Kayaking At Buffalo Bill Reservoir

One day last week I did something I rarely do anymore.

 I had a long talk about kayaking with a woman that I had just met.

 After an easy going and enjoyable conversation we decided that we would go kayaking together the next day, out at Buffalo Bill Reservoir.

Kerry is about my age.

Single.

Devoted to her dogs.

With a job that requires little energy investment, but which pays the bills and allows her to enjoy all the outdoor adventures she can cram into a very short summer.

On the day we went kayaking it WAS truly summer.

Eighty degrees even late in the afternoon and with endlessly blue skies.

A few days before, we had had long periods of cold rain intermixed with wet snow.

But on THIS day it was summer and I was excited to be outside, and to be in my now very-aging-kayak....................

After picking Kerry up and loading her inflatable into the back of the truck alongside my hard shell, we headed down the South Fork.

Headed for an entrance to the reservoir that I had never seen before.

Pulling off the highway we immediately hit rutted out gravel that was supposed to pass for a side road, and I eased down the "road" curious to see where we would end up.

I would have to tell LC about this place.............

Five minutes later I turned into a grassy area filled with covered picnic tables, looked to my left and was stunned at what I saw.

I had never seen the reservoir so low before and I knew it was in anticipation of (and preparation for) the runoff from the snow melt that was happening in the mountains.

Spring comes in fits and starts in the west but the low water level told me that it had finally arrived in Cody WY.

 Picture above of Kerry inflating her boat................

I had never been to this section of the reservoir before, but we were obviously in a cove with steep banks, and as we both headed out I wondered if there was a way to get to open water.

Surely there must be..................

There wasn't................

10 minutes after heading out onto the water it became very apparent that this cove we were stuck in because of low water was not going to feed directly into the reservoir.

Everywhere we turned we were met with lengthy sandbars, and after a short while we decided to head back, load our boats, and find another way onto the water.

Close to the truck I was greeted by this guy.

Not a rattler, but I had no desire to get close to the little beast anyway.

Not a fan.

Not at all.

By the time we had loaded both our boats and all of our other gear into the bed to the truck the snake had moved on.

Apparently he wasn't a fan of US either...................

15 minutes later we were back on the water and both of us were excited to finally be on the open lake....................

There were a number of small islands scattered in this section of the reservoir and as we got closer I was surprised at all the noise.

Every small island was filled with birds. 

Noisy, screeching, highly animated birds - walking on the islands, standing watchfully on rocks at the edge of the islands, swimming in the water, flying overhead.

It was nesting season.

As we slowly paddled by one island after another I carefully dug my camera out from the pocket of my life jacket and snapped a few pictures.

One day I'm going to flip my kayak and one more camera will experience the same fate as so many other digital cameras that have come before it.

But on this day I stayed upright and my camera lives to take more pictures another day.....................

Mostly there were seagulls, but occasionally we ran into a pelican or some ducks.

As I look back on these pictures now I realize just how sweet of a trip it was - beautiful birds on an astonishingly beautiful day while paddling on a beautiful lake.

Even at 6 in the evening it was still very warm and we were both stunned at this unexpected gift of a day..................

We stopped here and floated for a short while, chatting about nothing in particular.

Kerry is...........a bit of a flake.

Not someone who could be a close friend or even a regular acquaintance.

 Having said that though, she is also an easy-going someone who smiles readily, who loves to be outdoors, and who enjoys quiet adventures in and around Cody.

 As we sat floating on the lake just as the sun was beginning to descend, we talked easily about our dogs, and Cody, and good hiking places.

Before turning back the way we had come, we decided to set a hiking date for the following week.

I'm taking the lead, and we're hiking up and over a steep hillside tomorrow (if the weather holds up), dropping down into Oregon Basin and seeing if we can reach Circle Rock.

Should be fun, and Kory can run point for us...............

As we turned back I could feel the chill in the air as soon as the sun started its descent.

It would be cold by the time we got back.

And we were both OK with that.................

  Everyone must believe in something.  I believe I’ll go kayaking.........................Author Unknown