A Better Than Expected Day

We just got back from a sunset paddle on Lake Eaton.  The water was super calm and it was so quiet. Once the rippling from the paddling died away, there was no sound at all.  That is such a rarity in our lives: no sound at all.  Our lives are filled with so much noise and activity, much of it self-inflicted, that we have forgotten what it’s like to be quiet and still.  Reminds me of the words in Psalm 46:10: Be still and know that I am God.

This was a rare time that we could experience stillness and quietness.

I must say it was quite pleasant and soul-refreshing.

Another thing that most of us miss is complete and utter darkness.  Here in the absence of nearby big cities and other sources of light pollution, it gets really dark.  It was cloudy last night so there wasn’t even any starlight so the sky was black, really black.  The night before was clear and the stars were out in a display that we city-folk don’t see.  A fabulous display of heavenly lights.

Time to move on from Moffitt Beach.  We could probably do a bunch more things in this area, but we headed north where we had made another reservation at Lake Eaton Campground, about an hour away.  On the way we stopped for a hike at Watch Hill, a 1-mile out and back hike near Indian Lake.

Last night’s rain drenched everything and made the muddy spots on the trail even muddier, so we were a bit messy when we finished this hike.  The day had dawned overcast with a low cloud-ceiling and we were almost at that ceiling when doing this hike, so we didn’t get the promised vistas when standing on Watch Hill.  But it was a great hike, despite slogging through mud and over lots of roots and getting rained on every time we touched a tree.

Onward to Lake Eaton.  We arrived at just after noon, and backed into campsite 65 just in time for lunch.  This was another campsite right along the waters of Lake Eaton, so we unloaded the kayaks and paddled across the lake and back.   A pleasant paddle, winds were light and variable, and we had the entire lake to ourselves.

Then it was an attempted hike to Owl Hill, as there was an access trail at the other end of the campground.  However we found out that it was a 5-mile hike just to get to the trailhead, and the trail was very muddy so we turned around.  Time for a little hammock and drone time.

The campground person came around and noticed we had the kayaks down.  “Why don’t you move over to site 77,” she told me. “It has a little beach area for launching kayaks; should be a lot easier.”

Indeed, it is a great campsite with a great view of the lake.  We hung the hammock between a couple birch trees overhanging the water and beached the kayaks just below the campsite.  Primo spot!

I took a couple pictures from high up just to get the lay of the land, and you can see Eaton Lake on the bottom of the picture, and Long Lake stretching the entire width near the top. Our camp is near the extreme bottom left corner.  This area must look amazing in the fall when the leaves are turning.  We’re seeing just the first tinges on some of the trees now.

After dinner we went on the sunset paddle mentioned earlier.  The weather forecast for today was not all that great, with rain in the forecast, but that held off and it was actually a very pleasant day.

Today marks one week that we have been on the road.  We have covered 976 miles so far and our path looks like this:

Tomorrow, depending on weather, we may start heading south or we may stick around another day or two.  You could spend weeks here and not do everything so the dilemma is: do we stay here longer or explore other areas south of here.  Either way, we’re getting a big list of things we can do when we come back here.