Wild Life and Wildlife

It was a long paddle from La Push to Queets and a full-filling one as well.



Early this morn I found a few left-over glowing embers in someone's abandoned campfire from the previous night while on my morning walk and leg stretch. I re-arranged things, added a few twigs, and soon enough I had a cheery 0600 fire to warm my body and spirit.







I had very pleasant 3-4 foot following seas about half the way, and then on the rear quarter with the wind the rest of the way. A bit of work keeping a heading as there was a tendency to broach but in general it was nice to have the assist.



I had my first whale encounter in a kayak, nothing hugely overwhelmingly intimate, no big whale eye looking up at me, or tail raised high in the air. A small whale, a gray I think, lolling about the surface, spouting in front of me a few times, beside me a few times, and then it was gone. I was enjoying a series of rides, alongside an off-shore reef at the time, and this was another smile in a gallery series of today's smiles. Sea-otters, dozens of them over the day's paddle, popping up to watch me, squealing their funny squeal. A porpoise kept me company for a short while. Locals dismiss the Cormorant as a nothing bird but again today they were flying inquisitive circles around me. I like the company. A flock of Brown Pelicans skimmed right bye, feet from me, their wings skimming along the wave crests, almost touching them. I've never noticed how they fold thier wings in a bit to drop down a ahir and open them to lift again. Probably a nothing to most but interesting to me.



Destruction Island makes a great bearing point. It seemed a distant mirage, and as I traveled along the coast it slowly revealed itself - quite a ways out - tempting to paddle out to it but no time today unfortunately - places to be.



Kalaloch was a surfy mess of brown water and I couldn't spot the river mouth so I passed it by.



Queets was a wild surf ride in over the sandbar, and a serious struggle to keep from being sucked/washed back over the sandbar. I picked a beauty of a wave to ride in on, clean, strong and the perfect speed - total fluke but I felt like some kinda bonzo surf-dude riding it in, edging and stern ruddering. Just as it foamed out I felt the lightest tickle of the sand under the skin of my kayak. Nice feeling. Once into the river proper things slowed down a bit, from a five knot current to about a three knot current that I could paddle against and feel like I was able to make comfortable progress. A serene and peaceful place this river - sad that a highway has been built over top of it, and the homes of the friendly First Nations people of Queets Village.