ee EU F

NEXT TIME L try some-
thing new I’m a little ner-
vous about, I’m going to do
it in the dark first.

By John Moore
Contributing Writer

Never having kayaked before, it
was with understandable trepida-
tion that I found myself sitting in
one of these long, narrow craft on
the soft banks of the Squamish
estuary at night, waiting tobe
pushed into what appeared to be a

- black, wet void.

Being told by the lady in the
next boat — an experienced
kayaker from Deep Cove — that

she admired my nerve ‘‘for doing -
this the first time at night”? had a

less than bracing effect.

I was still wondering how this
“Full Moon Paddile,’’ organized
by Everything Outdoors Ltd. of
Squamish, had: ever sezmed like a
superbly adventurous romantic
thing to do when our guide, Julie
Ehiler,, grabbed the stern of my
kayak and said, ‘‘Ready?”

“Urk,’’ | replied through gritted
teeth as she launched me, like a
human torpedo, into the watery
darkness .., and pure magic.

By chance, it was one of those
nights when the water is full of
phosphorescence and our nine
kayaks were surrounded with
silently exploding haloes of blue-
green light,

Our chorus of ‘‘oohs’’ and
‘ahs’? was punctuated by the
raucous cries of cormorants and

WHEN BALD eagles return en masse to winter on the Squamish River in November, you may have
the opportunity to view them from the unique perspective of a kayak amid the wild splendor of the

upper Squamish River. |

herons roused by this nocturnal
amphibious invasion.

By the light of the full moon
hanging over the monolithic
escarpment of the Stawamus
Chief, the grassy banks and islets
of the marsh became eerily visible
as we paddled slowly down the
bayou-like channel.

The kayak more than lived up
to its reputation as one of the
most stable, elegant and energy-

efficient watercraft ever invented.
That is, as soon as I relaxed and
stopped over-compensating for
its, and my own, initial skit-
tishness.

Having done it in the dark,
can’t wait to try it again in
daylight.

I'd be hard pressed to think of
anything I’ve enjoyed more lately
than that two-hour paddle down
the estuary and across the flat,

NEWS photo

calm northern reach of Howe
Sound by moonlight.

Everything Outdoors’ Warren
Ehier admits that though they’ve
regularly kayaked by the full
moon, nobody thought of adding
it to their offering of mountain-
biking, hiking or daylight kayak
tours until the summer was half
over.

That’s
research and development

the kind of tecthing
that

This Monday,
through Sunday,
Nov. Ist-7th

FREE APPRAISALS

For information
call 856-2131

happens in your first year, when
even the weather conspires against
you, but the partners, Julie and
Warren Ehler and Cliff Miller, are
clearly committed to making this
labor of love a success.

They’ve clearly hit on a winner
here; almost a dozen people
showed up in October for the last
Full Moon Paddle of this year,
and you can bet they’ll be up and
Tunning as soon as weather and
lunar schedules permit.

In the meantime, instead of
laying off for the winter, they
plan to offer at least one unusual
outdoor experience.

When bald eagles return en
masse to winter on the Squamish
River in November, you may have
the option to view them from the
unique perspective of a kayak
amid the wild splendor of the up-
per Squamish River (i'm already
Signed on for this one).

Though they’re not quitting
their day jobs yet (Cliff Miller
works at Garibaldi Building Sup-
plies, Warren is a driller and Julie
Ehler is a graphic artist who
designed their eye-catching logo
and works for Parks B.C.),
they're bringing determination and
creative energy into a market that
is destined to expand.

Warren has already had the ex-
perience of taking a single client
out for a full day of biking and
kayaking, even though it doesn’t
really pay, because that comes
with the territory if you want to
establish a reputation for
reliability.

Those days will become rarer as

See Doing page 40

935 MARINE DRIVE., (NEXT TO DAVE BUCK FORD) NORTH VANCOUVER.

MON. & TUE tS. 10-5:30, WED.-FRE.

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