Hi Folks. I was on this site back in the early 2000’s when it was paddling.net. My screen name was/is WaterJedi. I was one of the QCC kayak paddlers that met up with the Lake Jocassee (South Carolina) gang and the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia) gang on a regular basis for great weekends of paddling and camping. Well, life (wife) through me a curve ball and in 2010 I gave up the QCC 500 and the paddling lifestyle. And again life (ex-wife) through me another curve ball and now I find myself living in northern Idaho with a beautiful new wife. New wife actually wants to learn to paddle a kayak so I’m thrilled to say the least. Now I’ve got to get new kayaks, gear, and find places to paddle in Idaho. Of course I will make the trip out to the Puget Sound area as soon as I can. I’m looking real hard at the eddyline kayaks.
If there’s anyone who remembers me (Chris Stone) on this board I’d love to hear from you.
Hey Jim! Yes it was lifetime ago. I’m glad to see you’re still here and paddling. I’m looking forward to getting back into it. I just wish I was closer to the ocean for once. First Atlanta, and now Lewiston Idaho. Oh well, you take what you can get.
I’m a bit north of you in Sandpoint … good kayaking on Lake Pend Oreille and Priest Lake. I have not paddled Coeur d’Alene Lake, but it looks interesting. We usually take 2 or 3 trips in the warm months out to the sea, typically somewhere off Vancouver Island e.g. Broken Group Islands, Quadra and Cortes Islands, etc. Let me know if you get up this way for some kayaking.
Hi Richard, nice to meet you. Yes I will let you know if we head up that way. My wife and I just spent the day driving around Dworshak Dam in Orofino today. We weren’t there to paddle but it will be a close place for us to go when the time comes.
If you make it out to the Puget Sound area, you should stop by NC Kayaks near Tacoma and see what they have to offer. NC now has new owners and I haven’t been up there since the shop moved to a new location. If you’ve never heard of NC Kayaks, they are built and sold only from their shop. They are in the process of redoing their website, but they do have something at nckayaks.com right now.
If you ever come out this way and want to do some paddling, it doesn’t get any better than the Columbia River from Portland down to Astoria. My favorite paddling areas are between Ridgefield, Wa. and down to Skamokowa, Wa. Rainier Oregon is a very good place to launch.