Cedar Lake Kayaking
For my second jaunt in the new kayak I exploded half of Cedar Lake.
With little else to do in the afternoon I strapped the kayak atop the Jeep and drove to Cedar Lake West Point Beach (whatever). I'm still trying to come up with the best tie-down technique. So far, a couple of long ratchet straps laterally (one near the windshield, the other at the rear-most point of the roll cage). And a tie-down each at the bow and stern. I think strong bungees will work better there, because those points tend to flex while driving. I also need to get a cushion of some sort to go between the kayak and the top of the windshield.
Again parking was a problem. All of the little lots near Minneapolis beaches are pay lots so I'd need either a permit or lots of quarters. After some frustrating driving around I finally realized I could unload my boat at the lot, then simply drive across the street and park for free, all day long, on a residential street. This might not work on a busy weekend, however, but it's perfect the rest of the time.
I carried my boat to the official canoe launch and set off into the lake. I paddled out to the middle of Cedar Lake, then headed for an interesting point on the north side. It turned out to be a fifty yard concrete covered channel to little Brownie Lake. After spending a few minutes there I returned to Cedar Lake and found the channel to Lake of the Isles. That was a nice, long channel but I didn't go all the way into Lake of the Isles (I wanted to save some mysteries for another time). I returned to the drop-off spot, but instead of heading to the canoe launch I found a little quasi-beach nearer to my parking spot and got out there. I was so close I just carried the boat across the street to my Jeep. That worked out just fine.