Water on My Mind

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 Water on My Mind


You have to understand something about me: I’m a Pisces.

I cannot stray far from water.

If I do so for a length of time, I start feeling dehydrated, almost dessicated, and cranky.

I counter this with a collection, “water on my mind,” watery places I’ve visited in a kayak or canoe, and to which I can travel in memory. Here are some…


A dune-lapped shore. The dunes, rolling in shape like the waves of water and currents of wind that created them, some stable and festooned with creeping juniper, others still moving slowly in the wind.  Kohler-Andrae State Park, WI 

Crossing Death’s Door by kayak. Tip of Door Peninsula, WI

Smooth-cobbled beach. What the waters wrought here are stones without prickly points that you can actually walk on barefoot.  Washington Island, WI

Crossing Lake Winnebago by kayak. Paddling west against the wind slowed our crossing, then back east, but now with the wind, in a race with the approaching gale. Lake Winnebago, WI

Cedar-lined lakes. Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. 100’s and 100’s of them connected by portage, canoe camping at its finest . Northeast MN

Pictographs on rock walls along the ancient canoe routes the Ojibwe traveled. Boundary Waters, Northeast MN

Falling-water cliffs. You pull your kayak to a rocky bluff with a waterfall cascading down, a camper’s shower.  Grand Island, MI

Moose-waded shallows. The mother moose swims with her baby to the smaller islands of the archipelago where it’s safe from the wolf packs that inhabit the main Isle. Isle Royale National Park, MI

Wave-pounded cliffs. We ventured out by canoe and encountered steep waves that wanted to drive us toward the cliffs. We made it past them and ducked into a protected bay, and set up camp. It rained and rained, the lake aptly named. Rainy Lake, MN

Hard rock shoreline. Amazing patterns written in the rock, seen through the clear waters of the greatest of lakes.  North Shore, Lake Superior, Ontario

Sea caves. Indescribably beautiful both in entering them in summer by kayak or on winter ice. Apostle Islands National Seashore, WI

A lake born of fire. Took a dip in its pristine waters. Crater Lake National Park, OR

Waterfalls of Yosemite at their peak, spring flow. Yosemite National Park, CA

Big surf. Powerful!  Pacific Ocean, CA

Odd creatures of the tide pools. Starfish, flower-like animals, names unknown, and scallops.   Pacific Ocean, CA

Elephant seals. Swimming and bellowing and lazing about.  Pacific Ocean, CA

Grey whales. Spy-hopping, high-fiving us with their tail flukes.  Baja Magdalena, Mexico

Bioluminescent algae. The waters aglow at our beach campsite. Sea of Cortes, Mexico

Manatees of the Lower Suwanee. Docile, slow-moving sea cows grazing the seagrass.  Northern Florida

Backwater alligators. Smiling, toothy, scarey. North Florida and South Carolina.

Dolphins. Chasing them in our kayak, as if we could actually keep up with them, and receiving a wave of water over our bow as a warning.  The Intercoastal Waterway SC

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See what I mean? My pull is toward water every time.

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