2010-07-04 PWC July 4th Hood Canal Paddle

[PWCadmin]

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The route: Seabeck / Scenic Beach
State Park to a now un-named
estuary just past Guillemot Cove


The Seabeck contingent,
getting ready to launch. Note
the new steel and concrete
rising from ancient wood pilings
of the old Seabeck Marina.

Irma, Nancy, Paul, Jo Ann, Rick, Jackie, and Karla.

Jay Thompson is holding the camera,
and took all but a few of the
following pictures.


Nancy and Paul


Karla

New Oyster
Plant
in Seabeck Bay



Near Misery Point




At Scenic Beach State Park, Charlie briefs all 18 paddlers
regarding route, tide, current and forecast winds






Kevin Hinds

Stavis Bay



Paul




Lunch time
on Charlieʼs former
beach


Among the boaters (not
previously mentioned): Cathy,
Tom Rogers, Gunda, Tom
Henning, Susie, Frank, Greg,
Julie, and briefly, Bonnie.



Charlie, disrobed



Brownies
anyone?



The DNR did a great job restoring the estuary. They removed the house,
out-buildings, waterfront bulkhead, driveway, and lower orchard. The
stream no longer is harnessed to generate electric power off the grid.


In their place: yards of earth excavated from the
waterfront, new plantings, and vertically and
horizontally placed snags and trunks of trees





Click here for the original PDF of this trip This is a big 3 MB file.


PDF was deconstructed and submitted on the forum by pwcadmin (Jay Thompson). The only pictures I had to work with were the ones I took, if anyone has more pictures or more stories to tell about this trip, please log in and click the post reply button below. I would like for Paul to log in and submit his brownie recipe. They were delicious!

[JayThompson]

So there is no confusion, this reply written by Jay Thompson and is my own report of the same trip summarized above.

This was my first paddle trip other than the instruction I took a couple months ago from Tom Henning. (trip report here) I enjoyed myself until a little after Stavis Bay and by that point I was really tired and pretty much done. I was having a really hard time keeping my boat going straight. I felt like I was fighting a losing battle and my kayak was winning easily. Damn thing kept drifting to the right and I was too proud to put my rudder down until about the last mile when Paul suggested that I try it. Wow, what a difference it made. I could actually concentrate on paddling both sides instead of fighting to compensate for the drift to the right. I didn't feel like I was leaning in my boat but maybe I was, who knows. Initially I thought the paddle to be too long for a beginner but after considering how much trouble I had with my kayak, I think I would have had an easier time if I had put my rudder down earlier.

Paul going over the route with those of us that rented kayaks in Seabeck. Ignore the the blue tights.


Charlie briefing us at Scenic Beach


Tom Rodgers. I didn't know Hobbits could float?


It was really neat to get to paddle into Stavis Bay and to see all the cool waterfront homes along the way to Charlie's old homestead. A lot of the residents were out BBQing and shooting fireworks for the 4th. Must be nice to live on the water. I was also happy to see Guillemot from the water side. Guillemot is a fun little family hike that I take my son to occasionally.

Kevin Hinds at Stavis Bay


Charlie's old property was neat to see and to learn about the work the dnr has put into restoring it to the wild. I think it will still be a while until it is truly wild again, but they sure have gotten it off to a good start.

Yours Truly


Spot Data


Thanks Charlie for sponsoring this trip, and thanks Paul for getting us noobs out there!


To see all the images I took of this trip, go to http://www.pwckitsap.org/phpbb/gallery2.php?g2_itemId=4484.


As a side note.... Knowing that a kayaking trip was coming up, I set off to make a waterproof camera enclosure for an older camera I own. The enclosure consists of two food storage containers, highly modified (drilled, sawed, cut, etc.) that I used silicone (the clear stuff aquariums are made with) to hold together. The lens area is just a piece of Plexiglass. The main container has a gasget sealed lid and snaps to keep it in place. I cut several pieces of plexiglass and glued them in as shims to keep the camera in place. To turn camera on you have to open container. This model camera stays on for quite a while so I don't have to open it too often. To snap a picture, you simply squeeze the container right where the button is (there is a shim inside pressed against the button). Its not the best in the world but it took decent pictures and I wasn't worried about getting it wet or dropping it into the drink. I even took a few underwater pictures with it! If you have questions how to make you own, send me a private message or an email and I'll see how I can help.

[pdutky]

By request, below is the recipe for the Hood Canal Brownies. I learned of this recipe from Nancy Osburn, but it can be found online (last time I tried) by searching for "Outrageous Brownies".

Paul

Outrageous Brownies

Yield 20 large brownies

Prep 30 min
Cook 30 min

Ingredients

* 1 pound unsalted butter
* 1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
* 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
* 6 extra-large eggs
* 3 tablespoons instant coffee powder
* 2 tablespoons real vanilla extract
* 2 1/4 cups sugar
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided (1 cup for batter and 1/4 cup in the chips and nuts)
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 3 cups diced walnut pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.

Melt together the butter, 1 pound chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.

Stir together 1 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Do not over-bake! Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.

[Tom Rogers]

Hey Jay,
Nice presentation of Paul's trip report. Would you send me a full size file of the photo of me in my kayak please. It looks like a keeper.
thanks, Tom