so I am fairly observant when hiking around. I noticed from the the rock that the brush more or less funneled  anyone walking around right to where the trail comes out of the brush. So I just followed the brush line to the trail. We got back to the boats and after a short break sitting on the grassy shore we got in the boats and headed for the ramp.

It was a fun day paddling around the Russian River Estuary.