Muddy Water

Your Boulevardier's paddling companion has phoned in sick today, so our usual Wednesday morning kayak adventure on Lake Chabot has been scrubbed. One hopes the paddling companion recovers promptly. In the meantime, Your Boulevardier will recount last week's outing.

We met at the lake at 8:00 a.m. In the summer we prefer to paddle as early as 6:00 a.m., but in winter the hours are adjusted to match the sun's, and 8:00 a.m. is about as early as one can go out and still see something.

And there was much to see. A week of rains, many of them torrential, had filled the lake to overflowing with muddy, muddy water. It had also washed down a considerable quantity of debris -- logs, branches, bark, soda bottles, liquor bottles, and other flotsam. Between the elevated water level, the altered water color, and the ample layer of junk afloat, the lake looked utterly foreign. It smelled different, too -- not bad (as the lake does when the water level is low and the shoreline mud is exposed), but earthy.

As we paddled in the very still air, we contemplated how the muddy water might affect the fish population, and especially their ability to breathe. Does the dirt in the water clog their gills, we wondered? My companion made the apt comparison to smog.

Ever the environmental do-gooders, we collected some of the man-made flotsam as we paddled to the dam and back. We noticed that some of the lake's docks were now no longer walkable from the shoreline -- that is, the shoreline that had been above their gangplanks was now inundated. And at least one of the shorline stairways ended, quite literally, in the lake -- indeed, a fisherman sat on its steps with his line dipped. The birdlife we saw -- mainly coots and herons -- seemed to be actively avoiding the water. Once at the dam, we found ourselves tempted to paddle closer to the spillway to see it in action, but we obeyed the buoys and kept our distance. As we paddled back to the docks, a breeze came up and gave us a chill.

Your Boulevardier heartily recommends visiting Lake Chabot at this time of year, especially after a prolonged rainstorm. It proves to be a different place -- not necessarily nicer than its springtime glory, but interesting in its transformation.