Winter Warmup & Brown Water

It's been a cold snowy winter so far - very different from last year when we started kayaking; very few options for us to get on the water. It warmed up this weekend and I couldn't pass up the chance to paddle. I decided to do a quickie on our very own Moss Lake.

First decision was "what to wear?" Actually, it wasn't hard due to our experience last year and expecting the water to be colder. Even with temp pushing into 60's, I was going to wear my 3mm farmer john. I went with a lightweight long-sleeved paddle shirt to go over it. Oh, the other part that made it easy? A guy died a couple weeks ago on the South Fork Catawba River. Inexperienced, not dressed properly, then trying a river in flood stage. We haven't tried the stretch they did. It's a real mix of flatwater and rocks & shoals. Neither flatwater nor whitewater paddlers are fond of it - I think due to the mix of conditions that make it hard or unpleasant for one or the other. More later if/when we ever paddle it ourselves.

Second decision was "where to go?" This wasn't hard either. With Kathleen not able to go, I didn't want to go far or stay out for long. I wanted to go to the Mystery Waterfall and see if the higher rainfall this winter made a difference. This would also make it a short paddle. Since we were going to run an errand, I didn't want to stay out long.

As I'm prepping to go, I realized that last time, after a long break, I'd forgotten to take something. I meant to look at my checklist, but did I? Noooooooo! (Turns out, I only forgot a small face cloth to dry my hands.) Good to be doing this again none the less.

While the lake had some minor flooding during the big rains, the water level was normal full pond. There was floating stuff about. Less than what we've seen before when we were on the water more consistently. After all, a week of no rain had allowed some degree of settling or stabilization of the stuff that gets washed through the creeks. I picked up some floating debris in the open water.

The lake water was very brown. Not surprising, really, but it got me thinking. A pharmacist, who works where we get our prescriptions filled, lives on our lake and was commenting about the changing color of the lake water over the course of a year. A little Googling and I found this nifty explanation of lake turnover.

When I got to my destination, I was surprised to see the buildup of a sandbar that kept me from getting past the 'gatekeeping' tree. Disappointment. Compare this to
this:
And then I discovered this affordable lakefront home (only one of it's kind on Moss Lake that I've seen so far):

Finally .... I've speculated previously about proper clothing for days like this. I saw that NRS has a 3mm shortie and a 0.5 mm shortie. I think I'll try the thinner material. But then again, if I wait too long, I'll have even less reason to buy something.