Kayaking Bellevue Slough

Summer has settled back over Seattle, after only a brief bout of our typical Junember (or Junuary) weather, and so I prioritized getting out kayaking this weekend. I went Saturday, which was supposed to be at least 5 degrees cooler and slightly less windy than today. Since it was graduation at the University of Washington, my default rental place did not appeal and I returned to Enatai on Lake Washington.

I'd not been to Enatai in a few years. It is located under I-90 near the Bellevue slough. Most of the time when I rent there, I go up the shore of Lake Washington, or even over to Mercer Island but, given the wind, I planned on doing the Slough instead.

At Enatai, you launch from a sandy/pebbly shore and the kayaks tend to be wet inside so you start off at least a little damp. The kayak they first gave me was missing a peddle for the rudder, so the guy swapped it out for a longer boat where I could barely reach the peddles, so I didn't use them too much.

It was lovely out. The water in Lake Washington was clear and the vegetation in the lake looked like coral. In the Slough, there were various sized schools of tiny fish that would dart as one when my paddle entered the water near them.

I had metallic blue damsel flies alight on my red kayak. A few of them settled in for the ride as we glided against the wind. One of them took off the instant the shadow of a footbridge touched it as the kayak passed under.

I saw a mamma duck with 3 good-sized ducklings, and a gaggle of geese with fledgling goslings, looking neither as cute as their younger puffball selves nor as glossy as their parents. I also saw several Great Blue Herons--one in the shadows under I-90 as I paddled in to the Slough, one atop a tall post in Lake Washington on the way back, and a few flying overhead, along with a hawk. One bird carried a long, thin branch as it flew over I-90 and I worried about it being dropped down on a car zipping by below.

There were also a few waterlilies amidst many more large green lily pads. When I saw the first school of fish, I wondered if they were polliwogs (and maybe that first group was).

At times, I sang as I paddled--"Green Grow the Rushes", "Dream a Little Dream", the theme song from "Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars" (there was also an Eighties song I cannot recall right now!). One bird may have tried to sing along, or just objected to my singing. I pondered how much animals actually hear humans sing, especially live. I imagined stories the forest animals tell their younglings about nights where a strange glowing can be seen and the air is filled with the smell of burnt sugar and horrible sounds of multiple creatures for hours on end. I should write a children's book with that idea.

It's been a very stressful week and a very unproductive last 42 days (I should write about starting to pay attention to those at some point), but the weather has helped. Reading has helped. A massage Thursday helped. And kayaking definitely helped.