Posts by Marek

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scientist, photographer, paddler, blogger / living in Fort Collins, Colorado since 1989, paddling since 1972

Springtime Paddling on the Horsetooth Reservoir

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.

Icy Horsetooth Reservoir – Opening Lake Paddling Season

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.

This Is Canoeing DVD Directed by Justine Curgenven

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.

Going to the Source of My Paddling Water

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.

Canon PowerShot G11 First Paddling Pictures

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.

Paddling with a Camera in December 2006-2008

Just browsing posts created in this blog in Decembers in the last three years. I see a lot of winter paddling on the South Platte River and some memories from summer trips. Late in December 2007 I was still paddling on the Horsetooth Reservoir.

The most significant event was to start paddling WSBS Thundebolt-x kayak in December 2006.

2006

Are My Paddlings Days Over?

Kayak Building as a Winter Project? Stripper, Stitch-and-Glue, Skin on Frame …

WSBS Thunderbolt Kayak in My Backyard

Winter Afternoon on South Platte River with Thunderbolt-X Kayak

12 Pictures and Reflections from Paddling with a Camera in 2006

Kayaks and Politics: Am I a Racist ?

Paddling Sisson Nucleus Kayak on Lonetree Reservoir

Cache la Poudre in Winter by Racing Canoe

2007

Neutral Density (ND) Filters for Paddling Photography

Kayaking the Aland Archipelago of the Baltic Sea in Pictures by Björn Olin

New Year Paddling – 22 Miles to Fort Morgan on the South Platte River

It is not easy to catch good a paddling water in the South Platte River in eastern Colorado. 5 years ago I made a series of trips on the South Platte above and below Fort Morgan. My trip reports had a common title Paddling on Wet Sand …

It seems that the South Platte has a pretty good flow this winter, so I selected 20 miles above Fort Morgan for my New Year paddling. Sunny weather with temperature above freezing (well at least before sunset), a little bit of breeze, and the river flow of ~750 cfs at Weldona.

I was joined by Rob Bean for this trip. We paddled our Kruger canoes (Sea Wind and Sawyer Loon), probably, the best boat choice for winter paddling. We started at Goodrich (hwy 144) around 12:30 and finished 5 hours later under the Rainbow Bridge at Fort Morgan.

The river was slower than I expected – much wider than between Evans and Kuner, but pretty shallow with multiple channels. It was also much nicer than you could see around Greeley. No feedlot aroma! We had three dam portages. The last one over the Upper Platte and Beaver Canal dam was pretty long, but snow on ground helped with portaging.

You can compare my pictures with those shot five years ago during my 30 mile Texas Water Safari training run. I had much lower water (~400 cfs at Weldona) and a nicer weather in May.

Connie helped us with a shuttle. We finished our trip together with a dinner at Fort Morgan’s Memories.

Happy Paddling in the New Year!

My last paddling in the old year (Sea Wind canoe on the South Platte River above Kersey – December 30, 2009) and the start of 2009/2010 winter paddling and racing season on the South Platte.

Cost of Paddling – Access to Local, County, State and Federal Waters

December is time for me to decide where I am going to paddle next year and to purchase some annual access passes. I live in Fort Collins in northern Colorado. Most of my paddling takes place in my local water within a short driving range. I am interested primary in flatwater paddling and photography.

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