Day 219

Daily stats
Start: 6:00 AM - Lorain, OH
Finish 3:45 PM - Kelly Island, OH
Time: 9:45hours
Daily dist: 34 miles
Total dist: 4200+
Companions: None
Weather: Cloudy w/ showers in morning, partly cloudy and beautiful in PM
Notes: Stopped at southern most beach on Lake Erie at about 10:30 AM

After a couple storm cells passed by this morning the day turned out to be a relatively quiet one. When I woke at 4:30 I could see lighting flashing over the lake so I decided that a pre-sunrise launch would not be a great idea. Of course being a bit tired from a late night last night it was easy to use the weather as an excuse to say in bed a bit longer. I had ended up sleeping in Colleen’s tent which she had put up for visitors over the weekend and decided to leave up for me. Not having to break down camp bought me another twenty minutes of sleep, which was also appreciated. So after “sleeping in” until 5:30 I was still able to get on the water by 6:00. After launching I bid farewell to Colleen and thanked her, once again, for all her help and headed SW down the shore.

Colleen saying good by from her beach.

After four hours of paddling I decided to take a quick break at a somewhat noteworthy spot in today’s journey. It was the southernmost beach on Lake Erie… Like I said it was a quiet day.

Big smiles on the southernost beach of Lake Erie

From the southern most beach I headed northwest (for the first time since entering the lake) and paddled toward the Cedar Point Amusement Park with giant roller-coasters gleaming on the horizon ten miles away. With the south wind now helping me along, I reached the park without any trouble. Things were going so smoothly I decided to take a more direct route to Kelly Island which meant a longer open water crossing but less mileage overall. This time the wind was directly on my back and I made excellent time all the way to and around the north point of the island.

Not a bad place to hang out and wait for sunset.

Inside the cove on the north side of the island I located the private beach that John, who I’d met last night, had arranged for me to stay on. It turns out that he knows the and made a couple calls on my behalf so I could stay. It is just a small beach and is flanked on one side by aFrom the southern most beach I headed northwest (for the first time since entering the lake) and paddled toward the Cedar Point Amusement Park with giant roller-coasters gleaming on the horizon ten miles away. With the south wind now helping me along, I reached the park without any trouble. Things were going so smoothly I decided to take a more direct route to Kelly Island which meant a longer open water crossing but less mileage overall. This time the wind was directly on my back and I made excellent time all the way to and around the north point of the island. private house and on the other by a YMCA camp so I didn’t want to set up my tent too early. Luck would have it that a state park beach was just a quarter mile further down the beach so I paddled down and hung out for the rest of the day. All the while taking advantage of the picnic tables and other facilities. Right at dark I’ll paddle back down and set up my tent so I won’t bother anybody.