The lake is a bit hard to find, but if you were coming from the interstate, take the Brookings exit, head east on Highway 14, keep going into Minnesota until you reach County Road 1, go north about nine miles, then east on County Road 15, that'll put you at the southwest corner of the lake.
We accessed it on the north side, at this dock in the photo.
The access point is nice, featuring an outhouse style restroom and plenty of parking. We had the place to ourselves as we prepared to go.
We hugged the northern shore, passing cabins on our way to the far eastern end of the lake.
What happened when we cleared the shoreline wind break? Well, weathercocking took Laura out into the lake, and we were suddenly facing a crossing or other unpleasant choices in the windswept waves of this once-seemily harmless little lake.
Paddling the Current Designs Sirocco, I found myself longing for my QCC, the Sirocco is fast, sure, and stable enough, but it's still so new to me that I was not feeling much confidence.
This is about the only "out there" shot we took, as we were struggling to get straight on the waves and wind. We decided (in part because of a dumping we took on Lake Benton a while back) to reverse course and go down the shoreline again, to see how our luck would hold on the other end of the lake.
We made it there, and we could hear the wind screaming through the trees, but between the milfoil
and the biting flies, plus all the wind and waves, we decided to make it a shorter trip than we had planned.We did see a few ducks, but for the most part, the section of lake we explored was cabins and quiet. It felt good to get back on the water, and we're going to be full-on exploring for the rest of July and August.
Jarett and Laura Bies
1 comment:
The never-ending strong winds prove quite a challenge to prairie paddling. Thanks, Laura and Jarett, for introducing us to another lake. It is good to see you pictured out on the water again.
Jay
Post a Comment