Since I bought annual passes for Larimer County Parks I am paddling on the Horsetooth Reservoir quite regularly this springtime. I started with Sea Wind canoe when the lake was still covered by ice. Now, I am paddling mostly Thunderbolt kayak, but I am going to use other boats too (at least for photography purposes).

I love early (and late) season on the Horsetooth since there is very little or no motor boat traffic. However, paddling workout with a racing kayak is always more challenging here than on a smaller body of water like Beaver Pond in Arapaho Bend Natural Area. This narrow reservoir is about 6 miles long. You can make a 14 mile loop by paddling around the lake. Many more miles can be added if you follow closely the shore and visit all coves.

Last time (April 18, 2010) I started at the South Bay and paddled total 11+ miles to the island next to Eltuck coves and back. The water level is high enough to make it an island now (a favorite place for Canadian geese).

Pictures above were shot with Canon PowerShot G11. I still don’t have a waterproof housing for that camera. It travels in a small Pelican case. The last picture came from my paddling camera on duty, Pentax Optio W30. I am waiting for reviews of the last Pentax model (W90), but my W30 is still working fine.

Related posts:
Icy Horsetooth Reservoir – Opening Lake Paddling Season
Cost of Paddling – Access to Local, County, State and Federal Waters
160 Lakes and Reservoirs of Colorado

March 16, 2010. My lake paddling season in Colorado is opened!

I took Sea Wind Canoe for a short paddling on the Horsetooth Reservoir. I started at Satanka Cove next to the dam and managed to go to the South Eltuck Cove. Ice was melting along shores creating a narrow channel of free water. However, wind was shifting ice and some passages were closed making necessary to drag or push my boat over ice.

All the way I stayed next to the shore, so my round trip got pretty long – 6 miles. Ice canoe racing was coming to my mind. Now, I need a little bit of snow to enhance my pictures.

Related posts:
Paddling and Photographing the Horsetooth Reservoir in Northern Colorado
Cost of Paddling – Access to Local, County, State and Federal Waters
Paddling Horsetooth Reservoir in Winter Scenery
Sea Wind on the Horsetooth Reservoir – Colorado Winter Paddling Video
Launching Thunderbolt Kayak on Horsetooth Reservoir from Lory State Park
Ice Canoe Racing across St Lawrence River in Quebec City

After producing 4 parts of TITS (This is the Sea 1, 2, 3, 4) series devoted to sea kayaking, Justine Curgenven delivers This is canoeing.

“THIS IS CANOEING” is a 2-disc celebration of canoeing, showcasing top single-blade paddlers in their pursuit of remote wilderness journeys or challenging white water. Multi-award winning film maker, Justine Curgenven captures the essence of canoeing in 12 short films. From open canoe slalom races to 1,000 mile birchbark expeditions, Justine provides insights into the diversity of the sport and the influential people who tell it’s story. Immerse yourself in this globe-trotting 3 hours of adventure to world class canoeing destinations in Canada, the United States, Scotland & Wales.

I just ordered my copy from Amazon.

One of the first on-line reviews comes from Simon Willis:

Despite the title, this DVD is not about canoeing, it’s about canoeists, the people who canoe.

A major part of Justine Curgenven’s documentary-making skill has been to find the right characters and these chosen individuals are relaxed, quirky, interesting and utterly captivated by their chosen sport.

It’s obvious Justine likes them and they both like and trust her. The results are quality documentary making.

I have many miles of bike trails in Fort Collins and neighboring cities of Loveland, Windsor and Greeley. They allow me to follow the Poudre and Big Thompson Rivers on a bike or inline skates. On January 31, 2010 I decided for a little bit further bike exploration – the South Platte River north of Denver.

My photography destination was the output of Denver sewer. In typical winter conditions it delivers practically all water into the South Platte (up to 200cfs, see flow data).

I drove to the Platte River Trail parking at 104th Street and switched to my bike: a tripod on bike racks and a DSLR camera in Kata KT DR-467-BR backpack. It was a test of this setup for biking. It worked pretty well. I am going to try it with a mountain bike on some easier trails.

I followed the South Platte south for about 8 miles. The river looked quite nice in not so nice winter conditions, quite shallow with some rocky spots, chutes, diversion dams and hundreds of ducks. Above the confluence with Sand Creek I reached my destination.

About 200 cfs is coming out from Denver sewer. The entire river is covered by a dense foam for several hundred yards.

It wasn’t easy to photograph this scene due to heavy smell, but, hey, my background is in environmental engineering. Camera: Canon EOS 5D on a tripod. I checked this location on a map for late afternoon shooting, but didn’t anticipate a bridge shadow. I was a little too late.

I was looking for a new paddling camera satisfying the following requirements:
- More compact than my Canon DSLRs (D40 and 5D) and easier to carry on my racing boats including Thunderbolt-X kayak.
- Providing a better image quality than Pentax Optio W10 suitable for my stock photography. Pentax is great for paddling and shooting pictures for posting on web, but these pictures are usually too noisy for commercial applications.
- Recording RAW format, if possible, to allow me more flexibility in picture postprocessing.

I have been following the Canon PowerShot G line of cameras. Canon offers waterproof housing for them. I got spoiled by my Pentax Optio W30 and, now, would like to see intervalometer built in every camera. Some time ago I discussed PowerShot G10 as a candidate for a paddling camera.

Finally, I bought the recent G11 model. I am still learning and exploring the new camera and took it for some testing in winter conditions on the South Platte River.

All pictures in this post were shot during my two latest paddle workouts with Thunderbolt kayak. There were shot with G11 (set on ISO=100) on the same sandbar about 2 miles upstream of Kersey.