Essex Explorations

It’s not often that we get snow at sea-level here in the South Sound, so it was just too tempting to haul the boat and gear out when the snows started yesterday. Waking up early this morning, I peeked out to see 3 inches on the lawn, as well as jacketing my boat which I had loaded the night before. As the thermometer read 26° F along with a slight breeze from the north, I put on an extra layer. It felt unusual to be clearing so much snow for the windshield as I readied to drive to the put-in.

I wanted to take advantage of the snow as a backdrop and take photos of Ketron Island blanketed in white. I noticed a few stares and shakes of head as the commuters from Anderson Island disembarked off the ferry. I often get comments of disbelief from people whenever it comes up that I enjoy paddling in the winter as much as any other time of the year. And it’s priceless to see the look of bewilderment when I point out that they snow-ski in the winter! And the snow is much colder then the Sound.

Although there was just a slight breeze at the house, I soon felt a BFT 4 wind out of the NW as I left the shelter of the train overpass. This meant that with the wind chill it was 11° F. It was at my back as I headed to the south end of the island, but made for sloppy waves that kept my decks awash as I crossed Cormorant Passage. Last year at the WCSKS over dinner, Dubside made the comment, “That you really haven’t explored an area until you’ve paddled it in all seasons”, and it couldn’t be more apparent what he meant as I approached the marina on Ketron. I’ve been to the island too many times to count, but it felt as if I was approaching a completely alien landscape this time. As I made landfall and popped the hatches to unpack my breakfast, it felt more like deja-vu then returning to an old friendly beach visited many times; familiar but unknown.

Ketron seems to host a healthy family of raccoons as I always find their tracks at the tide line, but it was so much more artistic to see them glittering in the snow. The trees were bare of their fall colors as we’ve already experienced a couple of wind storms this year, and the colors on the island were subdued and covered in white with the exception of the ferns with their deep green showing through. All too soon it was time to leave, and repacking the boat I was relieved to see that the wind had died somewhat with the whitecaps lying down. At least I wouldn't have such a cold biting wind in my face on the return trip.