Bimaran Paddle
We were surprised to find there was room for our family on a bimaran paddle at Smith and Bybee Lakes this weekend. A bimaran is what you get when you connect two canoes, and they are very stable in the water. Metro offers these excursions in the springtime, and the water in Smith Lake is very shallow now. By the summer, the water will be too shallow to paddle across. It was very peaceful, and so interesting to see the park from the water. Jasper was really intrigued to find that the lake was teeming with strange aquatic plants. We were told that ducks find them very tasty and come by the thousands to feast. Jasper was really happy to be given his own paddle and did his part to help row. There are occasional opportunities to canoe in the area even if you do not own any sort of boat yourself. Three places to keep an eye out are Metro’s calendar http://calendar.oregonmetro.gov/events/ Columbia Sough Watershed Council's calendar http://www.columbiaslough.org/PDFs/events/Calendar%20of%20Events/2010%20Events%20Calendar.pdf and the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge calendar http://www.fws.gov/tualatinriver/specialevents.html (Jasper and I can be barely glimpsed on this calendar page).
Here is a view from the lake. The black and white object on top of the power lines is a bald eagle.
We had two bimarans in our tour. Here is a view of the other bimaran, and our amazing guide, Metro naturalist James Davis, in his kayak.
One of the beaver lodges we floated by.
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