by Phil Rowe
Rains and clouds stayed with us as we drove south to Tremonton, Utah, but by the time we got to the Salt Lake it was sunny and winds had abated. That was all I needed to encourage a short side trip to the shores of the lake near Willard Bay. That northeastern corner of the Great Salt Lake deserved my attention for at least a short paddling experience. My tolerant wife, Jean, waited patiently in the car whilst I put my boat into that brine for a first time .
I expected that my boat would ride a little higher in that lake, it being four times as salty as the ocean. But what surprised me was how the increased viscosity slowed me down. It took extra effort to get up to my usual paddling speed. And when I stopped paddling the boat almost came to a sudden stop. That was wierd. I tried it with my boat rudder retracted and I tried it with the rudder down. Up was a little improvement, but down was slow, really slow.
The lake was murky too. I have seen it on the southern shores in the past, when you could see the lake bottom at two feet depth or more, but here at Willard Bay it was really murky. You could not see down into the water but six inches. There were several small fishes that greeted me on my mile long paddling trek. They jumped out of the water after bugs, I suppose. And I saw several great blue heron along the water's edge near a clump of trees and grasses. Winds were light and I did enjoy my first experience on really salty water.
Getting around Salt Lake City was a mess. I-15 was under major re-work for miles right through the city (north-south), but this time there was an added complication. We learned over the radio that last night a gasoline tanker truck crashed, exploded and killed several people in other cars. The freeway was closed for a full day whilst the mess was cleared. Hence we were detoured and traffic was really backed up .
I'll remember my paddling experience longer than the inconvenience of that traffic mess.