On Sunday, September 10, 2017, the day of the season premier of "The Orville," we decided to spend the long hours waiting for the first broadcast of the next greatest Sci-Fi TV series by padding around Shadow Mountain Lake.
Bordered by the Rocky Mountain National Park on one side and the Arapaho National Recreation Area on the other, Shadow Mountain Lake is a reservoir in Grand County, Colorado, near the headwaters of the Colorado River.
Shadow Mountain Lake is part of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. Construction on the earth fill dam began in 1944 and was completed in 1946. It is one of a hundred structures that make up the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. Operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Project was designed to divert water from the Colorado River on the western slope of the Continental Divide to the east slope of the Rocky Mountains. With 1,346 surface acres of water, Shadow Mountain Lake is much larger than Grand Lake. Its maximum depth, however, is just 24 feet making it much shallower than Grand Lake's 265 feet. The shallow waters make for great osprey habitat.
We decided to concentrate our paddling in the southern end of the lake. There are a number of islands to paddle around and explore. The islands are closed from May 1 to September 1 to protect the osprey nesting sites.
The shallow coves are also very popular with the local water fowl. We were approaching this flock of Canadian geese when several other kayakers came around one of the small islands and scared them into flight.
We watched as they took rose right in front of us and formed a "V".
At this time of year, you can expect a thunderstorm anytime after noon. As we paddled about, we kept one eye to the sky, trying to figure out just how long we could safely stay out on the water.
After about an hour of exploring, we found a quiet cove to beach the kayaks and eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
For our lunch spot, we spied this osprey perched on a dead tree. The other kayakers came by and stopped to gawk. As soon as they turned and paddled away, the osprey took flight.
Tucked back in the southwest corner of the lake is a small quiet cove whose entrance is guarded by a wall of cattails. Those brave enough to run the narrow gauntlet between the reeds are rewarded scenic beauty.
As we continued around the next little island, we encountered more geese. Only this time, we were able to quietly and slowly paddle by them without scaring them into flight.
As we worked our way back to our launch site, we ran into this little duck family.
We were just a few yards from our take-out when we heard the first rumbles of thunder. It usually takes us about 30 minutes to get the kayaks out of the water, cleaned and stowed back on the Jeep. Today, we did it in less than 20 minutes! Thunder is a great motivator.
We have a couple more hikes we would like to do, but a lot will depend on weather. Stay tuned.
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