The Photo Gallery
A Wilderness Systems Cape Horn 17 Kayak
Here's a collection of photos I've taken of our vacations or other activities. The thumbnail images should load pretty quickly. The larger images are usually 640x480 JPEG's (about 40KB to 80KB each) and will take a little longer. If you're just dying for even higher resolution, let me know and I can provide you with any resolution or image size up to the original, which is usually an 800 KB JPEG.
Why the Cape Horn 17 at the top of the page? Well, I decided that I enjoyed kayaking so much that I would try a little touring on the coast. The Pungo is a good recreational kayak, but I needed something a little better suited to the larger rivers and sounds. The Cape Horn is slightly over 17 feet long (5 feet longer than a Pungo) and has the capacity for both my fat butt and my camping equipment. I also got it equipped with a rudder. I probably won't use the rudder much, but it's there if I need it. "But," you say, "how do you fit your wide rear end into that little cockpit?" Well, it ain't easy my friend. I've had to practice quite a bit, though I have yet to hit the water in an undignified fashion while getting in or out.
An easy beach landing! The biggest challenge is to keep from falling out while hauling my big butt through the yak's cockpit. |
The Creek at Bear Island at low tide. Portaging is often a must here. A strong current flows to Bogue Sound even hours after low tide! |
This is the same picture except at high tide. The current seems to reverse only when the tide covers the sandbars. (Taken from my campsite.) |
We take a break and go out to celebrate my birthday. First decent Polaroid of a restaurant celebration I've ever seen. |
Heading out of Silver Lake at Ocracoke. The Pungo's did a great job in the Sound. (It's also a good idea to have a paddle leash...) |
In "The Ditch" heading East shortly before sunset. I probably damaged the imaging device with this shot. That's Heidi, our guide, to the right. |
A cloudy sunset off of Ocracoke. (We're not really as far out on Pamlico Sound as it seems.) |
Heading for the marshes under a full moon. The time is right at sunset. I'm actually pretty proud of this shot. |
Camping at the lake. The Pungo's are so wide, I had to build a custom car rack to get both on the Trooper. |
We really appreciate having the separate screened gazebo, even though the main tent is pretty large. |
This smaller Coleman Sundome is for kayak camping. I'm trying it out here. At 9'x7', it's still pretty big. |
I still haven't figured this out. Scout and Flea...these guys just love each other. |
"What nice, moderate weather central NC has!" Right!! Here's 21" of snow on my back deck in early 2002. |
Our house on a snowy day just a couple years earlier. "Storm of the century"?? "Never happen again"?? Sure!! |
Taken at Beaverdam Lake just after a massive rainfall. The water level is almost five feet higher than it was just a week earlier. |
Scout's winter coat. And to think that we thought that BooBoo was "scary" when he first came to live with us because he was so skinny and bedraggled. |
Drop me a note if you want to discuss any particular photo or the circumstances surrounding it. Please don't ask me any technical questions about the photos because (1) I don't know what I'm doing, and (2) they aren't that good.