Chacham's Journal: Chronicle: A little kayaking

On Sunday, i wanted to go kayaking at Kensington Metropark, which i've done in the past. I aimed to leave at 3 with a friend for the 20 minute drive, but we got there after 5. Regardless, they weren't renting boats due to high winds. So, off we went to Heavner Canoe & Kayak Rental, instead, which was on the way, and he had wanted to go to anyway. Specifically, Heavner is a route, we you go and come back or can be picked up. Kensington's Kent lake is just that, a lake.

We got there just after 6 and waited in line for a a few minutes. While that was going on, we reviewed prices and i used the outhouse for a moment. Unlike Kensington which has regular restrooms, Heavner has what seemed to be a plywood shack housing a toilet covering a hole in the ground. Nothing like the good outdoors. There was a man outside waiting for his son, making me comment "oh, there's a line," to which he responded, "there's always a line." At which point his son came out and they both left. After a minute or so, someone else tried the locked door and kept banging. I told him just a moment, and when i came out he apologized. I don't understand people.

Sticker shock then hit. At Kensington, it's $8/hour for a kayak, or $9 for a 2 person. At Heavner, all boats were $24/hour. We had about 45 minutes, so we took a 2 person kayak, knowing full well it'd be hard.

We must've pushed off at about 6:15, though in my mind it was still 6. We took a short oar and i long oar, i took front, as he is better than me, so him seeing me seemed better. It was a disaster. We splashed ourselves, we hit oars, we switched oars, we kept drifting and were unable to control it properly. The short oar was a really bad idea. We tried this and that, and finally got to the overpass. Ahead of us some people were swimming, and although it may have been fun, i decided to turn around. The time was 6:30, so in my mind, about a half hour, and i didn't want to perform so poorly with so many onlookers. We turned around and made it back at 6:45.

He was soaked, though not from me. I was wet, but not as much as he was. He made a comment to the person pulling us in how he couldn't get any wetter, or the like. To which he responded something between "oh yeah?" and "wanna see?". It was half funny. Anyway, we returned the oars and life jackets, came up front to pay. Another guy was there, who looked at the paper and expressed surprise over us only being out for 15 minutes. I told him it was more like a half hour, this wasn't our original destination, and i had to leave at 7. Although they do not charge for half hours, they do it anyway, but he was confused and asked me if he just charge the full hour anyway. I said sure, i paid and we left. On the way home, the usual 7:55 meeting was canceled. Whatever.

Some people there talked about having a coupon, and i saw there was some restrictions. A search finds them, but there is warning of knowing what it actually covers.

Overall, i had fun, even if it was for just a few minutes. I'm still debating whether it's worth paying 3 times as much to have a path to follow. But 2 kayaks next time. Definitely, 2 kayaks.