Just a heads up, this installment of Outings! is going to look a little different, because, well… it was a different sort of outdoor adventure than I’ve done since starting this blog series. This past weekend we didn’t go for a hike, or even a walk in a nearby, new-to-us park. No.
This weekend, we borrowed a couple of kayaks, putt my beloved Subaru Crosstrek to the test, and headed out to a local man-made lake for a little paddling!
Preamble
Now, Trev and I have been planning to buy kayaks of our own for a couple of years now, but it turns out they’re kind of expensive. And school employees don’t make all that much money, y’all. But I REALLY wanted to get out on the water on Sunday, and I happened to have a friend willing to loan us her boats for the day.
So, we drove to her place and struggled in the 90º heat to load and secure the boats to my fancy Thule Hull-a-Port XTR kayak rack. Basically, it’s a convertible j-rack that can mount up to two kayaks. It’s bougie and awesome, and I bought it last year when we thought we were going to pull the trigger on buying our own kayaks, but then that ended up falling through…
Anyway, loading up the first boat wasn’t that bad. BUT all the tutorials and demo videos online don’t really explain how to tie down a second boat, so we were doing our best.
Which took an hour.
But, we eventually got the boats on there and went home to rest up before our early wake up to head out.
So, once we’re on the road, I felt really good about how secure the boats were and that we were going to have an awesome time. And I was right! So let’s get to the good stuff already.
Turner Lake Park
Emphasis on the “lake” part of that title. While there are some amenities and parklike features surrounding the lake, we didn’t explore any of that. It was an unreasonably hot weekend after the long, slow spring we’ve been having, and basically all of the Pacific Northwest was desperate for some water activities. Luckily for us, there’s this man-made like within easy driving distance. So that’s what I’m going to talk about today.
Turner Lake is small, about 70 acres total, made from an old quarry that filled with ground water. Donated to the city of Turner by the housing development that built up around the quarry, the city then received a grant from the state to further develop the park.
Currently, there’s a boat ramp, though non-motorized and electric motors only are allowed. There’s also a 5mph speed limit on the water. There’s also a little peninsula at the north end of the lake for the exclusive use of residents of the gated neighborhood there. Trev and I paddled out there just to check it out, but decided against getting out of the boats.
Ultimately, this isn’t an exciting paddle. It’s a popular spot for locals and especially families. On a hot day there are lots of other paddlers, kayaks and SUPs (Stand Up Paddle boards) alike. With all the ruckus and the small size, you’re not going to get much peace and quiet, nor are you going to see any wildlife.
But, for a couple of paddling newbies wanting to enjoy some time on the water on a hot ass day? It was perfect.
We were on the water for about an hour, and while there were some newbie struggles, we had a lot of fun. And we managed to get our paddle in before the lake got too busy for the day. It only took about 10 minutes to load the kayaks up the second time, and then we were back in town for burgers and beer before noon!
We’ll definitely be kayaking again this summer!
Gear
I haven’t really dialed in how best to track paddling activities, so until I do, we’re just going to jump into the gear section of an Outings! post.
My Gear:
- Perception Swifty Deluxe 9.5ft Sit-In Kayak
- Teal zip-up Rashguard (UV protection)
- Light gray sunhat
- Swimming leggings (UV protection)
- aka the best thing ever invented. Who the hell would wear a swimsuit when you can wear leggings?
- Paddling Life Vest in Neon Yellow
- Tevas
- Sea to Summit Lightweight Dry Bag, 1.5L
Trevor’s Gear
- Pelican Blitz 100x Sit-On Kayak
- Costco Neoprene Life Vest, gray
- Dark gray sunhat
- Combat Flip Flops
We also had a slew of various transportation gear for getting kayaks secured to the car, but I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty of that here. If you really want to know, contact me and I’ll walk you through it.
The Verdict
There’s a lot of positives here – location and ease of access chief among them. But, it’s also a man-made lake in the PNWonderland. It’s hard to give a suburban man-made lake many more stars than this.
What she said… okay, fine. What she said, because it’s really hard to give a higher rating when our first time kayaking was on a guided tour of the Willamette. There’s just a lot of beautiful water around us. This isn’t it. But for the ease of use, this is a great spot to practice and keep in paddling shape.
We said what we said, and we stand by it. It’s a great spot for a quick paddle, when you’re brand new and/or feeling rusty. But the pinnacle of peace and solitude, a spot to commune with nature? Nah, this ain’t it.
That's All, Folks!
And, that’s a wrap! Sorry it’s a touch late, but it’s been a pretty hectic week. I’ll talk more about that on Monday. I have a couple different outdoorsy things planned for this weekend, so you can expect another Outings! post next week as well.
Until then, Bloggos!
BZ
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