Alberta weather is making it more challenging to hit the water as we progress into fall (and it is now officially fall as I type this post on the morning of Sep 23). I drove all the way from Strathmore, Alberta, to Chain Lakes Provincial Park where I discovered two problems.
The first was that the wind was so strong there were whitecaps dancing across the top of of the lake and I was not sure how well I could do in this kind of sustained gale. Well, in for a penny… That is when I discovered the second problem.
We own three kayak paddles. One for each family member. Somehow they had all wound up in the trunk of my daughter’s car from the previous weekend’s outing and I failed to move them back. I had nothing to propel myself with and I found this out after I had inflated my board. Three hours of driving for nothing. Ferfucksakes.
Defeated, I drove home with the thought of perhaps hitting Chestermere Lake in the evening. Weather Network made the conditions sound promising, so out to Chestermere I went. Nope. There was a storm coming in that wasn’t on the radar imaging and that Weather Network didn’t know about. The wind was so strong the flags were all pointing sideways and the condition of the water was worse in Chestermere that evening than it was in the morning down south. No way was I getting a board on that choppy water safely.
So much for unwinding on some water over the weekend.
Images made with my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra phone.
