Kayaking Mono Lake

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One of my favorite spots to dip my paddle is Mono Lake on the east side of the Sierra. Gliding through tufa formations on a glassy morning in my Prijon® Kodiak is pure surreal joy. One of the many kayaking trips I have planned for 2004 is to paddle the entire circumference of Mono Lake, either this winter or in the spring. Hi. If any 22 year old spectacularly gorgeous women want to join me, LET'S GO! Just kidding. Unless, of course... nah, just kidding for reals. But I'm not kidding about kayaking the circumference of Mono Lake. But I'm engaged to be engaged to be engaged and I'm already hangin' on thin rope and I don't know how much longer my belayer is gonna keep belaying. If I whip out my paddles with a 22 year old complete babe, well... FALLIIIIiiiiinnnnggggg.... (splat!) (gurgling sound)”

“Yes! Mono is truly a great paddling location. The scenery is spectacular whether you are looking at nearby tufa or distant mountains.

Smooth as glass in the morning, but they sure aren't kidding about the afternoon winds that come up quickly!

Now, who wants a deal on two Dagger Seeker kayaks?”

“Hi foamfinger! Okay, I'm curious, what kind of deal for the Dagger Seekers? Hopefully less than one meeeeeeellion dollars. I'm still in kayak-acquisition mode and I never ever ever mostly pass up a great deal.”

“There's some good campsites east of Mono, I love the area between there and Benton.”

“Buck, don't mean to hijack your thread . . . . but since you asked! Here's the story: my mother-in-law has moved from the central CA coast to Riverside so we don't get to the coast as often, our garage is small, and now we have two dogs to paddle with (clearly a canoe is in our future.), so the Seekers are on the trading block! Both kayaks have the "Expedition Package" (rudder & deck lines), were stored under cover or in the garage, and have a few typical nicks and scratches. We will throw in two Sawyer paddles, a spare plastic paddle, two nylon sprayskirts, an nice Sitka deck bag (unused) and one cockpit cover (the other is somewhere between Bahia de Los Angeles and Tiajuana) all for the bargain price of $1200!

I'm in Sacramento and I see you're in CA, so we could come up with some delivery trip if you are interested.”

“Mono is very surreal. It reminds me of the Planet of the Apes landscape. The newest movie was actually filmed there.

How many miles of lake shore is there?”

“Hey Foamfinger, that's a suh-weet price! I live in the Sacto area as well, Rocklin to be exactamoongo. Although the package deal you have there would be scrumptious for most folks, I work at REI and I can prodeal Dagger yaks for really cheap, they have an amazing prodeal program. But I would encourage others who would like to get a "real" touring kayak to seriously look at your deal there, especially packaged with all the goodies along with it.

Hey Nigal, I haven't calculated the shoreline mileage of Mono Lake yet, but it's darn big, many many many miles to be sure. I'm guessing I will take 3-4 days to paddle it, but that's a rough estimate. I'm lQQkin' forward to it!”