August in October: 80 degrees F. on Lake Champlain in the first few days of October. Summer, but with low-angle Autumn light. Very strange, but very beautiful. Hazy on the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks and blue water with an unnerving touch of algae closer to shore. And very shallow because of the drought. Leddy Beach to Juniper Island and back with a south wind. Shot with an iPhone.
Category: kayaking
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August in October
Von Nemethy paddles north from Juniper Island as the sun sets over the Adirondacks. Waders in the shallow water at Leddy Beach in Burlington. Smooth paddling on Lake Champlain. The Spirit of Ethan Allen tour boat cruises Lake Champlain. -
Not too Late to Paddle
We’ve had some frosty nights, followed by summer-like weather, so the water temperature in Lake Champlain has plummeted into the low 60s, but it’s still paddling season. 
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Frost on the Dock
Lake Iroquois, Williston, VT, this morning. Temperature about 36 degrees F. Frost on the dock, but worth it to see the light. Five days ago it was 94 degrees and humid.
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Gulf of California and Baja California Sur
Cold, rainy, and snowy in Vermont, but not at Isla Espirtu Santo in the Gulf of California, near La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Water temperature 68-plus; daytime air temperature 75-plus; fish tacos for supper. The land is essentially a desert, but the gulf is one of the most diverse aquatic habitats on earth and we had knowledgable guides to explain the geology and marine biology we saw. Better place to be in April! Click here for a gallery.
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New Haven Ledges Race
It was warm and sunny for the annual whitewater race on the New Haven River in Bristol, VT, yesterday. Because it was such a low-snow winter, the river was lower and rockier than usual but the turnout was higher for the event, which is run by the Vermont Paddlers Club. Click here for a gallery/slideshow.
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Sticks on the Water
Warm weather, sun low in the sky: a final (?) Stick Season paddle, Waterbury Reservoir, VT.
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Wearing Green
Montpelier, VT, above; below, Green Point, Brooklyn, NY; all the rest, East Montpelier, VT. All taken with a Fuji X-E1, except the whitewater photos. The X-E1 is small retro-looking camera with an electronic viewfinder and a relatively large sensor (APS-C), that is now on sale all over the place because the X-E2 is out. Doesn’t quite fit in your pocket, but smaller than a DSLR and with a sensor as big as most entry-level DSLRs. X-E1 review here. If you wonder why green is a big deal around here, look at the shades of brown in the April post below.
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Champlain Light
Yesterday afternoon a rainstorm blew across Lake Champlain from the Adirondacks and proceeded east over the Green Mountains. What followed was a stunning, constantly changing mix of cloud, color and light. These were all taken at Sandbar State Park in Milton, where Route 2 crosses over to South Hero.
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Green Again
Spring always creeps slowly into the winter-brown Vermont hills and then explodes. This, the other foliage season, a riot of green, seems to arrive in the space of three days. And in the space of two weeks we go from skiing (bottom photo, Mt. Mansfield on April 22nd), to plowing (top, East Montpelier), to bicycling, paddling and mowing the lawn. Summer’s so short it’s a good thing that when spring finally gets here it pounces.
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Stick Season, High & Low
When the fall leaves hit the ground, it’s Stick Season. The reason for the name is obvious but the attractions of this sixth Vermont season aren’t. It can mean raw, gray days with rain and sleet. But it can also be beautiful, as it has been for the past two days, with temperatures in the 60s. At its best, the lowering sun streams through the leafless woods and strobes through the trees as you drive along. People are scrambling to get their fall outdoor work done, but it can still be incredibly quiet and calm, as we wait in that spot between autumn and winter for the seasons to change. Above, Waterbury Reservoir; below, Worcester Mountain.
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Wildwater on the Deerfield
On a beautiful late summer afternoon, the United States of America Canoe and Kayak 2012 Wildwater Team Trials began today on the Deerfield River in northern Massachusetts. Fastest kayaks down the 2-mile course in men’s and women’s classes win. Two sprint races will be held over the next two days to determine team members for the 2013 world championships in Solkan, Slovenia. These photos were taken in the Zoar Gap section of the river, the toughest part of the course. It’s mainly a Massachusetts river, but, hey, a lot of the water comes from hydropower impoundments in Vermont.
