According to the calendar, the first day of Spring was Friday, and our weather cooperated with the mood of the season. With highs in the 60’s it is easy to get spring fever. We’re noticing more birds and the trees seem to be alive with their activities. So it just made sense, when I had a bit of space in my schedule, to watch the sunrise from the lake yesterday. It is a bit higher at the lake, so i bundled up, knowing it can be chilly in the morning. I wasn’t disappointed. The grass was covered with frost and there was skim ice on the lake as i set my boat into the water. I was paddling a kayak in anticipation of the cooler temperatures. Kayaks are warmer because the deck creates an enclosed space that is warmed by body heat. I fitted my spray cover around the cockpit coaming and paddled out. I was using a greenland paddle, which drips a little more than western paddles with rubber rings that keep the water out on the tips. After a few paddle strokes, I noticed that the drips were freezing on the deck of the kayak. No worries, I’ve paddled in colder waters.

After a short paddle, the sun began to make its appearance and before long I could feel its warmth. The geese were complaining vociferously about my presence, Mostly they just squawk and swim away from me, but occasionally a bird will head out in front of my boat going the same direction that I’m paddling. I don’t chase the geese intentionally, but my pace in a boat is a bit faster than their normal pace, so I tend to catch up to them. When I get too close, they take off with great noise and splashing and fly a few yards before gliding back down to the water’s surface. A kayak with a human paddler doesn’t leave such a wake in the water as a goose flapping its wings. The commotion is intensified with the noise. Geese aren’t prone to doing anything quietly.

I was surprised that there were several campers in the campground. I could hear the hum of generator motors as I approached. There was even one party sleeping in a tent. Their tent looked like a good and well-insulated model, but they were huddled around the campfire in the early-morning hours. The RV campers appeared to be still in bed, or at least still inside.

In the little coves and pockets around the lake there was still some ice. It seems incredible to me that there could still be that much ice on the lake, but when you think about it, there is a lot of ice to to melt on the surface of the lake. It wasn’t that long ago that the fishermen were driving their 4-wheelers and dragging their ice shacks across the surface of the lake.

A few fish were rising, I think mostly in speculation of the possibility of insects rather than responding to actual bugs above the water. At least it seemed a bit cold and I didn’t notice any insects flying around as I paddled.

I am well aware of the fact that I live in South Dakota. We can still see blizzards, well into May. In fact, I hope we do get some significant spring snow. Things are too dry in the hills and we need the moisture. But it is unlikely that we’ll see any weather that keeps me off of the lake for an entire month.

So the tally for the winter of 2014-15 is just a little over three months. I paddled in early November, but was off of the lake for December, January and February. That’s not bad for someone in a northern clime. Folks in Maine aren’t on the water yet and might not be for at least another month. We can have open water in any month of the year and I keep my eyes open simply because I’d like to be able to say I paddled in every month.

But I need winters for building. The pace of my work always slows when I can be out paddling. I guess at my real core, I’m more of a paddler than a builder. Building boats is, for me, one step in the process of paddling. There is no feeling quite like that of paddling in a boat that you made with your own two hands.

This is the season of waiting. We know that summer is coming, but we also have lived in this country long enough to know it is too early to put out the tomatoes. We’ve seen too many spring blizzards to believe that it is time to put away the snowblower. But that knowledge doesn’t keep us from wanting to spend time out of doors. We open up all of the windows and air out our houses and drive with our windows down in our cars. It is still early enough that we can feel a bit chilly and that feeling is one to be savored. We know that we won’t be able to remember what chilly feels like when the hottest days of summer set in.

I will keep looking for opportunities to head to the lake and mornings to watch the sunrise from its surface. There is a glory in paddling into the sunrise that attracts me no matter how many times I’ve been there. There are always new things to discover about the lake even though it is small and very familiar to me. The geese need to be reminded that it’s OK to share and the beaver needs to be reminded that he is not alone. In a few weeks, I’ll need to count the goslings and not long afterwards the ducklings. The fish will find flying insects and be rewarded for their trips to the surface. And I need to be reminded that there is beauty beyond human imagination available every day.

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