In The Shadow of Longs Peak
Pueblo Reservoir
15 September 2012
Since Gary had stuff to bring down to Brian’s in Colorado Springs, we decided to squeeze in a paddle at Pueblo Reservoir.
All week I have been looking at the weather for Saturday and it promised to be clear, in the 80s with less than 10 mph of wind. This forecast held true and I think this is the only time we’ve paddle at Pueblo where the winds were not significant so it was a definite treat.
Today, we wanted to paddle up to where the Arkansas River flowed into the reservoir. With this in mind, we parked that the State Wildlife Area that is uplake from the North Entrance and Marina. It took some driving around to find the boat ramp but we did. The boat ramp itself is closed to vehicles so we park and carry our boats down to the water. The ramp is a bit steep but not too long though when we get out it will feel twice as steep and long.
We push off at about 11:50, paddle upstream and across the river. Up lake there are stands of large trees that we paddle thru. Gary hugs the wall and disappears into an inlet. When he doesn’t immediately reappear, I turn back and paddle in. Surprisingly, for as low as the lake is, this inlet takes a turn or two before petering out.
We turn, paddle out, and continue up lake. There is another inlet, but a bigger boat is parked there so we pass it by. We continue on, and in the blink of an eye we are in the no wake zone signaling we are nearing the end.
I look around an notice some of the taller trees have nests which look similar to heron’s nests. We see a bird fly away. It seems to have a white underbelly and we wonder if it’s an osprey. We see another bird, shaped like a heron but brown in color, perhaps a cormorant. It turns to fly but instead dives into the water, then pops it head up and swims along but with it’s body submerged.
There are the more familiar blue herons as well.
This area is interesting for all the trees popping up out of the water – tall trees at that! It interesting that they are all still upright, considering how old the reservoir is (how old is it?)
The south side continues to be the soft cliffs topped with rabbit brush and juniper. The north has a softer line and more rolling hills.
Upward we continue, and now approach an island of sorts, an area of many smaller trees all standing in water deep enough for a fishing boat to park in. Gary suggests going up the right side and we continue to paddle and enter an area with the small trees standing in water on both side. A flock of a lake gulls observe us.
We continue up and enter an area that is quite a bit shallower. We both get hung up. Gary mentions that the water now has a definite flow to it…and it does! We continue to try and paddle against the current, trying to pick the best line – that is, ones with water. Another 100 feet go ok but we are running out of water. Gary presses on but I turn back, try another route and turn back again then get into an eddy. I want to take a picture but this eddy is not quite enough for me to go no hands – so I watch Gary as he paddles, then turns, then comes back.
The landscape here: Many islands with just grass; in general pretty flat. Live trees line the water’s edge but they appear to be far away so this delta is pretty wide. It would be interesting to come back in a spring or a high water year.
Gary catches up and we float downstream for longer and faster than I anticipate and in no time at all we are on the lake.
Time: it look about an hour to get to the delta.
We paddle back down lake, on the south side, looking for nooks and crannies to explore. Before long, we are back at the boat ramp but we continue down lake to a final point then across to an island, then back to the north shore and ramp. This spot has small waves going every-which-way, easily maneuverable but would have freaked me out a couple of years ago…I even paddle parallel to some.
Now we are back and unloading boats. Its 3 PM so about a 3-hour paddle. And 3 hours is about our limit in terms of needing to get out and stretch.