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[lee johnson]

Wow! Launching from the Salton Sea Headquarters State Park (south of Mecca, CA), Bonnie and I have had a dream-sequence this winter. Thousands of wintering pelicans and other shorebirds are here, at the biggest mid-planet rest-stop on the Pacific Flyway. The sunsets are indelible: moving from amber, to pink, to mauve, to lilac blue - and right now (Dec. 29th, 2008), Mercury, Jupiter, the crescent Moon, and Venus are lined up on the ecliptic, as the sky darkens to reveal astoundingly bright constellations. We are refugees from the Pacific NW's awful snow and cold this winter, and we brought our AE Dragonflies with us in our pop-up camper. We are going out every day, paddling along the fourteen miles of "kayak-trails" from the Headquarters campground, past Mecca, Corvina, and Salt Creek beaches to Bombay Beach in the south. If you love waterbirds and mountains (San Jacinto, San Gorgonio, and the Santa Rosas surround you) and pleasant temps (mid 70s) when kayaking, this is the place to be in the winter. Of course, with all those thousands of pelicans, gulls, and other waterfowl flying about, I have to wear my Canadian Tilley hat for protection! By the way, let us note that the symbol of the Salton Sea California State Parks is a kayak!! This non-invasive form of watercraft seems to be their craft of choice. With these AE kayaks in this incredible setting, life could not be better. Happy 2009!

[PJohanson]

Sounds great! Even a Tilley hat to complete your terrific set of gear.

[lee johnson]

Day Four of kayaking on the Salton Sea is about to commence, but I would like to add a couple of points to my original posting. First, there are 360 square miles of area on this body of water, but so far we have not seen any other boats or craft out there. It is as if one has one's own private Sea (except for the thousands and thousands of waterbirds!). Launching can be tricky. We found the boat launch at the Salton Sea Headquarters to be best because of the cement boat ramp and Varner Harbor there. The shore of the Salton Sea is heavily shelled and squishy - stepping into it in most places means sinking up above one's ankles. If any of you also have tried this astounding body of water, please let me know if you have found other good places for launching and and beaching your kayaks. Well, I must be off: every minute spent at the computer is another minute lost in the sunshine and on the sea in my Dragonfly.

[lee johnson]

Another point about kayaking on the Salton Sea: its salinity level is a tad higher than that of, say, the Pacific Ocean. Salt is marvelously corrosive, as we all know (folding kayaks with aluminum frames are particularly vulnerable to this kind of corrosion); and even our AE inflatables are a bit of work to wash off properly after a session in salt water. At the Salton Sea Headquarters State Park, there is a boat wash, plus a fish-cleaning table with spray hoses near the launch. That cleaning table does not seem to have been used for its original purpose in a long time, but it is in pristine condition, as is everything at this well-maintained park. It certainly is convenient for getting a lot of fresh water on and into one's kayak. That, plus a good sponge and the warmth and low humidity of the morning sunshine - and one's IK is ready for another session by lunchtime. I must add, finally, that my West Marine version of the Dragonfly simplifies cleaning and drying over my AF 1 - which, with its aluminum forms at the bow and stern, would have to be rinsed off and dried with great care. Despite these precautions, Bonnie and I cannot wait for next winter and another magical set of sessions on the Salton Sea - especially after driving back to the Pacific NW in a driving snowstorm on Jan. 4th! What has all this taught me, besides how much I enjoy kayaking? - "I run on sunlight!"